Taiwan

Jan 25 UA274 IAH-SFO, UA871 SFO-TPE, Jan 29 UA872 TPE-SFO, UA283 SFO-IAH

Taiwan continues to be one of our favourite destinations in Asia, and with easy international upgrades to Polaris Class from San Francisco, it was a nice way to cap off a busy January of travel. As it was a relatively short getaway, we stuck close to Taipei and one of our preferred Hyatt hotels, but did also manage to get out in a rental car for a day trip.

Jan 25-26

Spent the long day traveling, but did manage to start with our first visit to the newly opened Polaris Lounge in Houston for breakfast and lunch in the Polaris Lounge in San Francisco before our flight to Taiwan. After a long day of traveling we arrived at our hotel at late the following day, checking into the hotel and heading to bed.

Jan 27

For our first day in Taiwan, we explored areas of the city accessible by the extensive train network. The weather was a little cloudy so deferred our day in the mountains in hopes of better weather the next day.

Monument in the 2-28 Peace Memorial Park

Taipei 2-28 Memorial is the centrepiece of the park

Very imposing Grand Hotel Taipei is one of the tallest classical Chinese structures. At 87m high, it was the tallest building in Taipei until 1981.

National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine entrance

Main Shrine building, established in 1969 to recognize the war dead of the Republic of China

Ceremonial guards protecting the main hall

Honour guards prior to the official changing of the guard ceremony

Very serious hourly guard change ceremony was worth the wait

The event was very well attended

One of the many vents of the Beitou Hot Spring in Beitou Park

Warm spring waters flowing through the park outside the bath buildings

Original Beitou public bath building, now a museum

Creative symbol art inside the museum

Looking out at the surrounding park from the bath museum

Original public bath pool, the focal point of the museum

Beautiful foliage fills the park surrounding the bath

Moving further from Taipei, exploring the Tamsui river shoreline close to its mouth into the China Sea

Restored warehouses of Tamsui

Low tide on the river offers fishing opportunities

Some more serious fishermen

Fort San Domingo, towering above Tamsui

The 1891 Former British Consular Residence, also on the fort grounds

Exploring the kitchen of the consular residence

Fully restored dining room of the residence

Masking our way down from the fort, we manage to catch the Taiwan flag flying fully

Wharf office buildings from the 1860s along the Tamsui Customs Wharf

Making our way back to Taipei, we stopped at the colourful Guandu Temple

Exploring a park above the temple, we can see Taiwan stretching beyond the temple

Looking back up the Tamsui river towards the China Sea

Broader perspective on the Gaundu Temple from above

One of the many parrots adorning the temple complex

Tom finding beauty in human engineering efforts

Small statue adds to the waterfall

Back at the hotel after a long day of touring, we had to capture the beautiful Taipei 101 tower.

We ended the day with happy hour snack and cocktails in the hotel lounge, and recharged for our planned full day of driving.

Jan 28

After breakfast in the hotel, we headed out to pick up the rental car and made our way towards the mountains. We have driven in Taiwan before, but this was the first time driving in Taipei. Luckily traffic wasn’t too bad, there were some English signs and Google Maps did a decent job of navigating. We only made a few wrong turns, and eventually made it back safely.

Restored Japanese Minquan Old Street in Sansia

Colourful Tsushima Temple in Sansia

Riverside path in Sansia. The river ultimately flows into the Tamsui River that we explored the day before

Starting our way across the island on the winding North Cross-Island Highway

A great perspective on how the road hugs the mountain side

Glass walkways help get great views of the Xiao Wulai Waterfall

Trusting the rope bridge at Wulai

Great perspective of the size of the rope bridge

Lower pool of Wulai Falls

Making our way back up from the pool and to where we started

Looking back up the gorge from the falls

Broader perspective on the main Wulai Falls

Continuing our way down the North Cross-Island Highway

Blue dammed waters in the mountain gorge

Looking at the new bridge from the old road and bridge

The original vehicle tunnel, no longer necessary with the new bridge, now decorated as a pedestrian attraction

The original bridge, thankfully just for walking now

The new current North Cross-Island Highway is still not exactly a luxuriously wide drive

Quick stop at one of the many falls along the scenic drive

Some of the twists and turns on the highway

Finally on the other side of the mountains, we now head North along the Lanying River floodplain

Another view of the flood plain and surrounding mountains, farmed for cabbage

Finally making our way back into Taipei, we dropped off the rental and made our way to the hotel to rest for the evening.

Jan 29

After breakfast in the hotel, we caught the train to the airport for our morning flight back to San Francisco and ultimately on to Houston and to Toronto for Tom.