Taiwan – Maz On The Road

Two Wheels, One Gondola (Me, Myself and I at Sun Moon Lake)

March 28, 2026March 28, 2026Posted in Asia, Taiwan, TravelTagged backpacking, solo travel, Taiwan, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

What a mysterious name! I had prebooked the bus from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake after locals told me everything would be booked up for the upcoming Lunar New Year. It wasn’t really necessary as the bus wasn’t full but I actually quite enjoyed having a few days with everything booked and just following my own itinerary! It took about 3-4 hours on a comfy bus with a gorgeous view, to reach the SML bus station. The transport centre was actually on the other side of the lake to my hostel (Owl Hostel) and all buses stop at 17.00. A man approached me and asked “Ita Thao?” I said no, assuming this was the name of someone he was picking up. He asked me again like he really thought it was me. I said no again. After realising there were no buses (it was 17.30) I went to enquire about a taxi. The same man appeared and asked for the address. “Ita Thao!” he said. Turns out that’s the name of the village where the hostels are: he probably thought I was mad or very stupid. But he paired me up with a Chinese woman and her mum and drove us all around to the other side of the lake at half the price of a standard taxi. At the hostel there was another guy checking in who was on the same bus as me and he had paid twice as much so I did feel a bit smug.

I went to wander around the harbour area where a small night market had set up. I got some vegan tofu sticks with a spicy sauce and a bag of freshly cut liquorice flavoured guava for dinner.

*Night market goodies: liquorice guava, moon grapes (not sure what they were), another unknown fruit and BBQ tofu*

The Owl Hostel also had free proper coffee and lovely rooftop to enjoy it. It was extremely clean and well organised. You’d expect it to be fully booked but it was really quiet as have been most places so far, although it was the first hostel in Taiwan where I met some other Western travellers to go for dinner or hang out on the rooftop with. Everyone agreed they have had mostly solitary experiences travelling in Taiwan. It’s just not on the usual backpacking route.

The owl (as in the bird) is significant here. They are considered to be the sacred spirit animal of the Thao indigenous people. Similar to the sunrise and sunset outings in Alishan, a rite of passage at Sun Moon Lake is to hire a bicycle and cycle around the lake. There are also temples and a cable car to keep anyone busy for a couple of days.

If there is a cable car then I have to take it. The “Sun Moon Lake Ropeway” goes up to the Observation Tower of the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village. It took solo travel to another level – not only was I allocated my own gondola but I was asked to choose which one I wanted. I chose the one with pink cherry blossom as this was clearly the one the attendant wanted me to pick.

It takes 7 minutes to reach the top, and time goes very slowly when you have it all to yourself. I had expected that there would be at least a viewpoint at the top or something to look at, but it’s literally just a station where you get off, and a turnstile for paid entrance to the ‘Culture Village’ which looked more like a theme park to me. There are fences blocking out the view so other than a few souvenir shops there’s literally nothing to do except turn around and go back down again. I still enjoyed it for the novelty of choosing which gondola I wanted and the views over the lake were beautiful. It felt pretty high up, so probably not one for anyone not keen on heights.

Gondola views

I decided to take the boat over to the other side of the lake instead of cycling the whole circuit, and to treat myself to lunch at a backpacker cafe. I soon changed my mind about not seeing any other Westerners after listening to some annoying, loud American backpackers discussing their latest tattoos and paying over the odds for a coffee.

There are bicylce rental places all around the place and it’s easy to negotiate a half day for a really nice bike. I really enjoyed seeing all the other solo travellers whizzing past on their bikes – you can’t really get lost, although I managed to go the wrong way through the town. I had been a bit nervous about cycling with traffic but this soon goes away!

The scenery is really lovely, especially as there’s a dedicated cycle path for most of it over wooden pathways, through some shaded areas but never far from the blue water. It passes the huge Xiangshan “recreation area” with its modern architecture and oat milk ice cream for a little break. There is no need to lock your bike here, in fact you don’t even get a lock with the bike. It’s amazing to just park up, leave the bike (I also left my hoodie just so I’d recognise the bike again), go for a wander and not worry about it being there when you get back.

The Xiangshang section of the route’s claim to fame is that it’s listed as one of the “Top 10 Most Beautiful Bicycle Trails in the World” (not sure what the source is for that). This section connects the Shuishe Dam to Visitor Centre, a highlight being the 400m “Waterfront Bikeway” that is elevated above the lake. I probably could have carried on all the way around the full 20 mile loop but I only had the bike for a half a day so got the ferry back across in time for a sunset beer on the roof terrace, some takeaway tofu soup and an evening stroll.

If I came back to Sun Moon Lake I would stay longer as it’s a nice place to chill for a bit, and there are more temples to visit. But I’d booked my next leg of travel in order to get to Taipei for my flight to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year. The next morning after breakfast at a little stall that sold toast and peanut butter for less than £1 and who gave me a free cup of homemade sweet soya milk to try, I got the bus back around to the transport centre to board my pre-booked bus straight to the Western city of Taichung, to spend the afternoon there before a pre-booked bullet train to the capital.

*I didn’t notice this sign until I was a quarter of the way in and wondered why everyone was walking*

It was Friday 13th and three things went wrong. Firstly after a smooth bus ride there, where by chance I was sitting behind the same Chinese woman and her mum who I had shared a taxi with on arrival (we said hello and waved goodbye), I was halfway to stashing my bag at Taichung train station when I realised I didn’t have my coat. I needed my coat for Hong Kong and for when I got home and it’s the most expensive item I had with me. I practically ran to the tourist information office at the train station who advised me to go in person to the bus depot, but not to worry they had a lost property. This is Taiwan after all, where people leave their laptops on cafe tables while they go to the bathroom. Sure enough after putting my bags in a locker, I explained the situation at the bus depot with the help of Google translate (at first they thought I had missed my bus), they phoned the driver and happily told me “the driver has seen your jacket”. I waited ten mins until he dropped it off.

I didn’t have the energy to see anything of Taitung, it was hot and I was now carrying around a coat so I made the most of some downtime in a cafe. Back at the train station a few hours later, the second mishap occurred – I went to get my bags from the locker and it asked me to enter the passcode from the receipt. The receipt that I didn’t actually take when I closed the locker that morning. There was a rather strict sign stating that there was a fine for losing the code but again I explained the situation and a nice lady opened it up for me with no cost.

Thirdly, I was waiting on the platform that evening for my reserved train and thought it was a bit odd that the train was late – trains are never late here. Despite asking for directions earlier, I had somehow gone to the wrong platform and waited like an idiot for a train that had already departed from the other side. But the guard said no problem, if you miss your reserved train you can just get on the next one in the unreserved carriage. It was actually full this time with everyone going home for the New Year so I had to stand for part of the one hour journey, but I was so grateful to be on it I didn’t care.

Trying to cycle and video at the same time

Disasters averted, I arrived back in Taipei after a whirlwind 2 week trip around Taiwan and checked into a party hostel filled with 20 somethings on their first backpacking trip …

The Day I Caught The Train: Sea of Clouds, Giant Trees and Solitude (Alishan National Park)

March 26, 2026Posted in Asia, Taiwan, TravelTagged Alishan National Forest, Asia, backpacking, hiking, nature, solo travel, Taiwan, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

The next few days of this trip were the ones that needed some advanced planning. Firstly the Alishan National Forest: the most iconic way to get to this forest high up in the mountains in the centre of Taiwan is to ride the scenic Alishan Forest Railway. This is a narrow gauge railway that runs through the Alishan mountains and high-altitude forests. However, getting a ticket for this is like getting a ticket for the Sri Lanka Ella train all over again (throwback to when Original Travel Companion Helen and I tried and failed to even get on the train, being the only ones left standing on the platform after the locals piled in). Tickets are released online 60 days in advance but sell out immediately. A blog called “Taiwan Obsessed” has been invaluable in telling me how to practically do things. It mentioned that you might need to try over 100 times to buy the ticket online (no joke), or a better option might be to buy a bus ticket as a backup and try your luck to get a train ticket closer to the time. To buy the bus ticket, you go to a Family Mart convenience store and use an ATM-like machine, all in Chinese, to print a receipt which you take to the counter and pay for in return for the bus ticket. I managed to do this only by following screenshots from the blog, matching them up to the Chinese text on the machine, of which there were at least 7 screens to click through and some blind faith that I was actually purchasing a bus ticket.

With bus ticket in hand I for once arrived early at the bus stop before the 8.30 departure. I had almost convinced myself that taking the 3 hour bus up to Alishan would be perfectly fine – it’s faster by two hours, cheaper and the scenery would still be beautiful, and the train was probably overrated…. But from the bus stop I could see the Alishan Forest Railway ticket booth. Surely it was worth a try? I ran over and asked the lady if they by any chance had any tickets for the train today. You’re very lucky, she said, we have one window seat left. It takes five hours as it includes a one hour lunch stop at Fenqihu Station. I handed over the money and got my golden ticket.

*Golden ticket, Alishan map, Hotel notices*

I headed back to the train station and when the ticket attendants asked me “Alishan train?” as they had done every time I passed though, this time I said YES which a huge smile on my face. The historic train trundled into the station at 10.00 and I took my single seat by the window and settled in. It was hands down the best train ride I have ever taken and worth every Taiwanese dollar of the extra £14. The train gradually climbs up from 30 metres above sea level to 2,216 metres, goes through 47 tunnels and over 72 bridges. The narrow gauge railway line alternates between hugging the edge of the mountain (looking out the window was literally looking down into the valleys over the mountain edge) and cutting through the middle via the tunnels. It even has some English commentary.

Three hours flew by before we reached Fenqihu Station at an altitude of 1,400 metres. My heart sang as I got off to explore Old Street with its weird and wonderful snacks. I tried the sweetest and most intense ginger tea (see photo below for the ginger being roasted) and picked up the traditional bento box for a picnic lunch looking out over the mountains. It didn’t even feel overcrowded as the train holds just 80 passengers and runs only twice per day.

*Delights at Fenqihu Old Street: Greens, Ginger Tea, More Ginger and Something Unknown*

Everyone has lunch, followed by coffee and a local donut then gets back on the train for the last two hours of the journey. I had a chat to a girl who didn’t realise it took 5 hours and was doing the world’s shortest day trip – she’d have to get the return bus about 30 minutes after arriving. Alishan does take a bit of advance planning because there are two things that you absolutely have to do. Firstly go to a viewpoint for sunset, and secondly in the morning everyone, and I mean everyone, gets on the train again to a sunrise point close to Zhushan Station to watch the sun come up through the clouds. As well as follow as many trails as possible of course. So staying overnight is the way to go, although accommodation inside the national park is both expensive and pretty poor value compared to the rest of Taiwan.

View from the train

I decided to stay one night and absorb the extortionate cost of £70 by eating instant noodles for dinner for a few days and buying my coffee from the highest 7-11 convenience store in the country. Staying inside the park means you can join in the sunrise and sunset trips, and have easy access to all of the trails – sometimes convenience is worth the cost.

The higher up we went the more interesting the journey got. The bends became a series of switchbacks, as the turns were otherwise too tight for the train. This means the train moves forward into a dead end, then reverses direction until the next switchback when it changes direction again. Arriving at the main station, music was playing from loud speakers and it felt like being at an Alpine lodge.

*What goes down must go back up again (with luggage)*

The train ticket includes entry to the park and the hotel area is about a 10 minute walk away, down some very steep stairs that are a lot less fun to walk up again with luggage. The Gau Shan Ching Hotel was alright considering some of the pretty terrible reviews – yes it’s dated but it’s clean and yes it was very cold (the sign on the wall said the heating is turned on when it reaches 8 degrees!) but it was a chance to wear all of my clothes at once and the novelty factor of a wakeup call for sunrise. I hadn’t known that you have to buy your sunrise train ticket the day before at 16.00 from the train station ticket office (the exact departure time would be confirmed later in the evening to make sure we get there in plenty of time). With sunrise ticket purchased, I wanted to make the most of the couple of hours of daylight left, so armed with a lovely map I jumped on the tourist shuttle bus and headed straight into the park.

As with everywhere I’ve been in Taiwan, this national park is extremely well organised. You just need to turn up, get a map and make sure you know how to get back out again. Inside the park I was blown away by the size of the trees. They are in fact Giant Trees and it’s impossible to capture their size on camera. There are a number of hikes ranging from shorter strolls along boardwalks to the more challenging which take three hours each way – all have magical sounding names. In fact the whole place is magical. For example, the “Three Generation Trees” and the “Pagoda of the Tree Spirit.”

The “3 Generation Tree” is three generations of Cypress trees that have sprouted from the same root. The 1st generation being the roots lying on the ground, estimated to be 1500 years old. 250 years after the first generation died, a seed drifted onto it and grew into the second generation, and the third generation sprouted another 300 years later. And the “Pagoda of the Tree Spirit” was built in 1935 to “comfort the souls” of the 77 loggers who died on the job as well as the spirits of the 100,000 trees that had been felled.

The lady at the information desk gave me a tip on where to watch the sunset, behind the small Ciyun Temple. There were only a few other people there so it was incredibly peaceful (other than a gigantic hornet type creature that the people who were there confirmed came straight for my head). It was also the most stunning sunset I have ever experienced and that is no exaggeration. The clouds form a sea over the forest, and the sun gradually goes down beneath the clouds but is still visible.

My photos look like they have been edited or enhanced but they have not – it genuinely looked just like this. Since watching the sunset is a rite of passage at Alishan, it doesn’t matter that you need to walk back through the forest after darkness has fallen.

In other facts about Alishan, the Ginkgo tree is considered a living fossil, thought to originate at least 270 million years ago. Its cell-regeneration means that old and young trees remain equally healthy and produce the same fruit, they are also resistant to drought and disease making them close to immortal. One of my favourite trails was the Giant Trees boardwalk which connects 36 ancient, giant Formosan red cypress trees, over 1000 years old. The “number 28 giant tree” is the tallest and oldest tree on the Giant Tree trail. It has a girth of 13.1 meters and is 43.5 meters tall, estimated to be around 1,095 years old. Again it was impossible to capture the size of this on camera. We also have the Sacred Tree (Shenmu) – this 3,000-year-old tree collapsed in 1997 but it’s remnants are preserved near Shenmu Station. And the oldest standing tree, the Shuishan Giant Tree over 2700 years old. There are so many Giant Trees it gets a bit confusing.

There are several restaurants in the recreation area, also slightly overpriced but convenient. Something I hadn’t tried yet was the Hot Pot and one of the restaurants was serving a veggie version, so perfect for dinner. I sat next to a friendly couple who helped me cook it – the waitress simply turns on the individual stove that everyone has at their table and puts down a plate of various raw vegetables.

Hot Pot cooking away

I tried to get some sleep before wake up call at 4.30 am, an hour before the train at 5.30 but it was very, very cold. Getting up, I was freezing but it was really fun to head out in the darkness with everyone else, grab a coffee (you’re allowed to drink on a train here unlike on the metro systems) board the wooden train and follow the crowd to the lookout area.

After the sun has risen all the food hawkers open up their stalls serving hot coffee, ginger tea, steaming buns or sizzling Taiwanese pancakes. Being only 6.30 am I decided to walk back and get in another hike before checking out of the hotel, avoiding the crowds who were mostly taking the train back.

The was also time to try a local snack of two whole sweet potatoes, which makes for a tasty and filling stop gap (but not nearly as delicious as the sweet potato in Japan!). My favourite food in Taiwan has been the spinach and ginger, which a lady at the next table told me is blanched before it’s fried, getting rid of the earthy taste. I have lost count of the times I’ve had lovely conversations when sitting on communal tables.

Alishan also has the first cherry blossoms in bloom, which is wonderful to see. It has been an almost spiritual experience here, exploring the trails, experience sunrise and sunset mostly on my own – there are plenty of local tourists around at the viewpoints so it never feels isolated, but few Westerners and the majority of the trails are pleasantly empty.

After two days, all too soon it was time to get the 3pm tourist bus all the way to my next stop – the mysterious sounding Sun Moon Lake …

Taitung: Nature and Neolithics

March 1, 2026March 20, 2026Posted in Taiwan, TravelTagged backpacking, solo travel, Taitung, Taiwan, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

Taitung was an addition to the itinerary after reading about a national park where you could hike with monkeys and soak in hot springs. I liked Taitung as soon as I got off the train. The sun was shining and there were cute figurines in the garden around the train station. I treated myself to my own room in the lovely Giraffe B&B for £20 a night including breakfast. This got me a beautiful room with two beds, shiny white bathroom and a TV set to BBC news. The housekeeper let me in and asked via Google translate what time I wanted breakfast. It’s located along with the other more budget options close to the train station and regular buses run the 15 minutes to the downtown area.

Taitung has a lot to offer – I could easily have spent more than the couple of days I had. Close to the downtown area there is a big coastal park where walking and cycling paths connect the beach with the city. Follow the paths further and you reach the massive forest reserve with its lakes and bird watching. It’s a popular cycling route and renting a bike would be really nice. The indigenous culture is also much more visible here – more on that later.

To get to the downtown area there are regular buses that take about 20-30 minutes as they literally go all around the houses. Taitung just has a really nice vibe to it. Even the dogs are chilled out. They appear to be street dogs as they are freely wandering around town but they have collars and look cared for.

I found a lovely little vegan food stall called Vegine with a limited number of seats where the owner cooks whatever vegetables and noodles you select from the shop and like at many of the stalls, her children took a break from playing to help bring the food to customers. It was so good I went back twice and ordered two lots of the fried tofu. I’d go back again just for that.

I was about to get the bus back to the B&B when I heard music and discovered a low key night market with a local band playing songs I hadn’t heard before mixed in with some Bon Jovi covers and people from the nearby islands selling local food, crafts and jewellery. Scones filled with hot brown sugar seemed to be the thing. I had wanted to visit the two islands, Green Island and Lanyu (Orchid) Island to learn more about their indigenous culture, but local advice was that it’s too windy in winter and regular boats aren’t running.

*Entrance to the Jhihben Forest Reserve*

The next day I went down to breakfast at the pre-arranged time to find the housekeeper had already put out a plate of food including a chunk of meat and a salad, neither of which I wanted to eat. I explained I only needed the bread and fruit and set off on a day trip via local bus to the Jhihben Forest Reserve. I hoped to stop at the hot springs in the area on the way back. As was becoming usual, I was the only westerner around, with just a few passengers on the bus but the journey was easy enough. After paying the small entry fee you get given a map with a few aptly named options for hiking, like the ‘Brave Climber’s Trail’ and a key that indicates level of experience and effort required. I went for the ‘Forest Bath’ and ‘Scenic Trail’.

Hiking in Taiwan is amazing because you get the trails almost to yourself but there are enough friendly families around and it’s well organised so it’s very safe. Aside from all of the ‘beware snakes and wasps’ signage. Everyone I passed said ‘Welcome to Taiwan’ – a big reason that travelling in Taiwan in general is so great because it’s not overrun with other visitors, there are no tourist prices and nobody rips you Local people are interested to have a chat and go out of their way to help.

The first thing I noticed were the butterflies. There are 100 species in the forest and they swarmed around me, it’s quite magical. As soon as I got higher up into the park I saw the first mammal of the day, the gorgeous ‘Reeve’s muntjacs’ which I watched with a family several times along the trail.

Next up were the Formosan Rock Monkeys. These cute little monkeys were just hanging out in the trees in their groups eating their fruits, rather than trying to steal your food.

Monkeys

The forest is an absolutely idyllic spot. You need a couple of hours to explore the park depending how many trails you do. One part was closed off due to damage, I assume from some sort of natural disaster. The prime spot for the monkey viewing had signs about passing through quickly due to risk of rockfall but the monkey watching was too good a chance to pass up.

There are no food or drink facilities inside but there are toilets and water fountains – in fact there are water fountains everywhere in Taiwan. You never need to buy water. I made the mistake of following Google maps to the hot springs. This meant I got off the bus at a temple car park next to the river which was definitely not a public hot springs spot. I asked some ladies visiting the temple but they misunderstood and thought I wanted to paddle in the river.

By then it started to rain and the only thing I could see was a hot springs resort hotel. They weren’t open until later on that day by which time I’d have missed the bus back – the buses ran at very irregular hours. There is always a solution particularly when you have a strong currency on your side. The nice lady at the hotel made several suggestions including taking a “private spa” for one hour and getting a taxi back all the way to Taitung. This hadn’t even crossed my mind but it cost less than £10 to be driven back door to door. The lady stressed that this type of spa was naked, so I had to use Google translate to confirm that it was indeed a private spa and I wouldn’t be sharing with anyone. It was a truly luxurious experience which would be outrageously expensive if hot springs even existed in the UK.

When I got the bus back from town to my B&B after the long day, as often happens in Taiwan, a lady started chatting to me. She knew some English and told me she was in her 70s and on her way back from meeting up with her sister in a mountain town to see the early cherry blossom blooms. When she learned I was travelling alone around Taiwan she said that’s wonderful, and told me ‘YOLO – you only live once!’. I also had a concerned text message from my B&B saying “We noticed that you didn’t enjoy our breakfast. Would you like a vegan meal?”.

In contrast to the nature, I would highly recommend a day exploring the history of this area visiting the very impressive History Museum and the Peinan burial site. You can do them together but likely need a taxi due to the erratic bus schedule, though the Peinan site is walkable from the train station.

The History Museum takes you through from the creation of Taiwan from a geological perspective through to the movements of the Polynesian people up to the present day culture with influences from all over Asia. What makes Taiwan interesting is the tectonic evolution, namely the collision of the Eurasian and Philippine Sea Plates. According to the museum facts, the Coastal Range is still moving at a speed of 6-13 cm per year relative to the Central Range. During the Ice Age, the Taiwan Strait became land because the sea level dropped, allowing the migration of plants and animals into Taiwan.

Taiwan is also a know as a “place of convergence” due to it’s location – many different ethnic groups and objects have passed through, including the trade of Jade, glass beads and sweet potatoes with China, Southeast Asia and the Austronesian people. The museum has some really good exhibits of indigenous culture. Austronesian people make up less than 2.3% of the population according to when the info was written but they make up 7% of Taiwan’s military and 60% of special forces.

Without turning this into a history lesson, the Peinan site is also fascinating. This a prehistoric culture, with people settling here 5000 years ago. In 1896 a Japanese scholar visited Taitung and photographed the stone pillars. But it wasn’t until 1945 when the Japanese carried out the first excavation. The Peinan Culture is believed to have been active from middle to late Neolithic Period with people leaving the site approximately 1900 years ago – nobody really knows why or where they went though there are theories they went into the mountains.

In 1993 the huge group of slate coffins were excavated – this is the largest excavated slate coffin burial complex in East Asia with over 200 unearthed, including single-body and multi-body burials.

What I liked about this site is that you can walk right around the excavation and look at the walls, the stairs, the ladders, pottery vessels … This brings it more to life. And of course aside from a group of Chinese visitors who were just leaving, I had all it to myself as usual. Next stop, Khaosiung.

Carry On Buses (a bizarre solo experience in Hualien)

February 24, 2026March 20, 2026Posted in Taiwan, TravelTagged Asia, backpacking, solo travel, Taiwan, travel blog1 Comment

The first stop on my route east around Taiwan was Hualien, a couple of hours away from Taipei. The main attraction of this city is the nearby Taroko Gorge which sadly remains almost entirely closed to visitors due to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2024. I had heard that Hualien was a bit of a ghost town and unfortunately the rain didn’t help the already strange vibe of the place. I imagine in better weather it’s lovely with its mountain backdrop but all I could see was low cloud.

The “Hualien Wow” hostel was really good, right opposite the train station and the bargain price of £10 included toast and peanut butter for breakfast. The hostel may have been Wow but Hualien was not. Even the well known night market was a washout – with no buses running that I could find, I walked the 30 mins each way in the rain (the hostels lend you umbrellas or you can just rent one on the street) only to buy some inedible tofu sticks and a pot of sweetcorn. Most of the food on the street markets is fried in some sort of cooking oil that smells rancid – the whiff of it makes me feel sick.

An extremely earnest woman at the bus station information stand told me there was not much point in visiting Taroko, especially in bad weather, as only the visitor centre was accessible. Instead she highly recommended an 8 hour day trip up and down the east coast. The next day it wasn’t raining so I decided to take her advice – it was either that or leave Hualien without doing anything, as there was actually nothing else to do. I arrived at the bus station (conveniently right opposite the train station) 15 minutes before one of the 3 departures of the day hoping I’d still get a seat, and was greeted enthusiastically by an attendant manning the desk. He gave me a ticket from a machine with the number 1 on it, which I thought was a little strange. At 9.30 on the dot a minibus bus pulled up and a little old man got off with a clipboard, wrote down my name and contact details on the first line of his sheet, ushered me into the first seat and off we went. I was the only passenger. It became apparent he didn’t speak any English when he spoke into a translator on his phone in a comedy monotone voice to tell me he would be my guide. It’s ok, I thought, I’ll be getting off at each of the 7 or 8 different stops and can do my own thing.

After about ten minutes his phone told me in its robot voice to get my camera ready as we were going past the world’s biggest building made of Lego (I think), followed by a mountain in the distance that he was very insistent I got a photo of. I obediently got my phone out but had no idea what I was meant to be capturing. What happened next was interesting. Some military tanks drove past with soldiers in camouflage gear standing on top arranged in a circle facing outward with their machine guns pointed right at us. It looked like a scene from a movie. There are some military bases around so I assumed (hoped) it was some sort of drill. I asked my guide who suddenly refused to talk, shaking his head and making a “no comment” sort of gesture. He obviously didn’t want a record of any mention of the military on his phone.

*Waterfall through hole in the bridge road*

We arrived at the first stop, the world’s only fire station that is actually built like a fire hydrant. It’s cool, but you don’t need more than 5 mins to have a look and take a photo. Oh no, said my guide, the departure time is in 25 minutes – I must look at the temple next door, use the squat toilet, then we will take photos and “I’ll show you some wonderful illusions”. I then realised he was going to accompany me on every stop and I’d be participating in the world’s most ridiculous photoshoot. It was going to be a very long day.

Here is me infront of the fire station after he whipped out a hand held mirror and took a photo that gave the illusion of a water reflection. I feigned delight and said oh wow, so clever! He then took a panoramic with me running in a circle so there appeared to be two of me. “Do your parents know you have a twin in Taiwan?” he asked. Once was quite amusing. But at each stop in the drizzle, it got old very fast.

Today was the only day I didn’t bring any snacks. By the time we got to the fishing village for the lunch stop I was starving and it was now pouring down with rain. His instructions that “We will eat lunch at a local fish restaurant and the bus will depart in 90 minutes“ was not what I wanted to hear. I translated that I wanted vegetarian food and suddenly he spoke a few words of English – “OH MY GOD” he said slapping his head, suggesting I walk up the hill as there was a shop that “might sell bread”. The tiny shop at the top did not sell bread or any sort of snack I could identify and the missing-toothed shop owner seems to have no idea what I was asking for – but he did gesture further up the hill. Turns out at the very top there was a restaurant with “Welcome” written in English, several vegetable based options and a lovely lady and her little daughter greeted me with “would you like a beer?”. Yes please.

*One of the few interesting things he pointed out, a fossil*

My guide was a stickler for the official “bus departure time”, which wasn’t for another ten mins so when I got back we had to stand in the rain looking at a mural of whales on the wall and playing a guessing game of which species each of them was and do I have whales in my country. After lunch he told me “This afternoon will not be fun. It is raining”. No kidding. If I wrote about every excruciating stop we made this would be a very long post. I will just mention the best (or worst) three:

1. The Nissan cave. We stopped at the Shimen recreation area where a long path leads to a stunning rocky coastline and a cave. But it was raining, the rocks were slippery and the sea looked ferocious. Ever so often the waves threatened to cover the rocks where we were standing. The guide was in full photographer mode by now. Try following instructions in Chinese to recreate specific poses when you have no reference as to what they are. It’s only when I saw a photo in the recreation area explaining that “The sea-facing opening is called the “March Cave” as it looks like a March (a Nissan car model)” that I realised I was supposed to be driving a car. After I fell over on the rocks trying to reach the next spot I was getting annoyed and told him no more photos. This just annoyed him and he told me crossly that “an American tourist got an amazing photo in that spot”. Good for him.

2. The cliff rescue. For someone who looked about 70 he leapt up the rocky slope to the top of the rocks. After looking over the edge I decided I really didn’t want his photo to be the last one I ever took. But getting down was harder than he made it look, so much so that I got stuck. To add to the ridiculousness of this entire day there was a family a bit lower down who sent their approximately 10 year old son up to fetch me. Unfortunately he appeared to be scared of heights. The poor boy started screaming (no exaggeration) as he tried to reach me while his parents laughed their heads off and took photos of us both. My only regret is that I didn’t video it. The guide just looked disgusted that I didn’t want a photo on the edge.

Not actually as dangerous as it looks

3. The bum shot. Best of all, or worst of all, at an otherwise average viewpoint he started positioning my arms and told me to hold my nose. Again I had no idea why until he showed me the photo. Like other tourists on his camera roll, I am supposed to be pointing at a mountain in the shape of a bottom and holding my nose at the smell. Is that even funny?

I couldn’t hide my annoyance at the end when he wanted me to do the mirror trick myself and I failed the test. He snatched it back and his phone shouted “No! Never drop the mirror!”. The final straw was when I was trying to enjoy my ginger tea whilst praying for the departure time to come around and he asked where my husband was and informed me that he was 66 and not married yet.

I didn’t realise I wasn’t meant to actually climb it til he shouted “No!!!”

Hualien is probably best left until the Taroko Gorge reopens, or perhaps I missed something. Unfortunately I just wanted to get out of the place so I went straight to the train station to secure my train ticket down the coast to Taitun the next day.