It was a day to learn. Not only about photography, but about our buddy Tony. Funny how your mind does this double take when you meet one side of someone only to find out about the other later. The mental one is much more difficult to shake off than the visual. Especially in my case when I knew Tony as a well versed poet. Don’t get me wrong, I knew he did photography. And in fact, it was kinda his day job. But still, every other person in this stupid world does some sort of photography. All I was hoping for was some tips to take crisp vibrant pictures. What I got was a day with a seasoned photographer. Come to think of it, the word photographer puts him in a class he really doesn’t belong. He’s an artist.

I guess I should have known this reading his works, the little I had read. But I wear the badge of the clueless, which means I’ve figure this out months later. After all the clues are laid out and my mind has tired of watching the little circus in my head. And more than likely, I’ve only hit the tip of the ice berg.

But let’s move on to the day.

We wandered around Outer Richmond. The perfect setting if you want both the rank concrete abodes and well groomed greens of tourist spots within walking distance. The day was sunny. Unfortunately, it was one of those deceptive San Francisco days where the cold air surrounds you waiting for the wind to start its invasion through your layers. That equated to less people around on a Sunday afternoon. Still, I learned about aperture settings and even the justification to use intelligent auto (iA) in spite of the elite photographers. Even learned more about ISO settings and why I should just travel around with a tripod my entire life. Because even if I had the ability to stop time and adjust my camera settings in dark settings, I’d still have a problem keeping my hands still to take the shot. And no, even though I don’t consider myself a photographer, I hate using a flash.

I know, I picked up camera tips that I would have read about. That is, if I found myself reading photography magazines or manuals. But who wants to spend time on that when you got great novelists out there like Murakami and Sedaris. I’d most likely read a Frank Cho comic before reading up on what all the letters on my dial meant. Really.

But what I learned the most from Tony was more about the food for the creative mind, which meant drinks at the bar. What can I say? It was a successful day.

These are such fun versatile cameras to bring along trips. Okay, so there’s no view finder out of the box. Want one, just get it. Otherwise it’s great. People can easily use it to capture you and your party at great places. And if you’re worried they’d run off with it, no worries. Those Sony NEX cameras pull in more money off the streets. No one wants these little known cameras. “Panasonic? Don’t they make TVs?” Let’s keep these Lumix cameras out of the lime light please.

Well, I’ll keep this post light and sweet. Google the camera and you’ll read plenty of reviews. My view is form someone who wants to take pictures and work on films. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, both of these recording methods are used on trips (as you may notice on my other pages). So let’s get some quick details about the camera out of the way.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1X 16 MP Micro 4/3 Camera

• with the 14-42mm X Power Zoom Lens
• 16MP DSLR-Like Image Quality, Features, and Lens Options
• Full HD Vide1080/60i – AVCHD/MP6
• Built-in Flash, Hotshoe, and Traditional Mode Dial

Compared to my old GF-1:

• It’s considerably less clunky, yet not danty like the other cameras in its class.
• The auto focus is faster and more exact, especially with the touch screen.
• That grip makes a world of difference.
• Loved the len’s…
• Power O.I.S. (image stabilization)
• motorized zoom for smooth video shots
• compactness

Now these are my issues with the camera, not quite from the viewpoint of a hardcore photographer:

• I hate the leather neck strap. Period. It carves into your neck after a while.
• The zoom and focus levers take some getting used to. Makes you miss the precision of manual rings.
• Start up of the camera is considerable slower than the GF-1. Very important to catch that moment and if you choose video, you will get hit with a “Please wait” before you start recording.
• Only 60fps interlaced, with the sensor outputting 30fps. That’s right, frame doubling once again.
• Probably due to the above reason, there seems to be a lag before the sound is captured in videos. Here’s a sample of a clip:

Overall, it’s a slight improvement as the ultimate travel companion. Although, for photography, it’s a full step in a better direction. It also took quite a beating. FYI, I don’t buy protective cases. These technological marvels were engineered with punishment in mind and these cameras, including my GF-1, are resilient.

Even with these problems I pointed out, the GX-1 is traveling with me. I’ll learn to be a bit more patient powering up. The size and the grip really do make it easier to handle. Weird huh? But if you’re looking to upgrade, I would wait. I’d still use my GF-1 if I known I could return my camera. Oh wellz.

Taiwan has the largest number of night markets. These are places where road side boutiques and street food come together, a popular place for local friends to meet and eat. So expect large crowds on the weekends.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m a fan of these places. Strange though, given how much I hate crowds and long lines to eat. But there’s something about the revelry that puts you in a good mood. Enough to make you tolerate those nagging questions like “What if this isn’t good?” or “Let’s try that instead.” Nope. For some reason, I felt fine standing right there. Maybe these establishments help you appreciate the finer things in life, like the company with you. Whatever it magic it may be here’s my run down of the night markets. Wish I had time to hit them all.

So this is a run down of the ones I have visited during the trip…

Chenghuang Temple Night Market 城隍廟夜市 (City God Temple), Hsinchu

Highlights:

• Next to the temple, inside the little food court, you can catch a Chinese theater act.
• Within a busy district where you can explore non-night-market like shops when you’re exhausted of street food.

Caution:

• There are alot of vendors selling Bawan and rice noodles. I’m not a fan of either, but it might be because I didn’t have the best. Hard to tell which vendor to choose from.

Hua Yuan Night Market 花園夜市 (Flower Garden), Tainan

Highlights:

• It’s in a large open area and if it’s breezy, you won’t smell of BBQ and the scent of stinky tofu gets whisked away.
• One half is food and the other is shopping and games.
• Everything is within one square so you don’t have to walk too much and you can cut through.

Caution:

• It’s only open on specific days, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. So even Thursday was crowded.
• The coffin toast and Danzai noodles aren’t good here.
• Expect parking to be tough by car. Get here by either taxi or scooter.

Liuhe Night Market 六合夜市, Kaohsiung

Highlights:

• The poster child of night markets, with food vendors lining the sidewalks between opposing storefronts.
• The street is closed off to traffic.
• A good range of food, from your typical land meats to seafood.
• If you’re adventurous, there’s a place to try snake.

Caution:

• Many vendors sell the same thing no matter how unique it looks.

Ziqiang Night Market 自強路夜市, Hualien

Highlights:

• Try the coffin toast here. Find the crowds and you’ll find the right place.
• Very happy with the grilled seafood vendor – a bit pricey though.

Caution:

• It’s a small night market compared to others
• The popular grilled meats vendor was just okay. I may have expected too much.
• No clothing stalls here (I’m personally fine with that), but does have games.

Luodong Night Market 羅東夜市, Luodong

Highlights:

• Covers many streets and you can still find food as you go by small boutiques.
• It’s within walking distance to the train station.
• Try the lamb noodle soup. It was a pleasant surprise. There’s also copy cat restaurants.
• Try the deep fried green onion wonton.

Caution:

• Be prepare for scooters as they are allowed through the small market streets.

I wish I could say I knew the city of Yilan, because that was where we wanted to go after Hualien. However, we ended up staying in Jaoxi, a town one stop north of Yilan. It was a hot spring town and we stayed at a hot spring hotel that had an outdoor unisex (bathing suits required) hot pool, inside hot pools, and private room hot spring baths. Really good stay given the amount of relaxation due from all the traveling. It felt good to do nothing and soak in a hot tub of natural mineral rich water that was also odorless. None of that sulfurous stank you can safely pass gas in. Nope. This smelled of hot bath and lazy slumber.

And for going out, we actually headed to Loudong, a town one stop south of Yilan. This place was notorious for their night market, which we tried and I loved. But this was also where we decided to rent a car to check local attractions. First was the Rabbit Pencil Factory. Not much of a museum, but the gift shop did carry some unique looking pencils. I had to buy some for some creative friends back home. If you didn’t make an appointment, like we did, to tour the factory, the place would be small. Tiny. You’re confined to one room, being the gift shop, and the other room paying tribute to the history of the factory. Within fifteen minutes we were off to the National Center for Traditional Arts. Not my sorta thing given we’ve been to the real old towns on our trip. This place was a cleaned up artificial looking old town and a major tourist trap to suck the bills out of your wallet. Just to summarize, you have to pay for parking and pay for entrance. Inside, you’ll see fabricated old town architecture housing, you guessed it, gift shops selling you taffy and “traditional” paraphernalia. And by the way, no pictures inside please. Ugh. Well, if capitalism has gotten you down, no fret. Sit down at the old town Starbucks and grab a lunch box from 7-11. They’re definitely looking out for you inside this place. Ooops, let me rephrase that – they’re definitely looking out for what’s inside your wallet inside this place. Defeated we decided to head back to the station.

By the way, we also did the “kissing fish” pool during our stay. If you don’t know about it, it’s these little fish that will help exfoliate skin from your feet. I’ve read about this and decided to try. What I found out was it’s not for the squeamish and definitely not for the ticklish. It only took two or three fish to send me balling, drawing the disapproving stares from the experts. One of them being Vicky. I just couldn’t help it. It’s not every day you get this sort of thing happen to you. And trust me, I really want to be able to do this. The corns on my feet can feed millions.

Sorry Yilan, I will have to stop by next time. For now, it’s back to Taipei to end this around the island trip.

Food:
Good stuff. We tried the Double 3 hot pot chain which was average for Vicky but very good for me. I loved it, and for the price and the amount you get. I loved it. The other memorable time we ate was at, you guessed it, the night market. If you’ve read about the lamb soup place, it’s worth the wait. Not very gamey and you forget you’re eating lamb noodle soup every once in a while. Oh and this area’s known for the green onions. We had this deep fried thing with a green onion mix inside. Very good, but very hot. Wish I took a picture of it to share with you.

Getting Around:
Can’t say, we were driven everywhere.

Overall Feel:
There are sections of mom and pop shops but it has a main area for all your trendy shopping needs. No high end stuff though.

Travel Cost(s):
$39NTD bus ride from Loudong to Taipei
$2300NTD/night hot spring hotel
$800NTD/half-day car rental
$350NTD/day scooter rental
$539NTD meal at Double 3

Although having a chance of rain was worse than it raining all day, it did make for a mystifying view of the Hualien mountains. The way the clouds move around the peaks makes me want to daydream all day. Sometime you couldn’t tell if clouds were swooping down from the skies or billowing up from the mountain side. It was as if a mythical battle had finish and the air was damp of fatigue. And here we were, pack animals, wandering through the battle field in marvel of what was left.

Okay, maybe my imagination took the best of me. But that’s what it felt like here. Especially up in the Taroko Gorge National Park 太魯閣國家公園.

We decided on something different than our usual exploration of a town, a personal driver. But not just a driver, but a tour guide to take us where we wanted to go and learn about what we needed. Great idea given we were tired of exploring and getting caught in the rain (though we still did riding back and forth to the night market). Problem was, our guide only spoke Mandarin so I was only filled in on highlights about the ten spots we visited. So as usual, I played the role of photographer and annoyingly, the videographer. I’m surprised I hadn’t fallen off the cliffs gawking at the 90 degree cliff walls that surrounded us in Taroko. Quite magnificent! We hiked some paths and even made our way down to a natural hot spring where people were already making much use of. The only thing I didn’t like was the local guides (not only ours) were creating “new” landmarks such as, “the sitting frog” or the “half face.” All of which are rock formations that, given the right psychological suggestion, are the proper shapes. But would also be unknown if the highway had not been carved into the mountain. It’s all cloud watching in my book. Just sayin!

The end of the day, we spent pampering ourselves to a two hour foot and body massage. That night was the best night of sleep

Food:

While I can’t rave about the local everyday food, I can certainly say try the Ocean Sunfish. Our driver took us to the “fisherman’s wharf” where you buy fresh fish and take it next door to have it cooked. Kinda like what we did in Kenting. But this place had this fish that had the most interesting texture, close to the chewiness of fish cheek. And it’s intestines were equally as good. If it doesn’t sound appealing, I’d say if you ever want to start being adventurous, start here with this fish. Trust me, get it while you’re here. Not many countries have this.

The Ziqiang Night Market was small, but well worth the visit. The rain fortunately kept the crowds at a minimum. We still waited about 15 minutes for our barbeque skewers which I think you could skip. One of the memorable places was the popular coffin toast place. You’ll know you have the right place by the crowd around the booth. And they also have a seating area. What made this memorable was, if you happen to read my earlier posts, I wasn’t a fan of this stuff. Well, this place let’s you choose your filling. The black pepper steak filling was good! And the bread was nice and dense. About half way through the sandwich, I had to stop to make room for other foods. Glad I did, because the grill seafood shop was a great place to relax, have a beer, and snack on some giant oysters.

Getting Around:
Scooter was an easy way to get around town. To get to the interesting parts, either get a 125cc scooter and be ready for a long ride up the mountains or get a driver. If you think taxi, might as well get a driver for the day. Don’t know about taking the bus.

Overall Feel:
I definitely will be back. Lovely city that’s busy but not too congested. And with the option of getting away to the lovely mountains within half an hour or to the beach in minutes, it’s a trifecta!

Costs:
$568NTD Tze-Chiang train from Fengliao to Hualien (4-hour train)
$2000NTD/night at Royal View Hotel
$350NTD/day scooter rental
$3500NTD personal tour

There were enough people to keep the streets busy though.

Unfortunately, the weather was being unpredictable. At times, it was perfect and other times, we found ourselves driving through the rain. Pretty nerve racking when the rain droplets are pelting your face. But it makes for some nice time lapse footage. We made the best of it. Visiting other parts of Kenting, including a quiet picturesque beach on the other side. Oh how I wanted to stay longer. But alas, it was time to continue our journey.

One of the bad things about going in the off season was that buses don’t run regularly. Shop keepers were kind enough to let us know and offer their transportation services of $300NTD back into Hengchun. As messed up as they were, it did cross my mind to hire them as we sat there for an hour next to the bus sign saying they operate every 15 minutes. Tempting, but luckily Vicky decided to try something out. She got up and simply stuck out her thumb. That’s right, she’s going to try and hitch hike. And by try, I meant would. Within minutes, this kind couple from Pingtung stopped and gave us a ride in a sweet Hybrid Lexus. And to demonstrate how kind Southern Taiwanese people were, not only did they take us into Hengchun, they took us all the way to Fengliao! So I have to mention them in this post because they did so much. Helped us out of a predicament. Cut our travel time ten fold. And gave us a real life account of how wonderful the people of Taiwan are. Thanks again!

Food:
This was a place for fresh seafood! Look for restaurants with fish tanks outside and take your pick. Prices would be higher than the local places but what you get in return was quality seafood. Can’t say much for the sauces they whip it up with, but the textures of fish, shrimp, crabs, and clams rank up there with top restaurants back in the states. Below are some of the dishes we had:

If you wander into old town Hengchun, I’d recommend finding the local places. Yeah, luck would be useful, but in our case, it was good judgement. We were looking at the menu of a nice looking place whose prices shouted “tourist trap.” And with the zero number of patrons inside, it pretty much confirmed it. But next door, behind some blue metal curtains were people slurping down noodles on flimsy plastic chairs and communal metal tables. It was a great meal

My appetite for night markets started to come back, in case you noticed I was getting tired of it. The main street was basically a night market at night. Being the street food snob that I have now become, there wasn’t anything that stood out as spectacular here. Didn’t read up on any must eats either. Tonight was for other street food I see. I finally got to try was that hot dog that looked like a hot dog stuffed inside a hot dog. Oh my. I was braced for a heart attack. But nope, it’s actually a rice sausage and was it so good!

Getting Around:
By bus would be the way we would have traveled if it weren’t the off season. But in the area, I’d recommend traveling by scooter. Car traffic was light and scooters are the most convenient to stop at all the shops. Also, for us, traveling light and by train, get the scooter around the train station. Or else you’d be waiting for at least two buses to get back to the station. And forget about taxis. They’re scarce and overpriced.

Overall Feel:

I’ll predicate my statement by saying I love beach towns. This one’s definitely commercialized but still small enough to enjoy. Plus if you’re adventurous, there are other parts in the area to see. The wind can make it hard to scooter to the other parts. Still, good to have options. But I’d have to say I wouldn’t like this place during the busy season.

Costs:
$250NTD bus ride to Kenting (2.5 hours)
$1800NTD night at the ocean facing hotel
$2300NTD fresh seafood feast on the main street of Kenting
$150NTD local shop lunch feast in Hengchun
$400NTD day scooter rental

There was a miscalculation in our plans. We took the train to Pingtung City before we realized it was easier to take the bus from Kaohsiung. Instead of doubling back or even continuing south, gambling on catching a bus in Fangliao, we decided to stay a night in Pingtung. What we were looking for was a place that was cheap and close to the station. What we got was a “love” hotel, something we Americans would call a roadside motel, but this was far superior. I’ve walked by these places in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Always wondered what they were like being able to stay hours rather than nights. In our case, we were staying the night. Wow. Why can’t we stay at these places normally!?!? It had an individual garage, king size bed, big screen TV, jacuzzi with a TV, and porn! I’d give this place a 5-star review if I could. Or maybe rather than night markets, I should be checking out the best love hotels in each city. I smell a new Travel Channel show.

Food:
Not much to say since we stayed in. We did order from Mos Burger and found out they do delivery. There was no reason to leave the hotel now. Junk food and porn all night long! Anyways, Mos Burger was good. It’s a hamburger with rice patties for buns. Kinda like a spam musubi minus all the saltiness. They also serve “normal” burgers with bread. But why try that when we have good ole burgers back home.

Getting Around:
We taxi’d to the hotel. There are plenty of taxis to take from the train station.

Overall Feel:
Given we only stayed here for the night, I don’t really have much to say about this town.

Costs:
$45NTD by Tze-Chiang train from Kaohsiung to Pingtung
$1759NTD night at the love hotel

We didn’t expect much from Kaohsiung. It was going to be another town on our expedited journey to Kenting. What a miscalculation on our part. I definitely wanted to see more of this city. For starters, the Liuhe Night Market 六合夜市 was good, filled with competing food stalls. That led to some good king prawn eating, freshly cooked and I mean fresh. They were swimming and skewered right before you eyes. Not for the squeamish. But in the end, definitely worth it. Firm and tasty meat after you pull off those hot shells. However, besides the fresh seafood it was a typical night market setting. Not saying it’s not worth a visit. It definitely was. For me though, I’m getting my fill of night market foods, not to mention the pounds. My arteries were hating me.

The really surprising thing was how new parts of the city were. They have this Dream Mall that housed a little amusement park on the roof. Pretty cool and I have to state, for the record, that I was forced into the giant Hello Kitty Ferris Wheel. Really! But hey, it’s no London Eye. It does tower over the city sitting on top of a ten story shopping mall. The rooftop would be a hang out for me back in my younger years (a long long time ago). The stores inside we all modern with high end shops and even some specialty pop brands like a 7-Eleven Open-Jung 小將 store. If you have no idea what that is, look it up. I had to. Nice to see the Hello Kitty shop next door get some competition. Not that I care. I was dumbfounded that a market for all the paraphernalia existed. Yet, I was even more confused by the amount of people at this strikingly lavish mall. There wasn’t that many. Even the movie theater floor felt empty. It was a Friday night! Strange. And let’s not blame it on the economy. From what I have been told an ex-president’s administration had been pouring money into the city. Nothing can go wrong with that, right?

I’m not going to talk politics here.

What I will talk about was our biking around town. Very good thing to do in this town. It may have been the fact that it was Sunday and there was less traffic, but getting around town on a bike was easy. Oh yeah, we had also taken it to the night market the day before. I’d recommend doing this in this town. We made our way from our hotel, who lent us the bikes free of charge (if you want more notes about the awesome place, feel free to send me an email), over to the old British Consulate building and came across a field of abandoned railway stops to a warehouse of art galleries. Definitely wish I knew about it to bye tickets for some of the exhibitions there. That’s what I get for not reading up on this city.

Food:
Food here was good. Back to traditional Taiwanese food, but with more emphasis on seafood. I’d avoid the $100NTD Izakaya style shops unless you know a local to recommend some nice shops. That’s $100NTD a dish. After having a whole meal for under this price at good local shops, it’s hard to pay more for mediocre bar food. Get out to the night market instead of the happy hour places.

And if you’re hungry in the morning, try a Taiwanese breakfast. It’ll only set you back $94NTD. And what you see above was for two people. But don’t expect it to be mind blowing. It’s meant to be carb heavy to get you through the day.

Getting Around:
By taxi, but mostly by bike. Decent bike paths by Love River. On the roads, be mindful. Cars don’t yield like they do in the states.

Overall Feel:
Great city. Can’t imagine how it’ll feel in the summer. But it’s a modern metropolis filled with expensive shops like your Prada and Louis Vuitton. Not my thing, but definitely my kind of town.

Costs:
$75NTD by normal train from Tainan to Kaoshiung (about 55 minutes)
$2380NTD night at the R&R Hotel (surprisingly upgraded to a 4 person suite)
$100-$125NTD for taxi rides to the train station

The first thing we did after arriving, renting a scooter, and checking in was to go check out the Hua Yuan (Flower Garden) Night Market 花園夜市. It’s only open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Being Thursday night, it was our lucky day. Unfortunately, it was lucky for everyone else who loved this market. I can see why. It’s out in the open, like in a large parking lot and was split between food, shopping, and games. We stuck to the food area like everyone else. The place was packed and you pretty much had to eat standing or walking around. There were places to sit but they were for specific stalls if you ordered from them. There was a good variety of foods, including the local favorite Coffin Toast 棺材板 and Danzai Noodles 擔仔麵. After trying it here, I wasn’t a fan, but thankfully there were other foods we tried, like, grilled conch, pork cutlet, stinky tofu, skewered lamb, and deep fried king mushrooms (my favorite!). Sorry I don’t have the Chinese names for them. I’m too lazy to look them up. But the main good thing about this market was what I mentioned earlier. It was out in the open-open, not cramped into city streets surrounded by buildings. So by the end of your eating frenzy, you’re properly aired out and cleansed of that nasty stuff you just tried out. Now if they could do something about stinky tofu breath!

The next day we went into the Anping District (Old Tainan) 安平區. Highly recommended. Plenty of vendor stalls for your tourist trap needs. I usually avoid them, but I saw a mini Coffin Toast stall which I say is how you should eat the stuff. So let me clarify. I’m not a fan of Coffin Toast, but mini Coffin Toast I do like. The right balance of breading and that potpie filler stuff. Anyways, I hate digressing back into food. That’s what the food section below is for. Back to Anping. You can see the famous fort and stuff but the real fun was getting lost in the neighborhood. Okay, you really can’t get lost, but you want to feel like you are so when you stumble upon a small historical building it’s amazing. You can read all about it’s history on a plaque outside and wonder if the people living around there were just designating themselves as historic. Because I know I would. Still it’s cool to walk through the area. We found old Japanese style houses and small temples.

Our favorite find was Haishan Guan 海山館, a recently renovated building combining old time architecture with cartoon pop flare. I’m not sure what the purpose of the building was for. I think it used to be a hostel, but now it’s a place for people to come play and, I guess, to buy things like I did, some nice little lion-like figurines. The people were great and offered to ship them for me since we were traveling like. My way of “back packing” through Taiwan.

We spent most of the day walking through old town. It’s a shame we didn’t see the other side of town. This will do though. Tainan will be this old town with great little places you can find by scooter. Yeah, it felt pretty safe riding in this town. Not so much by traffic laws, but by safety in numbers. There appears to be a larger number of two wheelers in this town that others. And I have to say, they were nicer. And we were your average, but apparently not annoying, tourist by asking our fellow motorists for directions. Not even an eye roll.

Tainan, I will be back to know you more. You supply the alcohol and I’ll bring my drinking habit.

Food:
Don’t really like the lighter/sweeter taste of the Tainan food. There was nothing I tried that a year from now I’ll be craving to have again. The Coffin Toast would be memorable though. It’s a chicken pot pie, with other stuff, and in a better deep fried crust, but still, it’s pot pie. Sorry, I never was a fan of it. The good food was your neighborhood local food. Try out the seafood. They may deep fry most of it but it’s worth the taste.

Getting Around:
Safely around by scooter.

Overall Feel:
Great city. Big, dirty, but warm with character and history. Definitely worth revisiting.

Travel Cost(s):
$105NTD by Tze-Chiang train from Taiching to Tainan to (limited express)
$350NTD scooter rental (50cc for a day)
$1650NTD night at a three star hotel

I love the train systems in Taiwan. The run regularly to every major city and this was just the normal railway. There’s the high speed railway which I haven’t tried out yet. Moving from place to place within one or two hours on the Tze-Chiang, limited express, trains were fine for us. I didn’t even go for the tourist railway pass, which is similar to the JR Railway Pass in Japan. The one in Taiwan seemed affordable, but doesn’t allow you to go on the express trains we were taking. People with the pass were allowed to take the trains the stopped at every stop. While a nice way to see the smaller cities of Taiwan, it wasn’t very time effective.

The trains were nice – comfy, with room to stretch your legs and a little raised foot rest. Airlines should take a look into adding these. If you’re hungry, you’re allowed to bring food on and eat. And if you need to do your thing, there are decent rest rooms (with toilets!) and a sink for every car. Not a bad way to travel. Luckily no one brought stinky tofu on board.

We took the train to Taichung. A nice big city that felt like a Taipei minus half the people and fancy new buildings. I read about this nice little tea house, Wu Wei Cao Tang Tea House 無為草堂, from http://mykafkaesquelife.blogspot.com/ and I have to say, it was worth getting to. It’s situated in this commercial area filled with retail shops and modern restaurants. It was a quiet getaway with a labyrinth of wooden stairs and hallways to the various tea rooms overlooking the Koi pond. We had lunch here and looked into what to do in Tainan. I really wanted to stay and check out the night market here, but we were on a tighter schedule. We only stayed around for five hours and it was back on the train.

Food:

Definitely good. There are some great specialty shops, like pig’s feet with rice. You’ll find shops everywhere for this. Sounds crazy, but give these fatty and gelatinous things a try. I tried them braised and they were great and filled with dietary guilt.

Try the Suncakes 太阳饼 too. They’re light flaky pastries and be sure to have them with tea.

Getting Around:
By cab you’re looking at about $100 – $125NTD per trip from district to district.

Overall Feel:
Felt like a big city I want to come back to. I didn’t spend too much time here so I definitely want to come back. I hear there’s a night life scene I need to see, but it feels more of a eating and shopping town.

Travel Cost(s):
$197NTD by Tze-Chiang train from Hsinchu to Taichung (limited express)
$20NTD locker