Week 11 - Taiwan

Neehow from Taipei, Taiwan!

We have survived the typhoon and are just getting ready to go back to China after completing our fun, wild and crazy time in beautiful Taiwan! And let me tell you it has been a great time! We heard from travellers in China that Taiwan is just like China so no therefore no reason to make the effort. We didn't believe this and have found this place to be very exciting and unique in its own ways.

Our travel path(s) in Taiwan

So reflecting on this country: is Taiwan part of China... Well the Chinese think so, however still Marina still needed a visa to Taiwan and it is very much like entering a new country. Its own currency, immigration; and the people definitely believe they are separate. Apparently there is a split among the Taiwanese of who wants to be part of China and who wants to be completely separate, but everyone we met seems to feel separate, with the realisation that they are still somewhat under the control of China, but people are happy, prosperous and do not want to create a major negative change to this. That being said, it seems the upper classes are finding ways as a backup plan in case China pulls them closely back to the mainland. It seems wealthy people are getting a backup plan with foreign passports and educating children in English seems to be a primary goal.

We feel Taiwan is very different than its parent/cousin/friend/foe to the west. Certainly the look and feel is different. People certainly look different and the Japanese influence is very obvious. The Taiwanese are very open and do utilise their free speech. As you have seen from my posts, in Taiwan blogs are allowed and facebook, along with protests (for the most part). Obviously in China these are all blocked and dealt with very harshly. The food is certainly a mixture of the nearby countries; Japan, Korea and China.

So you are probably interested to know about the Typhoon (Hurricane) and what happened. Well it was pretty bad! Lots of damaged buildings, tree limbs down, major flooding, however people just carried on! For us, we nestled up well and were very safe: my obligation to Marina's parents Gyena and Luda; although you may not believe we worry much seeing the shark diving pictures.

Well let me update you on this past week;

Taitung > Tainan > Kenting > Taipei

And who said women are bad packers; Lighter the better!

Sunday - The Typhoon: When I finished writing you last time, it was just getting ready to worsen. After the writing the blog we went for some food (nearby the hotel, just to be sure) and then chilled out. We didn't venture out until dinner and we again went to a crummy place nearby just to be sure. It was cool to see places still open and the people just getting on with things; although most places were closed and sealed up well.

Monday - The Hotsprings: This was not the best decision we made on the trip so far. As the weather was fairly good with some occasions of seriously heavy rains, we decided to go to a nearby town and chill in the hot springs. When we got to the town of Chihpen, it was mildly raining and we had about a 800 meter (1/2 mile) walk down a road in the forest. Unfortunately the clouds decided to dump all their water on us at that very minute. Completely soaked in 5 minutes! Luckily there were not any electronic disasters.. yet!.... That night, we had a great time partying in the Kasa bar again with David, Claire and Cody! Not sure if anyone noticed, but you could see Jupiter very clearly in the sky...

A hotel in Chihpen damaged by the typhoon.

Tuesday - The tour around Taiwan: This was a real pain, have a look at our map above and you will wonder why we went via Taipei so often. Well, the typhoon destroyed the railroad which we needed to take to get to Tainan. Unfortunately we needed to spend the day driving via Taipei and there were no buses or planes.. Maybe a taxi would have been better, but we didn't check. Arriving in Tainan we went out for some dinner and hit the Armory pub which was pretty full as the full moon was the next day and everyone was off on Wednesday.

Wednesday - The Beach: We spent the morning seeing Tainan's sights and by afternoon we were on the train then a taxi bound for Kenting National Park! We stayed in Nanwan the first night with a nice room overlooking the beach and ocean. Kenting is one of the hot spots for the Taiwanese to relax, hit the beach, and not swim.. (yes, people generally do not know how to swim).. Its is at the far south of Taiwan so its also the warmest.

Thursday - Scuba Diving & BBQ: On Wednesday we organised a dive with the local Dive master John Boo. Despite diving with our gear from the 1970's - note Marina's suit below; we survived and had a great time. Marina even saw her first wild turtle! Although visibility was not superb having been hit by a typhoon earlier in the week. Unfortunately we had our first setback of the trip; our underwater casing for the camera leaked.. so we did get it to work, but it had a few problems so we have a 'new' same model camera :( That night, Jon cooked us and our new friends Cory and Denise (a couple from Chicago who was travelling from Korea where they teach English).

Marina suited and booted!

Friday - Scooters: We rented scooters this morning and made our way around Kenting. Firstly we hit possibly the most beautiful beach in Taiwan - Baisha Beach. An absolute gem and the water was aqua colored! We then scootered over to the southern tip of Taiwan, pretty cool. That night we went out in Kenting town with the gang and partied.

Saturday - Diving & Pool sharks: Waking up early was a pain, but we made it and had two great dives seeing lots of fish. Marina did great with her deepest dives so far - 27 meters (85 feet). After diving we caught a taxi with Cory and Denise to Kaoshung to get the high speed train to Taipei (which travels at about 170mph (260kph ish). In Taipei, we all went out and had a very late night, which featured jagermeister, seeing Arsenal blow an easy game, and getting schooled by some local Taiwanese pool sharks (but not losing anything but pride).

Sunday - Snake alley: Well on the 7th day we rested.. and boy did we need it! We probably slept until about midday and still were a bit rough, but we made it out and saw a few museums and later in the night we went to snake alley. Before you ask, we did not indulge, but I think that isn't even the best word... Essentially they have huge snakes that they cook and you drink the blood... Not quite gourmet dining, but I guess its good for some people..

Well as you know the blog doesn't work in China so I'll have an emailed blog for the next four weeks. We are heading to Hunan, China tomorrow and will be seeing quite a few national parks so get ready for some fantastic pictures...

Until next time,

Zaijian - Dan and Marina!