Mountains of Taiwan

​Before we fly back across the ocean, we decided that we should add one more country to our list. Taiwan was only a two hour flight from Jeju, and we know that there are political changes possible in this country, and we were eager to see it before any of those took place.

Taiwan has incredible scenery, and we wanted to make sure that we saw it, not just the big cities. We landed at the international airport and got a rental car. Thankfully, Jessica was brave enough to volunteer to drive here knowing that these would be mountain roads of which she is much more accustomed to driving than I am. I am so thankful that she would drive us!

The spine of Taiwan is all mountains. In fact, to get from one side of the island to the other, you really have to go around them. While our original plan had been to go all the way around the island in just a few days, we decided that would actually mean that we wouldn’t get to see any place very well and would only be driving. So instead, we opted for two nights in the mountains in the north eastern part of Taiwan, not too far from Taipei, although it feels like another world altogether.

It didn’t take long for us to leave the busy city streets behind and begin climbing on rural mountain roads. On our way there, a road under construction meant we ended up sort of going down a long one-lane, two-way road. Jess handled it like a champ and realizing that it seemed to end at some sort of cafe, we decided that could be a destination. So, at the dead end of this tiny road, we found a restaurant in a truly beautiful setting. We had a delicious late lunch as our first meal in Taiwan. I got some sort of pork belly stack with a syrup sauce. Mostly, we enjoyed watching the view and the huge butterflies that flew past! 

While sitting on this expansive veranda, looking at the map, I realized that just across the river was our hotel. It was only about a half a mile away and we could get there by walking across the suspension bridge. To drive there, however, it was about 6 miles away because we had to go back up the tiny road and find a bridge that the car could pass not just the footbridge below. On our way to the hotel, we stopped by the 7-Eleven. One of many stops at these convenience stores we have made on our Asian adventures. We were thrilled to see that even up in this tiny mountain village, the 7-Eleven was one of the nicest ones we had been to. It made us excited to see the other ones in Taiwan. While searching for snacks we may need for the evening, we overheard three giggly, Taiwanese children, probably about the same age as our students, saying, “Six-seven.” If you have no idea what this phrase is about, I know you aren’t around young children, but also please consider yourself lucky. Before we left, Jess turned around and did the hand signal to match the phrase, and the kids cackled and even followed us out to the car, saying it over and over again. What a joy to find a simple interaction we could share with these children, even though we couldn’t share many other words.

We arrived at our hotel, Kilar Mountain Villa, where the patio had a lovely view, and our room was spacious. Not wanting to tackle the roads again in the evening, we laid low and worked on making some changes in our upcoming plans due to some weather disruptions. 

Our only full day in the mountains, we decided to take on, full force. The scenery truly is stunning and reminds me of the mountains of Uganda and of Peru. They are lush and green as they peak and dip into valleys below. 

Our first stop was at Xiaowulai, a scenic area that has made the most of the beauty around them and created a tourist attraction as such. It was a little more crowded than we like, as there were enough things in short distance from the parking lot that even some large buses of tourists could visit. We enjoyed seeing the waterfalls, walking out on the short skywalk and across the suspension bridge. Then, we took a trail that led us a bit off the beaten path and away from the rest of the tourists. It was a lot of down and then a lot of up, lovely scenery, and very loud bugs, but aside from lizards, we didn’t see much wildlife. 

After rewarding ourselves with some delicious ice cream bars from the 7-Eleven and, letting the sweat dry in the air conditioner in the car, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go on one more stop. 

When planning the trip, one of the reasons I had chosen the location that I had was because of the Dongyanshan National Forest. Through my initial research, it looked like a beautiful place to be with some great hiking trails. However, when reading up about those trails and the location the day before, I couldn’t find a lot of information, and I became a little bit anxious. When Siri turned us onto a one lane but two way incredibly steep mountain road, with five miles left to go until we reached the area, I became even more nervous. The road was barely wide enough for one car, and we were incredibly lucky in the fact that we never came upon a car that was headed in the opposite direction. Again, Jessica handled it beautifully! After about a mile and a half on this road, we turned onto a beautiful wide, two lane road. This road let us to a very nice national forest recreation center with a visitor center, nice bathrooms, well maintain trails with lots of English information in them, and even a gift shop! This was when we learned our lesson that if we didn’t like the road, Siri was taking us on, we could just ignore his instructions and we could stay on the larger routes. On our way down the mountain, we ignored his instructions a few times to turn onto these one lane roads, and we made it home in only four minutes longer then planned, and we were on two lane roads the whole time!

We picked up a map at the recreation center and decided to try the “self-guided trail” that included the Dongyanshan Peak. The man at the gate had told us it was hard, but all we had to do was keep walking. He was right. It just involved a lot of uphill, as we were climbing to the peak of a Taiwanese mountain. But the trail was very nice, incredibly well maintained, and mostly stairs. Along the way, there were signs in both Chinese and English explaining the plants and animals that live in the area. We encountered a few people along the way, mostly what we believe are Taiwanese people who were a couple decades older than us. As such, they greeted us with warm smiles and welcoming simple phrases. We really didn’t see any wildlife, but man we heard it! There were a couple of birds along the way, but it was mostly the frogs and insects that were deafening in the forest. Behind the visitor center, there was a small pond where the frogs seemed to be competing for volume prizes. Throughout the forest, it often sounded like chainsaws were going. We are quite certain that it was some sort of cicadas making these sounds. The backdrop was beautiful, but it also would’ve made a fine setting for a horror film with the loud chainsaws starting and stopping constantly. At the top of the peak, we were rewarded with a beautiful vista with sites of Taipei in the distance. It was well worth the sore calves, and the dripping sweat.

Being in a country where the alphabet isn’t even similar, and life is very different, it is often hard to tell what is a restaurant. There were dozens of fruit stands along the windy mountain roads and even tents set up with small grills where lots of locals seem to be gathering and enjoying their food. I used Google to find a place, and it has lots of rave reviews that thankfully had been translated to English. We took screenshots of pictures of food that looked good to us from the restaurant, and were prepared to walk into this tiny hole in the wall and show them photos to order what we want. We walked in to this small, somewhat questionable restaurant in this mountain village in Taiwan and were greeted by a man who asked if we spoke Chinese. When we said no, he explained much of his menu in English and gave us some choices. He asked us where we were from. When we told him, he said he really hoped to make it to America sometime soon to watch LeBron James play, but right now he had a small child and thought that she would cry on the long plane ride. The food that he prepared in the makeshift kitchen was delicious. I had a sort of beef ramen bowl while Jess had fried rice. He even brought us fresh passion fruits he had picked. When I travel, it always makes me feel more ignorant when so many people can speak my language, and I can barely say thank you in theirs. I am so impressed with how much the rest of the world prioritizes teaching languages. 

Our little hotel in the mountains seemed to also be some sort of a conference center. Both nights we were there, there was a large group of people. They all ate together and sometimes we’re in the meeting room. We seemed to be the only ones not a part of the group. But we were given breakfast right alongside them. Each of us were served on our own trays with a wide variety of foods. It was not my favorite breakfast food, but that is simply because as Americans, our minds seem to be programmed into what constitutes a breakfast food and what does not. I love salad, but it’s not the way that I’m used to starting my day. Broccoli and carrots are great, but I much prefer a smoothie. The chicken wings were full of flavor, but again not exactly the food that I normally anticipate first thing in the morning. We were also given a large bowl of what I believe was rice pudding of some sort. It could’ve been grits or porridge, and as such, it had zero flavor. We couldn’t find any salt, but adding butter and sugar made it better, just like it does for everything! 

On our way down the mountain to return the car, thankfully, we were mostly on larger roadways. Driving rules are really very similar, however, drivers here are not afraid to honk if they believe you are not doing what you should be doing. They were quick to tell Jess if they felt like she didn’t really need to stop at the red light even though we feel like those rules are pretty much the same anywhere.

There was one large attraction on the side of the road, possibly a temple, where we were stopped by about seven people in vests standing in the middle of the road with those light up batons to direct traffic. They seem to just be there to help buses reenter the two-lane road. Thankfully, Jessica noticed that one of these smiling vested men was lighting firecrackers, because loud booms went off right next the car. Had we not seen that, we would have been hiding from gunshots. We’re still not sure what was going on, but it seemed these buses, with all the waving and fanfare were being sent off with quite the “bang.”

After mountain roads and some major highways, we were thankful to return the car relying now on Uber, public transportation and our own two feet. I have so much more of Taiwan that I want to explore, but I’m thrilled we got this opportunity to see the beauty! 

Food on Jeju

​I had read several books about Jeju, particularly the women of Jeju who dive to collect gifts from the sea. Their descriptions of seaweed, sea mustard, sea urchins, abalone, and the rare octopus did not make my stomach grumble. When I searched about Jeju food, most pictures were of whole fish on plates with eyes that could look back at you. So, I will admit that I was anxious about the food on Jeju. However, we were cautious when we searched for restaurants, and well, I ate some truly delicious food on this island!

On our first night, we didn’t get settled into our hotel until about nine. Not too eager to venture out at this hour, we did what the locals do. We found a convenience store and chose, among the wide selections, a ramen bowl. The hotel had hot water available as we were not the only ones who did this. Was it utterly delicious? No. But was it an experience we needed while in South Korea? Absolutely! 

Our first night at our seaside condo, we asked the host for suggestions. We opted for the Korean BBQ place that we could walk to. It was certainly a local place so we stuck out like a sore thumb. But our hosts couldn’t have been more excited. They helped us cook on the tiny central fire, knowing that we had no idea what we were doing. The black pork was delicious, along with the grilled kimchi and onions. Some sort of spicy salad was eaten alongside the pork, and it added lots of flavor. Then he delivered some sort of soft boiled egg. It had ballooned like a cream puff, but the flavor was mostly that of a scrambled egg. When our stomachs were near bursting, he brought us a hot soup with tofu. Despite the warm air outside, its simplicity was welcomed. Then, one waitress brought us some crab. Had we ordered it? Not to my knowledge. I don’t eat crab often, and when I do, it’s mostly just crab cakes. That’s not what this was. She brought us two different crab dishes to try. Through miming, and the plastic glove she brought us, we learned we were to tear off part of the crab and get the meat out of it. The first one, covered in a spicy red sauce was okay. The second one, recently caught and still freshly uncooked was absolutely terrible. It tasted like the salty sea just a stone’s throw away. But with her giant grin and eager expressions, we did our best to hide our disappointment, and like small children moved things around on our plates in hopes she didn’t notice. 

On our second night, we looked a bit like wet rats as we rolled up to Nansan Kitchen. We had been out most of the day, often in the rain, and so we decided to find a place on our way back to our condo rather than get out of the house again. A quick search on Google led us to this tiny restaurant in the countryside. Photos and reviews looked great, so that was all we had to go by. When we walked in, they asked if we had a reservation, which of course we did not. They asked us to wait a moment and went to talk to the chef. They came back and said we could join them for the set menu, but they’d have to make some minor changes to ours. Would that be okay? Sure thing. No clue as to what we were getting into. We later realized how truly special this opportunity was and how lucky we had been to show up when we did. Nansan Kitchen had five tables. Five. Most of them were for two people. We got to sit at the only open table. Then, seven divine and gorgeous courses were placed before us. First was a creamy mushroom soup rich with truffle flavor. Then, inside a treasure box the next two arrived: beef tartare and a creamy lobster served in a ceramic oyster shell. A salad with shaved egg appeared next, both beautiful and tasty. The breaded chicken with puréed carrot would have been good on its own, but with the tiny bites of fresh lemon, it was even fresher! The squid ink risotto was my least favorite of the dishes, but I still devoured every tiny piece and was glad for some local fish dishes. Before dessert, our last course was beef steak with some “seedy” mustard and grilled kimchi. It was the dessert that made me want to lick the plate though. I was thrilled to see “pavlova” on the menu when we sat down. It’s the national dessert of New Zealand, and I loved the stories about it when I was there. It is a meringue named after the a ballerina dancer for it resembled her skirt. Our pavlova had a layer of strawberry jam, one of cream, and tiny slices of kiwi on top. My mouth is watering as I type… This ended up being our most expensive meal of our trip so far, but the $37 each was well worth it. So, if you’re lucky enough to go to Jeju, go ahead and make a reservation at Nansan Kitchen. Eat whatever they put in front of you! 

Our seaside condo came with breakfast delivered to our room each morning. We were given no choices, so, again, we were a little anxious as the breakfasts eaten on this side of the globe are very different to what we are accustomed to. Each day, it was some new, unique, beautiful, and delicious creation. Our first one was a sort of bacon, egg, and cheese English muffin with a kind of sour kraut on it along with a sliced banana with a sweet shaving across it. Day two was fresh watermelon along with some savory breads and simple sandwiches. On our third day, well, aside from the sliced tangerines, I’m not sure I can really tell you what it was. Toast with grilled spam, grilled pineapple and some sort of sweet aioli sauce? I gobbled up every bite! 

For some snack items, we enjoyed trying the pancake sandwiches like the “fish desserts” we had enjoyed in Japan, these just had red bean paste as the center. They were lightly sweet and enjoyable. Udo, the tiny island off the coast of Jeju, is known for their peanuts. Well, peanut ice cream quickly became a favorite treat! 

On the 4th of July, we went searching for a burger, and well, we may have put all American burgers to shame. We went to Papaya (we learned it is Papa-Ya, not the fruit!), and I can’t recommend it enough. I chose the black pork burger. When it arrived, Jessica and I both marveled at its size and wondered at what all was on it. I’m still not totally sure, but there was a hash brown, a fried egg, some grilled pineapple pieces, crunchy peanut butter, grilled onions, lettuce, and of course, the meat. How did all of these flavors create such perfection, I’ll never know, but WOW! Not only was our food mouth-watering, but our host was so generous. She brought over a map of Jeju and marked special places we should see. Then, asking our names, she wrote them in Korean for us. If you’re in the area, don’t miss out on these burgers! 

At our next home away from home, on our first rainy night, we saw a sandwich place that we could walk to and decided that eating a sandwich while watching some TV sounded like a great night. The creamy mushroom soup and the apple, Gorgonzola, and honey panini did not disappoint.

The next night we walked to Seomgolae. We each ordered the salmon and avocado rice bowl. We did not realize it came with a side of seaweed soup. I tried it, and well, it tasted just like what you’re imagining right now. Our food tour host told us this is what his family ate every morning for breakfast. It made me even more thankful for the adorable host who brought us breakfast each morning. But the rice bowl was fantastic! It came with rice, fresh salmon, avocado, wasabi, sprouts, grilled onion, pickled ginger, pickled garlic cloves and soy sauce. It was a glorious mixture of flavors! 

As our second home did not come with our own chef, we decided to try some of the famous pastries for breakfast. Both mornings, we drove about ten minutes to the west to a cute little area stacked with restaurants and souvenir shops. On our first day, we waited for a solid half hour or more while one busy chef worked tirelessly to create perfect works of art. We had seen “jiggly pancakes” all over the internet, but we never tried them in Japan, so we decided this was the perfect opportunity! Tribe offered four unique flavors of “soufflés”, and I went with the tangerine one. The fluffy pancakes stood about four inches tall and were covered with a thick cream and shaved oranges. Atop the pancake sat a small macaroon in the shape of the tangerine. On the side were slightly grilled (?!?) and sugared tangerine slices that fell off the rind along with a sweet orange syrup. Yes, I started my day with a high sugar count, but man was it worth it! 

The next morning we went to Pick Up for a custard filled croissant topped with caramelized peanuts. Thinking perhaps we should add a small slice of health to our breakfast, we then went to Dotori Jeju where we had delicious yogurt bowls topped with nuts, granola, dried fruit and honeycomb!  

On our last night in Jeju, we went on a food tour in Jeju City. Our guide was adorable and the food we ate was delicious, but we were accustomed to multiple stops on a food tour, and this one fell a little short of that. However, the oranges and the freshly squeezed (while we watched) orange juice were fabulous. Our meal was a pork noodle bowl. Our guide told us that in Korea, they really think of ramen as noodles that have been dried and then recooked, so while this flavor filled bowl would have been ramen in Japan, here, it was called a noodle bowl. 

I went to Jeju a little fearful of the food, but I’m leaving with my stomach grumbling as I write. Wishing you all great food on life’s journey!

Adventures on Jeju

Jeju Island is 45 miles long and 26 miles across. So, it’s not huge by any standards, but there is plenty to do and see on this little island. Because of flight times, we ended up spending a night on the front end and on the back end in Jeju City. Our hotel, the Whistlelark Hotel, was fine, I would just prefer to be away from the city. The rest of our time was split between the southeast corner at a lovely seaside condo called Turning Point. It was here that we watched dolphins play one morning and could wander along the black, rocky coastline and watch for tiny crabs. In the northwest corner, we stayed in a gorgeous Airbnb, where these two single girls, for the first time in a month got to have not only their own room, but our own floor! We also thoroughly enjoyed the rooftop, side-by-side mini hot tubs in the

While, you can get from one end of the island to the other in just a a couple of hours, I think splitting our time in two places was smart. It meant that we didn’t have to drive as far to do the things that we wanted to. I’m not sure if we needed a full week on the island, but taking that time meant that we could move a little slower and enjoy the little things. I think if the weather had been a little different, we would’ve enjoyed some time lounging in the sun as well.

Research on the internet told us that renting a car was the best way to get around here. I am so glad that we did! Driving here really hasn’t been so bad. Well, for me it’s been great, because Jess has been our driver! She has done a fantastic job. But I must say, the roads are wider and in much better shape than what I anticipated. Rules on the road are very similar to home, and they drive on the right side of the road. Of course, there are a few things that have been a little tricky where people seem to make up their own rules about things like which lane to drive in or what areas seem to be appropriate to park in. Navigating has been a little tricky. We were told ahead of time that Google maps did not work here. I am most accustomed to using Apple Maps. Apple Maps has worked well, although the time expected for our journeys has always been about 2/3 of the actual time. The problem is, that not everything shows up on Apple Maps. So, we use Google maps to find a place, or sometimes the Internet, but Google will not create a route, so we have to go back into Apple Maps to do that and search for the same spot. Siri has been a great guide in the car, however, just like us, he struggles with the language. Often times he will tell us to “turn left toward” and that is the last thing he says. Like he’s not even going to try to pronounce where we are headed. If you’re planning to come here, I would highly recommend renting a car as the cost was very reasonable, and the driving has not been too difficult. 

June and July are the rainy season on this island, and unfortunately, we experienced a lot of that. We did get lucky toward the end of our stay with some more sunshine that helped to make the turquoise waters glisten, but our time was certainly dominated by clouds and rain. This certainly impacted our choices of activities and limited hiking possibilities.

Soon upon arrival, it was easy to see some of the most popular parts of the island. The island is particularly known for their hallabong tangerines, and so all of the gift shops are full of bright orange colored trinkets. There are tangerine bucket hats, and raincoats as well as, keychains, and chocolates. Also, throughout the island, there are Stone guardians known as grandfather‘s that guard the entranceways to homes and businesses. These adorable little guys can be found just about everywhere, and it is quite obvious that Jeju loves them! Jeju also is home to half of the horses of all of South Korea, so horses are common, and there are often opportunities for horseback riding throughout the island as well. 

I wanted to share a few things that we did enjoy doing on this island in case you ever come this direction perhaps it can be a guide for you!

• Jeju Peace Park - This vast expanse works to honor all of those that were killed in the 1940s and 50s. It is overwhelming and difficult, but well worth the visit.
• Jeju Stone Park - We thought from the brief descriptions online that it was mostly a park full of stone figures that this island is well known for, like the small guardians, but instead this huge complex is a history of rocks, the formation of this island, and how the people of this island have used rocks for generations. 
• Snoopy Garden -This was sort of a random stop for us, but it had rave reviews online, and I must admit that it was very enjoyable. There was a small sort of museum on Peanuts and why they are so beloved. Outside, there was an expensive and well manicure garden with statues of all of the characters scattered throughout. 
• Seopjikoji - A peninsula with great views, a lighthouse and a giant swing.
• Haenyeo - Jeju Haenyeo Museum and demonstration at Seongsan Ilchulbong - both were meaningful and well worth it! 
• Seongsan Ilchulbong - A climb on a peninsula to see the view. We enjoyed it, but I hope you don’t have to do it with an umbrella! 
• A Day Trip to Edo - A ten minute ferry ride to an adorable little island with scooters to rent. 
• Manjanggul Cave - This is one of the longest and largest lava tubes in the world. We loved being able to wander the kilometer back in its vastness. 
• Waterfalls - This island is known for waterfalls, and with all the rain, they were spilling over full force. We enjoyed several along our route. 
• Maeil Olle Market - The town of Seogwipo is home to a large market where we enjoyed eating and shopping our way through. 
• Daepo Jusangjeolli - The rocky cliff line where volcanic material cooled into hexagonal columns, just like the Giants’ Causeway in Northern Ireland. 
• Sinchang Windmill Coastal Road - Much of the coastline here is dotted with windmills. At this little walkway that jets out into the ocean, you can walk amongst them. 
• Sanbang Mountain - At the side of this small mountain is a giant temple with a huge golden Buddha. Up a steep climb, there is another magical temple inside the mountain where if you drink the water, you will live for six more years than you were supposed to. 
• O’Sulloc Tea Museum - While it wasn’t exactly what we were anticipating, this huge estate offers tea samples, and a large café, as well as beautiful grounds and lots of skin care. 
• Iho Tewoo Horse Lighthouses - This isn’t a place that requires a lot of time, but these lighthouses in the shape of Jeju’s famous ponies are a great little photo spot! 

This little island is packed with adventures to be had plus lots of natural beauty to explore. It’s no wonder the Seoul to Jeju flight route is the busiest route in the world!