Something old, something new

I was starting to think it didn't exist. That 'authentic' and 'Taiwan' were destined to be apart forever. But there does exist a town that is more than just skyscrapers and abused natural landscapes.

Lukang is the latern capitol of Taiwan. Shopowners there have been making traditional laturns and running the family business for decades. The streets are crowned with the colorful fruits of their craft.

Old Market Road

There are houses on the side streets, not just shops selling plastic junk. The occasional tree even makes an appearance. If you get lost on a back road, you end up in a farm, not a traffic accident.

Sun Moon Lake

Sun Moon Lake is the largest freshwater body in Taiwan. But if you've ever been to Panajachel, Guatemala, it is a giant overdeveloped let down.
The lake is great if you prefer a theme park to actual nature. For some reason 'lakehouse' and 'skyscraper' don't go hand in hand in my mind...even if they are some of the most opportunistic sky scrapers around.
The most interesting feature of the lake is the color of the water itself. I'm guessing that limestone from the surrounding mountains gives the water it's unique turquoise hue

Sun Moon Lake

Street Food

It's reasonable to budget $5 a day for food. Maybe $6 if you want to splurge and get a fancy desert.

I don't know what most of this stuff is. Do you?

Lunch is most fun because there are soooo many street vendors. You can pick and choose items as you wander among the stalls.

Most people have heard of escargo, tripe, and chicken feet, but the Taiwanese eat some crazy things. Whole fried crabs seem to be popular along the coasts... but I can't figure out how you eat them. What looks like wall insulation is actually shredded pork. If you don't know what it is, it's probably pork of some sort. They even grill it thin sheets - not at all like bacon, more like home made paper.

Don't be alarmed, they're just man-eating goldfish

At some point, you need to visit Guanziling. It is one of only a handful of places in the world where the hot springs spit up muddy water. I spent the day soaking in water cloudy with minerals and mud.

There are hot pools and cold pools.
Swim pools and soak pools.
Mud masks, body scrubs and more.
But to cap off the evening, you simply must see
the goldfish that nibble your feet.

On the way out, there is a pool of goldfish that eat any dead skin that is ready to come off your feet. They're no bigger than a few inches long but they're not shy. If you can get over the fact that they've trained the fish to eat people, its actually a fun and tickly experience.

Got Incense?

Tainan has temples everywhere in the city! I walked around for a few hours and saw 10 different ones inside of a few hours. They cover everything from good luck, to the god of war, to fertility (Maggie's not allowed in that one), to heaven and hell.

At first, the incense was nice. And subtle. But as the day wore on and more people came to worship, the clouds grew thicker. I found myself wishing for one of those face masks that everyone wears. Or better yet, scuba gear. I may need to get my lungs scraped.

Lady Linshui's Temple

Butterflies

I made it to Maolin in one piece. And was rewarded for my efforts by being able to visit the wintering site of 10-15 million of purple butterflies in the Dawu Mountain Range.

Purple Butterfly caught in flight

The only other place in the world where butterflies migrate like this is in the Monarch Butterfly Valleys of Mexico. It takes the butterflies from March to November to fly here from all over Taiwan.

It's 9 am an the sun finally makes it over the Dawu Mountains

The Road to Nowhere

Take a good look at the picture below. That's the road I was driving on in Maolin. No signs. No lights. Nothing but that set of orange poles to let you know that the road you've been driving on for the past half hour is about to take you over the side of a cliff.

Taiwan has a loose sense of what a road, let along a highway, should be. Let me go back to earlier in the day to explain:

I spent most of my day trying to drive from Kaohsiung to Yushan National Park, to an area called Maolin. According to both Google Maps and the paper map (in Chinese) I purchased, highway 10 should have extended most of the way there. About halfway through my drive, however, 10 ended. I mean to say T-boned another road at a stop light. The highway. Stopped at a light. No signs. Not even a "good luck trying to figure this out you silly American". I'll cut to the good part.

I soon found myself driving the wrong way down the middle of a highway. It was exciting to say the least. Lucky for you, I'm still alive to write this blog.

Stinky Tofu Poisoning

Yesterday was the first day of Chinese New Year! The city was all lit up, especially around Lotus Pond, which I arrived to explore as the sun was setting. Along the road, hundreds of stalls were set up selling mostly food, but also toys and trinkets. I made the mistake of sampling a few things I'd seen around Taiwan. Or it could have been the Stinky Tofu.

In many parts of Taiwan, a certain smell seeps through the city streets. At first, being a westerner, I thought it was raw sewage. It turns out it's Stinky Tofu.

Stinky Tofu is not what it's really called (I hope). But it does in fact smell like shit. I'm not exercising creative license. I wish I were. It seems to be a very popular dish and thus permeates most cities in Taiwan, or at least that's been my experience thus far.

Determined to emerse myself in culture, I ordered some from a vendor last night. I should have trusted my instinct, or at the very least, my nose.

Lesson learned. I woke up this morning with food poisoning - The dreaded scourge of the international traveller. It's not the worse case I've ever had, but it's bad enough to keep me in bed, or hugging the toilet.

Feel the burn

Yuli is an unremarkable city on the east coast of Taiwan. The only reason people bother to come here is for the Yushan National Park and it's well publicized Walami Trail. What they conveniently forget to tell you is how much of a bitch it is to get there.

It's not that it's far, its that there are no god damn signs. And the few there are, point in the wrong direction.

Having no transportation of my own, I decided to rent a bicycle. You remember those... the things with the incredibly painful seat.

So of course, I got lost. Three times. And did I mention the Walami Trail is well into the mountains. I rode over 30 miles today... into the mountains... that's 15 miles up hill.

I shouldn't admit this, but I even managed to flip my bike on the way down. I'm sporting a very not sexy burn mark on my chin and massive bruises on each thigh, as welll as shredded palms.

Thank you Dad, for teaching me how to...

I got locked out of my hostel at 5am.

I had to go to the train station to buy my next ticket and because of Chinse New Year, I wanted to get there early. I figured someone would be up by the time I got back. Alas, I would be sadly mistaken.

When I was a girl, my Dad often bestowed random pieces of practical (and questionable) knowledge. I rarely asked how he learned these things; "Do as I say, not as I do," was one of his favorite warnings. So when he showed me how to open a locked door using several common items, I took the lesson to heart.

I had my pocket knife (thank you Tuck for insisting I always carry one), so I managed to get the door open with surprising ease - making me question the general safety of the place.

Next stop, Yuli.

Trial By Fire in Taroko Gorge

Or should I say rain.

I've arrived safely in Taiwan. But it didn't really hit me until yesterday that I was here. Once you've seen one city, you've seen them all. And for those of you who have been to Boston's Chinatown..... there would be no surprises for you in Taipei or Hualien.

Taroko Gorge was an hour or so ride outside Hualien (the largest city on the east coast). This was my first experience on a scooter. I felt like I was riding the short bus. The thing was awkward and slow and about as sexy as...well...riding the short bus. Riding in the rain was painful to say the least.

The weather let up when I arrived at the gorge, if anything, the clouds added to the atmosphere. The best part of the day was hiking down to a natural hot spring and splashing around.