This gallery contains 16 photos.
My last day in Hualien (and my last full – full day in Taiwan) was a rainy day … I basically had the important item for Hualien kicked off my list (Taroko Gorge) … so I decided for something easy … Continue reading
This gallery contains 28 photos.
Today was probably my earliest day on this Trip. I got up at around 05:45 to leave the hostel shortly past 06:00 to get the 06:30 bus into Taroko NP. I took the bus all the way up to Tienhsiang … Continue reading
I left Taitung in the morning by bus. The bus followed highway 11 along Taiwan’s Pacific Coast. It took the bus around 4.5 hours to cover the 170km and it was easily one of the better and more interesting bus rides, I ever did (and trust me … I have been on many buses) … passing through fabulous landscape, small towns – along an amazing coast line.
I left Kaohsiung by train in the late morning … bound for Taitung at Taiwan’s Pacific Coast. I got into Taitung in the early afternoon – with enough time to spare to discover yet another city.
I first had a quick walk down to the Pacific … just to realize that there was not much to see or do – so headed back into town to the old train station and the nearby Liyu Shan park. In the park I did some walking to enjoy the views over town. Overall however … I have to admit that there is not too much to see in Taitung … it is nice for some hours (and my most comfortable night in Taiwan) after some busy days. I was nevertheless somehow happy to leave Taitung again the next morning.
Below some more impressions from Kaohsiung …
My original plan for the afternoon in Kaoshiung was simply to check out town. Though after looking through my guidebooks in more detail, I changed my plans and decided to take a bus out to Fo Guang Shan.
Fo Guang Shan is the biggest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan and an internationally known Buddhist site of pilgrimage … Being there feels slightly odd … somehow like a Buddhist version of Disneyland.
I started my visit with Pure Land Cave – a walk-through Buddhist version of Disney’s ‘It’s a small world’, then checking out the temple, with Great Buddha Land being my final stop.
This gallery contains 15 photos.
From the description in my guidebooks, Kaohsiung read like yet another big city … however the Lotus Pond area in its north somehow sounded different … so I took the MRT up there and did a walk around the lake … Continue reading
This gallery contains 16 photos.
Today I left Taipei in the early morning to catch a high speed train bound for Taichung. Here I met up with a Taiwan tour bus group for a day trip up to Sun Moon Lake. Our first stop was … Continue reading
Today was my second day in Taipei – and turned out to become a museum day. I was first heading out for the National Palace Museum and the attached Zhishan Gardens.
Afterward I crossed the street for the Museum of Formosan aborigines, had a quick lunch – to then head south for the Museum of World Religions. From here I decided to close my day with a visit to the Confucius Temple in the Yuanshan area and the nearby Bao’an Temple.
Dinner again was in a night market … today the famous Shilin Night Market … and I really start to ask myself, why I never brought a camera here …
This gallery contains 15 photos.
I got into Taipei in the early morning. A one hour busride took me into town. I made my way to the hostel (the Taipei Backpackers Hostel, in walking distance from the main station), left my stuff there and went … Continue reading