Beautiful Taiwan ...

When: April 2015
Kids: Big Sister 10y10m, Twins 8y4m
Flights: Hong Kong - Taipei - Hong Kong on Dragonair & Cathay Pacific
Booked through: Zuji, looked high and low for good fares with late afternoon departure from Hong Kong and an afternoon departure from Taipei so we could travel back from Hualien in one day. Dragonair came slightly above HK$10k which was cheaper than its own website. Booked the 2 hotels direct and the train tickets were arranged by my husband's business relation in Taipei.

Trying to come up with something different and avoiding the typical destinations is getting more and more difficult once you lived in Asia for almost 7 years. Don't get me wrong, there are so many more things to see, but keeping budget and travel time in mind (needs to be relaxing as well not hopping from one place to another), it's sometimes hard to come up with new ideas. We had been to Taipei late 2008 but the twins had no recollection and even for Big Sister it had been a while. To mix things up we decided to do a private day tour outside Taipei and add Hualien to the mix which is located on Taiwan's east coast.

Flying to Taipei is easy, with just over an hour it's one of our closest destinations abroad (except from mainland China). At the airport we purchased a NT$500 data card for 7 days unlimited data (which is great for finding restaurants while on the go, checking maps, opening times, etc. and not having to use roaming). jumped in a taxi (bring the address in Chinese) and 40 minutes later we arrived at Hotel Amba in busy, hip Ximending (they compare Ximending to Shibuya in Tokyo and I can see why) where we booked a loft room (my Tripadvisor review says XL but this is actually incorrect I realise now). By the time we checked in, it was close to 9.30 pm, so we unpacked and basically called it a day.

Day trip to Yehliu Geopark, Keelung, Gold Ecological Park & Jiufen Old Street

The next morning I had arranged a driver to do a day tour to Yehliu Geopark, Keelung (lunch), Golden Waterfall, Gold Ecological Park and Jiufen Old Street. We left at 9 am and returned at around 6 pm mostly due to busy (holiday) traffic. Jeff Lin (tab18690@gmail.com) was recommended to me by another highly recommended driver Peter Wang who was busy. Jeff was excellent, lovely man, great English, super helpful, made lots of family photos and even compiled an entire video of our day! The day trip was definitely doable with the kids, not too much although we were all exhausted after our first (very hot) day so decided to have an easy dinner at the hotel.

The next 2 days we explored the city, we returned to Taipei 101, walked around Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (and witnessed the change of the guards), had lunch at Din Tai Fung, headed back to the hotel and visited the Longshan Temple which had lots of activity going on due to Ching Ming Festival. We ended the day with a lovely yakiniku (grilled meat Japanese style) dinner just around the corner of the hotel, called NicoNico. Kids loved grilling their meat and especially the free ice-cream!

Exploring Taipei once again!

Day 3 started with a return to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall where we once again decided to look at the change of the honorable guards, which Twin B thought was absolutely boring (we actually thought this one was better, plus we had "first row" seats so to speak). Afterwards we walked to Yong Kang Street where you can find lots of different restaurants and the first Din Tai Fung in the world. We opted for Western food and had a great window seat at Eating Time so could do some people watching at the same time. In the late afternoon we decided to climb Elephant Mountain so we headed to the end of the red MRT line and followed the signs. It's not a real hike, it's literally climbing hundreds of steps (the twins counted 902 steps on the way down) and given the temperature it was a sweaty and hot hike up with a fairly hazy but worthwhile view at the top. After some cooling down time we decided on a hotpot dinner at Tian Wai Tian Spicy Hotpot. Again, within minutes from the hotel, with an all you can eat hot pot buffet including lots of fresh fish, nice meats, vegetables, HD ice cream (kids happy) and beer (parents happy). Quite local and to be honest, lots of things I had no desire to try, but a great experience nonetheless.

The next morning it was time to head for eastern Taiwan by express train (just over 2 hours, buy tickets in advance), got there just after lunch, were picked up by the hotel and taken to our room where we'd stay for the next 2 nights ... overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Hualien isn't like your Western coastal village, it honestly doesn't have a lot of charm in a European way but it has many things going for it. We spend the afternoon cycling along the Pacific Ocean on the Qixingtan Trail in front of the hotel before heading to town for a basic and cheap wonton soup dinner topping it off with mango shaved ice. Kids loved it!

Hualien in Eastern Taiwan

We were picked up at 9 am the next morning for our private tour to Taroko Gorge. First stop was stunning Qingshui Cliffs before heading into the Gorge. Dropped off at the Sakadang Trail we spent the first hour hiking up and down this lovely trail with some great views and easy to do for kids as well. Second stop was the Swallow Grotto, we put our helmets on and enjoyed the dark road curving through the mountain with its steep cliffs right next to it. Last stop was the Eternal Spring Shrine which was possibly the most boring part but it was great driving through the gorge and even though Mr. Ho (arranged by Hotel Bayview for NT$2500 for half day) didn't speak lots of English, we easily managed with some English, Mandarin and sign language! He dropped us off in town at 公正包子 (Gong Zheng Bao Zi) for some unbelievably cheap and delicious dumplings and Xiao Long Baos though we made a rooky mistake by not ordering enough and by the time we figured that out the line was huge!

Qingshui Cliffs and Taroko National Park, worth a visit!

Back at the hotel the kids had to cycle more so we got back on the bikes, pedaled some more and finished playing at the beach with rocks before heading back to the hotel. After lots of Taiwanese food, we felt entitled for some truly American food at Salt Lick which turned out to be a great choice and the kids enjoyed the sausages, ribs and the apple pie with ice cream as dessert.

Our last day was mostly a day of travel, back in the train, a taxi to the airport (but not without getting some Mr Donut at the station), a quick lunch and an easy, though slightly delayed flight back to Hong Kong where the airport was full of people returning after a long weekend. A lovely 5 days in Taiwan, a little bit different, and there were moments I regretted not sitting on a lounge chair at the beach, regardless of the fantastic weather we had during our entire stay, but on the other hand it's great having so many things to do, surrounded by great nature, clean air, lovely people and good food!

As always hotels, restaurants and some sights have been reviewed in Tripadvisor so check out my contributions if you want to find out more about the particular place!