Taiwan 2023 (part 1 - Taipei, Kinmen)
We got back last Friday (like early morning) so through a week of work already.
I started to write a travel journal (like a physical book) started our last vacation (Jordan). So I continued on this trip and it's good to go back and review what I wrote. It is very time consuming on the trip though, but as a bonus, Taiwan had lots of tourist stamps that I was able to stamp by journal with.
Anyway, to the actual trip. We (Angie, Angie's mom, and myself) arrived in Taipei (the capital and where Angie is from) on 10 Oct. It was an Independence Day (10/10) which marked the end of the last dynasty of China (and the birth of the republic). We tried to go to areas where there were celebrations, but we could only really hear drums and couldn't see anything. So we headed to a temple that Angie and her family used to frequent (this was after stopping off at Angie's uncle's for a little). I've been there a couple of times during previous trips, but this time, there were tons of people. Like there was a tour group right in the middle of the temple, which is a bit odd. You'd think you'd have your tour outside and let people wander around inside as it's a temple and stuff.
We had lunch at a restaurant that was like a Chinese buffet (common US term) but in Asia. So it was actually quite good. It was called like Dim Sum Kitchen, but I'd say the dim sum aspects weren't too amazing, but the other food was quite good. There were carving stations for duck, pork, chicken, etc, good soups, make your own noodle soup, hot food (like stir fries and such), and a very fancy tea area (like you could pick from several different types of leaves to fill your pot).
We went to many night markets and the first was Xingmen, which supposedly is a hip one (younger and more shops), but I don't think any of us thought it was very good. There were street performers which was different, but the food wasn't great. I even got a snow ice that I didn't think was great.
The next morning, we had a traditional breakfast (soy milk, crullers, breakfast pastries) and ate it in an adjacent park. It was nice to eat in front of a pond. We walked around the park a little, then headed back to the hotel.
Angie was doing some administrative things (trying to get her Taiwanese passport and some medical tourism) so I actually brought my work laptop and worked like a sucker. I also did some laundry as the hotel had a laundry room. Basically, I worked (answered too many emails and worked on a presentation) while drinking bubble tea (invented in Taiwan) and doing laundry.
That evening, we went to another night market (Ninjichang) which was okay. We tried several different street food that was either featured on random things, or just looked interesting. Afterwards, Angie's mom wanted snow ice (she wasn't with us yesterday at the market) so we went back to Xingmen to get ice.
The next day, we took a flight to Kinmen Island, which is a small island that is really close to China. Apparently, my father-in-law was stationed there when he was in the military. We rented a car but Google didn't give us a good directions! At one point, it was directing us on tiny roads (like made for scooters/motorcycles, which are very common) that we eventually stopped and had to u-turn in someone's lot (instead of a k-turn, it was like a asterisk-turn). But we made it to our hotel, eventually.
For dinner, we went to an outdoor seafood restaurant. It was pretty nice. It was in the middle of a downtown area, but under a large tree, there were tables and people serving food. The food was really good, although we had a significant wait.
Open air and good food
The next day, we drove around the island (and a connected littler island). We went to several lookouts/old forts. You could look over the water and see China. Apparently, China tried to invade this island in the 50s or 60s. We walked around underground tunnels and through bunkers and museums. We also saw a random statue that looked huge from afar, but was okay up close. Then around sunset, we went to a couple of places that required low tide. One was a path to a fort with statues of Oyster farmers, and the other was a submerged tank (at high tide) that is viewable at low tide.
Fake soldier defending against China
Remains of a fort by the sea
Entrance to an underground tunnel
View from a tunnel
Also tunnels by a port, reminded me of Lost or Indiana Jones
Mazu, a sea goddess
Juguang Tower, built to celebrate a victory
Kaoliang (hard liquor) Factory; had Kaoliang flavored ice cream
Low tide path with oyster farmers
Tank - there may have been fish inside from high tide
After going to the various above locations, we stopped off at 711 on our way back to the hotel (Google again tried to direct us on tiny roads) to pick up some food and drink. The hotel had a lobby area with microwaves, hot water, a sink, etc, so we made our food (I had instant ramen) and Kaoliang, which is like "Chinese vodka" as it's pretty clear and very strong (58%).
The next morning, we checked out some Wind God statues, before heading to the airport to go back to the main island.
This one was just next to some house
This one had lots of little ones around it... it was like it was giving a speech
This turned to be more detailed and lengthy than I expected, so let me end this as "Part I".