Time to Enjoy Life: My Top 4 Must See in Taiwan

I wish I can visit Taiwan, I had not gone overseas in a really long time since my kids were born. It would be nice to have a mini getaway to a beautiful country like Taiwan. There’s really so many things that one can do in Taiwan, like Shopping, or just enjoying the local food or what most attracted me, LOHAS! LOHAS is really shortform for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability and it is currently a popular trend in world travel that encompasses everything! In the Taiwanese way, we can enjoy LOHAS in the island’s cuisines, sports, leisure activities, and traditional health care therapies. See the above video for the 4 places I would really love to visit while cycling about on two wheels if I get the chance to visit Taiwan.

1) Yehliu Geopark (野柳地質公園)
I have this strong attraction to art structures and nature and Yehliu Geopark with all her magnificent structures at the beach some more is not to missed. I wish to do some photography there like these I found on Flickr.

It seems that the sunrise is perfect to capture from this location too, and what more with the odd shapes that is just postcard perfect. These large structures foung on Yehliu are known as Mushroom rocks due to their shapes but the most famous one is called Queen’s Head Rock.

Queen’s Head Rock kind of looks like some ancient queen looking longingly into the sea.

The mushrooms protruding all over the coast making a beautiful and quirky site to behold. To me it is a testimony of God’s creativity, making the land unique and beautiful for our enjoyment.

Opening Hours:

8:00am ~ 5:00pm
Charges:
NT$50 Adult
NT$25 Children / Students

There seems to be some interesting seafood to eat in Yehliu as well, I just love squids what about you? Street food is the bomb too. Keelung Miaokou Night Market (基隆 廟口夜市) . is really nearby too, just a bike ride away, and it is known as one of the best night markets with mouth watering array of cheap food. Taiwanese really know how to take night market street food to a whole new level, plus their huge seafood really is too tempting.

The night market is famous for this Butter Crab! Most travellers advised to come here with an empty tummy and try everything in sight! That’s a bit crazy but would love the challenge.

2) Tamsui (淡水)

Tamsui is the location of one of Taiwan’s most rewarding bike rides. I’m sure my hubby will be super excited to go there. Bikes for hire are easily available here after taking the MRT line to Danshui / Tamsui, there’s even a GIANT Bike shop that allows rental for their good bikes.  I imagine we can ride along the river towards Tamsui’s Lover Bridge before sunset to catch the nice view.

If we’re tired of riding, we can even do some painting, afterall, everywhere you look it will be picturesque.

There’s so much love in this little town of Tamsui. This is a great place to renew your vows maybe or even just remember the loves of your life. Love is definitely in the air here.

After a whole day of riding, we sure need to load up on food. A visit to the Tamsui Old Street night market will do the trick. It’s well known for having LOTS of choices, I can spend a whole night here gulfing down Taiwanese sausages and more squid.

Or some jumbo ice-cream to cool down the heat.

3) Wulai Hotspring (烏來温泉)

It’s officially not possible to visit Taiwan and not visit any hotspring. I chose this hotspring because of its beauty, imagine soaking in hot water in an open space overlooking majestic mountains and waterfalls, that is pure bliss.

This place is open, free and public. Most of the locals come here rather than tourists, and maybe you will see more children and old people than foreigners.

One can even take a cable car ride up here to catch the amazing scenery or to stay in a hotel up there for a night. There are also lots of local food here, Taro balls, Bamboo rice, tea eggs and more.

This would be a great time to learn about the Taiwan aborigines people group, the Atayal people. I have a thing for history too, and the original people of the land can teach you so much more about the story behind it so much better.

4) Houtong Cat Village

As a cat and animal friend, I cannot help but want to visit this quaint town full of cats. Houtong used to be a coal mined but is now abandoned, but it is saved after cats decided to move in and thus now it became a tourist attraction.

Although it is pretty commercialised and people here just sell cat food for you to feed these strays and owned pet, but still it should be fun to learn about how to love and care for animals. This is 100% better than the cat museum in my hometown where we can only see weird cat statues. What is a better way to learn about cats than to play with real ones? The cats here are known to be pretty friendly since they have so many visitors they just got used to it. Some traveller say there are even dogs in this village, but they are not treated well. So visitors who love dogs are advised to bring some dog food for the poor fellas too since nobody in his village sell dog food. It is really a Cat’s World out there. There are over 100 cats here by the way, so don’t come here unless you love feline!

Besides just petting cats and purring together, Houtong is really a pretty village with beautiful mountainous views.

Everything is cat themed here, from the cafes, to the restaurants, to this cute map. If you don’t read Chinese you might be wary that the dumplings served in the restaurants are cat meat, but of course that is not true. Coz the villagers here love cats so much, that is why cats get to roam and rule and kings and queens.

There are even cute signboards to teach you how to care for the kitties! LOL!

I can’t get enough of them cats!

Unlike other crowded tourist attractions in Taiwan, this one is more of a small village, peaceful and quiet, valued for its heritage and landscape. If this is your value, then you would appreciate this place, I know I would.

So there you have it, the four places I wish I can visit in Taiwan, they are all in the northern region and close by, so just nice for a 5D4N tour, you think? For more information about Travelling in Taiwan, please check out the links below.

Time for Taiwan- Taiwan Tourism Events

Taiwan The Heart of Asia

All About Taiwan in Bahasa Malaysia

Time for Taiwan Facebook Page

The Butterfly Project Malaysia is having a giveaway to the top winner of the blogging contest with a prize of 5D4N trip for 2 to Taiwan worth RM8000! Hope I do indeed get to visit Taiwan the Heart of Asia in this year 2015.