Taiwanderer

It's been just about 9months since I arrived in Taiwan. It would be at third time here, and the second time in one year. I loved this place so much that I finally decided to turn my love of the travelling life style into a regular lifestyle, why not live and work in Taiwan!

Taiwan is a small enough island to travel from north to south in almost a day. Two thirds of the island is hard mountain region living and the coasts, mainly the west, are dotted with cities. Thanks to the High Speed Rail that travels up to 300kmph, getting out of the concrete jungle that I call home 5 days a week is totally possible. With the recent acquisition of a third hand scooter, day trips out of Taipei is ever more possible. Weekends here we come!

Taipei is a great liveable city for the average westerner. Public transportation is much cheaper, convenient and easier to use than in my home town of Melbourne, Australia. The MRT trains run every 4-12mins and cost as little as $16NTD and as much as $40NTD - thats less that $2AUD a trip!

It seems, from all the travel blogs I watch on youtube, travelling to a different country is ALL ABOUT FOOD. Taiwan is plentiful and abundant of food. Anytime of the day or night, it is not possible to die of starvation. Thanks to our famous night markets, street vendors and 'mom & pa' stores, authentic, cooked to order, tasty and reasonably priced food is readily available.

Although the food is delicious, it would admit it is hard to stay 'healthy' here. Now I know the word 'healthy' varies according to who you speak to. I mean healthy as, wide range of coloured vegetables and fruit that are not heavily covered in oil or sugar, food with little or no processing involved and meat that does not come frozen from distant lands. Thanks to my slight intolerance to wheat, I also try to stay away from breaded or doughy buns, which is not so fun here in Taiwan as the Taiwanese delight is very starch heavy. I am also get heart burn very easily, so to stay away from oil and beer is very difficult. Taiwanese love their Taiwan Beer, there is nothing but other beers to drink at a bar... unless of course you want to pay double for a syrupy mixed drink where they put lime cordial instead of real lime.

It is true that eating out in Taiwan is cheaper than cooking at home. Some apartments here do not even have a kitchen! That says something, doesn't it! I try my best to cook at home for breakfast and lunch. I make porridge with milk (from questionable sources), organic frozen blueberries and honey from Costco and iHerb. My lunch is an oil fry stir up of chicken and with at least four different coloured vegetables, seasoned with natural greek yoghurt - also from Costco. There are certain things you cannot get here in Taiwan without paying an arm and a leg. These are

- REAL cheese (that actually tastes like cheese, none of this American stuff)
- bacon (that isn't spam)
- yoghurt (that isn't sugared)
- bread (that isn't sweetened)

.........

I realise this blog post has become a massive ranting session which I did not intend at all! My intention was to write about all the amazing things about Taiwan, post pictures and encourage others to join me on this adventure! Let's get back on track shall we!

Speak soon!



If you are interested in a briefing of the political history of Taiwan, here is a bit of research I have done when I first arrived here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VgqqmtdA8lciwG4fIbTSLEcOMPABKjb70iBfaeIF-wU/edit?usp=sharing

Ni Hao Taiwan!

DAY ONE

Rooftop terrace at Taipei Hostel
Xinli shoppiing district
Red bean matcha milk tea
Unconvincing Thai food or Chinese Thai fusion
Tonghua night market - snaked in some street Xiao long bao and sliced mango mango
Taipei 101 for city panoramic night views and jade sculpture education

DAY TWO
Best coffee in Taiwan at Wilbeck near Taipei Main Station
Peace park and tai chi and reflexology
Chats with a local man
Experienced the geospear
Made a Hawaiian friend named Matt
Buffet breakfast
Elephant Mountains for Taipei city day views and surrounding hikes
Underground plaza for claw machine games, rotti with egg
Mirama Shopping Mall eat set meals
+ Ferris wheel
Shilin market with Matt for some pigs in blanket, famous sausage in a sausage, lemon tea, average green tea egg tarts, charcoal pepper corn beef bun, salty sour dough bun cooked in a 40gallon drum of charcoal, played some shooting games and rejected the prizes
Taipei main station Matt try out his Taiwanese eight wheeled skate board

Day three
Traditional Taiwanese breakfast - Chinese omelette, flat rice noodle roll, tea
Had the best pork bun ever
CKS Memorial Hall
Yong Kang - yummiest rotti with the lot, hearty beef noodle soup and dumplings, massage and cupping
Original din tai fung - truffle xlb,red bean xlb, taro buns, Taiwanese beer
Beitou abandons
Raohe market - dumplings, quail egg and prawn, Dragon fruit and mango drink, TARO EGG YOLK CUSTARD BALLS, charcoal pepper pork bun, chicken leg roll,

DAY FOUR
Soy bean restaurant - skipped as line was too long
Pork buns, dumplings and Chinese omelette for breakfast
Travel to keelung
Bus to jiufen for squid sausages, xlb, dorayaki, peanut ice cream wrap, sea snails, Taiwanese beer,iced tea,
Temple for the ghost festival - offered sweet noodles for good luck. Drums and Dragon dances, taking offerings from the dragon, walked home whilst drinking beer on the street

DAY FIVE
Hotel breakfast
Trains to hualien
Walk around the city at night
Stumbled upon a bar with some friendly people.
Celebrated by birthday there, with shots and beers

DAY SIX
Hung over but time for Taroko gorge
waiting for almost two hours getting fucked over by the bus system as the bus never came.
Offered a ride back into the city by a nice man who had been watching us. He was part of Fulon Da fang (?)
Hired a scooter
Walk to night market
Have a painful and expensive massage

DAY SEVEN
Mukumagi conservation area
walked 14kms to clear waters and giant builders. Took a dip.

DAY EIGHT
Catch the TRA to Taichung
MEET UP WITH EVE who had us driven around in her family car
Went to the old street for some famous hot soup noodles and UFOs
Delicious bao zi
See 100-200 year old temples and learn about religious customs
Had original bubble tea
Night market and shopping!
Try stinky tofu,  papaya milk,

DAY NINE
Famous wonton soup and bao zi for breakfast
Science museum and Space Journey
Healthy Hot pot for lunch!
Day market and Gudetama attempts
Sunset at the wetlands and the night scenes at the truck stop
Learning Chinese 'TOILET'
Meeting kili
Skates, beer and beats til midnight at the local park

DAY TEN
Moss burger for breakfast
On our way to the snake Kiln
arrive at Sun Moon Lake
Checked into the five star hotel that is the lalu
had a succulent Chinese meal with amazing views.
Boat rides and raps and mosquito bites
Western meals for dinner and chats until we are the last to leave
Beers and more raps in the hotel room

DAY ELEVEN
Delicious healthy breakfast at the lalu
Make our way to Yunlin to hang out with eves grandma
Afternoon nap in the sunroom
See how the bamboo is cooked
Stroll through the Forrest until it eventually starts to rain
Raps, beer and beats in the hotel room

DAY TWELVE
Sad goodbye at the train station to eve
Take a train to chiayi and a bus to alishan
After 5 hours of travel we finally get to the ancient Forrest
Clouds move swiftly through us,2300m above sea level and we get head aches as we climb. Attitude sickness
Stroll through the park faster than the locals expected
made our way to Fenchihu for a simple dinner and a good nights rest
Fell asleep to the sound of insects and the rain. Really peaceful.
Cute little windy street town. Love it there

DAY THIRTEEN
Healthy hotel breakfast
Make our way to Tainan.
Very tired at this stage so when we arrived at tainan we just walk around the city and eat.
Stayed in a really cute apartment built in the Japanese style in the 1930s. Double story with a very steep and narrow stair up to the second floor with a low ceiling. Toilet located outside of the apartment

DAY FOURTEEN
Woke up to the noise of traffic
Quick breakfast of a sweet sort of kebab and off to tainan high speed rail station for our journey back to Melbourne :)

TAIWAN IN A NUTSHELL
friendly and accomadating people
Google translate will be your friend
Endless supply of food and night markets everyday
Bubble tea, xiang long baos and bao zi
Your choice of cute and girly fashion or fake English fashion
Natural wonders
Temples everywhere, literally everywhere
History and culture stamped everywhere
Sweat rags
Air con is the saviour

Taiwan, Xie La!

Roast Lamb and Potatoes

A 7:30pm dinner

Marinate lamb with rosemary, oil and garlic pieces over night
3:45pm - take out lamb from fridge so it reaches room temperature
4:00pm - preheat oven to 180degrees
4:20pm - put in lamb
6:00pm - wash and cut potatoes into quartes, boil for 10 minutes, drain and shake in pot to roughen edges. heat oil in oven and then put potatoes in
6:15pm - baste lamb with oil
6:30pm - take lamb out from oven and cover with foil to rest
7:00pm - take out potatoes from oven and arrange on lamb tray
7:15pm - leave for phuong's
7:30pm - eat!

thanks Ate

You.

"Not all toxic people are cruel and uncaring. Some of them love us dearly. Many of them have good intentions. Most are toxic to our being simply because their needs and way of existing in the world force us to compromise ourselves and our happiness. They aren’t inherently bad people, but they aren’t the right people for us. And as hard as it is, we have to let them go. Life is hard enough without being around people who bring you down, and as much as you care, you can’t destroy yourself for the sake of someone else. You have to make your wellbeing a priority. Whether that means breaking up with someone you care about, loving a family member from a distance, letting go of a friend, or removing yourself from a situation that feels painful — you have every right to leave and create a safer space for yourself."

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