Temperature is supposed to be 19C so not too bad. It is a lovely sunny day with no clouds. We arrived in the port for Taipei….. Keelung. Our tour guide is called “Rita”…. She lived for 30 years in US. We all have to wear seatbelts. She explains we have several hammers on board the bus if needed to break the windows to escape (in case of an accident)and where exits are. I have never had that drill on a bus before.
Stopped for a pit stop in mountains … cherry blossoms and rose azaleas. When she was a teenager Rita had to have military training here for 2 weeks in preparation in case China attacked.
It is 400 kms but only takes 96 minutes to travel from Kaohsiung to Taipei on the fast train. Our trip by ship took over 12 hours.
French and Spanish colonized this area….. the Dutch colonized the south around Kaohsiung.
The mountains are maximum 1100 metres above sea level.
The population of 23 million lives in an area the size of Maryland. 7 million population in Taipei.
85% of the time it is wet in Keelung so there is a steel representation of a microphone on side of road to suggest on your way home that you sing to make you happy….lol!
60% of worlds semi conductors are made here and is 15% of GDP.
Metro is underground in city but above ground outside the city.
To buy a car here you have to prove you own a parking space.
They have 10,000 earthquakes per year in Taiwan. Average 4-5 strength so they generally ignore them but some are higher. One (7.4) in which 54,000 homes destroyed and 2500 died.
It is also a volcanic island although hasn’t erupted for 6000 thousand years but where hot water springs.
We drive up the hills to where the US military had homes from the time of Korean War, also the rich and famous…. Beautiful views.
From 1951-65 Taiwan was in a bad way with very poor economy. It was supported by Americans…billions! It was all paid back.
On to where the heat and sulphuric gases escape the mountain. It is called the grasses area because they used to burn all the bamboo and other grasses so to not permit people to mine the sulphur for the making of firearms to possibly overthrow the government.
We stopped for lunch at the hot springs restaurant. The food just kept coming and coming. After lunch, we went down to the hot springs that are situated in the middle of the mountains surrounded by lush vegetation. The springs had 4 different hot pools, some definitely very hot. And then into the swimming pool that was very cold water. I am real proud of myself for going in a couple of times. So nice and so relaxing the whole experience was.
This small island nation has such lovely mountains but generally the towns, the buildings are quite shabby, not well taken care of…. Not well off at all. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of pride in their places of residences or businesses. Kind of surprises me.
gailstraveladventures 
Enjoying your blog! Thank you for allowing me to follow your travels! Julie Good
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You popped up on my recommended feed, so I thought “why not have a quick look?!” It’s always interesting to hear first impressions of Taiwan.
And you’re not wrong, Taiwan certainly is spectacular once you leave the cities behind. There is so much beautiful nature to explore.
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You’re not wrong about the shabby cities! It shocked me too when I first arrived. Over time, I’ve realised that it’s more a case of pragmatism and people believing there are other things that are more important (like earning money or taking care of one’s health or family). Besides, what with the earthquakes, terribly damp climate, and a semi-enforced policy of replacing old buildings after a certain number of years, I’ve almost come round to the local way of thinking that it makes more sense to beautify in small and portable ways (like added greenery). But the cities are still terribly ugly and Keelung is up there as being one of the shabbiest of the bunch.
That aside, it sounds like you had a lovely trip to a hot spring restaurant. One of my favourite things to do on a cool afternoon.
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Thank you for your comments. I never expect that although my blog is public, that others would check it out, expecting only my friends to be following.
I looked at your site…..absolutely amazing info for hikers. I do a bit myself especially if it is a site when I am travelling “that you have to see”. We were not there long enough to do much more than I already did. Taiwan is pretty spectacular….except for the “shabby cities”.
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