by Mark Butland | 24/10/2025 | Taiwan
Then it was time to head for the airport, 22 days after we’d arrived. In that time we had travelled clockwise right round the island, from Taipei’s neon streets to the forests of Alishan. Taoyuan Airport is linked to Taipei Main Station by the Airport MRT, with the...
by Mark Butland | 23/10/2025 | Taiwan
We gave our last two days to more of Taipei’s sights. A wet climb up Elephant Mountain rewarded us with a moody, misty view of Taipei 101. The trail starts near Xiangshan MRT station, at the end of the red line, and it’s steep and almost all steps up to 183 metres....
by Mark Butland | 21/10/2025 | Taiwan
The high-speed train had us back in Taipei in no time, and bang on schedule. The fastest trains between Taichung and Taipei take about 47 minutes. Having a few more days in the capital meant we could go back to our favourite districts. Since leaving Taipei we’d made...
by Mark Butland | 19/10/2025 | Taiwan
Taichung was great fun. We saw the bright murals of Rainbow Village, painted by Huang Yung-fu, the man known as “Rainbow Grandpa”. Then there was the Miyahara shop, which looks more like a grand old castle inside than a shop. The building started out in 1927 as a...
by Mark Butland | 18/10/2025 | Taiwan
We left the mountains on the historic narrow-gauge forest railway, clicking slowly down through thick forest to Chiayi. It was a lovely, old-fashioned way to travel. The track is just 762mm wide, and the full line between Chiayi and Alishan only reopened in July 2024,...
by Mark Butland | 17/10/2025 | Taiwan
The bus up to Alishan climbed right into the clouds, and we stayed at the Dafong Hotel. We were up at 5am to catch the historic Alishan Forest Railway to the Zhushan viewing deck for sunrise. The sunrise train’s departure time moves with the sun through the year. The...
