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  TOP THINGS TO DO IN Taipei, Taiwan The capital of Taiwan! It’s a big bustling city surrounded by many options for eventful day trips. We spent about four days here. It was more than enough for non-rushed sightseeing and a single, packed day trip outside the city. The buses, trains, and subway make getting around really easy. Ample eating options everywhere make it a foodie mecca. Here are some of the top things to do and our highlights: > Shifen Waterfall - We did a day trip out to Shifen from Taipei via train. It took about 2 hours to get there with one train change at Ruifang Train Station. Once we arrived in Shifen, we walked through the small town which is full of vendors selling souvenirs, food, and lanterns. The waterfalls are approximately 1.5 miles from the town and there are plenty of scooter rentals and taxis you can take to get close to the trail head. I’d say it’s a pretty easy walk since you only have to navigate some stairs, walk across some fun suspension bri...

  TOP THINGS TO DO IN Hualian City , Taiwan Hualien made it onto our list because of Taroko Gorge National Park. The photos we saw on other blogs and sites made it look amazing. And, even though our expectations were in the clouds, we were not let down.  > Taroko National Park - The park was absolutely gorgeous (pun intended)! There a number of hikes you can do all directly or indirectly serviced by the public buses that travel  through the park. You can pick up buses from either Hualien or Xincheng station. Each bus has its own pass and you can’t use one on the other. Another thing to note about the park is that many hikes are closed during heavy rains. You can find the full list of hikes and conditions here: https://www.taroko.gov.tw/en/Tourism/DayHikes . If it has been raining for a few days or it’s heavily raining on the day you decide to visit you may be limited in which hikes you’ll be able to do. Also, the famous narrow bridges you see in many people’s pictu...

  TOP THINGS TO DO IN CHISHANG, TAIWAN ( Chishang, Taitung ) Although it was mosquito central, we really enjoyed our stay in this small town on the east side of Taiwan. It’s become famous in recent years due to an EVA Air commercial that was filmed along the towns rice paddies. Every day, people rent bikes, ride along the rice paddies, and take a picture at the tree ( https://goo.gl/maps/ipRLgLpLGheWEb577 ) and view featured in the commercial. The best part of Chishang is that you’ll find very few foreign tourists there. It’s mostly locals from neighboring cities and towns on a weekend getaway. Our first evening there, we didn’t see any other foreigners! Exploring some of the smaller streets, you start to get more of a feel for what rural Taiwan looks like. Here are some of our highlights from this awesome little town: > Brown Boulevard - This is the main “sight-to-see” road among the many biking paths in Chishang. It’s the road that has the famous Takeshita tree from which the ...

  TOP THINGS TO DO IN Kaohsiung, Taiwan We heard from friends and read on blogs that Kaohsiung is a must-see on a trip around Taiwan, but after checking out the major sites to see on online blogs we decided not to spend too much time here. We simply used Kaohsiung as a “stopover” to break up our trip from Chishang to Taichung. We caught an early train (~8AM) from Chishang to Kaohsiung and then booked another train around 6PM from Kaohsiung to Taichung. That left us about six hours to explore the area. The one thing we originally really wanted to do was visit the 佛光山西來寺 Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple (Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/8NvGXw2EKUxc91zb8 ), but we ended up deciding to srcap the plan because the town itself had a few things we wanted to cover and transport to/from Fo Guang Shan would’ve made catching our train a little tight. Here’s what did end up doing: > Dragon & Tiger Pagodas @ Lotus Pond - Perhaps the two most reviewed sites in Kaohsiung are the Dragon and T...

  TOP THINGS TO DO IN Taichung, Taiwan We scheduled a couple of days in Taichung to relax before heading to our next country. Like Chishang and some of the other stops, we only spent a few days here. Based on other blog we read, we didn’t see too many things of interest. So we just focused our time on walking around the city, taking it in, and trying to get a feel for it before we left. Taichung definitely felt like a big city, but still much more relaxed than Taipei. The central train station itself is a beautiful building with some fun large sculptures outside. Perpendicular to the station, what feels like the main street of Taichung shoots off down into the city. Along the street are shops as far as the eye can see. Here are a few of the highlights from our stay in Taichung. > Rainbow Village - This is a small housing block (it feels like 7-8 small house-like structures) that all have been colorfully painted. The story is that this old veteran’s village was painted by one of ...

  TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO TAIWAN ( Taiwan ) >> AREA OVERVIEW Taiwan is off the south eastern coast of China, north of the Philippines and due east of Hong Kong. It’s an oval shaped island that’s about 230 miles long from north to south and 90 miles wide from east to west. On the east is one of the country’s most beautiful national parks, Taroko. To the south you’ll find some beaches and a haven for surfers. On the west and to the north you’ll find Taiwan’s biggest cities. Most itineraries visit Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohshiung - all along the north and west. If you’ve got more time, then throw in Taroko National Park on the east along with a beach visit down south. >> BRIEF HISTORY Although originally brought under colonial rule by the Dutch, mainland China ruled Taiwan early on. Japan then took over china, but control was ceded back to China at the end of WWII. After losing a civil war in China, the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan and set up shop there. While...