Yes, we keep track of our travel modes. As long term travelers we have the luxury of time and room for errors, or spending extra time that other travelers might prefer not to “waste” taking buses instead of taxis. We also like to try to experience life the way locals do, as much as we can. Of course Rich always has a back up plan – if this bus hadn’t shown up in ten more minutes we’d walk over to the taxi stand. But show up it did, and we were off to the train station to go to Kaohsiung, a city of 2.7 million.
Rich, in his quest to really understand Taiwan trains, got us business class seats which weren’t really necessary since standard class is comfortable, but you know, for research sake. He also managed to book us in the single seats on the coastal side of the train, so fantastic views out a window each. Interestingly enough, a mother daughter duo from the bus were also in the business class train car with us.
Something that is necessary is a plan for what to do when you arrive at your destination before your hotel lets you check in. Check in times in Taiwan are quite strict, usually 3 or 4 pm, so if your train arrives before that, you need to have an idea of where to go after you drop your bags at your hotel. We were glad our hotel in Kaohsiung, Hotel dua, let us check in when we arrived at about 1:30. We think that was due to the fact that we were staying for four nights. But we were ready with our plan. YouBikes to the Museum of History.
For us, riding bikes in an urban environment isn’t daunting. And with so many scooters in Kaohsiung we felt in good company. The cycling is certainly not the best in the world, but with the long distances and flat terrain, riding bikes is such a good way to get around. We met up with a fellow traveler, Martin (Hi Martin!), from Sweden, for pizza at a place that seemed not too far away from both our hotels. Ha! We all exclaimed at how much further it was than it first appeared on the map, us bicycling and Martin walking. It’s always so great to meet other travelers and swap stories and travel tips and learn about each other’s lives. Always say hello to fellow travelers, even if it feels awkward at first. I’ve had to get over my uncomfortableness about asking people where they are from, I’ve learned to phrase it “Where are you visiting from?”. That helps avoid awkward moments when you might have assumed incorrectly about a person’s home country. Taiwan doesn’t have that many western tourists so seeing other travelers is not common, which makes it even more fun to find out where folks are from and what their deal is.
We did spend some time pretending to screech and swat monkeys off our backs, and then when we did encounter some Formosan rock macaques we walked by gingerly, saying hey buddy, no food in our packs, it’s all in our bellies now.
Just as we were thinking the monkey problem was maybe overblown, someone took an empty crisp bag out of their backpack and chaos erupted when one monkey grabbed it and took off and ten other monkeys gave chase! Round and round the seating and view area the monkeys went until they gave up and the ringleader discovered his prize was an empty bag.
Monkeys aside, the trail up and around the mountain is very nice, well worth hiking. We were there on a weekday and were surprised at how many folks were hiking. I suspect it would be very crowded on a weekend.
All this hiking and biking makes for hungry travelers. We joke that we are rarely so happy as when at a good hotel breakfast buffet, and Hotel dua fit that requirement well. Breakfasts in Taiwan are veggie heavy which is wonderful. We’re not strict vegetarians but certainly prefer to eat healthy, and the vegetables and tofu options available at a Taiwanese hotel buffet are fantastic.
Cijin was first settled as a fishing village and has morphed into to a shipping hub, and a tourist attraction. It’s a pleasant place to ride bikes along the beach, and in warm weather, to swim. The main street is a typical tourist drag of kinda tacky shops and restaurants. We returned to the main city to eat lunch but if you like crab, there are loads of places to chow down on crab.
Other than Taipei, walking in the larger cities we visited, Kaohsiung and Tainan for example, is not fantastic. There are main streets with nice wide sidewalks but loud traffic, and smaller back streets with loads of scooters, which keeps you looking over your shoulder and ducking into doorways to get out of the way. The traditional shop house streetscape (business shop downstairs and living quarters upstairs) used to mean that you had a connected and sheltered arcade to walk through. In the world of scooters and cars that space is frequently occupied by, yes, cars and scooters.
There are many charming things to see as you walk though. And since the weather was mild, not hot and no rain, we did a lot of walking. You can’t let the first impression of cities focusing for cars and scooter access put you off, if you walk and look more closely you can see the life of these of cities playing out at street level.
Everywhere we went in Taiwan, cities, farmland, trails, we saw almost zero trash. And you also see almost no trash cans. If you purchase food or drink you have three choices: give the empty packaging back to the vender, carry it with you until you see a convenience store and go inside to throw it away, or carry it with you for a long time until you see a public trash can. They do exist but not a lot of them. Taiwan mounted a successful campaign against waste, one which is a model for other countries. In a nutshell, you pay as you throw away, by buying the garbage bags you must use, and producers have more responsibility for the products they create and the waste that generates. Per this article “Taiwan’s household recycling rate in 2017 was over 50%, making it second in the world to Germany.” And yes, the garbage trucks play “Für Elise” or “Maiden’s Prayer” as they ply the streets. After three weeks here both Rich and I are humming along with the trash truck tunes when we hear them.
I don’t want to leave the impression that Taiwan has forsaken pedestrians and bicyclists, the bike share program YouBike is very robust. And there are pedestrian scrambles (where the lights turn red in all directions and pedestrians can cross kitty corner) at busy intersections.
However, it’s not as easy to be a bicyclist as say, a scooterist. And outside of a big city like Taipei where you would use a bike as a last kilometer solution after taking the MRT, in Kaohsiung and Tainan a scooter is the clear choice. It gets hot much of the year, we’re here in January for a reason – cool enough for us to walk and bike. So we’re viewing this transportation scape through tourist eyes, and seeing what’s missing for us. Honestly, the scooter life seems to work very well for folks. You go right where you want and easily park. If Taiwan could accelerate the switch to electric scooters it would be amazing. The noise and pollution would be decreased and streets would be much more pleasant and livable.
I’m going to write a separate post about our escape from cities to countryside, but first, a few more photos of the fun we had.
Less Car, More Life 