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TAIWAN, reveal your senses
Hear, Smell, Touch, Sight, Taste
Chinese language is full of mystery for foreigners. My friends often asked me : how many characters are required to read newspaper ? How do they type on computer ? Our curiosity is not satisfied with news on TV and newspaper. Nothing else can replace a journey to make one’s own judgement. This is especially true for Taiwan.
We selected this route : Taichung - Sun Moon Lake - Taipei - Tainan to show all the diversity that this island can offer. We always used public transportation on purpose to show how easy it is to travel in Taiwan. No need to bother renting a car. Almost all can be done using the efficient pubic transportation network.
A country full of contrast
We went to the top of Taipei 101, the tallest building in Asia. We were lucky enough as the sky was crystal clear. The day after we took the High Speed Rail called in chinese Gaotie. A brand new modern train going from Taipei to Kaoshiung in 2 hours. We stopped in Tainan to remember the past and discover the alive religious life.
Natural sceneries
Sun Moon Lake is located in Nantou County at around 750 meters above sea level. It is the perfect place to get fresh air in the summer. We choose a week day to avoid weekend congestion. This lake takes its name from its shape : moon on eastern part and sun on western part. In Chinese, moon and month have the same character yue. All events of nuli, the Chinese almanac, are based on the moon. Even today in modern society, many Taiwanese people today still refer to it for daily life. We rented an electrical bike to reach Wen Wu temple : 300 NT$ (7 euros) for three hours. From the top platform we had such a beautiful view all over the lake. The yellow colour of the temple tiles with the emerald colour of the lake, altogether it would have made a good painting. By boat we then reached Lalu island, location of Thao tribe shrine. Thao is the least numerous aboriginal tribe and most of them are living in Itashao... on the eastern part of the lake.
Religious life
What surprises the most here in Tainan is that temples are everywhere. Walking is really the best way to discover the city. Close by the Tian Hou Gong temple we met a group of people coming from the city of my family in law. On arrival they put the god statue in the sedan chair. Before entering the temple, firecrackers are burnt to push away evil spirits who could wander around the entrance. Inside the temple, they take the statue over the incense burner to get magic power. Sometimes people also bring some incense from their temple and mix it with the incense of the mother temple. In Confucius temple, life is much quieter. In Taiwan, life in temples is very active. Many people come here to bring offerings, to burn incense sticks and to do bai bai (moving the incense sticks three times in front of the god statue). I like to seat in a corner and look at them.
Not to be missed : the Dajia Mazu procession going from Dajia to Beigang, or the Baishatun procession going from Baishatun to Singang. These two processions take place in March/April depending on the lunar calendar. People bring their god statue on a sedan chair for a 8 day journey walking hundreds of kilometres. A unique event not to be missed if you have the chance to be in Taiwan at this time.
No doubt, Taiwanese people have a true passion for food. The choice is so wide and surprisingly you can find food everywhere and at anytime. First of all, it is tasty. We tried the following Taiwanese specialities : dumplings in Ding Tai Fung in Taipei, the stinky tofu in Raohe night market, the Three Cup Chicken in Sun Moon Lake, the Tainan pasta, the guotie and shueijiao... You always want to try the food you see. The kitchen are open on the street. First you see people cooking, then you are attracted and you want to try yourself. It adds some sight flavour to the food. In front of a chinese menu, it becomes a bit complicated to choose. Just point your finger and it will work out. I recommend going to stalls where people are waiting ... it often means it is really tasty. Follow local people to make the good choice!
This is probably the place where we experienced the most our five senses. We decided to go to the Raohe night market, in the eastern part of Taipei. The main reason is that the street is full of hundreds of vendors of all kinds. I first tried a special facial massage. The woman uses some threads to remove the dead cells on my face skin. We also tasted the stinky tofu and drank some cold red tea. It such a pleasure for the eyes to see what can be sold in a night market. You can get cheap things, cheap clothes but for me the food is the most interesting. Taiwanese use the expression Re Nao to characterize this atmosphere, full of noise and animated.
Meeting people
Seals are used by Taiwanese people not only for signing a painting but also in daily life, bank, school and administration papers Each Taiwanese has several personal seals with their name carved on it. During our journey we collected seals from all visited places and put them on the Chinese roll. This idea appeared to be very good to meet Taiwanese people. Each time I opened the roll, people say. "Very beautiful". "Good idea". It was the start of a free discussion asking us why we do this, where we are from. Alicia practiced her Chinese. We wrote down the website taiwanbesttrip.net and our name so that they could watch our videos. I am sure that some voted for us too, especially the whole class we met on the train to Shueili. In return, I questioned them about their activities here. It was also a good opportunity to ask for good places to eat!
From all the good time we spent travelling four days in Taiwan, meeting and chatting with Taiwanese people is for sure the best memory we will keep. Despite the language barrier, we always enjoyed time talking with people, and eating ! Travelling in Taiwan is really worth a long visit. Taiwanese people will transform your journey into an unforgettable experience.
I would also recommend to visit :
- Kinmen island
- Penghu island,
- the beautiful Orchid Island,
- the Taroko Gorges,
- the countryside in the north of Taitung,
- the bamboo forest in Sitou.
Our chinese roll with all seals collected during our four day journey in Taiwan.
Click on the picture hereunder to see our route on Googlemap. Then, clic on the camera icon to see the pictures we took. You can also zoom in and find the addresses of the places we stopped at.
http://tiny.cc/taiwanbesttrip
Our visibitliy on internet :
My web pages :
http://site.voila.fr/taiwan/index.html
http://taiwaninside.travelblog.fr
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=93195973794
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99452966@N00/sets/72157622361603357/
http://album-photo.geo.fr/ap/album/24547/
We put our final video on Facebook groups
I ♥ Taiwan (我♥台灣) (45 000 members)
Chinese Food Lovers(77000 members)
Partir en vacances sur une ile paradisiaque (295000 members)
Etre riche et passer son temps à voyager (79000 members)
Cooking (36000 members)
Taiwan (5000 members)
The Largest TAIWAN Facebook Group Ever! ★史上最大台灣群組★ Uniting All Who 愛台灣 (5000 members)
Voyager (1500 members)
We put our final video on these travel websites :
http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=9C8E53E5340AD651
Meiyiii's blog http://meiyiiii.pixnet.net/blog/post/28306118
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqm32C5OGtY
http://www.taiwanmag.net/2009/09/taiwan-best-trip-la-suite/
http://thedailybubbletea.com/2009/07/23/weekly-links-july-23-2009/
http://digg.com/travel_places/Taiwaninside_Our_final_video_for_Taiwan_Best_Trip/who
http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#8r02Tx/www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqm32C5OGtY/topic:Travel
http://twitter.com/taiwaninside
http://www.linternaute.com/video/197322/taiwan-best-trip/
http://www.lepost.fr/article/2009/09/23/1708604_la-culture-chinoise-notre-video-pour-taiwan-best-trip.html
http://www.gowander.com/video-detail.php?id=565&f=42183&u=42183&p=1&o=1
http://mybt.budgettravel.com/_Taiwan-Best-Trip-Final-video/video/793586/21864.html
http://www.vimeo.com/6721760
http://vimeo.com/channels/formosa#6721760
http://videos.ladepeche.fr/video/iLyROoafIJrO.html
http://www.mesvoyages.tv/video-culture-113663-taiwanbesttrip_la_finale?n=1
http://www.onlineadventure.com/videos/Taiwan-Best-Trip--Final-Video/
http://yourtrip.travelchannel.com/clip.aspx?key=9CFA0303C4BA02B4&ctx=myclips&type=video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-Aqm32C5OGtY/taiwaninside_highlights_of_taiwaninside_journey_in_taiwan/
http://www.viddler.com/explore/taiwaninside/videos/1/
http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/travel_and_culture/watch/v191251787ggsJptf
http://movie.teacup.com/video/watchframe/0a3d948fe0af6970
http://www.traveltube.com/video/20990-Taiwan-Best-Trip-Final-Video?S=%
http://www.viddyou.com/viddstream?videoid=72941
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xajzix_taiwanbesttripnet-final-video-for-o_travel
http://www.livevideo.com/video/FA08C8A3AD8A4E87B4CAE00F515D6A8A/taiwan-best-trip-final-video.aspx?m_tkc=28730440
http://www.viadeo.com/hub/affichefil/?hubId=002qrlbmm5oyk98&forumId=00229bedx96liwpi&threadId=0021ig726hppuoqs#0021ig726hppuoqs
