We found ourselves in Taiwan because we had a Jetstar voucher to use by December 31 and it was the only logical connection from Tokyo. Although Taiwan very much has its own identity and story, the island was our first gentle taste of Chinese language and culture. Unfortunately, because of the rain and our limited time, we didn’t have the opportunity to do the things we’d probably love the most…hiking and hot springs, although we were lucky to witness the annual Pingxi Lantern Festival.
And although overall cheaper than Tokyo, if you take away the $195 flight (voucher was for one), it continued to test our budget. With affordable food and transport, accommodation is the area that hurt most in Taiwan. However, cashing in $200 in Hopper credits and choosing hostels otherwise made it completely within budget.
Below is our personal list of upsides and downsides for the country, although we acknowledge that we were here a very limited time!
In Summary
Time Spent: 9 nights
Money Spent: $652.83 or $72.53/day (with flight) $50.78/day (without flight)
Places Visited: Taipei (5 nights), Jioufen (2 nights) and Hualien (2 nights)
Favorite Place: Taroko Gorge
Least Favorite: Taipei
Best Accommodation: Kao Mama B&B, Jioufen
Would we return? Yes, but it’s not high on our list. We had to work too hard at the budget to justify the effort. If and when we raise the budget, we’d consider going back, but would definitely rent wheels and do it a little more freely so we could easily access the things we’re really interested in. We would also return in a time that features a little less rain though this time of year wasn’t supposed to be particularly rainy.
Below is a list of our personal upsides and downsides. And we certainly acknowledge that our time was short and not necessarily long enough for a complete picture.
Upsides of Taiwan
- the lush green hillsides were abundant and enticing… weather permitting
- public transport (train and bus) were efficient, super easy to navigate, and ride (routes and prices were on Google maps) and the Taipei city bus lines had an amusing “it’s a small world” jingle that played every time someone wanted off. (Fun for us, probably not so much for the driver.)
- many interesting things to see and do, often very affordable or even free including many lovely parks or the botanical gardens in Taipei
- Night markets! Several sprinkled throughout Taipei, and commonplace on Taiwan, they are entertaining sensory experiences even when you aren’t hungry
- lots of vegetarian restaurant options, and thanks to the Buddhists, a population that is understanding of vegetarian ways
- although we could not partake, much, we salivated at the potential hiking opportunities available on Taiwan
- We met some incredibly kind people who were quick to extend an olive branch to be friends, and many who were equally quick to knock down the language barrier
Downsides of Taiwan
- the weather was pretty miserable; cold, rainy, foggy, misty, and grey for almost our entire 10 days visiting
- a lot of deceptive and wasteful packaging for food items, and we thought false top and bottom packaging (shrinkflation?) was bad in the States!
- It’s an “almost there” society. What we mean is, things in Taiwan seemed well organized at first glance, but once you scratch the surface you find they are only “mostly” organized… say up to about 90%. After that, you’re on your own for that last 10%. For example, we like the highly efficient Taipei metro BUT it oddly uses RFID plastic tokens of specific denomination that must be paid for… with only cash. Or, maybe that time you’re provided a nice map, walking pathways are built, and encouraging signage directing you to a waterfall, but, illogically a trail “closed” sign has been placed at the (almost) END of said waterfall trail.
- Often, many transactions were cash based. Most notably was on mass transit because they also gave no change.
- Alcohol was pretty expensive
- There are a LOT of tourists in the places we went in Taiwan. (Hence, our desire to get off the beaten path next time.)
