Dongmen Market (pre-tour)

Like It Formosa Food Tour Taipei


Hansen explaining how vermicelli is made


Stinky tofu stand - small bag in lower right corner. It didn't smell too bad but we weren't given samples.


The green fruit in the lower right is guava - really delicious. The small red fruit in the upper middle section (the 3 small pieces) are the wax apples, but they aren't apples! They didn't have much taste but they were juicy.






In the unnamed restaurant (unfortunately, we didn't get a list of the places we visited) Eggplant dish - very tasty!


A sweetish cabbage dish - surprisingly good!


Hot and sour soup. It tastes like hot and sour soup.


Chive dumplings. They were okay.




Vermicelli with intestines (at a separate vendor). I couldn't really eat this because I'd just burned my tongue at the restaurant on the steamed dumplings!


Scallion Pancake vendor


Local flavor!


Entry to Yongkang park


There were lots of cute kids but this one, with the chopped-off hand, is a winner!


And the desserts - mango shaved ice. Yum.


Taro and mango shaved ice.

Sunday, October 20
Taipei to Taitung
A Fantastic Train Ride!

Is it only day 5? It feels like we’ve been gone forever!We left a damp Taipei and headed south on the east side of the country toward Taitung, traveling through rain and fog, passing lush mountains, eventually seeing the sun burst through the black clouds and shining onto the emerald green rice fields. It was a spectacular journey!

Taitung, in the southeast of the country, a center of indigenous culture and is a strikingly beautiful region, surrounded by the mountains and the sea. It is known for rice fields and tea plantations, has quirky art displays, interesting museums, indigenous music presentations and lots of parks to explore. Oh, and some of the most colorful temples! There’s plenty here to keep one busy!

We arrived in the town of Taitung late in the day, staying at the comfortable Gaya Hotel. The staff is very friendly, but it’s interesting being here as few speak much English, if at all, and though Michael has been using the Chinese (Mandarin) that he knows, it’s often difficult for him to make himself understood. He did well in Taipei but this is a different story altogether.

After settling in, it was time to find somewhere for supper and explore the neighborhood by our hotel. We were immediately taken by a few brightly lit trees and a large cartoonish figure. We entered a tunnel of lights and discovered a delightful market with indigenous music, food and crafts. Only later did we realize this was the ∫, a setting for indigenous musicians and performers.

There is a fascinating structure, the Wave House, which is a wave-shaped roof over a set of 50 containers, and is the home of the TTStyle Aboriginal Cultural and Creative Hall, and contains shops and restaurants, many with a tribal focus.

Lots of energy and very festive! We really enjoyed walking around tasting some of the offerings.

A spectacular train ride to Taitung

The Tiehua Music Village and lots of Christmas decorations (but it's only October!)

Walking toward the Music village market through the tunnel of lights


Lots of color!






Loved this - the Wave House, home of the TTStyle Aboriginal Cultural and Creative Hall


The Wave House consists of a set of over 50 containers topped off by the wave-like roof


The market contained food and lots of crafts


Hanging with my bud

Progol, I am enjoying your report and photos of Taiwan! The Turkish Business Class Lounge is amazing! What a wonderful place for a long lay-over. Love your photos of the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and Taipei 101. There is no way I would agree to being harnessed to go to the top floor. I would be happy with the 91st floor. The architecture is so unique.

Did you find out what those strange eyeball sea creatures are??? They look like eyeballs on top of poached eggs!

I don't know if we will make it to Taiwan and Japan, so I love reading everyone's reports on these countries and seeing the photos. memejs's report and photos are fascinating, too. If we return to Asia, SE Asia is our first choice. Just not sure how many more of these long-distance trips we want to do at our ages.

Thanks so much for following, Karen! I know, it seems like everyone has gone to Japan this year (except for you, of course)! And it is a fantastic country to visit. I don’t expect to get back, either, but I certainly wouldn’t say no to a return visit. Taiwan, though, was the real surprise. I was confident we would enjoy it but it really surpassed our expectations - and we really didn’t do or see a lot of the country.

I think those big eyes are octopus but I can’t swear to it. My husband took the photo - I found it hard to even look at them!

I’m looking forward to your TR in Australia and NZ. Like you, I don’t know how many more of these long, long trips we’ll be able to manage. I don’t know that we’ll get back to Asia or get to Australia and NZ, so your TR will be my vicarious travel experience.

Wow what kind of fish are those eyes from? Are the eyes themselves considered a delicacy?

It’s too bad that the food tour was disappointing. It actually sounded like all things I’d eat (which is surprising because I expected there to be more seafood). I wouldn’t want them to tell me about the beef intestine until after I’d tried it, though!

Was Mandarin less widely spoken in the south in general? I know parts of Taiwan are predominantly Minnanese- or Taiwanese-speaking, but don't have a sense of distribution.

memejs, we enjoyed the food tour and getting to see the neighborhood it was in. The food was good but nothing that unusual or different from eating in NYC. It wasn’t bad, just not that special (to us). And I believe the eyes are from an octopus but we were on our own at that time so didn’t get an explanation.

tripplanner, I don’t really know whether or not that Mandarin was the issue or whether it was simply that M’s (limited) Mandarin was just not understood. I suspect people in the larger more touristed cities were more able to figure out what Michael would be trying to say. In Taitung, there was also less English, too. But I don’t know, really.

Really enjoying your trip report progol! We're planning our own trip to Taiwan for April so this is very timely. Great pictures and descriptions. Looking forward to more!

"(An aside here - we’ve found that behind the very large commercial streets, there are smaller streets and alleys that are just chock full of smaller shops and restaurants and are full of life.)

This is an important observation. And it is not just true of Taipei, but also of Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing and probably other major Asian cities as well. In between all those busy, modern boulevards with skyscrapers are neighborhoods, sometimes as large as 20x20 of tiny streets and alleys with residences, businesses, lodging, places to eat, etc. In Beijing they call these hutongs, some of which have been cleaned up and sanitized, and many are being torn up for development. In Beijing they even have hutong tours; several of them being quite famous. I was lucky enough to stay in a motel in one of these neighborhoods in Seoul, and it really opened up a whole world that was right there behind the facade.

After a week+ of not being able to log on, I’m back! I hope to get more of our Taiwan travels up soon - just bought new devices and have been struggling to get them up to date!

valgachi, I think you will love Taiwan! If you haven’t read them already, do look into yestravel’s and Kavey’s posts on Taiwan. I believe food is a particular interest of yours, so Kavey’s posts might be especially helpful. As I’ve mentioned, we stuck to the cities to keep the trip manageable and didn’t travel through the central part of the country, which seems also quite beautiful. But the area around Taitung is quite beautiful, too. And renting a car is definitely doable as Taiwan drives on the right.

shelemm, so very interesting! I’d read about the hutongs and didn’t put it together with our experience in Taipei, but that makes so much sense! I loved discovering the smaller streets behind our hotel.

I promise more to come this weekend!

Thanks progol, yes, I'm excited! I have those trip reports marked,. And yes, food is a big part of our trips. I just finished making my map for Taipei with all my food options (so many!) and I'm working on Kaohsiung now. We'll also be sticking to the cities (but that's what we usually do). Looking forward to more.

valgachi, in our limited experience, Tainan was the most food-notable place we visited. There were so many wonderful small vendors and shops throughout the city, I called it the grazing capital of Taiwan! And though we aren’t huge foodies, we did have some wonderful meals there.

Thanks progol, I'll have to research Tainan next!

I've seen some of these photos before, but I'm really enjoying the longer story and the trip report. Keep it coming!

We also just returned from a trip similar to yours, visited Kyushu, Okinawa and Taiwan, but with a much shorter time than yours, 24 nights in total, and splitting evenly between the two.

You really had captured the essence of both the countries, and as usual, your photos had captivated the beauty of both countries.

I am reliving the moments through your eyes! I also concurred that Taiwan is a food haven, even the locals are raving about it. Street food markets are found almost every corners in town.

Thanks for sharing your trip. Looks amazing from the photos! I can't wait to see more of your trips in the future.

xyz99, valgachi, Cherthor, HavensAway,

More to come soon -I promise! I’ve been in computer h@#l with new equipment and upgrading software and I’ve just been so overwhelmed by it (oh, and more trip planning, of course!) that I haven’t had the energy to work in this. But I promise more to come soon!