….. and so on 1 July Helena and Alan arrived at Taipei airport, and to our surprise we came across a wandering kiwi. Yes, Bex’s flight arrived, so after more than 5 months the Quinn family were reunited.
We have been very busy over the past 5 days, including visiting Elephant Mountain, which meant climbing up more than 500 steps to get a great view of the city and the tallest building Taipei 101. On the way back to the hostel we also visited Sun Yat Memorial Hall, Shandao Temple, Taipei 101 and 3 Shopping Malls!!
We also jumped on the local bus #1815 (NT$97 each (NZ$5)) out to travel to Yehliu which was 35 kms away to see the Geopark (NT$120 each (NZ$6)). These really cool rock formations were amazing, and to cap it off we decided to walk over 1.5 kms each way to the end of the peninsula to go to the view point.
Of course we’ve also been eating in markets and local eateries that have included dumplings, noodles, soups, vegetables, rice dishes and beer/ciders (of course) – but our favourite was Li Ji Soy Milk where we went for breakfast which served omelettes, dumplings and savoury pancakes (finished off with hot or cold soy milk).
We left Taipei on 4 July heading south, but had a bit of an issue getting the right train tickets to travel the 360 kms (NT$843 each (NZ$44)), but a train staff member corrected our initial error.
We are half way through our trip to the south of Taiwan to visit Kaohsiung and have been to a number of sights, including temples (Spring and Autumn, Zuoying Yuandi Temple, Wen Chang Ci Temple and Gao Xiong Zuo Temple), the Dome of Light (at Formosa Boulevard Subway), shopping district and Pier 2. This last stop was were we viewed street statues/art that had been created and also painted on the old buildings – this gave us an insight into what Wellington might be like as they had a working ‘light railway system!!’.
Bex has done reall well and has ‘hit the ground running’, walking in temperatures over 34 degrees, with high humidity and by the end of the first 6 days she has joined Alan and Helena walking 78 kms, and walking 126,358 steps).
We still have one more day to go in Kaohsiung (visit a Buddhist University – including a couple of large Buddhas), before we head to Hualien National Park and then return to Taipei. The Taiwanese people are amazingly friendly and helpful, to the point one walked with us for about 10 minutes to makes sure we took a correct exit from a local park.
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