Taiwan

All week prior to our trip the weather in Taiwan was calling for rain. When we arrived at our boarding gate there was a sign posted with a 3 day forecast. Rain, Rain, Rain. Not such a great start to vacation, especially when the plan was to lay on the beach.

When we arrived in Taipei we had no real plans, especially due to the weather. We took a bus into the city where we were the only white people. I think as soon as we arrived I noticed some major differences between Taiwan and Korea.
1. Language, almost everyone spoke English.
2. Appearance, although they are both Asian countries the people in Taiwan have a more westernized look.
3. Size, people in Korea (men and women) are very petite and thin. Taiwan were taller and bigger.
4. Dogs, In Korea dogs are not treated as pets, and if you have a "pet" it usually lives outside and is not taken care of. In Taiwan people have dogs as pets and take them for walks/ care for them.
5. Tattoos, In Korea tattoos are shunned upon, and it is illegal to be a tattoo artist here. In Taiwan they were everywhere and not covered up by clothing.
6. Street smell, Korea stinks like sewer about 75% of the time. Taiwan had a few areas with "street smell" but nothing like Korea.

Saturday we spent the day traveling Taipei. We checked out Taipei 101 (the only real attraction) and a couple markets in the area. Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world and the view from the top is great....minus all the fog. We did a quick trip to a memorial hall, but when all the information is in Mandarin its not that interesting.

Sunday we ventured to the south coast of Taiwan to a small town called Kenting. The south coast offers the best beaches in the area, and we were looking for a couple days of sun. On a map Taiwan seems like a small country, but when we went to get information on a bus from Taipei to Kenting we found out it was going to take us 7+ hours. Instead of the bus we opted for taking the high speed rail which took about 2 hours, and arrived in Kenting just in time for prime time tanning. Sunday the weather turned out to be beautiful. We spent the day soaking up the sun...later we both ended up with a bad sunburn. I will blame it on the lack of tanning beds in Asia. There is no opportunity for a base tan here. Although laying on the beach for 6 hours in the sun for the first time all season might have something to do with it. Sunday night we went to a street market in the area, nothing overly exciting but something to do in the evening.

Monday we enjoyed the morning at the B&B and hit up the beach in the afternoon. It rained late in the afternoon. At the time it could of snowed, we were just happy to be away from work and kids. Monday evening we checked out the aquarium. It was a task and a half to get there, Kenting is a small town and not many people spoke English and there are no taxis. This is where I realized I know more Korean than I thought I did. In Korea I would be able to communicate where I wanted to go, but in Taiwan they speak Mandarin and I know none. We eventually made our way to the aquarium just before closing, but we lucked in and got to see a feeding which was cool. We did a quick run through before heading back to Taipei for the night.

Tuesday was our last day. I spent the morning having a relaxation foot massage. I will say it was relaxing. Before the massage they assess your energy and organ function. All were working fine except my liver which had a value of 78 (20-30 is normal). I was told I should detox. I told her it was Korea and Soju that made my liver work over time.

It was a quick trip but a very nice mental break from Korea/ kids. I'm not sure I would recommend Taiwan as a vacation location or a must see, but it was perfect for us. All we needed was a beach, and the south coast provided that. Also traveling to countries in monsoon season is not recommended. It becomes a little depressing when the forecast calls for rain, although we lucked in and the weather didn't prevent us from any activities.