Well its been a while since i updated, lifes been pretty busy lately. Work is turning insannneeeeeeeee (we all have these moments i hope).

Taiwanese McDonald’s, just in case you were wondering. The chicken nuggets still have dark meat.

on the train back to taipei. The train takes about 4 hours between hualien and taipei, you can get a boarding pass, but sometimes you can’t reserve a seat, so you will have to stand or lean on something for 4 hours, which is what we ended up doing. Time passes by pretty fast though, i was in good company =)

Audrey’s uncle suprised us one day with well, uh, a suprise trip. To Chiu Feng. A beach side city that used to be a mining town. On the way there we made a stop by Ah Leon’s studio. Ah leon is a world reowned ceramic artist. He’s been in multiple museum exhibits world wide for his insanely detailed ceramic work. You can learn about him here. http://www.ceramicmuseum.org/ah-leon

Here he’s teaching us the art of enjoying tea properly.

insane detail, it looks like real wood.

Then we went to Chiu Feng, it was a rainy day, the grass and trees in the country just seems even more green.

We went down the main alley way where they have many shops offering local delicacies and treats. Almost all of them offer free samples, by the time you reach the end of the alley, you’re pretty much full.

Of course you can’t write about a taiwan trip without at least mentioning the delicious food. Bakeries are everywhere, and almost all delicious. The beef noodles are amazing.

Our last night before the plane leaves back to lalaland. Japanese food was also very good there.

SO ever since my last China trip I’ve been itching to go back to Taiwan, mostly because i had a really enjoyable time there, if only for 3 days. This time, its full blown Taiwan for 9 days! At first i was opposed to going since my bank account was dropping faster than the stock market, but due to Mr. Erwin Lian’s persistent bugging i finally caved into the peer pressure of 1 person. It doesn’t take much to convince me to come back to beautiful Isla Formosa. So here i am at Tienchin Hotel again! The plan is to go to Taroko for 2-3 days and spend some time in Hualien, and then back to Taipei.

outside of Tienchin hotel is the busy Tienchin street, in case if you are wondering why it looks like a shady alleyway, a lot of Taiwanese streets look like this, its actually pretty busy and filled with shops all the way up to the 3rd or 5th floor sometimes. The area surrounding Tienchin street is the equivalent of a japan town you would find in the US. There are many small boutique hotels and restaurants and bars. At night it comes alive with KTV and small night clubs.

After a grueling 14hr flight we immediately went out, to Shilin night market. It is deemed one of the biggest and most famous in Taipei. The street is filled with people, and various street vendors peddling lots of engrish tshirts and cheap clothes in general.

Food at the night market! egg dish with this weird jelly and stink tofu!

The next day was spent hanging around the city. We wanted to try Din Tai Fung since it originated in Taiwan, but apparently 500 other people had the same idea. F*&king tourists!

waiting for the train at the MRT stop going to Maokong gondola (failed)

night scene from the 2nd floor, Taipei and Taiwan in general are filled with scooters and taxis.

we only stayed in Taipei for one day and immediately headed out by train on Monday. The train ride out was pretty nice and mellow, going through the mountains and numerous tunnels and finally ending up by the sea.

taiwanese scarecrows

the road to taroko national park is perilous at best, our driver for the van navigated the roads with ease. However i barely dared to look down on the side of the road since a sheer 2-300 feet drop begins right after the feeble looking guardrails.

Finally after a grueling half an hour we arrived at our beautiful hotel white faced and shaken and possibly ready to hurl. It felt so good to finally stand on solid ground! Silks Place Taroko, is a 5 star resort hidden deep into the mountains, and provides the amenities equal if not better than many urban luxury resorts but also acts as a refuge and retreat while you explore the wilderness of Taroko gorge.

Taroko National Park features many beautiful sights, and is also home to one of the many taiwanese indigenous  tribes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taroko_National_Park

Chingshui cliffs, a very scenic part of the coast in hualien. The 2400ft cliffs fall straight into the water.

Tunnel of 9 turns

Sha Ka Dong trail, the local people use this trail on their scooters!

Changchun temple, this is the first temple in a series of 3 in this area, the 2nd temple is a couple of hundred feet up the cliff but it takes about an hour to hike there.

a fresh underground spring comes out near the temple, it feels so cold and refreshing compared to the sweltering humid day

butterfly at Taroko Leader’s village,

Cisingtan Beach at Hualien, such a nice day, there is no sand, just black pebbles

spend the night in Hualien

Thats all for now, post will be updated with more pictures later.

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land of the brave, be prepared

list of destinations:
sterling (castle)
glasgow
fort williams (ben nevis)
isle of skye
ord muir
john O’groats (most northern point of scotland)
inverness (loch ness)
cairngorms national park
aberdeen
st.andrews (i grew up here!)
edinburgh