DAY 1: TRIP AROUND TAIWAN

Sunday, July 5th, I left Chiayi City (嘉義市) for my trip around the island. I travelled on Provincial Highway 3 (台3線) through Chiayi County (嘉義縣) and Yunlin County (雲林縣). I've travelled along this road many times and decided to stop at only a few interesting places. My first stop was at the 921-Earthquake Memorial Park of Shadong Palace (Zhao Jing Earthquake Park照鏡臺地震公園) in Jhushan Township (竹山鎮). I was now in Nantou County (南投縣).

The Shadong Palace used to be a temple, but it was destroyed during the 921 Earthquake (九二一大地震). The destroyed temple and the park around it is now a memorial park. The Chelongpu Fault (車籠埔斷層) passes through the town. In Mingjian Township (名間鄉) there's another interesting 921 Earthquake Memorial. It's the The Tilting Electric Tower (地震斜塔紀念地) in the Earthquake Park (地震公園).

After passing Nantou, I stopped at the YuanMan Church (圓滿教堂) in Wufeng Township, Taichung County (臺中縣霧峰鄉). It's a 1045 square feet with ancient Roman, Baroque, Rococo and Gothic-style architectural features. The church is on Jinlingshan (金陵山), not far from the 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan (九二一地震教育園區). Not far from the church they are busy building a new YiGuanDao Founder Memorial (一貫道祖師紀念館).

After travelling about 128 km, I arrived in Taichung City (臺中市). Late afternoon Jay and I went to the GaoMei Wetlands (高美溼地). It's in Qingshui Township (清水鎮). It's one of the best wetlands I've visited in Taiwan.

Planning a scooter trip around Taiwan 台灣

Since arriving in Taiwan I wanted to go on a scooter trip around the island. As I wasn't going home for the summer vacation, and had no classes, I decided it was time for my trip. The last weekend before the summer vacation I started planning my trip. It was easy deciding where to go. I drew a map of Taiwan, and marked the major cities on it. I decided to make it a 13 day trip, going from Chiayi (嘉義)to Taichung City (台中市), then on to Hsinchu City (新竹市). From Hsinchu I would go to Taipei (台北), and then to Yilan (宜蘭). From Yilan I would go to Hualien City (花蓮市), where I planned to spend three days. Then I'd travel through the East Rift Valley or Hua-Tung Valley (花東縱谷) to Taitung (台東), spend a day or two there, and then ride to Kaohsiung City (高雄市), and from there back to Chiayi City (嘉義市).
Finding accomodation and making reservations was more difficult, and took a long time. It's easy to find hostels and cheap hotels in the cities. I had a limited budget, and finding affordable accomodation in smaller towns can be a problem if you can't speak or read Chinese. With Jay's help everything was sorted out, deposits paid, and all the info printed. I had maps, brochures and the Lonely Planet guide ready for my trip.
Next time I'll start telling you about the trip, and all the ups and downs of travelling alone!!

New Blog - Introduction!!

So, here I am, an "old" man starting my own blog. Maybe you wonder about the choice of name? Well, after living in Taiwan for nearly 6 years, I sometimes feel like I'm Taiwanese, except I can't speak Taiwanese or Chinese. I've travelled all over Taiwan and would like to share my experiences with everybody. Taiwan is a beautiful country with a lot to see and experience: beautiful oceans, valleys, mountains, hot springs, nice food, strange (for us foreigners) food, etc.