AROUND THE ISLAND OF TAIWAN IN 9 DAYS

AROUND TAIWAN IN NINE DAYS

INTRODUCTION
This was mostly an independently booked and arranged holiday of TAIWAN, but because of the high costs of flight tickets from OSAKA, (JAPAN) to TAIPEI we booked a package tour of TAIPEI. This included return flights, transfer from the airport to our hotel, two nights Bed and Breakfast at the Cosmos Hotel and a Full Day tour of Taipei which included lunch and dinner. We then extended our stay in Taiwan for a total of 9 days.
DAY ONE
We arrived at TAOYUAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, TAIPEI, on time at around 9PM, where we were transferred to our centrally located hotel in approx 40 minutes. The Cosmos Hotel was perfectly located next to Taipei Railway Station. Restaurants were now closed or in the process of closing so we bought some snacks at Starbucks Coffee and 7eleven just across the road from the hotel.
DAY TWO
We started the day with an eat as much as you like buffet breakfast which had a large selection of both asian and western food.
Today was our full day coach tour of Taipei included in the tour package. First stop was a visit to the National Palace Museum this was followed by the changing of the guards at Marthyr’s Shrine. After a shop for souvenir shopping it was time for lunch. We had a pre set meal of Shorompo and Gyoza at Din Tai Fung restaurant in the city.
The afternoon started with a journey to just outside the city to Jioufen/ Jiufen/ Chiufen/ Kyufen. Tis is believed Hayao Miyazaki (Japanese animated Film Writer) included some scenes in his Jibiri Animated film Spirited Away.
We then travelled back into the city for some duty free shopping and then we finished the tour with dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant.
We continue our day by having a courtesy car pick us up at the restaurant at 8PM and take us to have a 30 minutes foot massage. The courtesy car then took us to our requested destination the Taipei 101 tower. A lift to the viewing observation floor at the top cost (400 TWD).
We returned to our hotel by using the MRT (subway/underground). It is just six stops on the MRT to Taipei Central Station.
DAY THREE
We left Taipei for Sun Moon Lake. We purchased Kuo Kuang Bus tickets for the 9AM departure from Taipei West Bus Station to Shueishe (490 TWD). Leaving the Cosmos hotel you walk pass the MRT and Railway Station and then pass Taipei East Bus Station before arriving at Taipei West Bus Station.
We arrived at Shueishe the main town on the banks of Sun Moon Lake at 1.30PM and checked into our small family run hotel, MIN REN HOTEL (1,200 TWD without breakfast), which is located just across the road from the Tourist Information and where the Bus stops.
We immediately left our luggage in our room and headed for the lake, we just made it for the 2PM lake cruise (TWD300). We first went ashore at Ita Thao staying for 30 minutes, the to Syuanguang Temple for 20 mnute stop and then we had a 10 minute stay on Lalu Island in Sun Moon Lake. The boat returned to Shueishe after 100 minutes.
It was a rather showery afternoon and so when we arrived back at Shueishe we took a walk around the town and on the boardwalks beside the lake trying to dodge the rain.
Later we had a coffee at Starbucks and dinner at a small restaurant opposite the Hotel Del Lapa.
DAY FOUR
Today we awoke to sunshine, so we changed our plan to visit the Formosa Aboriginal Village at nearby Puli and instead stay near Sun Moon Lake and enjoy the scenery of this area before departing later in the day.
We had breakfast at a café on the boardwalk by the landing platforms of the lake cruises. They had a small selection of both Asian and western food.
At 9AM we brought stamps to send postcards to Japan (10 TWD).
We then went back to the hotel packed our luggage and by 10AM checkout time had the backs stored at the reception for later.
At 10.30AM we took the local bus from Shueishe to Wenwu Temple (22 TWD single) a journey of just 5 minutes. We spent quite some time at this large and impressive temple and enjoyed the view of Sun Moon Lake from this elevated position. We also took the 366 steps down to the lakeside before taking the 2.25PM bus back to Shueishe.
At 3.20PM we left Shueishe and Sun Moon Lake on a Nantou Bus to Taichung (200 TWD) arriving at Taichung Railway Station at 5.35PM. We immediately bought train tickets to Chiayi / Kagi (225 TWD). The train departed at 6.18PM and arrived at Chiayi / Kagi 7.36PM.
We had no accommodation booked so we visited at least six basic hotels located close to the railway station viewing their available rooms and finally deciding on the Yes Hotel (600 TWD). This information regarding many basic hotels located close to the railway station was found in a blog on the internet.
We then went out to eat the local food speciality of Chiayi / Kagi Turkey Rice (30 TWD a bowl). You will sometimes notice outside the cafes they display a picture of a Turkey. The local Taiwanese people I don’t think understand turkey in English and will instead say to you big chicken.
DAY FIVE
We took the Alishan Mountain Train from Chiayi / Kagi to Alishan. This was a mid week day so we were expecting only one train at lunchtime but when we arrived at the station to purchase tickets at 9.15 AM we found that for the next month APRIL into MAY there would be two trains per day departing at 10AM and 1.25PM.
We purchased tickets for the 10AM train (399 TWD + 150 TWD fee to enter Alishan Forest area) and quickly returned to our hotel to get our luggage.
The Alishan mountain train ticket office is located outside the station and separate from the main ticket office for trains throughout Taiwan and is open from 8AM to 5PM. When you enter Chiayi / Kagi Station you will be on platform 1 and trains departing this platform will be in front of you. To locate the Alishan Mountain Train you then need to turn right and walk about 50 metres. Facing you, you will see a sign Alishan Mountain train, the train will be behind the sign.
Currently and for the foreseeable future the train travels as far as Zhangnaoliao station where due to a landside which as taken away the track the train terminates. You are then required to take a 500 metre hike along a sometimes narrow and uneven path to an awaiting second train the other side of the landslide that will take you to Alishan. I would suggest that you travel with rucksacks as this would be much more suitable than suitcases.
The second train stopped for a few minutes at Fenchihu station. This allowed us to purchase our second bento of our holiday the first was at Taichung station awaiting our train to arrive, when a lady from Fenchihu came aboard the train selling these food boxes. It maybe possible but would need to have this confirmed that you could leave this train and visit the village of Fenchihu and continue your journey to Alishan on the later train. This of course depends on there being a second train and if your ticket is valid for transferring to the second train.
The train arrived at Alishan at 2.40PM and we first checked into our hotel the K F Kaofeng Hotel (84 USD without breakfast) which is a short walk away from the station and throught the Alishan car parking area. We booked this room at the K F Kaofeng Hotel on a Japanese website PELICAN TRAVEL.NET
The remainder of the afternoon we took a walk around Alishan Village and parts of the Mountain Recreation Area and later in the evening had a Taiwanese hotpot dinner at The Great Beauty of Rihchu Restaurant in Alishan Village.

DAY SIX
The hotel gave us an early morning call at 3.20AM, giving us one hour to catch the 30 minute train journey from Alishan station up to Jushan / Chusan Station, where after a 10 minute walk you reach the sunrise viewing platform. Our sunrise was much better than we expected following the previous day outbreaks of rain and misty condition but then it wasn’t perfect with some high cloud cover. We had some sea of clouds but this soon melted away as soon as the sun rose at 5.40AM.
The train departed at 6.10AM for the return to Alishan (100 TWD single, 150 TWD return). Back at Alishan we had breakfast at Starbucks Coffee and then had a look and purchased some souvenirs and a further look around the village this time in the sunshine.
We checked out of our hotel at the requested 10AM. We purchased tickets at 7eleven for the coach back to Chiayi / Kagi which departed at 11.10AM (204 TWD). We arrived at Chiayi / Kagi Railway Station at 1.10PM and immediately purchased train tickets for the journey south to Kaohsiung / Takao (248 TWD). We got seats on the 10minute delayed 1.29PM train which arrived at Kaohsiung / Takao just before 3PM.
We stayed the night at King Town Hotel (JPN 6,400) perfectly located across the road from the REAR exit of the Railway Station. We checked in and left our luggage in our rooms and went to a nearby Hair Salon to have a Taiwan Shampoo (150 TWD female, 180 TWD male). This took 30-40 minutes.
We then took the MRT (20 TWD single) from Kaohsiung / Takao Railway Station to Yanchengpu Station which is just a 5 minute walk to the Love River. To reach the MRT station from the King Town Hotel you need to walk through the Railway Station to the front exit. To allow you to do this you need to receive from the hotel reception two passes per person these are free of charge.
After a short walk beside the river we had diner overlooking the Love River at the Predestination Hong Kong Tea Restaurant. We finished our long day with a 20 minute Love river cruise (80 TWD).

DAY SEVEN
Buffet breakfast was served from 6.40AM with a mixture of Western and Asian food although some selections were running out by 7.15AM.
At 7.45AM we went to the Railway Station to buy tickets for the 11.25AM direct trai to Hualien / Karen but this train was fully booked so we bought tickets for the 12.05PM to Taitung (364 TWD) arriving at 2.38PM then departing Taitung at 3.20PM for Hualien / Karen (355 TWD). With these train tickets bought the remainder of the morning we spent at Lotus Pond, Zuoying area of Kaohsiung / Takao. This is where you will find the Spring & Autumn Pavillions, the Dragon & Tiger Pagodas (both of which you are asked for a donation) and many temples including the Confucius temple on or alongside Lotus Pond. We travelled to Lotus Pond by MRT (25 TWD single) using Zuoying MRT Station
We arrived back at our hotel to collect our luggage, check-out and catch our onward train journey north to Hualien / Karen. It was a 6 hour journey which included a 40 minute wait at Taitung. After leaving Taitung at Guanshan Station we had our 3rd and final bento of our holiday when a lady came aboard the train selling these food boxes.
We arrived at Hualien / Karen at 6PM where we were met by our accommodation owners who took us to their centrally located property rather than their 2nd out of town property. In the evening we first went to a Wonton Soup soup/café made famous in Taiwan by the visit of a Chinese Prime Minster family member. We then watched an Aboriginal Tribe open air dance show, finally ending the evening at the Shorumpo shop/café recommended by the Ximyi or Shimyi (the name of our accommodation) owner.


DAY EIGHT
Today we had a full day tour of Hualien / Karen but mostly Taroko Gorge by Ximyi owner using his people carrier car. This tour was conducted in Japanese for us and two Japanese lads (1500 TWD).
Before the tour started at 9AM we visited the large street market in Hualien / Karen looking at the meat, fish and vegetables for sale and purchasing for ourselves some fruit to make an exotic fruit breakfast. This included Apple Mango, Wax Apple and Custard Apple. Just as we left for our tour we received our stamps which we ordered the previous night and had made overnight.
First stop on the tour was the Der Yen Beach Park on the Hualien / Karen Seafront, then onto the site of the Hsincheng Old Shrine. A small statue of Mary marks the site where people have been buried before the Chinese took over from the Japanese reign in 1945. We then stopped at the coast to see The Cingshui Cliffs before entering Taroko Gorge.
We stopped at the Central Goss Island Highway East Entrance Gate then we took a walk along the Shakadang Trail. We then walked through Swallows Grotto and then stopped at a Heeling Rock Face. We then walked through Chiuchudung (tunnel of nine turns). We then had a break for lunch near the Grand Formosa Hotel in Tiansiang.
After lunch we visited Wen Tian Siang Park before heading back down the gorge. We walked along the Lyushui Trail and walked across the gorge on a rope bridge. We then stopped at Cihmu Bridge and finally our last stop The Eternal Spring Changchun Shrine. We ended the tour at Hualien / Karen Railway Station at 5.15PM.
We bought tickets for the 5.40PM train to Taipei (445 TWD) arriving at 7.55PM. We checked into the Cosmos Hotel where we stayed at the start of our holiday (JPN 8,700 buffet breakfast included) collected our souvenirs from reception which we had left before embarking on travelling around the island on Day three.
Late at night we had a courtesy car ride which hotel reception arranged for us to have a 90 minute Body Massage (1500 TWD) and a free 20 minute Foot Massage.

DAY NINE
After our Buffet breakfast at the Cosmos Hotel we went to Taipei EAST Bus Station which is just passed the MRT Station to take a bus to Taoyuan International Airport (125 TWD). Buses leave every 15-20 minutes. We took the 10.30AM arriving at Terminal 2 after a short stop at Terminal 1 at 11.15AM for our return flight back to Osaka, Japan.