Taiwan, eilean nan daoine snog

Taiwan

Taiwan is a beautiful island with mountains, forests, lakes, sea, beach, and rocky coast. But what has impressed me the most are the people. I have never experienced so much hospitality and warmth in any other country.

It all started, as often lately, with Couchsurfing. Because I was always busy before my departure to Hong Kong, I tried something new. On the website, you can post your own trip publicly, state your interests, and hope that people from the area you are traveling to will contact you. This is how Chackie from Hong Kong found me. Due to my public trip to Taiwan, a father from Taichung contacted me. Taichung is on the western coast, pretty much in the middle. Vincent offered that his family (him + wife + two sons; 1 and 7 years old) would host me. It probably sounds a bit strange to many, but it's great, just wait and see. :)

As previously described, Couchsurfing is about giving and receiving. Usually, it happens that you host and get hosted. Now, this four-member family doesn't travel around the living rooms of the world. Vincent and his wife decided to invite solo female travelers to improve their English and expose their sons to the world outside. Traveling outside of Taiwan is too expensive for many people here. With two children, the two of them can hardly afford it either. So, the family doesn't travel the world, but rather lets the world come to their living room. I think the idea is amazing, and I have huge respect for both of them for starting this, especially given that they had little English skills at first. They have been doing this for half a year now, they have had 18 guests, and their English has improved significantly. So I was invited to Taichung and spent my first two nights in Taiwan there. (I don't count the first night at the airport) During those two days, I practically always had someone from the family with me. You can only learn a language by speaking it. Sometimes Vincent's friends also joined us. Because their English is going well, he has now also established a group for learning English. Something like an English self-help group :D

For example, we went to Sun Moon Lake, and there was also a student who is part of this group.

We took a boat tour on Sun Moon Lake and explored the lake a bit. There's not much more to say about the place. In Taiwan, this is the only real lake and thus quite an attraction. However, the mountain lakes in the Alps impressed me more.

The best experience in Taichung was definitely the night market. The whole family went with me. We tried all sorts of food, walked through the streets, and played video games.

When I left the city on the third day, I hadn't seen anything extraordinary. But I'm definitely glad to have been there because of the great time I had with the four of them.

In Taipei, my luck with the people continued. My host there was Hao Yu, a student who still lives with her parents. She has been back in Taiwan for half a year after working and traveling abroad for a long time. A longer time alone abroad changes you, makes you mature, etc. and when she came back, there was almost constantly trouble and either one person or the whole family was annoyed. I can totally relate to that. As Hao Yu told me, I often thought of my summer vacation in Sulzthal. No matter how nice it is to be at home, it was always good for family harmony when I returned to Bayreuth or Ketterschwang. Well, Hao Yu doesn't have that option. That's why she had the idea to host in Taiwan. During her time abroad, she used Couchsurfing a lot herself. Her mother and father, who both recently retired, now have a purpose again. They devotedly take care of the guests, who are actually Hao Yu's guests. :D

After my arrival at her house, I was served a vegetarian noodle soup and then we went up to the northern coast. Hao Yu was working at that time. So it was her mother and father who accompanied me. A friend picked us up at the coast, and the three of them showed me around the area a bit. In the end, we went to eat hot pot and went to hot springs. Unfortunately, the bathhouse was closed, much to their surprise. At over 30° Celsius, the foot bath was enough for me. I wouldn't have been able to relax in the thermal warm water with the outside temperature. I tried to explain to them that we do that in Germany in winter. The friend just said, 'in winter, it's always a bit busier here.' I didn't know what else to say. Next to it is the sea, and here they cook themselves in the water of the hot springs. It's like when we prefer the thermal bath to the outdoor pool in midsummer.

But the foot bath was fine, and it allowed me to get a bit closer to the host parents. (: At the end of my time in Taiwan, it felt like coming home. After all, I spent my last night there as well.

In general, I always received fresh coffee, homemade yogurt with chia seeds, bread, and fruit from the family in the mornings. At first, I had trouble accepting everything, but Hao Yu said dryly, 'Just think that you're accepting it for the good atmosphere in my family.' - okay, got it :D

In Taipei, of course, I didn't let myself be pampered in the apartment the whole time. Among other things, I visited the National Palace Museum. It ranks first on TripAdvisor* and was also recommended to me by different people. Unfortunately, I didn't find it as great as expected. It's exactly the type of museum I don't like. You walk from exhibition to exhibition, look at many things, and read even more, only to forget 90% of it at the exit. That's why I gave up after the second of three floors and went to Xiamen instead. That's a neighborhood that you imagine Taipei or any other big city in Asia to be like: loud, colorful, vibrant, and lots of things to buy. It's great for wandering the streets and looking around.

Hiking is also great in Taiwan, of course. In my opinion, Taiwan has many national parks for its size. But a large part of the island is also difficult to inhabit due to all the mountains.

My first national park was Yehlui National Park. It is on the northern coast and became a national park because of the funny rock formations there. Among other things, there are mushrooms, tea lights, flip flops, and a queen. You can see it in the pictures. :D

After this national park, I took the train down the east coast to Hualien. Here, for a change, I stayed in a hostel. But that was also pleasant. I think there I avoided having conversations and enjoyed the time for myself. It's nice to have such nice people as my hosts in a foreign country. But being a guest is sometimes tiring too. I was awake until at least one o'clock almost every night, planning and organizing things. I rarely had Wi-Fi during the day, and of course, I couldn't sit on my phone the whole time at the families' homes to reply, find hostels, or whatever. So I had to do all that when I was in bed.

In short: the hostel in Hualien was a great place to unleash my loner side again. I'm actually quite good at that.

Taiwan's east coast is famous for its cliffs and Taroko National Park. There, I managed to hike in the mountains for the first time (not like in Japan with short trails and a marathon of steps in the yellow mountains)

With its mountains, forests, and rivers, the national park is a must-visit for anyone going to Taiwan. Due to its tropical location, even the mountain rivers are warm and great for swimming and refreshing. The refreshing part was much needed after eight kilometers. Everything is sweated out in the Taiwanese climate, and you don't have to go hiking for that. But at least you can jump into the river. (:

On my second day in Hualien, I rented a scooter and drove up and down the coast. I left my driver's license in Hangzhou, but after the third attempt, I found a shop that rented scooters to me without a license. When the owner heard that I'm from China, he immediately gave me the fast version. I had to drive across the parking lot to show my skills. They should have tested my ability to refuel. xD

Here I have to digress a bit:

I think everyone knows the pictures of extremely crowded streets with scooters in Asia. In Thailand and Vietnam, for example, there are 1-liter plastic bottles of gasoline on the roadside for refueling, and in China, for example, there are charging stations on every corner. (There are almost only e-scooters on the road there)

When I had my (first) scooter and set off, I had to refuel. I found a small gas station right away at a corner. At least it looked like one. There were fueling pumps, and the hoses were just like at a large gas station. You could only refuel for no more than 50 TWD, but scooter tanks are not large either. So I fueled up for 48 TWD, put on my helmet, and off I went towards the cliffs. The ride lasted a whole 400 meters, and then the scooter ran out of gas.

The gas station was indeed a gas station, but not for gasoline, but for water. I don't know why Taiwanese people have to refill water, but it's obviously not for scooters. Great, I already saw how I ruined my day.

But back at the shop, the full kindness of the people there was again shown. First of all, I got the 48 TWD back for the water refill, then the owner apologized for the trouble and immediately gave me a new scooter. I shouldn't waste my vacation days like that. :D In the evening, I paid 1000 TWD (30 Euros) for the first scooter. That's okay, considering it's most likely junk.

So I set off with my second scooter and explored the coast. While driving, I felt so Taiwanese, and the coast is really impressive. Despite the broken scooter, that was maybe the best day in Taiwan.

With Hualien, my time on the island was almost over. I still had one last night in Taipei with Hao Yu and her family. On this evening, we treated ourselves to something really nice. Of course, she cooked for me first. We had a kind of fried noodles and a vegetable made from the sweet potato's leaves. I didn't know that you can eat the leaves. But it was really good. A bit like spinach but different.

We looked at Taipei at night from Elephant Mountain and treated ourselves to a foot massage.

Before my departure the next day, Hao Yu's mom packed me a snack and accompanied me to the airport.

You will see from the pictures that Taiwan is a beautiful country. It is so diverse and has so much to offer. That alone should be a reason for everyone to go there. But what makes Taiwan so special are the people. I will end this report as I began: I have probably never met so many kind, good-hearted, and open people in such a short time anywhere else. The country is definitely worth visiting. The Taiwanese will definitely be happy. They often fear not being recognized as an independent country. I think China has quite an influence in this regard. They managed to make the country have a little inferiority complex.

So, let's go to Taiwan! (:

Finally, I formally apologize for all the errors in the texts. I'm writing everything on my phone, and it's not quite optimal. I make a lot more mistakes here than on the PC.

*For older readers: TripAdvisor is an app that shows you the sights and attractions of a place.