http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Taiwan en-us Fri, 24 May 2013 18:24:35 +0000 Fri, 24 May 2013 18:24:35 +0000 The first stop backpacker hostel is just 15 mins walk from Qidu Station the address is 2FNo.7 Ln.4 Tai39an Rd. Qidu Dist Keelung City 206 TaiwanR.O.CPlease take the train to the Qidu train station and take the East Exit to Dongxin S.t Exit. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Keelung/blog-787377.html About First Stop backpacker HostelThe First Stop backpacker Hostel is located at the heart of north Taiwan which you can travel to all the famous spot in our country. Our accommodation offers the best price and quality even more than you think Only 30mins to TaipeiJiufen15mins to the Keelung night market.Free pick updrop off from Qido strain station to our hostelreservation required. Book th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Keelung/blog-787376.html httpssites.google.comsitefirststopbackpackerhostelMore info. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Keelung/blog-787374.html Taiwan is not a usual tourist place but there I was headed with my colleague and her family for a 5 day trip covering Hualien Jianxi and Taipei city. At the very start we struggled with a Chinese GPS followed by an erratic US style driving and lack of familiar sights like petrol stations restaurants etc. All sign boards were like pencil drawings I slept off in the car and once up was looking http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Hualien/Taroko/blog-787367.html There is something fun about traveling with first timers. They are like babies curious and easily amused. We went down to Pingshi railway for lantern floating. We got a twocolored lantern for health and wealth wrote our wishes on it and set it to fly. That was a lot of fun that I usually won39t so myself. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/blog-782347.html I remember Anthony Bourdain saying he doesn39t come here very often but every time he comes he is very happy that he did. I feel the same about Taiwan.We started the day with our obligatory 711 visit. How to explain to a tourist that we have to visit 711.... And Mr. Donut..... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/blog-781968.html It was an early morning flight to Taipei but not a long one and flying out of Haneda instead of Narita made it seem much shorter. I arrived at Songshan airport with my girlfriend Miki and we took the MRT subway to Ximen where our hotel was. When we surfaced at Ximen I took in my first impressions of Taipei. The immediate area around the station was a populated intersection complete with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/Ximending/blog-779043.html Time do go hiking while I still can. I leave the house a little too late in the morning take the MRT to Xindian the last stop on the Green Line which takes me already a good 45 minutes. Then outside the station to wait for the bus to Wulai with a lot of old Taiwanese people who seem to be constantly hiking everywhere. When the bus comes they try to do the idiot Chinese thing of pushing in bef http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/Wulai/blog-777327.html Back in Taipei we take advantage of the last few free days before my internship starts. We hop on a local train to the porcelainproducing little town of Yingge. We visit the Ceramics Museum where several exhibitions of artworks of budding sculptors and artists from Taiwan Japan South Korea China and Hong Kong strike our interest. The main reason for us to make the trip however is Yingge Ol http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-776309.html Time39s running out commitments are drawing near so we skip a few destinations in the southern and central regions and head straight to Tainan. The city was recommended to me by a friend whose judgment can generally be trusted. Tainan is the oldest city in the country and its fourth largest. Hence we find a dynamic city steeped in history and traditional culture just what we39re lookin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Tainan/blog-775434.html Roughly halfway between Hualien and Taitung lies the small town of Yuli. The main reason for us to go there is to do some hiking in adjacent Yushan National Park explore the surrounding area and spend Chinese New Year39s Eve in relative peace and quiet. The southbound local train takes only little more than an hour. We arranged to get picked up from the train station as our homestay is locat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Hualien/blog-775211.html After acclimatising in Taipei for a few days we are very much looking forward to get out of it. Not that we don39t like Taipei but the hustle and bustle and substantial air pollution is something we can tolerate only in relatively small doses. It takes us about four hours on a local train to get to Hualien. A town of roughly 100000 inhabitants Hualien is pretty much synonymous with Taroko G http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Hualien/Taroko/blog-775093.html We cruised into Huang Pu one smoggy morning. This is the port city for Canton which is now called Guangzhou. It is a huge industrial port and Huang Pu is all business. The Academy Awards were going to be broadcast on the ship that morning so we decided to stay on board to watch them instead of taking a tour into Canton. As it turned out the signal wasnt very goodmaybe we were being jammed by http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Keelung/blog-774889.html ltbrgt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/blog-774781.html The Taiwan Tourist Shuttle service see link is designed for convenient travel. From the major attractions Taiwan train station High Speed Rail stations the shuttles take passengers to the main tourist attractions in Taiwan. It is the most suitable travel method for people without a car. It is also an environmentally friendly way to travel.Wherever you go such as Nanzhuang Sun Moon Lake A http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/Danshui/blog-774287.html The FirstStop backpacker hostel just grand openFirstStop at Hostelworld.com It located at the heart or north Taiwan which you can travel to all the famous spot in TaiwanIt offers the best price and quality even more than you thinkOnly 30mins to TaipeiJuifen.Free transfer service and local style breakfast.Free transfer servicepick updropoff at the Qido train station on your checkin d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Keelung/blog-774043.html First of all let me apologize for the seemingly cheesy title. This slogan was actually not my idea but it is the contemporary tourism branding line of Taiwan issued by the government. Contrary to other marketing efforts such as 39Beautiful Bangladesh39 which might seem dull and maybe not entirely appropriate this time the tourism board has probably hit the spot.The best way to explain t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Puli/blog-773932.html There is a place in Taiwan where things are different. There is a place where the grey concrete of Taipei seems so far away. There is a place where the blue is bluer the green is greener marble stones shine in all the colours of the rainbow and the clouds hang lower.I am not talking about Neverland and I am not Peter Pan or Michael Jackson for that matter... What I want to talk about in this ent http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taroko-Gorge/blog-772712.html I love salt. I eat so much of it that my partner Emily says my hair will fall out. But I don39t generally plan holidays around it. Until recently that is. Staying in a countryside township in Chiayi County for Chinese New Year read about it in my blog A Traditional Chinese New Year with my Taiwanese Family we were able to escape all the drinking and Mahjong games one afternoon to do a litt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Tainan/blog-772646.html Taipei Taiwan Republic of China or just another province of big CThese and other questions i will attempt to answer during my 9 day lunar new year break on the beautiful island. Me and THH have arrived since some days and are now in a kind of Japanese themed hotel room in Hualien Taiwans Eastern capital.First things first we have spent our first days in the biggest and capital city Taipei whi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-771886.html