Right now I live in Taoyuan but in August I’ll be free for two weeks.
Because it might be only chance for me to visit southern Taiwan, I want to see as much as possible.
I was thinking about going to spend most of this time in southern Taiwan.
My first choices are Tainan (I’m really into religion and culture of Taiwan) and Kaohsiung.
So… I want to start in Sun-Moon Lake, see temples and lake spend one night there.
My next stop will be cultural capital - Tainan for 4-5 days there is so much to see…
I want to spend about 5-6 days in Kaohsiung to have a look around city and Little Liuqiu
Is it enough time?
I have some left, some people told me I should go to Yunlin, Kending (is it expensive?) and Taidong (trip to Lanyu sounds interesting).
Do you have any suggestions???
I’m also looking for some cheap places to stay like B&B’s etc.
[quote=“spock”]Guys, I’m looking for some help/information.
Right now I live in Taoyuan but in August I’ll be free for two weeks.
Because it might be only chance for me to visit southern Taiwan, I want to see as much as possible.
I was thinking about going to spend most of this time in southern Taiwan.
My first choices are Tainan (I’m really into religion and culture of Taiwan) and Kaohsiung.
So… I want to start in Sun-Moon Lake, see temples and lake spend one night there.
My next stop will be cultural capital - Tainan for 4-5 days there is so much to see…
I want to spend about 5-6 days in Kaohsiung to have a look around city and Little Liuqiu
Is it enough time?
I have some left, some people told me I should go to Yunlin, Kending (is it expensive?) and Taidong (trip to Lanyu sounds interesting).
Do you have any suggestions???
I’m also looking for some cheap places to stay like B&B’s etc.[/quote]
I’m my own humble opinion 4-5 days checking out Tainan is a bit of an overkill and 5-6 days in Kkh sounds boring as hell. I wasn’t overly impressed with sun moon lake myself and enjoyed my time in alishan better. I would spend a couple of days there and cut a day or 2 off tainan, then not spend a whole lot of time in kkh on my way to kenting before skipping around to enjoy the beautiful east coast starting with taidong and working my way up back around to taoyuan completing the circle but that’s just me. If you go gushan in khh and see the monkeys be sure to hit one with your umbrella or walking stick those little bastards are demons and have it coming.
When you’re at SML pop up to Puli to see the Chung Tai Chan Monastery. Make sure to arrange a tour beforehand so youcan see all the cool stuff like the indoor teak pagoda. Also there is a new Buddhist statue museum there that is outstanding: both the design and lighting and the pieces
On the way south you have to stop at Beigang and Xigang for the Matsu temples, two of the oldest and most venerable in Taiwan.
Also stop in the tiny Yunlin County seaside village of Santiaoluan. NT3 billion dollar temple. Some incredible craftsmanship and the overall structure is southern so it’s a real bit of taiwania.
Then there are the temples north of Tainan where they do the boat burning and also Ciji Temple is Xuejia, has a museum of old jiaozhitao pottery by Master Yeh Wang. Again, outstanding.
Hell, I’m just giving you my temple tour from Lonely Planet. Buy the damn book.
Guanziling hotsprings and drive road down to Tzengwen Reservoir
Moon World
Aogu Wetlands
Foguangshan
Donggang to see the Donglong Temple. This is where the have the mass boat burning every 3 years but it’s still cool to see the gold foil temple arch
If you’re interested in temples and religion, you should definitely visit Dai Tian 麻豆代天宮 Daoist Temple in Ma Dou, Tainan County. An extremely bizarre temple that has extensive animated puppet-like displays dedicated to representing Daoist Hell, and another to Heaven. It’s tacky, creepy and unlike anything I’ve seen.
thank you for information, there is so many places I want to see but unfortunately my budget is very limited, do you know any cheap b&b’s, dorms etc in places like Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taitung ??
There are also some lovely things to be seen a bit further inland:
I would suggest Meinong in Greater Ktown for a day, then follow the road up to Liugui (very pretty) and Maolin (beautiful mountains) and then around to Sandimen and Wutai (aboriginal culture).
[quote=“BigJohn”]There are also some lovely things to be seen a bit further inland:
I would suggest Meinong in Greater Ktown for a day, then follow the road up to Liugui (very pretty) and Maolin (beautiful mountains) and then around to Sandimen and Wutai (aboriginal culture).[/quote]
Have you been recently? I was in the area last year and it was still pretty messed up. I have heard Maolin is back on its feet though.
[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“BigJohn”]There are also some lovely things to be seen a bit further inland:
I would suggest Meinong in Greater Ktown for a day, then follow the road up to Liugui (very pretty) and Maolin (beautiful mountains) and then around to Sandimen and Wutai (aboriginal culture).[/quote]
Have you been recently? I was in the area last year and it was still pretty messed up. I have heard Maolin is back on its feet though.[/quote]
Fair point. Some of those areas can definitely get messed up by typhoons. Check local conditions in advance!
[quote=“BigJohn”][quote=“Muzha Man”][quote=“BigJohn”]There are also some lovely things to be seen a bit further inland:
I would suggest Meinong in Greater Ktown for a day, then follow the road up to Liugui (very pretty) and Maolin (beautiful mountains) and then around to Sandimen and Wutai (aboriginal culture).[/quote]
Have you been recently? I was in the area last year and it was still pretty messed up. I have heard Maolin is back on its feet though.[/quote]
Fair point. Some of those areas can definitely get messed up by typhoons. Check local conditions in advance![/quote]
That’s it? No, hey man I didn’t know you travel in the south too. Let’s plan a super rad road trip one day. K?
in ktown when on a budget i like to stay at the Lung Men . Get off at the main train station in ktown and cross the overpass on foot to the other side of the tracks and the hotel is there. Simple room, does the job. 700nt (same price its been for over a decade).
Haven’t been there in years, almost forgotten about it - but yes, it’s a one-of-a-kind sight. The Daitianfu Temple in Nankunshen (northwest Tainan) is awesome on Sundays because of the tang-ki cutting themselves etc: guidegecko.com/taiwan/monume … ,608184901
Muchaman mentioned Donglong Temple in Donggang. During normal times it’s pretty average, in my humble opinion, compared to Tainan’s best shrines.
I don’t understand why you want to spend all of your time in the cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung. Cities in Taiwan are for the most part boring and ugly. If you like to hike or go for drives then there are a lot of great places to go.
Here are links to most of the places I’ve been with photos. theworldisnotthatbig.com/taiwan-travel-guide/ Several of these places have been mentioned above including Maolin. As far as I can tell Maolin is pretty much the same as it was before (minus the completely buried Dona Hot Spring). It is my understanding that they’ve completed the bridge to DeenGorge Guesthouse but you’ll want to call ahead. The problem (or beauty) of Maolin is that there is very little tourist infrastructure.
My advice would be to rent a car and drive down thru the mountains. So many stunning places.
[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“BigJohn”][quote=“Muzha Man”][quote=“BigJohn”]There are also some lovely things to be seen a bit further inland:
I would suggest Meinong in Greater Ktown for a day, then follow the road up to Liugui (very pretty) and Maolin (beautiful mountains) and then around to Sandimen and Wutai (aboriginal culture).[/quote]
Have you been recently? I was in the area last year and it was still pretty messed up. I have heard Maolin is back on its feet though.[/quote]
Fair point. Some of those areas can definitely get messed up by typhoons. Check local conditions in advance![/quote]
That’s it? No, hey man I didn’t know you travel in the south too. Let’s plan a super rad road trip one day. K?[/quote]
i have been around Liugui/Meinong and the general Maolin area a lot lately and its fine. if you don’t mind dodging rocks on roads, there are lots of small slides, especially on route 27 that hugs the mountains. they fix up main roads good enough fast enough. actually roads into the hills can be hit or miss, i really suggest scooters to anyone as you can git in further easier without risking gas tank ruptures etc which REALLY suck in the mountains!
thsi weeks typhoon, although pretty weak as for rainfall had VERY high winds. there are more trees down now in southern areas and mountain areas than i have every seen before. luckily they are cleared fast or you can pack a hand saw, most trees are nto too thick as they tend not to get big in these mountains with the severe rains and human developments.
Little Liuqiu is a must as far as I’m concerned. last couple years i guess it has been PACKED busy with buses (Chinese people?). even weekdays can be bad, but still better. its a day trip unless you are diving, which you wouldn’t be going there in august to do. i forget the name but one of the beaches (you drive down a semi-steep little hill with shell vendors at the bottom). there is snorkeling there, go far right into the rocks, its a really cool rock cavern type feel and good snorkeling and WAY less people.
if you are comfortable driving the mountains here, go into any roads you can, they are gorgeous. thing with places like maolin, they may get messed right up, but its not destroyed only altered. after morakot its green again, some places are buried but its still pretty. advantages less people due to less trails/roads and its free now as no one stays at the main till booth thing anymore lots of local aboriginal stuff too, further in you go the less touristy it all gets and you can see people in traditional houses, big feasts with monkey and the works etc. but its a far different type of traditional culture than the Chinese style you see in Tainan and that kind of thing. if you like it, check it out.
There is also a massive temple in Fengshan (right between Kaohsiung and Pingdong) which my friend called the Disneyland of temples. its funky and big, worth a look i think. the have a cool walk through decorated cave which is interesting. check it out at lantern festival as well.
Thank you for information, it was very helpful I have finished my tour in Sun Moon Lake and well it was quite disappointing, is water colour natural
??? looked like fake to me, i like temples around lake and Cien pagoda, I think that pagoda in Kaohsiung (near lake
) is way better than this one.
Anyway I’m going to Hualien !!! friend of mine helped me toi find homestay there and I will spend 2 nice (hopefully !!) days.
which trails I should choose ??? there are so many of them
I love the blue/green water of SunMoonLake. I don’t know how it gets its color. Maybe Doctor Evil is being paid by the KMT 4F ( Fund for Fun, Fund ) to run a little mixing house at the source with yellow number 6 and blue number 2 ?
lots of local aboriginal stuff too, further in you go the less touristy it all gets and you can see people in traditional houses, big feasts with monkey and the works etc. but its a far different type of traditional culture than the Chinese style you see in Tainan and that kind of thing. if you like it, check it out.