Itinerary

There are many places of interests in Taiwan which had caught my attention. Places like Alishan, Tarako Gorge, Sun Moon Lake, JiouFen, Kenting National Park, National Palace Museum and Taipei 101 all sounded too good to miss. Alishan was said to be like a "cherry blossum" beautiful mountain, but before our trip, we heard that the main highlight of it, the train ride around the area was still under repair due to an unfortunate incident which left it damaged. Taroko Gorge was a natural and majestic gorge on the eastern coast of Taiwan whereas the Sun Moon Lake was called as such due to its formation of the lake which reminded tourists of the shapes of the round sun and the crescent moon combined. Jioufen was Taiwan's old streets, Kenting had many beautiful beaches scattered around in a single area, the National Palace Museum housed many of Taiwan's and China's greatest artifacts and treasures and Taipei 101 is Taiwan's tallest tower of pride, overseeing Taipei city like a bodyguard through the days and nights.

However, as much as we would love to cover all the places of interests, it was practically not feasible to do so within a mere 12 days. We might be able to barely squeeze through but our itinerary would have turned out too jammed packed for us. We came across a pair of female Malaysian BFFs who did just that during our trip and though initially we were a little envious of them when they decribed their planned out itinerary, the apparent adrenaline they had to endure was not something we had in mind for our trip. Our iterary was planned out in a fairy comfortable pace to allow us both to relax and at the same time cover as much ground as we could. Our female friends whom we met along the way were very cute as they got our contacts because they thought it was fate which brought us together.

They were sitting behind us on the train from Kaohsiung to Hualien which took us a good 5.5 hours and took the same mini tour bus with us during our visit to Taroko Gorge the very next day. I still have yet to recieve any emails from them but they were the first of several memorable encounters we came across throughout our trip. We did alter our plans a little to cater to the unforeseen circumstances but all in all, we completed whatever we had planned to cover in Taiwan, plus a few extra places.

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Our itinerary was as such:

1st night: Kaohsiung city; accommodation @ Happy Hotel

2nd day: Kenting National Park; Erluanpi, other beaches along the way, Baishawan and Chu Huo

3rd day: Kaohsiung city; Love River, Yancheng (traditional shopping streets), Kaohsiung Municipal Film Archive, Dreammall (Hello Kitty Ferris Wheel), Liouhe night market

4th day: Hualien; accommodation @ Formosa Backpackers Hostel, Hualien city centre, Zhi Qiang night market

5th day: Taroko Gorge; Zhi Qiang night market

6th day: Taipei: accommodation @ Ta Shun Hotel, Wu Fen Pu

7th day: Jinguashi, Jioufen

8th day: Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, National Palace Museum, Dan shui

9th day: Shifen, Pingsi, Shilin night market

10th day: Yang Ming Shan, Zhongxiao Fuxing/Dunhua, Mr J's cafe, Taipei 101, Shida night market

11th day: Dan shui, Longshan temple, Ximending, Modern toilet restaurant, We Fen Pu

12th day: Xindian (Magic), Ding Tai Feng, Zhongxiao Fuxing/Dunhua

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My 4G memory card was completely used up in the midst of my Taipei trip, so most of the pictures were taken using my gf's cam. If you're a cam whore like me, I'll advise at least a 8G memory card for a 12 day trip to Taiwan. Should be enough to last you the entire trip + a good handful of vids. There were just too many breathtaking scenic shots and interesting vids to take along the way. And yes, its time for... our first stop!! Kaohsiung!! Let's go!!