Taiwan with Christy Teglo

In this episode, fan favorite Christy Teglo of Teglo Goes returns to the podcast to talk about one of Asia's most underrated destinations. Christy unpacks her three-week solo trip across Taiwan, starting in Taipei and working south, with side quests for mountains, cafes, and the kind of street food you’ll still be thinking about months later. 

We get practical about planning a Taiwan trip: Christy walks us through the EasyCard system, high-speed trains, and what it costs to get from city to city without the stress. We get into the on-the-ground details that make planning easier: the best time to visit Taiwan, what the weather really feels like with humidity, and the surprisingly delightful umbrella culture that keeps rainy days from slowing you down.  

Then we go straight to the fun part: Taiwan night markets, bubble tea (yes, it started here), convenience store meals that are surprisingly delicious, and the cafe culture that makes city exploring feel so relaxed.

If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, share with a friend, and leave us a rating or review.

Map of Taiwan

You can find Christy here:
Website:
https://teglogoes.com/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/teglo_goes/
Christy's Book - Weathered: Finding Strength on the John Muir Trail
https://teglogoes.com/weathered/

Transcript

Welcome To Where Next?

Speaker 3 0:14

Hi, welcome to our podcast, Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen. And I am Carol. And we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure.

Speaker 2 0:26

Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next.

Speaker 5 0:33

Okay, so we have Christy Teglow back from Teglow Goes, right? That's your blog.

Speaker 6 0:39

Yeah.

Speaker 5 0:39

Some of our listeners you might see like in our newsletter, we actually were still promoting your book about traveling everywhere. Um that was about the um that was your California mountain travel.

Speaker 0:50

Yeah, the John Muir Trail, yeah.

Speaker 5 0:51

Okay, and then so recently you've been to Taiwan in the last year, right?

Speaker 0:55

Yeah, I just went in March and then went to the Philippines, Japan, and Bali. But I spent pretty much most of March in Taiwan.

Speaker 5 1:04

Okay, very good. Okay, yeah. So we've never talked to anyone about Taiwan, so that's kind of our focus

Why Taiwan Caught Her Eye

Speaker 5 1:10

today. And um first, what what sparked you to want to go there?

Speaker 1:14

You know, it's funny because I've met a lot of people from Taiwan, both when I lived in Los Angeles and when I've traveled, and I've but I've never really seen advertisements for you know a vacation spot.

Speaker 4 1:26

I'm noticing Taiwan is an island.

Speaker 1:29

Yeah, yeah, it's it's an island, it's pretty big. I flew into Taipei in the north, and then I made my way south along the west coast. So you'll notice like most of the cities are on the west coast, and then I finished in the south. And I wanted to get to the east coast because that's where they have some mountains and gorges, and um it's really pretty there. But there was an earthquake in 2024, and then a few months later, a typhoon that caused a mudslide. So the main road or two that go across there are still under construction, and they're only open for like an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. And they just opened fairly recently to tourism, but it's still pretty difficult to get over there. Um, but most of the cities and everything are gonna be the north, the west coast, and then the south.

Speaker 4 2:18

Yeah, looking at the map, it looks like there's a ton of highways on the side um on the west side facing, you know, Hong Kong and that side, and then it's pretty green on the other side.

Speaker 2:32

Yeah, exactly. And so

Mountains, Hikes, And Endless Stairs

Speaker 2:34

one thing that was really interesting about Taiwan is 70% of the landscape is mountainous. Um, and honestly, when I went to Taiwan, I didn't really know anything about it except for you know, a few people I'd met from there were really cool, and I thought, let me go check out Taiwan. And I learned so much on walking tours and just being there, and I was really pleasantly surprised. It's I feel like a little hidden gem because they don't do a lot of advertising for tourism. So, like the Philippines and Japan, you know, you see this tourism for cherry blossoms or all the beaches and in the Philippines. But Taiwan, what we hear is, you know, the semiconductor chips and computer chips, because they do make 90% of the world's chips are come from Taiwan. And so we hear a lot about it from that, but actually it's such a beautiful country and there's so much to see that I was just so pleasantly surprised. I I would definitely go back to do some hiking because they have the mountain range kind of goes north to south. And I met some people who did like a week-long hiking trip on the train, and I did little hikes here and there. Um, and it's still really accessible if you want to do, like, for example, in Ali Shan, it's kind of in the center of Taiwan, and they have this beautiful national park that's really accessible. It's a little bit challenging to get up there. You have to take a windy road on a bus, but once you get up there, everything is paved and there's steps galore. Um, but you can get to it. You don't have to have like full hiking gear. You know, it's a national park that um you can just, you know, go put on some comfortable shoes. Uh, one woman, she was coming up stairs, I forget where I was at, and I heard her say, Oh, nobody told me there would be so many stairs in Taiwan. And I said, Yeah, that's that's kind of a good uh slogan because really almost everywhere I went outside of the cities, it was just stair, even within some cities. It's just stairs, stairs, stairs because of all the mountains.

Speaker 5 4:37

So enlightening. Okay, and then I was just looking at the um like the

Weather, Seasons, And Umbrella Culture

Speaker 5 4:40

latitude. Um it looks like it's the kind of same as like Southern California, maybe Mexico. Is it pretty warm there then?

Speaker 4:45

Yeah, so March and April are a really good time to go because when I was there, I got there about March 2nd, and there was a little bit of rain a few days in Taipei, but Taipei does tend to get rainy and colder just based on where they're situated in the mountains, um, kind of the way the mountains surround them. But it was like 70s, 70 degrees a couple days I got up to 80s. By the end of my trip, I left I think March 24th in the south. The last probably five days was pretty consistently in the 80s. Now they do have pretty high humidity, so even if it's in the 80s, it might feel more like low to mid 90s. In the summertime, like I just pulled up this morning to see, okay, now we're getting starting to get into summer, you know, what's it like? And it's still only in the 70s, 80s, but the real field temperature, you know, with the humidity will be about 10 degrees warmer. And it looks like the end of May, they're gonna have a few days where it's in the 90s and the the real field temperature will be over 100. Summer will be pretty warm and humid, and winter is December through February. It'll get cooler, but you know, not like cold, like some of our US states. I personally really liked it because it was such a like you said, it was like the Southern California almost temperature. Um, a couple days it started to get a little humid and warmer, but it it just always felt like a cool breeze. You know, some days I was wearing pants, some days it was really windy, and if you went up more into the mountains, it got quite a bit colder. But I I personally don't like when it's scorching heat and humidity. So I I felt like it was a little bit more moderate than what I've experienced in Bali or the Philippines or Thailand.

Speaker 4 6:30

There's no snow, it's like like Southern California.

Speaker 6:33

Yeah, yeah, I don't think they get snow. They might on some of the taller mountain peaks. That's what I was wondering. Yeah, but because it does get not cold, but it was definitely, you know, like a 20-degree difference from lower elevations. And I spring and fall, I think, are probably the most temperate, nice, comfortable times to go. Probably like uh March, April, going into May, even, and then probably September, October are probably going to be your best bets. And even they even a couple days I did get rain, they have a big umbrella culture in Taiwan. So they used to be, I think, the world's largest manufacturer of umbrellas. Oh wow. Um, I don't think they are quite number one now, but because they've made umbrellas for so long, they have really cute designs. They, you know, I mean, I carry an umbrella with me just every day in my my little carrier.

Speaker 6 7:24

Oh, that's so funny.

Speaker 7:25

Yeah, and it really makes it just oh, it's raining a little bit, and we just pop out my umbrella and keep going on with my day. Um, so everybody has an umbrella where I know some places I visited, I think it was even like Seattle, nobody likes to use an umbrella. It's like a shame, you know, they just walk in the rain or don't go outside or put on a jacket. And I really like that Taiwan was like, just pull out your cute little umbrella and keep going about your day.

Speaker 5 7:48

Oh, I wonder if they pull them out in the summer when it's 100 degrees, right?

Speaker 7:52

Yeah, actually, sometimes they do, and you'll see some umbrellas where it'll say for rain and sun or just sun or just rain, and it'll give you the UV protection. Um, so yeah, sometimes they do use them just for sun protection.

Speaker 4 8:04

So it's not like waterproof if it's yeah, I think if it well, yeah, yeah. rain.

Taiwan’s History And Japanese Influence

Speaker 4 8:27

okay.

Speaker 9:40

The other thing is they have really good public transportation, they're very orderly. So on the train platforms, they'll have arrows saying these two arrows on the side of the door are for you to wait to get on the train. The middle section will have arrows showing people getting off the train. And people are very respectful. They wait. Everybody gets off the train, then everybody gets on the train. There's no eating or drinking on the train or the platform. They have signs saying don't talk loudly, don't be on your phone talking. So you see a lot of this order and structure, also just some of the architecture you can definitely see similar to Japan. I really fell in love with it, and I think I really liked the combination of they had the order and the structure that you see in Japan, but they were a little bit more relaxed and chill that you might see in Thailand, for example. So I feel like that kind of had the best of both worlds. Like everybody was always so nice. You know, if I did something wrong or I wasn't sure about something, they were so helpful. It was just like, oh, let me help you. They they were just really friendly, even though they had the order. Where I feel like Japan has the order and they tend to be a little bit more stuck in their this is how it, this is how we do it, which I love Japan too. No shame to Japan. But yeah, but I feel like Taiwan has a little bit more of that relaxed chill factor.

Speaker 5 12:10

It's like it's like it's like uh LA and San Diego, right? And San Diego's a little more chill.

Speaker 12:14

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 5 12:16

Right? Exactly. Oh wow, that's amazing.

EasyCard Travel And Convenience Stores

Speaker 5 12:20

Okay, so how do you get around? Like, did you have to rent a car or like what did you do? Or sorry, did you go with the tour group? In in does everyone speak English?

Speaker 12:31

Uh I went by myself and I wanted to rent a motorbike at some point. They do have a lot of motorbikes, they don't have as many as you see in like Thailand, Vietnam, or Bali. They still have a lot of cars as well. I really wanted to rent a motorbike, but you have to have your international driver's license and you have to get it before you leave the US. So unfortunately, I didn't have it. But honestly, I would have just driven it out in the mountains a little bit because the cities they have fantastic public transportation. So when you get to the airport in Taipei, for example, you can buy it's called an easy card. And I put like 500 new Taiwanese dollars, which was about 15 to 16 US dollars. And that lasted me, I think, most of my time in Taipei. And I took pretty much all public transportation everywhere. I think once or twice I took a uh an Uber. But um, you you have this easy card and you just tap it to get on the train and you tap it when you get off, so it knows how far you went and it knows what to charge you. And then each time you tap it when you go out, it'll tell you your balance. It's really helpful. So you know how much do I have left. And even for the bus, you just tap it to get on or off. So the and you can also use it at convenience stores, which by the way, convenience stores are huge in Taiwan. 7 Eleven in Family Mart is literally on every block, sometimes two on a block, everywhere. And they're small, but you know, it's a great place to get a drink, but they'll also have like this crock pot of tea eggs. So it's these hard-boiled eggs soaking in black tea, which never looked appealing to me. I tried it one morning at a hotel breakfast that it I did not care for it.

Speaker 5 14:11

So it's your coffee and your egg all the same.

Speaker 14:13

Yeah, they'll have eggs, they'll they'll have other kind of like fried foods. Yeah, and so and then usually they'll have a little counter with a stool or two. So people will just be sitting there eating their lunch. They'll have a lot of sandwiches. One time I got a sandwich that was like instead of the bread, it was compact rice, and I think it was seaweed on the outside holding it together, but compact rice, and then it had like egg, chicken, mayo, and it was cold. And you know, like at our convenience stores, you have to use a microwave yourself. And I was kind of like, I don't know what to do here. And I was like, but everybody seems to be getting these, you know, sandwiches and like even pokey bowls, all this stuff at the convenience store. So I paid at the register and immediately they just said, like, you want it warmed up? I said, Yeah, and they do it for you. So she just popped it in the microwave, boom, gave it to me warm, ready to eat. I probably went to a convenience store every day, which is pretty much what locals do. I mean, it's where you can get snacks, drinks, lunch. Um, you can also use your easy card to pay for items there. And if you need to buy an easy card or you need to add money to your easy card, you can do it from there. So 7-Eleven in Family Mart is like the place to be. You will go there all the time.

Speaker 4 15:32

What did the sandwich taste like? Would you order did you order it again? And was yeah, was it a bread like rice? Was it like rice cakes? Was it actual rice? So it was like, was it sticky or cut it?

Speaker 15:44

Oh no, it was the actual rice, yeah. So it was, but because you have the seaweed on the outside, it was almost like a U shape, and then in the inside, I think was like an egg. I think that one was egg. I'm I might be confusing with in the Philippines, it was similar, but it was like fried chicken and then mayo, and it was super good. So yeah, they like spice there? They do have some spice, but nothing crazy. I I didn't feel like we're in in Thailand, I felt like I had to be careful of how much spice things were, but in Taiwan I didn't really have to be too concerned with that.

Speaker 5 16:16

It kind of feels like Hawaii type of food, yeah.

Speaker 16:19

Like this uh yeah, yeah, it is.

Night Markets And Must Try Foods

Speaker 16:24

Yes, that's what in the Philippines they had a lot of spam actually. Um, and in um Okinawa, but in Taiwan, their their biggest thing is night markets, so that's where I ate so much food in Taiwan and I went to so many night markets. So, like Taipei, I think has several different night markets, and they're so fun because they have so many food booths. Some of them will also have phone accessories, shoes, clothing. Another thing you will see everywhere is little little claw machines, and you know machines, yeah.

Speaker 1 16:58

The animals, okay.

Speaker 17:00

Yeah, well, so they have these claw machines, and you they're all the different prizes. So some of them, you know, it could be a little stuffed animal, but it could be a keychain, it could be something in a little container. And you will see these shops with just row after row of these claw machines. And so sometimes you'll see them at night markets. And I I asked my friend who's from there, I said, you know, what's up with this? They're everywhere. And she said, Well, they came from Japan and they really took off, especially during COVID, because a lot of places were closed. So vendors and stuff just started setting up these claw machines because nobody had to really be there to maintain it. It was kind of a gathering space. So now they're not as popular. I did see them in Japan, but Taiwan, they were everywhere. Um, you didn't often see people using them though. I think they went a little crazy and put too many of these shops everywhere with the claw machine. But the night markets had so many unique foods that I have never seen in my life. You know, a lot of squid, a lot of they eat a lot of pork in Taiwan. Uh, most things I would say are pork. After that, it's a seafood of some sort, then chicken, and then beef was like much more rare to find. And I had my favorite thing was it's the onion pancake. And everybody kind of makes it different. But there was one place, I think it was in Tai Chung, they had the best one because it almost was like a flat tortilla with green onion, and then they cut it up for you into smaller pieces, and then they sprinkle whatever seasoning you request. So I did like garlic, and oh, it was so good. I kept thinking, oh, I'll find this somewhere else. And everywhere else it was different, it was thicker and it was rolled up, or it might have egg inside. And I said, Oh no, I want that one that was like crispy and and and seasoning. And I asked my friend, I sent her a video, and I said, Where do I find this one? And she said, Oh, it's an onion pancake. I'm like, Yeah, but all these other places that have onion pancake, it's not the same. And she said, Well, every chef has their own way of doing it, they have their own recipe. So everywhere you go, you're gonna see a difference.

Speaker 5 19:07

Is it is it kind of like a potato pancake thing, but not made out of potatoes? Is it made out of onions or is it made out of flour?

Speaker 19:14

It's more like a flour, it's more like tortilla type with green onions baked in, and then some will put egg as they're as they're like baking it um on the like griddle. Yeah, it was really and so some will cut it up into pieces, some will roll it up, some will put other things inside of it. Sounds more like a grape. Yeah, yeah. It was all these variations, and that was one of my favorite things. They have bubble tea. Bubble tea came from Taiwan. So I was in heaven. I my goal was to have a bubble tea every single day, which I don't think I quite succeeded, but probably 90% of the time.

Speaker 5 19:51

Do you like the tapioca or the popping bubbles? Popping bubbles.

Speaker 19:54

I like the tapioca, the the pop, and and that's mostly what you'll see in Taiwan. So it originated from Taiwan. So you will see boba shops everywhere. You'll see it at the night market, just walking around. And more it's the teas, you know, tea lattes. But there are just so many. My favorite one was the brown sugar milk tea. That was probably the most common. And then they have just the black tea milk latte. And oh, they're just so delicious. So, and and you for there, the price equivalent you're paying about, I think it was about a dollar fifty or so for bubble tea, where you know, in the US I think they're like seven to nine dollars or something crazy.

Speaker 5 20:32

Yep. Seven. Yeah.

Costs, Hotels, And Train Comfort

Speaker 5 20:34

So generally Taiwan's pretty inexpensive, like lodging, food, transportation sounds like it's like pretty good pricing.

Speaker 20:41

Yeah, it's it's very good pricing.

Speaker 5 20:43

Or is there some things are expensive? Yeah.

Speaker 20:45

I would say hotels range. So most hotels, I would say I was paying a average was probably $75 a night. I did in Taipei, I stayed five nights, and it was a four-star hotel, breakfast included, and I think my total was about $530. So on average, about a hundred, a little over a hundred a night. But when I was in Chai, I think it was, I was booking as I went. So this one I just needed to stay one night before it was between going from Sun, Moon, Lake to Ali Shan, and I had to kind of go back to the coast to stay a night. Well, it happened to be the last day of their two-week lantern festival, and I had to pay $249 just for that one night. So that was pretty painful. But some places you can find for $50 a night, you know, some and and so if you want a three-star, you can probably pay $70 a night. If you want four star, a hundred plus. So it, you know, if you want something nicer, you'll pay a little bit more. But transportation is so easy. When I went from Taipei to Tai Chung, they had um kind of high speed trains that you don't have to book in advance, you can just go to the train station because they're very frequent. You know, one time. Was able to upgrade to the business car because it was like an extra $15. It was more like a four-hour train from I think it was Chay or it was somewhere in the south to looping around the little bit of the East Coast that I saw. And they're comfortable trains, you know, they're they're really well maintained, they're super timely. Um, I actually found I was in Germany in 2024, and you know, we always hear German trains are so punctual. And unfortunately, my experience in Germany was they were not punctual and they were often late, and sometimes I was late to a tour because of it. But in Taiwan, they are very precise. The Google schedule that you can pull up for directions is very accurate. You can also do Uber. I think the couple times I did Uber was just because I was in more of a hurry. And if I went from like the north side of Taipei to the south side of Taipei, you know, it might be ten dollars. Um, so it's it's very reasonable. Food is is really cheap, especially at night markets. You can get smaller servings, so you can try lots of different food. You know, the bubble tea is about a dollar, dollar fifty. So yeah, it's it's pretty reasonable there.

Speaker 4 23:06

How much is the meal if you're going to eat? Like, how much typically would you expect to spend?

Speaker 23:12

That's a good question because I ate at night markets almost every day.

Speaker 5 23:15

And convenience stores. And convenience stores.

Speaker 23:18

Um, sometimes, but like let me think because I know in Taipei my hotel wasn't ready yet, so I went across the street, ate at this Mr. Brown, and it was delicious breakfast, like avocado toast, amazing hazelnut latte. I went back there because it was so good. Oh my gosh. And where are we? It was called Mr. Brown. It's this cafe there in Taipei, and really cool vibes. They had like two or three floors for seating, people would just be hanging out there. And I think for like a full breakfast, a latte, a water, I mean, it would probably be 20, 15 to 20 on the high end at like a nice place, but you you could definitely get cheaper. This is like high quality, you know, more of an upscale environment. But I I mean, I'm trying to think that even when I went to this little pizza place, there were kind of small individual pizzas, super delicious. Even getting a dessert and a drink, you know, you might be paying $10 to $15. So um, your money goes a lot further there.

Speaker 4 24:20

Yeah, and hopefully you're not getting your breakfast through the the what the claw machine. Isn't that claw machine? Isn't that like 50% of the time you get it or not get it?

Speaker 24:28

Like oh yeah, I tried it a couple times and it was not worth it because they definitely rig it, you know, where it it grabs the item and then it just miraculously shakes and drops the item. Yeah, and it's like such loosely grabbing it. Yeah, the food, uh oh, that's what I was gonna say about the food is so cafe culture is really big in Taiwan, which was right up my alley. It's probably why I loved it there so much. And when I went a little south from Taipei, it was in um Tai Chung, they had so many awesome cafes, so donut parlors or just a cafe that has some cakes and pastries and coffees, and they were so good. Amazing latte or tea and just donuts or cafes or a sandwich, and people would just chill, you know, they'd have a conversation, talk to their friends. And so I found myself frequently just oh, let me, you know, been walking around a whole bunch, so let me just pop into this cafe, have a latte, have a little, you know, sweet treat, and and just relax and then be on my way. And it was really fun because it just felt relaxing. There was a ton of city exploring, and then you have a lot of mountain landscape, but having just those little breaks of oh, let me just chill and relax, and and they're just everywhere. So you just would find this amazing cafe and sit down and have like one of the best donuts you've ever had.

Speaker 4 25:50

That's awesome. That sounds fantastic. You went there for how long, and what was your objective, I guess I'd say?

Taipei Day Trips And Route Planning

Speaker 25:58

Um, so I was there for just over three weeks, and I was in Taipei for I think five nights when I first arrived. And really it was just to experience Taiwan, and I didn't know where I was gonna go, but once I got there, I started looking into it. And you know, I would meet people on other day tours, for example, who would say, Oh, I went to this city and it was really cool. Or, you know, one girl I met, she had gone to uh Sun Moon Lake, and she ended up going to Taichung, which we were in Tai Chung the same time, so we were able to meet up and go to a night market together, and the next day went to a cafe. So if you look at the map of Taiwan, Taipei is at the top, and there's a couple really cool day tours that you can do. One I did that kind of goes northwest into the mountains, and there's hot springs where you soak your feet in these natural hot springs. You can do these little hikes at the tour guide. It was me and it was just me and the one girl on the tour, and we got to do these hikes and drive around and see the mountains, and it was just very lush and very beautiful. And then another day tour went to the northeast to Jo Fen, and that's the old lantern town. So, first we got to go see old, it's hard to describe, but they're like these rock formations that are like skinny and then big, and they're just all over right at the coast. It's it's incredible how they've been formed because the the way the winds hit right there, it was very windy when we were there.

Speaker 6 27:28

What is it called?

Speaker 27:29

Let me see. That one, because I know the town we went to for the lanterns was Joe Fenn.

Speaker 4 27:35

Queen's Head Rock, it says.

Speaker 27:37

Yes, because the Queen one they're worried is gonna fall sometime soon. Um, it's getting really thin, so they kind of made a replica just so that when it does fall, they have a replica that they've made of it. Um, but they have a lot of them there, and then the Jo Finn is it's J-I-U-F-E-N. That one, the Jo Fen Old Street, has cool lanterns as part of the tour, it's very common. The lanterns are big. I thought they were gonna be small, but they're like three to four feet tall and like three feet wide.

Speaker 4 28:11

Do they are they the ones remember from the movie um Tangled, like the Walt Disney movie? And they have these.

Speaker 28:17

Oh, yes. Oh, okay. So I never saw that movie, but you are right because there was a movie, um, I don't know, it wasn't Tangled, it was um Spirited. I think the cartoon was mimicked based on Jo Finn. Um, I I think it was spirited. And um, but you get to write kind of your wish on the lantern. So I got paired up with two other guys on our tour, and we each took a side and like wrote our wish, then they light it, and you get to release it, and it goes up into the sky. And it's the only place in Taiwan that you're allowed to release it because um it gets so much rain there that there's not really a fire danger, and they kind of quickly get stuck in the mountains there, and then the locals they go grab the lantern part burns up, but the rim, the frame of it, they reuse so they collect them and then they come bring them back to the shops and they get money for it, and then they recycle them and reuse them for the next they clean up at the same time, yeah. Exactly, yeah, and and they just have like these cool steep streets with um markets and just the landscape everywhere is kind of a little bit mountainous, and so it that was a real so even if you just go to Taipei, you can do day tours that will take you to see a little bit more of the nature and smaller towns. But I highly recommend if people have a chance, when you go to Taipei, you can pretty easily go to Tai Chung. That's where they have a lot of cafes, uh night markets. Then you can go from there inland to Sun Moon Lake. Sun Moon Lake was one of my favorites. If you pull up pictures, it is so pretty. It's this beautiful lake, and they have a couple of, I think two major kind of towns, one on each side of the lake. And it's just they have this bike path and a walking path that goes around the whole lake. And I think it was something like 17 miles. I can't remember because it was kilometers versus miles.

Speaker 6 30:19

That's beautiful.

Speaker 30:20

It's so beautiful. So I just rented a bike and a little e-bike because there are a lot of hills. Um, and I rode around the whole lake. And you know, when I got to the other town, I stopped and ate lunch and you know, got a drink, and I stopped, made another stop to get a little matcha ice cream and um at the views, and then kept riding. And it was so beautiful. So Sun Moon Lake is definitely worth visiting.

Speaker 5 30:44

Anybody smell that? Just S S-U-N?

Speaker 30:48

Yeah.

Speaker 5 30:49

Okay.

Speaker 30:50

Yeah, yeah, that one's the one that's easy to remember. Uh, there otherwise there's a lot of Thai. So there's Taipei, Tai Chung, Tai Tung. But just south of there is Ali Shan. And Ali Shan is kind of the natural forest where they have huge old growth trees that are thousands of years old, and that's that national park that you could easily spend the whole day just walking through. And they had some cherry blossoms, the trees, some temples, like just very beautiful. The problem is because of the mountains, um, again, because 70% of Taiwan is mountainous terrain, you can't go really directly from Sun Moon Lake to Ali Shan. You kind of have to go back to the west coast to the cities and then loop around to Ali Shan. So they do have several temples around the lake that you can stop and see and have beautiful viewpoints. And that's the other thing that's really nice about Taiwan is you have the cities and you have mountains and then you have temples. So you can go from a modern city to seeing an old temple, and you really get a lot of different views and landscape options.

Speaker 4 31:56

How long did it take you to get around the entire uh lake?

Speaker 32:00

I was able to do it in like half a day, and that was even, you know, with stopping for lunch. Um, I think stopping for lunch in a couple of temples, it probably took about six hours. There's a couple portions that are pretty steep. That's why I definitely recommend. I had an e-bike. They have e-bikes, but they also have ones that are almost like small motor scooters because they're just so powerful. I couldn't do those because they're so small that I'm just too tall because I'm six one. Wow. And um, yeah, I just literally didn't fit in it. But I wouldn't have wanted that anyway because I wanted to be able to still pedal. Right. And those, I don't even think you pedal on a lot of them, but there were a couple areas where there's stairs. So Taiwan is really good about right next to the stairs, they'll have a flat concrete path that is on the side of the stairs. So you can just walk your bike up while you walk up the stairs. So there were a couple portions and the direction I went where, I mean, if you went the other way, you'd still have to walk it down. So some people won't do the full loop because that was more of like the remote area. They'll just ride from one town to the next in the more populated area, which you'll still get an amazing experience. So some people will stay in Tai Chong and they just do a day tour or take the bus in the early morning, and it'll take a couple hours, um, I think two to three hours to get out there. And the one girl I met, that's what she did, and then she rode around most of the lake, but not the full lake, and then had lunch and dinner and then got back on the bus.

Speaker 5 33:32

This would almost make it worth it. Like eat you fly in, easy transportation, go around the lake. The weather sounds nice, the boba too sounds amazing.

Speaker 33:40

Like the cool Taipei is a cool city, but yeah, you definitely I highly recommend to get out and see some of the nature because it is so beautiful to see just the mountains, the lakes. You know, it's not as busy, it's really peaceful. And Sun Moon Lake is is really not that far. I I did like you know, Tai Chung to Chayi, Sun Moon Lake, Ali Shan. So I kind of slowly made my way down, and each train ride was between 30 minutes to an hour. I think the longest stretch was um I went from when I was in the south. If you see there's Taetung, that let's see. Oh, Taytung was the one on the east. So this was the the only eastern part. So when I was close to Gaosheng, um it was in Is there another airport in Kaosheng, or is it just Taipei? Yeah, yeah, and it's a big international airport. So I actually flew from there to the Philippines, and some people I met did go to, they ended up, they started in Taipei, took the train down, saw a few cities, saw Sun Moon Lake, got to Gaosheng in the south, but then they took the train all the way back to Taipei.

Speaker 5 34:56

But you can also very easily just fly out from uh like one airport's not like crazy expensive, they're both like good.

Speaker 35:02

No, yeah, it's a big city. And actually, so I was in Tai Nan, which is on the west coast, and I went from there to Taitong, and you kind of loop around if you'll see there's not a road that goes across. And I took the train, so that one was like five hours or something on the train, but it was beautiful. You got to see a lot of the landscape. I really liked the east coast. I wish I could have seen more, but because of the construction, and and there they did they have they are open now for tourism again. Your best bet would be to get there from Taipei, because once you're on the west coast, it's really hard to get across.

Kaohsiung Energy And East Coast Limits

Speaker 35:40

But the southern city is um Gaoshan, it's spelled with a K.

Speaker 5 35:46

Yeah, I see K-A-O-H-S-U-I-N-U-G like K-O-A-C-E.

Speaker 35:55

But it's pronounced Gaoshan, yeah. And that was actually one of my favorite cities because I happened to get there when they had one of their biggest concerts of the year. So bands were flying in from Japan and South Korea, and I was walking along the waterfront, and there were just like concerts everywhere and people everywhere, and huge night markets, and it was just so lively, it was amazing. And um, one guy at one of the booths, he was from Canada and he's lived there like 20 years, and I said, Wow, and it was like my first night there, and I said, This is amazing, the city, and it is known for more of a nightlife. And I said, I, you know, it was in the evening, and I said, I can't believe how much activity there is, it's so amazing. It was like a Sunday, and he said, Yeah, but sometimes if you come on a Tuesday or Wednesday, there's not much going on, and it's one of the recommended um sightseeing places just down by the riverfront. He said, I've had friends come here and they're like, Oh, it was done in 20 minutes, there wasn't much to see. And I said, Yeah, I understand if there's not a festival or a concert, there might not be as much to see. But it was a really modern city, really beautiful. There's a big lake, and around the lake, there's several like temples and a Buddha statue, and you kind of walk to each one because it's pretty big and they're they're spread out. And that dragon tunnel, you're supposed to you can walk in it, you're supposed to go in one and out the other. I think you go in the dragon, out the tiger. And I got there, and it's you know, supposed to be for good luck. And by the time I got to that, it was evening. Oh, it was later, it was probably eight at night, and they they had that closed, so I wasn't able to walk in or out.

Speaker 6 37:27

You didn't get good luck.

Speaker 37:28

I did not get the good luck, so I was kind of bummed, but it's really cool because they just have all these temples and statues and stuff all around this lake, and then you have modern parts of the city and uh concerts, and I I definitely wish I could have stayed there longer. I was only there a few days.

Speaker 4 37:46

Yeah.

Speaker 37:46

Um but it it was a really cool city there.

Speaker 4 37:49

Wow, wow, that's really cool. And and so uh with the temples, I guess I'll say this like very naively. What's up with the temples? Where uh I'm sure they're everywhere. And I know when I was in Bali, um, you know, even like personal temples at home, like neighborhood temples like the street, and there was uh ceremonial things that were given every day. And I think they also got together once a week with everyone, like there was a lot of involvement with that, and I'm curious with uh anything that you learned um on that side.

Speaker 38:24

Yeah, you know, it was interesting because I did finish my trip in Bali, and you're right, they have Hindu in Bali is really big, and you'll see a lot of offerings. Um, Taiwan is not very religious, so they have a lot of influence from Buddhism. And I I think I can't remember exactly. One tour guide, I think he said their philosophy is just kind of live and let live. Um, so there's a lot of the temples are more for like historical purpose and sightseeing. Um, whereas in other places like Bali, they're active temples where people are going there and praying and the flag. You see those flags with the balls hanging, you know, something you're driving with the flower.

Speaker 4 39:08

I can't remember uh exactly, but it was very pretty.

Speaker 39:11

Yeah, so Taiwan is is definitely less religious. It's it seemed more that yeah, these were just kind of ceremonial and historical that you can look at. And and I think most people are just kind of a neutral, yeah, so to speak. And yeah, so there's not a huge, I would say, religious uh any religion really heavily um going on. But I think the the biggest one was, yeah, I think it was Buddhism because I'm I'm trying to think it was Bali was was Hindu, but a lot of them were just kind of non-religious.

Speaker 5 39:47

It seems so amazing. And I'd assume the air is clean.

Speaker 39:51

Yeah, actually, the air, surprisingly, for being such big cities, um, to be honest, I don't remember ever feeling like, oh, there's a lot of pollution. There were a few cloudy days, but it was due to just rain.

Speaker 1 40:02

Yeah, since it's an island, it probably just gets a lot of fresh air all the time.

Speaker 40:07

Yeah, because yeah, you would you it is when you say that actually, it is surprising because even in the big cities, I never felt like congested by pollution.

Speaker 5 40:17

All right. Okay, okay. All right. So what is was your favorite breakfast or what is a typical breakfast there? I mean, you mentioned avocado toast, but was there something more?

Speaker 40:26

Yeah, that was more at a Western restaurant, but yeah, they they don't have separate breakfast food like we do in the US. Um, they just kind of eat for breakfast what they eat for lunch and dinner. So even at hotels, they might have some scrambled eggs for Westerners, but you'll see beef noodle um soup, um, you'll see steamed buns, um, porridge, really just a lot of things that you would see at lunch and dinner.

Speaker 5 40:52

Oh, interesting. Okay, great. And then um, like if you were gonna have one meal there, what would be your like favorite meal?

Speaker 41:00

Um, oh gosh, that's such a good question. There's so many night markets.

Speaker 5 41:04

Um, what you saw in Crazy Rich Eat Rich Asians? I don't know if you guys saw that.

Speaker 41:10

Um, I've seen the movie, but I can't really remember the markets.

Speaker 5 41:12

Did I there's or maybe Hangover, the Hangover Two movie, or everything's like that.

Speaker 41:17

And the thing is, the food was different at night markets all over. So even if you went to two night markets in the same city, they'd have different foods. Some would be the same, but it was just like I had really good fried chicken, like pop like popcorn chicken type. So good at one night market. I had bamboo shoots that had like cheese on it. I had mochi, which is like it was like a fried mochi. We're used to just mochi ice cream, but it was just like a fried mochi stick. The the onion pancake was one of my favorite. Definitely boba drinks. Yeah, they're honestly, there's so much. If I like went back to night for dinner, I would just say take me to a night market.

Speaker 5 41:55

And then, yeah, something will be so good. Okay, great.

Money, Tipping, Beaches, And Final Tips

Speaker 5 41:59

And then um, how does the money work? Is there is it all digital or do you want to swap the money and do you want to do it ahead of time?

Speaker 42:05

Yeah, it's I would say it's about half and half. So a lot of places will take your credit card. Um, so I always use uh a credit card that has zero foreign transaction fees, but they're night markets, especially are cash only. So they are, okay. Yeah. So when I got there, I just went to an ATM, took out cash. I did in the three weeks, I think I had to go to the ATM three times total, um, which is a bummer because I had to pay ATM fees and then my bank charges a conversion fee. So I would recommend it get it from your bank in advance if you can. Sometimes you have to order it a few weeks before you leave. I wouldn't carry a ton on me at a time because if you need more, you can just go to an ATM. Um, but in cities, if you're, you know, I would get the easy card for public transportation or you can use Uber. But if you're at a restaurant, you'll usually pay with your card. But if you when you go to night markets and little booths like that, you'll need cash. So it's kind of, I would say, a 50-50 mix with card and cash.

Speaker 5 43:04

Okay, got cool. And then I guess just our final question since we're short on time. Um, what's the closest place to surf? Is there a surfing culture? It seemed like very likely, could be.

Speaker 43:15

You know, I thought the same thing because it's an island, but I did not see any surfers. And even when I went to the beach, like in the northeast, it was very rocky, very windy, very wavy. So there weren't like swimming beaches. And then when I was on the west coast, I it was it was somewhere in the center, uh, maybe Tai Chong, I can't remember, where I, or Tainan probably, I there was a beach and I was able to watch a beautiful sunset. And there was probably 20 of us that were on the beach watching the sunset, and I was able to walk with my feet in the water, but nobody was swimming. Um, there were a few people fishing, there were a few people there just kind of enjoying the sand and the sun, but it could be because it was March and it was still chilly. Chilly, but it the water was still nice temperature for me to like walk with my feet. And then even when I went to the east coast and the southern southeast coast, I rode my bike. They have a nice bike path there along the ocean. And again, it was a lot of big boulders and rocks. So people would be out there kind of watching the water and the waves, but there really wasn't a place to get in and not beachy, huh?

Speaker 1 44:24

Yeah, I was really California by the night.

Speaker 44:26

Yeah, I kept thinking the same thing. Like maybe I'm missing the beaches somewhere, but everywhere I went, I never saw, like, yeah, here's a good swimming beach.

Speaker 5 44:35

Um, yeah, it's must be how it was made, but that's probably another thing.

Speaker 44:40

I think because they're so mountainous and rocky, though high winds create waves and things that yeah, I didn't really. I'm sure there is some area where you can do that, but um yeah, all the places that I went, it just really wasn't a thing.

Speaker 4 44:55

Okay. Well, good tipping. I was curious with meals because in South Korea I didn't tip. But I wondered if you do you tip when you go to meals and dinners and things.

Speaker 45:05

I don't believe so. I'm trying to remember now because I went to a few other countries after here, and it's always hard to get it straight.

Speaker 1 45:11

Um good problem, yeah.

Speaker 4 45:14

I have problem. How long were you gone for in total?

Speaker 45:17

Uh just over two months. Uh so yeah, it was it was, but I will say Taiwan was probably one of my favorites. Um, I really liked it there. But it I I don't believe you tip. I know for sure like night markets, you don't. Yeah, um, rest some higher-end restaurants might add a 10% service charge, and that's kind of the tip. Um, but you wouldn't really add anything after that. Pretty nice in Taiwan that you didn't have to really stress about that.

Speaker 4 45:42

Right, exactly. Oh, that's awesome! Thank you so much. This is really cool.

Speaker 1 45:47

Yes, thank you.

Speaker 45:48

Okay, thanks for having me on. It was really fun. I I was really excited when I was in Taiwan. I kept thinking, oh, this will be really fun to talk about on the Yeah, it's up fresh in your mind.

Speaker 5 45:59

That's like right, exactly. I'll have to get you on for yet another one of your adventures. Yeah, you just keep going, you keep going.

Speaker 46:09

Yeah, and my my blog's a little bit behind, but I have a ton of notes for my travel, so I'm hoping to get that up so I can kind of get into more of those details of the places and and sit down and and get that on written form too.

Speaker 1 46:22

Right, exactly. All right, thanks, Christy. Have a great week.

Speaker 4 46:28

Absolutely. We'll talk soon. I need to read you soon.

Speaker 46:31

Yeah, yeah, please. Now I'm back, so I'm getting caught up on everything. So I'm a lot more.

Speaker 4 46:38

Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Speaker 46:39

So oh yeah, definitely let me know and we'll get something on the schedule. Yeah. Okay, perfect. Awesome. Bye. Bye, guys.

How To Support The Show

Speaker 5 46:46

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app. And if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review.

Speaker 2 46:58

Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at Where Next Podcast. Thanks again.