Taiwan - Taichung
Today started with another drive – stopping off en-route at a tea plantation, where we were able to pick some leaves and have a tasting. Shanhong bought some green-tea powder, but I am not a fan of any kind of tea! It was then on to the Sun Moon Lake for an early lunch.
After lunch we headed to the Wen Wu Temple where we appear to have taken lots of photos!
From Wen Wu temple, we drove via a Peacock Farm, to the lake itself where we had a boat ride. From the Sun Moon Lake it was another drive to Taichung for the night, and a visit to the Fong Jia Night Market, similar to the one illustrated at the top of this report. Night markets in Taiwan seem to be more about food and clothes than the handicrafts and souvenirs we are used to from Thailand.
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Taiwan - Kaoshiung
Day 3 saw us back on the bus for a further drive, firstly to a fruit picking farm, and then to take lunch at the Mei Non Hakka Village – a very touristy little complex of shops and tea houses in the middle of nowhere! Then, from there to the town of Kaoshiung and the Spring and Autumn pavilions. We just had time to visit the Leo Ho night market before heading back to the hotel!
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Taiwan - Taroko & Cisingtan
Day two had us visiting the Linzi centre – ‘Linzi’ is famous in Taiwan for medicinal properties and harvested to make tea. Partly because I don’t drink tea, and partly due to the incredible costs, this was not something we felt the need to buy – but the first pic below shows this kind of fungus. We then drove to the Taroko National Park and the Eternal Springs Shrine. It is an area of natural beauty and gave us a chance to stretch our legs. We started the climb to the temple at the top – but had to give up when the steps kept going up and our time began to run out!
From the Taroko National Park it was a short drive around the coast to Cisingtan, one of the many beach
areas of Taiwan for lunch. From here it was then the long, long drive to our hotel for the night in the Hot Springs resort of Taitung. More for a toilet break than anything else, we did stop off at a working animal farm – where of course I made friends with a few goats!
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Taiwan - Jiufen & Nan Fang Ao
It was now time to start the journey around the island – so we hopped on the bus, stopped off at the ‘miniatures museum of Taiwan’ and headed to Jiufen. The area became famous when gold was discovered and nearby gold mines were opened. Now it is very much developed as a tourist attraction with retro-Chinese style cafés, tea houses, and souvenir stores bearing the name "City of Sadness".
The final stop on Day 1 was Nan Fang Ao, a fishing harbour with a famous temple. After stopping here for photographs and a bathroom break, it was the long drive around the coast, past the beautiful beaches of Cisingtan to Hualien for our overnight stop.
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Taiwan - Taipei
The October holiday saw us join a coach tour around Taiwan. Nice to see a new place - but not the kind of coach tour I want to do again - too many people, too much time on the bus, and very little freedom!
However, we did see the Taiwan National Democracy Memorial Hall, the changing of the guard at the Martyr's Shrine, and ascended Taipei 101 - so, I think we can tick some of the 'tourist destinations' of Taipei.
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Thailand - Weekend in Chiang Mai
Time for another trip - a weekend in Chiang Mai - the first time we had been back since we lived/worked and got married there! We started with some good Thai food and a walk through the night market.
Next came the Umbrella village - purely to make my brother very happy with some Thai paintings on a new pair of jeans... the one he had done when visiting for the wedding is getting a bit old!
A very special day was our first visit to Tiger Kingdom and a chance to pet some Tigers, before meeting up with some old friends.
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Norway - Kristiansand
Our final stop in Norway was the town of Kristiansand, the fifth largest municipality in Norway. The day started, as
most, with our booked excursion. This time it started with a sailing boat trip which made me want to buy a boat!
As always, we were taken back to the boat … but rather than get straight back on board, went for our own walk, through the fish market and into the town, taking in the cathedral, the town hall, a rather impressive MacDonalds and a ‘fort’ now used for weddings and special events!
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Norway - Eidfjord
Our third stop was the beautiful village of Eidfjord, situated at the end of the Eidfjorden, an inner branch of the large Hardangerfjorden. The village of Eidfjord is a major cruise ship port of call with various tourist sites such as the Sima Power Plant which is built into the mountain itself, the Måbødalen valley, and the Vøringsfossen waterfall. Once again, the view on arrival was stunning.
Once back in Eidfjord, we had a nice walk up into the village, and then back down to the fjord, with some lovely pics of the ship. It was a very quiet and peaceful day, but glorious sunshine once again.
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Norway - Flåm
Our second stop was the village of Flåm, located at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjorden. Sailing into Flåm there are beautiful waterfalls all along the sides of the fjord and the most amazing scenery. Flåm is a very quiet village but has one of the steepest railways in the world.
Today’s excursion was a drive, by coach, via a Viking settlement, and a large waterfall, to a neighbouring town, where, after a stop for lunch we boarded the train for the trip back down to the ship. The weather was absolutely perfect – as you can see by the brightness of the sun in these pics!
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Norway - Stavanger
One of the really lovely things about a cruise is waking up in the morning, opening the curtain, and finding a completely different view. Our first stop was Stavanger, the third largest city in Norway. We started the day with a walking tour of Stavanger, unfortunately in the pouring rain – but the sky cleared at lunchtime and from then on, we had beautiful sunny weather.
During our walk we visited the fire tower, Stavanger cathedral, the old town (where all owners have to sign an agreement to paint their houses white and plant flowers), and bits of the new city. This would be a really lovely place to live!
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