Life Served Sunny Side Up & Rainy Days Down: Taiwan in 8 days....

I just came back from a trip to Taiwan.... Went for a 8 days 7 nights tour... but in actual fact, it was only 6 days... One to go and one to come back... See la how these travel agents cheat us... haiz...

My journey began in Taoyuan and subsequently Ilan-Hualien-Taitung-Kaoshiung-Tainan-Chiayi-Nantou-Taichung-Taipei... Shocking huh? I cover more states than I have days... haha!! Hence why I didnt really enjoyed it... The trip involved too much bus riding... basically we will go to 1 or max 2 spots in a state before proceeding to the next one... so sometimes we dont even put a night up in the state that we went to... Distance travelled was 2350km of bus which is equivalent to about at least 24 hrs on the bus...

The only destination which impressed me was Taroko Gorge... This was a natural formation of rock, marble and mountain which was really quite scenic.

But as my sister says... if you have seen the Grand Canyon, this is nothing... That is why I was disappointed also at the whole trip... we went up to the mountains, we went to the oceanside, we went to see waterfalls, we went to Sun Moon Lake, rode the Bullet Train, saw the cherry blossoms etc.... Since the mountains and oceans in Australia were more scenic , the Niagara Falls were more spectacular... and the Japan Shinkanzen was faster, Sakura in Japan more breathtaking, it all just came short...

Worst of all, I wanted to shop and eat... for the first 6 days, there was nothing to buy and the food was really just porky.. eww... actually all 8 days of food was porky... Yucks... only got to shop the last 2 days.... :(

Would I recommend Taiwan as a destination... depending I suppose.. If you havent been to much places it would still be worth going but the schedule is grueling... but if you can speak mandarin (unlike me) then I would highly recommend that you not take a tour but go free and easy and just plan your trip yourself....

The one and only saving grace... the hotels.. I chose the package with have 4-5 star hotels and they were all great except the one in Taipei but it is expected since capital city would be more costly.. there was one night that we had 2 king size beds in the room... one each!! sweet... hehe!!

What I did like about the trip? I liked Chiufen which is along the coastal line of Taipei... it is this quaint little alleys full of small small shops selling anything and everything... :) This place I really liked... I tot Shihlin Night Market was worth a go too but the food is really nothing to shout about... the shopping is cheap there...

One very interesting thing happen which was that we got to invite a beetlenut seller onto our bus... In Taiwan, all beetlenut sellers are only dressed in their lingerie as that is the only way they are able to get ppl to buy the beetlenut... apparently in the earlier days...they were even naked... interesting huh? hehe!!! Imagine all that just for a NT100 box of beetlenut...