Around Taiwan – Taichung

So I decided that it was time to do a little bit of exploring so I went to the next closest big city – Taichung.

It was very easy to get to via the HSR (High Speed Rail) system. You can book tickets in advance (I used klook.com because they give you a discount for advanced bookings). Unless there is a public holiday or special event you should always be able to get a seat. and you can just purchase on the day. There are plenty of local trains (cheaper too) that also come out of Taipei and head south to Taichung.

Taichung was the second stop out of Taipei, a mere 30-40mins. Unfortunately I fell asleep and missed the stop, so went all the way to the bottom of the island (Kaohsiung – second biggest city) fortunately they kindly let me get on the next train back to Taichung (for free).

Taichung is a new growing city. With one of the largest and oldest universities in the Taiwan it seems to have a younger feel about it (as only university cities can do). They also have some great antique shops where you can find some quirky items.

The first thing I noticed was how clean everything felt. The air, footpaths, roads and shops seemed much cleaner than where I live in Taipei, which was a welcoming start. Even though there were quite a few universities and students, there wasn’t many scooters on the roads, compared to Taipei – which I found out later was because of the high numbers of foreign students not being able to drive in Taiwan.

Staying in a great little backpackers in the Tunghai (pronounced Dunghai) University area (www.tlifehostel.com) was a good choice as it was close to a student area where all food is cheap, accessible and delicious! All the restaurants and takeaways were so well presented you could have your pick of food styles. Below is a local spot where they also sell alcohol (not always and option in Taiwan), we had spicy chicken with nuts, beef with vegetables and a local leafy green which I can’t remember the name of.

The weather here is much more stable and settled than Taipei’s due to the large mountain ranges providing protection from the east. So it was very pleasant change from the humidity and continuous rain showers that I had been experiencing in Taipei.

Taichung doesn’t have a MRT (Metro) system but it does have a pretty robust bus system that works a lot like the MRT in Taipei.

It was really nice place to visit and a slightly slower pace. I definitely will come again!