We chose to travel to Taiwan, because it isn’t a typical tourist hotspot, but frequently makes the global headlines. Over the course of 10 days, we circled the island by train, traversing its urban west coast and quiet mountain towns in the east.
25°04′N 121°31′E
After a 5-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur our journey begins in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital. The city is surrounded by hills covered in tropical forests. The 508-meter-high skyscraper ‘Taipei 101’ towers over the skyline. From its 90th floor, we have a panoramic view across a spread-out urban center. The buildings are grey and look worn. Low rise buildings dominate the skyline as this city is frequently struck by strong earthquakes. The older neighbourhoods are laid-out following traditional Feng Shui rules, while modern wide avenues cut through the business centre, once built by the Japanese occupiers.
First stop is the Chiang Kai-shek memorial, impressive for its size. It’s 76-meter-high concrete and marble hall and blue octagonal roof (symbolizing fortune), with the bronze statue of the former president of the Republic of China. It is surrounded by a park with gardens, ponds and walkways. The nearby National Theatre and Concert Halls are built in traditional Chinese palace design, with curled red roofs and colorful arches.
Liberty Square in front of the Chiang Kai-shek memorial in the center of Taipei
The bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek
The water of the hot springs is slightly radioactive due to its Radium content
Francien and I wait at the Formosa Boulevard subway station in Kaohsiung in the south of the island. Note the biggest stained glass ceiling in the world
We also visited the National Palace Museum 12 metro-stops to the north. It features 6000 years old Chinese jade bronze writings, ceramics, games and other ancient artifacts, which until the revolution had been displayed in museums in Beijing.
On our second day we strolled through the Beitou hot water springs in the hills overlooking the city. There are many bathhouses built in Japanse style, influenced by its colonial period.
The subway system is clean, efficient, and filled with polite commuters. Some elderly people bowed slightly to greet us with a smile when they left the train. This 7-million-people metropolitan area feels a rather quiet city. The traffic is relaxed where drivers are patient and do not use their car horns. Although everyone is on the move, they do this in a calm and disciplined way.
The high speed train connecting north to south is punctual and comfortable
From Taipei, we took the train southward, hugging the island’s urbanized west coast. This region is Taiwan’s industrial and economic heartland. With a speed of 295 Km/h the train passes block shaped grey/ beige houses and factories, only interrupted by small rice paddies. This is one of the most densely populated areas in the world! We stopped in Hsinchu where we visited the headquarters of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the biggest and most sophisticated of its kind in the world. Amid a vast high-tech park full of dull block shape IC factories, TSMC lacks the glamour which the big tech companies in Silicon Valley (Google, Apple, Meta etc) display.
The head quarters of the worlds biggest microchip manufacturer
The next stop is Tainan, the former capital. It was here that the VOC built a fort in the 17th century. Indeed, the ruins of Fort Zeelandia are still intact. That ‘Formosa’ settlement was captured by the last Ming dynasty fleeing the mainland China Tsing emperor (history repeated itself after WW2) after which the Dutch left the island.
As we strolled through the fortifications, we saw the same design of the protruding bastions like in similar VOC forts in South Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia. The still rock-hard wall cement was made of a mixture of oyster shells, rice water and sugar syrup.
Fort Zeelandia in Tainan, build by the VOC in the 17th century
Along the way, again we are struck by the friendliness of the people. Even with the language barriers, locals are welcoming and curious. ’Where are you from?’ they ask us a number of times.
The people love their gadgets: little plush animals, stuffies, keychains, pins, figurines and mugs. Cartoons display day-to-day items and make public announcements. Labubu stuffed animals is the latest craze. When we buy a Touch & Go card, the sales lady explains to us what cartoons should be displayed on it to look fashionable! K-fashion for the young generation, wearing oversized shirts, white socks, and rubber slippers catch our eyes.
We see many different gadgets, fashion styles and how people go for a walk with their dogs…….
A couple takes out their dogs for a walk on the night market in Koahsiung
We bring offerings to the gods in a Taoist temple in Tainan. Lets wait and see if our wishes will come through….
What strikes us is how clean the country is. People wear facemasks and plastic gloves at footstalls. Cleaning ladies continuously collect trash in the trains and keep the toilets remarkably clean. In the subway they call: ‘No chewing of gum or betel nut’. People are disciplined to keep the streets clean. In our hotels we must take off our shoes and wear house shoes. Garbage trucks play music to let people know to bring their garbage outside and throw it into the trucks. These musical garbage trucks have been implemented in Taiwan 10 years ago to motivate people to take care of their garbage disposal.
People hand their trash to the musical garbage trucks every day on set times
After enjoying a noodle soup lunch, we walked passed the kitchen: clean and tidy…..
We enjoyed the hotpot restaurants
We enjoy having breakfast in a street food restaurant having Chinese omelette with jasmine tea or Fan Tuan; purple sticky rice roll. Lunch and dinner in restaurants is loud and a bit chaotic. We find a table and sit down, put our bags in a bin underneath the table. (putting a bag on the floor brings bad luck!) We fill out an order sheet, hand this to the waiter, eat and pay later. The people are helpful and the food is great: but watch out for those spices!
The most spectacular part of our journey is traveling through the mountains on the east coast, where riding the train back north. It is a stark contrast with the west coast. We pass forested peaks reaching over 3000 meters, steep cliffs dropping into the ocean and gushing rivers. We see betel nut palm plantations and fish farms and travel through long tunnels and across bridges. At times we gaze through the windows of the train to enjoy commanding views across the wide open Pacific Ocean.
On the east coast we see these rice paddies with the cloud covered mountains
But our trip isn’t without a little drama. Midway through the journey, we find ourselves caught in a tropical storm. The storm from the Philippines passes the island dumping rain!!! Schools in the city are closed due to local flooding as it continues to inundate the Southern regions of Taiwan. Sheets of rain lash our umbrellas when we venture outside.
Just two days later a tsunami alert, triggered by an undersea quake off the east coast of Russia, appears on our phones. Rescue service helpers tell us to stay of the beach and head up to higher grounds. We wait at the Qixingtan beach in Hualien, but do not see higher waves coming in. At first it is a jarring moment for us. But people around us speak casually about earthquakes, as if they are an accepted part of life.
“We’re used to it,” our B&B owner in Hualien later that day shrugged.
It is here that we planned to visit the Taroko National Park, but the damage to the roads and tunnels caused by the 7.2 earthquake in 2024 is still not repaired, so we can not enter.
This alert message appears on our smart phones
Rescue service people told us to leave the beach area as a Tsunami of 1.5 meter was expected to hit the coastal areas
Enjoying our bike ride in Hualien
Francien enjoys the views from the Martyrs memorial in Hualien
Trying to read the newspaper in Hualien. I am still working on my Mandarin language skills !
Instead, we explore the coastal areas on our bikes. Francien and I visit the indigenous people museum. We learn that Taiwan is a country of emigrants. The Han Chinese have been the main group emigrating to the island, but since thousands of years indigenous people live here. We learn to recognize their darker and round faces. Most of them are Catholic dating back from Dutch and Spanish times. Also, many workers from SE Asia countries are working here, sending the money back home to their families.
Yes, there is an underlying hum of geopolitical tension. We watch six F16 fighter jets taking of at the Hualien airbase, screaming across the city as they patrolled the airspace for Chinese Airforce intruders. We see coastguard ships in the port areas; army trucks being loaded onto a train. Air defence shelters are never far away.
An Air Defence Shelter is never far away
ROC Airforce F-16 fighter jets take off from Hualien airforce base
As we complete our loop and return to Taipei, we feel grateful for the journey. Taiwan has shown us not only its landscapes, cities and history, but also its people. In many ways they remind us of the people we met in Japan: friendly, disciplined and clean.
Our souvenir from this trip is a better understanding of a country so often mentioned in global news, but we know little about.