Just back from: Taiwan

Louise on the Longshan Temple in Taipei © Louise Bastock

Louise Bastock, Assistant Editor at Lonely Planet, not too long ago returned from a visit to Taiwan.

Inform us extra… Once I used to consider Taiwan, the dominant photographs in my thoughts can be of its capital metropolis Taipei, particularly the skyscraper-studded skyline towards a blue or lilac sundown, or the twinkly Tokyo-esque lights of its streets and lanes. However, past this huge metropolis, there’s a lot extra to find. Blasted up from the ocean by volcanic exercise, Taiwan is a fertile floor for breathtaking pure landscapes. With that in thoughts, I set off for northeastern Taiwan to discover the island’s capital in addition to its wild wonders, and broaden the picture in my thoughts’s eye of what this tiny island nation has to supply – spoiler alert: rather a lot!

Taipei’s skyline snapped from the highest of Elephant Mountain © Louise Bastock

Good grub? The stand-out famous person of Taipei’s skyline is Taipei 101; previously the world’s tallest constructing, it bursts via the high-rises like a futuristic bamboo shoot and was the right setting for dinner on our first night time. Regardless of her humble origins, first working from a Taipei again alley diner in 1977, the proprietor of Shin Yeh restaurant now instructions the 85th ground of Taipei 101, serving up elegant, modern creations impressed by conventional Taiwanese home-style cooking.

Delicate dumpling work at Din Tai Fung © Louise Bastock

Although seemingly a far cry from the glamour of Taipei 101, my second favorite meal was, surprisingly, at a shopping center, beneath the tower itself. Put together to battle wayward queues and large crowds of hungry individuals if you wish to eat at Din Tai Fung. This Michelin-starred restaurant (sure, you heard proper, a Michelin-starred restaurant in a shopping center) is famed for its xiǎolóng bāo (steamed pork dumplings), however, in all honesty, completely every part they delivered to the desk was insanely scrumptious. With home windows trying into the kitchen, you possibly can spend hours digesting your dumplings and watching the cooks meticulously craft these bite-sized beauties.

Northeastern Taiwan is a blanket of inexperienced forest © Louise Bastock

Quintessential expertise… With a lot nature to see – from marble cliff faces to emerald oceans of forest – mountaineering is a quintessential expertise in northeastern Taiwan. Our first taster was the 500-step slog up Elephant Mountain in Taipei – completely price it to look at the sundown over town and get my very own snaps of the skyline. We additionally hit the mountaineering trails that lace via Taroko Nationwide Park (roughly a three-hour drive from Taipei). The surroundings is wilder right here and though it may possibly get blustery on the peaks, the sturdy wind does assist disperse a number of the eggy scent from the area’s sulphuric vents – a small worth to pay for mountaineering round scorching spring territory.

Louise’s non-public scorching pool on the Gaia Lodge © Louise Bastock

Any unbelievable lodging? Talking of scorching springs: our final night time was spent within the beautiful Gaia Lodge, the place every room got here geared up with its personal private scorching pool. After an extended day of mountaineering and thigh-busting stair climbing (stairs are synonymous with mountaineering in Taiwan), it was a dream to have the ability to flop from mattress to bathtub (grabbing a glass of wine en route) and recline in fashion within the consolation and privateness of my very own room.

Louise proving there’s such a factor as TOO MUCH enthusiasm © Louise Bastock / Love Wilds Co., Ltd

If you happen to do one factor… don a wetsuit and helmet and provides river tracing a go. Identified in different elements of the world as canyoning, this exercise earns its extra poetic moniker in Taiwan; with out wishing to geek out an excessive amount of, the landscapes right here might simply have been plucked from the pages of Tolkein’s The Lord of The Rings (Rivendell, eat your coronary heart out).

We spent an entire afternoon wading via the Sa Po Dang river in Hualien, leaping off large boulders, squeezing via tight crevices and scaling small waterfalls earlier than stopping for tea, snacks and snorkelling round a secluded turquoise pool. It’s a improbable approach to not simply view the landscapes from afar, however to get in amongst them and expertise them up-close.

Shocked and a bit squeamish, Louise was finally delighted at her dinner © Louise Bastock

Weird encounter… From superb eating in spellbinding landmarks, soaking in my non-public scorching spring and revelling in Mom Nature’s items, I go away you with Taipei’s epic rest room cafe! Enlisting each faucet – oops, I imply aspect – of loo decor, the Trendy Bathroom Restaurant is a veritable playground for anybody with a way of humour – and, at instances, a robust abdomen. After excusing myself from the desk to make use of the precise lavatory, I used to be crying with laughter on my return to search out on my delicately chosen chocolate ice cream piled in large swirls, sprinkled with all method of brown biscuits goodies, got here served in a yellow porcelain squat rest room. If, like me, you assume this would possibly simply be one of the best place in the entire world, bag your self a memento from their store which sells all method of poop-themed paraphernalia.

Louise Bastock travelled to Taiwan with help from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau and China Airways. Lonely Planet contributors don’t settle for freebies in change for constructive protection.