Yes, we’ve been here before, and we had so much fun we just had to come back.
Taiwan is our first warmer weather location, designed to be a warm-up so we don’t get temperature shock when we arrive in 90°F Thailand. If you’re following along: Sapporo was 15°F → Taiwan 70°F → Thailand 90°F. But this isn’t about Thailand, this is about Taiwan.
We were in Taiwan for a total of 10 days with one major goal: get out of Taipei and see more of the country.
Fun Fact! Mainland China now uses simplified Chinese characters for writing, but Taiwan still uses traditional Chinese characters. Somewhere in the switch-up, somebody messed up with the Arabic spelling of Taipei, as it should actually be pronounced “Tai-Bei.” This fun fact is specifically for my Mom—the linguist.
Arriving in Taipei
We arrived in Taipei and had two days there to settle. We had the worst travel day—well, not the worst, but a slightly inconvenient one—as there was no food available in the airport from 6:30am when we arrived all the way to 9:15am when our plane took off. So when we landed at 2:30pm, we had not eaten anything. And me being the cold-weather girl was NOT out in this HEAT, still wearing my bundled-up clothes from Sapporo. I could’ve changed and solved the problem, but THAT DID NOT OCCUR TO ME. So poor Ryker had to deal with a hungry and overheating Meg for the whole 2 hours it took to get to our hostel.
Our main accomplishments over the next day and a half in Taipei consisted of: making a plan for Taiwan, eating Din Tai Fung (yes it’s basic, but it’s on everyone’s list for a reason, and I don’t regret a dollar—they are Xiao Long Bao MASTERS. Also, they have chocolate dumplings that were so good I forgot who I was and where I was), and getting some really cool rings.
📍 See my very nice hand-drawn map to see the route we planned!
Taichung - The Disaster
We left Taipei, which is in the very north of the island, and headed to Taichung via the High Speed Rail—which is, by the way, awesome (47 mins to do an over 2-hour drive).
Fun Fact! Taichung is the second largest city in Taiwan and the founding place of bubble tea.
I had all sorts of plans for what to do with our one day in the city, but they were all shattered.
I had booked a very cheap hotel room—it was only one night, right? WRONG. Our hotel was on the 4th story of a mall. That’s right, like a shopping mall. When we arrived, the lights in the lobby were off and it was a check-yourself-in-on-a-giant-tablet situation. Very dystopian, and we were getting very weird, very off vibes. But again, “It’s only one night,” we thought.
Picture this (I will also add a picture): we enter the room. No windows. A weird, like, interview setup in the corner. Odd. We decided to give ourselves some blob time and just watch some YouTube in bed. I had already noticed some off signs—the floor was dirty, there was a toenail on the bedside table.
We were in the bed for a total of only 30 mins or so, and I started to feel a bit itchy. I got out of the bed and looked down to make eye contact with the world’s most uninvited guest. It was not a vampire but a teeny tiny red bed bug. Gross. A BED BUG. A FREAKING BED BUG. I leaped out of the bed and made Ryker look.
Ryker pulled up his best friend to help consult on what to do in this situation: Niguel JR. (Who is Niguel JR, you may ask? Niguel JR is what I call Ryker’s ChatGPT instance, as my dad’s is called Niguel.)
With some input from Niguel JR, we inspected the bed to find it full of black hair—and for those of you following, both of us are blond. Double gross. The only saving grace is that our bags were still closed and far away from the bed and therefore not contaminated, but our clothes and shoes were. We bagged our clothes and shoes using the garbage bags in the room and changed on the hard surfaces in the bathroom—where we learned bed bugs cannot live. Niguel JR recommended against asking for a new room and to just jump to a new hotel. It was 7pm at night. I booked the first one I saw within walking distance after I read a review that said “immaculately clean.”
We went downstairs and used Google Translate and demanded a refund. We got one and went to the other hotel. Have no fear—we rid ourselves of the tiny monstrosities with a trip to the laundromat and an industrial dryer running on high for 45 mins.
Later in the trip, we called Paul—our good friend who lived in Taipei for about a year and showed us around the first time we were there. When we told him of the calamity we had endured, he had a special fun fact that made everything much clearer. You see, it turns out Taichung is a big mob city, and they run a number of hotels designed for short-term, limited use. You know, the kind where one person is getting money at the end and the other may or may not end up with STDs. So we not only encountered bed bugs but accidentally stayed in a probably-run-by-the-mob sex dungeon.
You know how I mentioned I was getting into writing Google reviews? Well, you bet your buttons what happened next. Ryker and I reviewed this hotel on every platform, doing our duty to let the public know what happened. And guess what these slimy suckers did? THEY’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET MY REVIEWS REMOVED. AND I’M STILL CURRENTLY FIGHTING WITH BOOKING.COM ABOUT IT. JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED, I SWEAR IT.
Also in Taichung, we went to a really cool night market designed for scooters, but we were walking, and I had the best fried chicken of my life. They even included bits of fried Thai basil and slices of garlic!
Puli
We left Taichung midday and Ryker did something very exciting—a first for him. He rented a car! I had nothing to do with this and did not help at all. I also didn’t drive the whole four days we had the car. Why? Because that is a blue job, and I did my pink job of navigating and finding fun places to stop and see along the way.
Leaving Taichung, we went a tiny bit north to the Dakeng hiking trail, which is a series of interconnected trails. By hiking trails, I mean very steep stairs. In September of this year, Ryker and I—along with my Dad and Shelley—will be hiking from one coast of England to the other coast, a 192-mile stretch. So this year we plan on doing lots of hiking, especially with elevation, so we can be in good enough shape to keep up with my Dad and Shelley. The hike was a steep and short one. We had gorgeous views.
Next, Ryker drove us up and over a mountain range on skinny twisting roads. It took 90 mins to reach the town of Puli, known for paper crafts and the Puli Brewery that makes Shaoxing wine.
We visited the Puli Brewery and were the only ones there. I was hoping to be able to do a tasting of their wines, but we arrived too close to closing. After a quick walk around and using Google Translate on the wines, we bought the one that translated to “good wine” on the label.
This is where I should’ve done more research. See, what I grabbed was not in fact drinking wine but a cooking wine. So when Ryker and I took a sip, we were greeted by a fermented soy-sauce flavor and a sesame/peanut aftertaste. Ryker promptly dumped the rest down the drain.
Sun Moon Lake
Sun Moon Lake was beautiful. Meg and I spent two days here. The first day was walking and driving around the lake. We stopped there on the first morning—the sun was shining and we parked alongside the most epic temple either of us have ever seen (Wen Wu Temple). From here we made our way to a gondola that went several hundred feet above the ground near Sun Moon Lake. Also important to mention—this part of Taiwan is very mountainous. Many hills and windy roads. Such an amazing view from way up top!
From Sun Moon Lake, we drove nearby to Matt’s parents’ B&B. Meg’s BFF is Sofia. Sofia’s college best friend is Paul. Matt is Paul’s husband. Matt is from Taiwan. Matt’s parents are retired interior designers that own a B&B near Sun Moon Lake. We show up at the B&B and see an older man who looks awfully similar to Matt. We drop our backpacks and ask if he is Matt’s dad… confused, we say it again… you know… your son??? Matt!???… Paul?? “OH! YOU KNOW MATT?” Apparently Matt was a little busy and forgot to tell his parents that we were coming. LOL.
After some fun conversations and getting acquainted, we get upgraded to the best room in the B&B (since we were also the only people staying there at the time). We get checked in and spend the evening relaxing on the beautiful property, followed by a half-hour walk to get dinner. The B&B’s local dog followed us the entire walk to the restaurant… her name was Anna.
The next morning, we got up and hopped into our Toyota Yaris. We drove 15 min down to the lakeside town. In our heads, Meg and I were expecting a badass biking around the lake—with hills, beautiful scenery. That morning was misty, so it was going to make a very cool vibe… We got to the bike rental shop and they essentially had 3 options: 1) e-bikes, 2) cruisers, 3) dinky mountain bikes that were made for 12-year-olds. We hopped on the dinky mountain bikes for a grand total of $6 per person. We also found out that you aren’t allowed to bike around the entire lake. Only about ¼ of it is allowed for biking, at least according to the bike rental shop… This was not living up to our dreams at all. HAHAHA.
Coming back to the B&B, we had made plans to have dinner with Matt’s family. They took us to a local traditional Taiwanese restaurant. The food was really well done but was not exactly what Meg and I are used to… one could say. Cold boiled chicken over rice? Pork belly… but only FAT… it was so soft, it just “melted” in your mouth… unfortunately I didn’t want it in my mouth, but we smiled, laughed, and ATE ALL THAT WAS PUT IN FRONT OF US. Doing our best as guests.
That next morning, we were on our way…
Back to Taipei
At this point, we were ready to head to Bangkok and eat some Thai food. However, we still had two more sensational things planned:
Matt! At this point, we had met Matt’s entire family, but we had not yet seen Matt. We met Matt on an afternoon and got some hot pot—thank God he was there. Ryker and I were not brave enough to order hot pot by ourselves.
It—like most of the food we have had—was delicious. Only quirk we’ve noticed about Chinese food or Taiwanese food is that the shrimp is served whole, head and all, and you kinda have to fully take it apart and take out that one odd little black strip. That serves to be a little bit difficult. The absolute best part was dessert. They had perfectly cooked sweet potatoes that were dipped in crystallized sugar—so imagine fully candied sweet potatoes covered in a clear sugar glaze that was hard.
This was also our first time hanging out with Matt without Paul or Sofia there, and it was great to get to know him better. We found out that he, at one point, was a member of the Church of Scientology.
Overall, an amazing dinner and so much fun to see Matt and meet his family.
Alex Honnold! Alex Honnold is a rock climber, most famous for free soloing (which means climbing without ropes) El Cap in Yosemite National Park in the documentary Free Solo. To put that in perspective, he climbed up over 4,000 ft of sheer granite in under four hours, without a rope. That was not enough for Alex—he needed more. It just so happens he was in Taipei the same time as us to free solo the Taipei 101.
It was epic to watch. The climb started just after 9 AM, and Ryker and I took a taxi to the Taipei 101, which dropped us right in the front, right next to Alex and his van. We got to see him climb out and say goodbye to his wife, and then we joined the crowds of people to watch him climb. My stomach was in my throat. I was so nervous even just watching him, but knowing he had a wife and two little kids made the whole thing very nerve-racking. But Alex was showboating the whole time—turning around and smiling. At the very top, he would hold on with just his legs and turn around and smile and wave to the crowd.
After watching close-up for a little while, we decided to walk a couple blocks back. As we were walking back, we could still see him as a little tiny blip climbing up the building in his red shirt. We eventually settled at a café to watch the rest of the climb via livestream. It felt like the whole city had stopped and slowed down to watch him climb. Every single person in this coffee shop had their phones up, also watching the livestream. And when he finally completed it, there was applause throughout the city.
Well, at the start of our journey, we were not planning on spending 10 days in Taiwan, but we’re so excited that we got to see Alex climb and spend time with some amazing people and see more of the country!
Our Favorites
- Raohe Night Market!
- Ningxia Night Market (pineapple buns)
- Daily Noodle in Taichung!
- Lover’s B&B in Sun Moon Lake!
- NK Hostel in Taipei!
Thanks for reading about our Taiwan adventure!
