Our ten-day tour of Taiwan is coming to an end in a blaze of sunshine, and we spent the last day in the mountains north of the capital, Taipei, visiting the cats…
It’s a little bizarre, but one of the highlights of Taiwan is the mining town of Houtong where the coal mine closed sometime ago and the residents needed to find another source of income – so they turned the whole place into a cat village complete with cat statues…
Hundreds of well-fed cats roam the narrow lanes and attract trainloads of tourists. We stopped for a purrfect coffee and a few feline photos before miaowdering on to Taiwan’s top tourist town – Jiufen. There aren’t too many things for tourists to do in the capital, Taipei, so this mountainside town of ancient shophouses on Taiwan’s north coast was a zoo even on an ordinary Tuesday in March…
The rows of shops are perched precariously on ledges that weave around the mountain and occasionally offer breathtaking views of the distant sea. But it’s the hundreds of food stalls and restaurants that seemed to be on the minds of most visitors…
Most Taiwanese are tiny compared to us, yet they never seem to stop eating. We are amazed every morning by the loaded platefuls of food that we see disappearing from the breakfast buffet, and we haven’t been able to finish any of the meals served to us at dinnertime. Yet, the locals here seem to have insatiable appetites…
The sights, sounds and smells in the winding streets of old shophouses constantly remind us that we are in a very foreign place…
While there are plenty of things in the stores that we recognise, there are many strange and wonderful things to amaze us. However, we baulked at the stinky tofu which, as its name suggests, smells like a toilet, the duck heads, and the heaps of dried octopus shavings…
But we just had to try the chocolate crombolonis…
This is a recent remake of a croissant which, according to the BBC, is currently taking Paris by storm. Along with food, it seems that the Taiwanese have a fascination with domestic pets. This cute dog was modelling the latest in doggy fashion in a Juifen shop selling only doggy clothes…
As we prepare to fly to Japan where we will be spending the next month hunting for the perfect cherry blossoms, we take a final look at Taipei from the train….
Even though the capital city is nestled in the forested mountains, it is a bleak city of concrete towers. The mountains are sparsely inhabited, but the country is actually one of the most densely populated countries in the world with almost the entire populace of 24 million living in high-rise cities strung along the narrow coastal plain.
Taiwan was interesting for us, but it doesn’t have a lot to offer holidaymakers. However, we loved the kindness and helpfulness of the Taiwanese people, and we were amazed at the incredible cleanliness of everything - especially the spotless litter-free streets and immaculate toilets. Next stop – Okinawa, Japan.
This featured blog entry was written by Hawkson from the blog Blissful Adventures.
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