Taiwan, by train

Here are some pictures of our recent trip around the island of Taiwan. We took the train around the entire perimeter, stopping along the way to visit various cities. We would stay for a day or two at each destination and spend the night in a cheap hotel or hostel. It was an awesome trip, and we got to experience all of Taiwan!

Haha oops you can't see our faces- up in the mountains of Taroko Gorge.

There is a scenic highway that runs all along the gorge, from the bottem to the top. It winds in and out of the mountain, so there are hundreds of amazing bridges and tunnels to see.

Taroko Gorge is on of the most beautiful places I've been to in Taiwan. You really could spend an entire week there, just exploring.

Brian and I up in the mountains- it started raining a bit the higher we climbed on our scooter

Brian getting ready to enter the park

Just arrived in Hualien- the train station is in the background

A cute Taiwanese family enjoying a bike ride

Brian looking cute on the beach

These people were collecting seaweed from the rocks to sell. The Taiwanese love to eat dried seaweed. I think it's gross.

Brian made this- the beach is one of his favorite places to be in Taiwan. We live so close to the ocean, we try to go as much as we can.

We went hiking in a National Forest in Kenting (the Southern most part of the Island), and found this tree. That day, we also saw wild monkeys in the forest!! They were really protective of their territory and babies, and were hissing at us if we got too close!

We took a scooter trip to the Southern Most Point of Taiwan- now we've been to both the North and South tips of the island.

Swimming in the ocean

Chillin on the train. We took the train around the entire perimeter of the Island. I spent my time on the train reading and drinking coffee.... perfection.

A giant rock formation in Kenting

We rented bicycles and rode along the coast in Taitung, Taiwan- a beautiful city on the East coast of Taiwan

Thai sculptures at a yummy restaurant in Kenting. Honestly, Brian and I eat Thai food in Taiwan at least once a week! We're addicted to curry.

Picking out our scooter for the day- the hotel we stayed at had a little scooter shop attached

sparklers on the beach at Kenting

Sandals anyone? This beach town had tons of cool surfing and swimming gear

In a temple in Hualien, near Taroko Gorge.

The pictures from the post below are also from our trip around the island... we took a LOT of pictures. :) enjoy

Roadtrip! (on a train)

A beautiful Buddhist statue in Taiwan

In front of the best, cleanest, nicest hostel ever, in Koahsioung

Going to the best BBQ place in Kaohsioung

well hello! waiting for the mrt

Up in the Ferris wheel in Koahsioung!

Checking out the wicked cool beach in Keelung- the waves were crazy this day.

Me and my love

1,2,3... jump!

This was the view from the top of a cool temple in Hualien

Taroko Gorge is amazing- Hualien, Taiwan. We drove our rented scooter through the gorge for a whole Saturday- there was so much to see.

Our great training friends- Jenna just went back to the US and i miss her! :)

Spending a day in Keelung with our friends from training. This was up in the mountains on the coast of Keelung, near our friend Shoshana's house.
A cool Lantern Festival Event in downtown Taipei city.
Girls night- hanging out with Ashleigh and Jenna, and Jenna's best friend Colleen who was visiting from Korea, where she teaches English. This was during Chinese New Year, so all the beautiful lanterns were still up everywhere.
Well, these are a little out of order but oh well. This is at the Lantern Festival in Pinxi. Every year, the Taiwanese have Lantern Festival, where they cover large paper lanterns with their wishes, hopes, and prayers for the new year. They light paper money on fire inside the lantern, wait for it to fill up with air, then send it up into the sky. It is a very popular event, and it's an amazing sight to see hundreds- maybe thousands- up lighted lamps floating in the air!
There is ours, floating up and away- you can barely see other lamps in the sky above it
Our lantern with our drawings and hopes on it- we drew all over all 4 sides
This was a random afternoon. We were taking a drive up into the mountains on our scooter, when we passed a pavilion with about 30 Taiwanese people dancing, talking, and eating inside. We stopped to watch, and they promptly invited us to dance and eat with them. So we did- they were practicing some kind of cha-cha- which was really hard! We spent about an hour there, eating yummy free Chinese food, taking pics, and talking with these really nice people.

In Taitung- we rented bikes and took a ride around the seaside. This was in a cool seaside park that is famous in Taiwan. Taitung is on the South-Eastern coast of Taiwan.

On our train trip around the entire perimeter of the island, we took a little detour on our rented scooter to the Southern-most point in Taiwan.

We went with our friends Rosa and Mia in March on a little getaway to see our friend Heather (in the pic). We traveled to Koahsioung (in the south of Taiwan) and stayed for the weekend, eating, laying on the beach, shopping, and hanging out!