The weather has been temperamental since landing in Taiwan last Monday afternoon. We have had a mix of sunny and rainy days over the past week.
May the universe bring endless blessings and moments of magic 🦄 to you and your loved ones in the week ahead. 🙏
Travel Administration
This week's travel tip is a reminder about carrying an International Driver's Permit for renting cars and scooters.
Travel Maps
In the past week I traveled to a friend's home about two hours outside of Chennai. On Sunday evening I flew through Singapore to Taipei, Taiwan, arriving late afternoon on Monday, May 5. I ended the week in Taichung, Taiwan.
India: May 4, 2025
Intercountry Travel: India to Taiwan
Taiwan: May 5 to May 10, 2025
A Word from Your Author - Accessing Blog Archives
I've made a formatting change to hopefully simplify your ability to access previous blog posts. The posts are displayed with their weekly title which includes the geographical location. Many thanks to my good friend Janet for identifying the need for this improvement. All feedback is greatly appreciated and eagerly embraced! You can access the Archives by clicking on the three horizontal lines icon on the blog page as indicated in Screenshot #1 below. Screenshot #2 is what should appear after you click on the three lines icon. Please let me know if you have any questions and/or need more info.
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| Screenshot #1 |
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| Screenshot #2 |
Chennai
Park Hyatt Hotel Experience
I was blessed to be given special attention while enjoying Sunday morning breakfast. I was presented with a piece of amazing cake to acknowledge my return visit to the hotel. Rahul, the restaurant manager, Maya (a server I knew from my previous visit) and few additional restaurant staff joined in the celebrations and photo taking! The chef (guy in white hat) had helped me with selecting my breakfast choices earlier. What a wonderful and thoughtful surprise!
Every evening the hotel also provides chia tea, snacks and sweets from a cart in the hotel lobby from 6 - 7 pm. What a treat! This is where I had my first lesson in the fine art of drinking chia tea! Some routines are meant to be repeated!
Small confession. I ended up sitting at the same table (#41) in the restaurant that I most frequently sat at in my August 2023 visit. Coincidentally, the hostess sat me at the table for lunch on Saturday afternoon. I guess some routines are difficult to let go of!
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| Restaurant team says hi! |
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| Delicious cake |
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| Candy flower on left; real flower on right |
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| Introducing Maya |
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| Looking towards breakfast buffet |
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Chia tea, snacks and sweets - served with
exceptional personal attention! |
Visiting with Friends
Sunday was all about my return visit with my friend Praveena's parents at their home which is located about two hours west of Chennai. Praveena's parents were kind to organize a car and driver to get to their place and back to the hotel! I was so appreciative the plan was to avoid any outdoor activities during the visit. The temperature was 39C (102F); feeling like 45C (113F) which is unseasonably hot for early May. You know it's hot when the locals think it's hot!
Mumuswamy, Praveena's dad, works with the Indian Railway. I learned during my visit that his daily commute, by train, to Chennai takes two hours each way. He also works a minimum of nine hours/day - Monday to Saturday. Sunday is his only day off. His impending retirement in December 2026 is going to be most welcome!
Praveena's mom is an extraordinary cook. I was treated to so much amazing food. I feasted on appetizers, groundnut bar and a traditional South Indian meal. Yes, I was blessed to be spoiled and ate like royalty!
A gift I'm so deeply appreciative of that I've received through my friendship with Praveena's parents is witnessing their natural generosity in action. Praveena speaks about her parents' kindness, thoughtfulness and desire to continually give back to their community. Their natural kindness is an extraordinary benchmark that I attempt to guide my actions by.
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| Awesome chef |
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| Wonderful friends |
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| Medu vada |
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| Homemade groundnut bar |
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Traiditional South Indian meal served on a
banana leaf |
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| The journey |
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| Smoking hot! |
Goodbye India
I was off to the airport on Sunday evening with the Park Hyatt reception team's kind assistance. They used the hotel Rapido account (new competitor in the taxi business) to schedule my car at an amazingly good price. I also had a chance to connect with Mathan who had picked me up at the airport in my previous visit. He was invaluable during my first visit to get a SIM card, organize a one day trip to Puducherry and, most of all, make me feel welcome in Chennai. On the personal side, I had a chance to get his update on the hair salon business that he and his wife had just set up at the time of my first visit. A former employee was causing some grief by setting up a competing salon close to their location. Everything was working itself out. Mathan was open to having me visit their business the next time I visit.
The Chennai Airport is yet another Indian airport that is undergoing massive construction to expand its facilities. The major airports are becoming small cities unto themselves - in India and every other country in the world I've visited.
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| Chennai Airport |
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| Chennai Airport |
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| Chennai Airport |
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| Chennai Airport |
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Business lounge where I had my last alcoholic
drink in August 2023! |
Taiwan
My master plan is to travel around the island of Taiwan during the next 30 days. My flight to Tokyo is booked for Wednesday, June 4. I'll be using public transportation for my travel. I'm expecting to have some interesting transportation and accommodation challenges on the eastern side of the island given the sparse population. The good news is the train and buses are available.
Facts and Figures
Population: 23,112,793
Median age: 44.8
Fertility rate: 0.9 (Note - value less than 2.1 means native population is declining)
Life expectancy: 80.9
Urbanization: 84% of population lives in urban centres; majority of people live on the island's eastern side
Median income: $13,605 USD (2020)
Welcome Taipei
My starting point in Taiwan is Taipei, the country's capital. I am most grateful for the simplicity of acquiring my Taiwanese SIM card at the airport. The transaction took about ten minutes. I have a SIM card for 30 days with unlimited data, an hour for phone calls (use WhatsApp instead so that works), on the country's best mobile network, all for about $45 CDN.
The second key acquisition was an
EasyCard, a stored value card. It's the cashless way to pay for using the transportation systems throughout Taiwan. You can also use the card at certain convenience stores (like 7-11 which is omnipresent in Taiwan) with plans to expand its usage.
With my SIM card installed and my Easycard in hand I was ready to brave the Airport MRT into Taipei and transfer to the Metro MRT to reach my hotel near the Jiantin MRT stop on the Red Line.
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| Approaching Taoyuan Airport |
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| Approaching Taoyuan Airport |
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| Approaching Taoyuan Airport |
Modern Toilet Restaurant
Apparently Taipei has several oddly themed restaurants. The Modern Toilet Restaurant, which was a ten minute walk from my hotel, fits nicely into the oddly themed category. Everything in the restaurant was related to being in a toilet. I stayed long enough to get a few photos.
This famous Taipei night market was conveniently located within a ten minute walk from my hotel. You can find countless arcade games, every type of food you'd like and shopping opportunities to your heart's content.
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| Market's formal entrance |
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| Food stalls abound |
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| Endless shopping |
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| Arcade games are everywhere |
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| I'm a happy guy - deep fried ice cream |
The Arts Centre was a five minute walk from my hotel. Every Wednesday the Centre hosts an 'In the Loop' tour to give curious people, like me, a 'behind the scenes' look at the centre. I thought the building had interesting architecture and the tour was a great option on a rainy day.
Pardon my finger appearing in the video clip below!
Background
Chiang Kai-Shek was the leader of the Republic of China from 1928 until his death in 1975. When Chiang’s Kuomintang (KMT) party lost the Chinese Civil War to the communists in 1949, he and some 2 million soldiers and party members fled to and took control of Taiwan. After his death, the KMT government set about building the memorial hall and the sprawling square in front of it.
The memorial hall’s design was modeled on the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, China – SYS being the founder of the KMT party.
The Dharma Master Cheng Yen exhibition in the lower level of the building where CKS' statue is captured my attention. There were several of the Dharma Master's insights on display which I felt a connection with. This exhibition has an interesting juxtaposition to the CKS legacy that is also on display in the same building.
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| Entrance |
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| Home to CKS statue |
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| CKS Statue |
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Shades of the Abe
Lincoln statue in Washington? |
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| Exhibition hall |
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| Classic photo of CKS addressing the people |
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| Cheng Yen insights |
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| Cheng Yen insights |
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| Cheng Yen insights |
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| Cheng Yen insights |
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| Dharma Master Cheng Yen background |
'It was officially classified as the world's tallest building from its opening on 31 December 2004, until it was dethroned by the Burj Khalifa.[11] Upon completion, it became the world's first skyscraper to exceed half a kilometre. It is the tallest building in Taiwan and the eleventh tallest building in the world.'
View
The photos of Taipei below were taken from the 88th (enclosed) and 91st floors (open).
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| Look up, way up! |
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| Love, Sweet Love |
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Damper - keeps the building upright during
earthquakes and typhoons |
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| View from 91st floor |
Taipei 101 Shopping Plaza
The first four floors of Taipei 101 is all about high end shopping. Lots of open space, squeaky clean, shiny marble leaving one with the sense of being immersed in luxury! Quite impressive!
I also had the 'golden' opportunity to continue my global taste testing of McDonalds french fries. I'm happy that McDonalds continues to deliver a consistent french fry taste experience!
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| Photo shoot amidst so many fresh cut flowers |
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| Premium shopping experience |
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| McDonalds is omnipresent! |
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Quality check - French fries taste the same
as everywhere else in the world! |
The Maokong Gondola is a top Taipei tourist destination. The Gondola is next to the Taipei Zoo. There are a couple stops on the ride as you ascend/descend. You can get off to visit the Zoo and/or you can get off at a separate stop to visit a number of temples nestled in the hills. There are several popular hiking trails you can access once you leave the gondola station at the top. Numerous teahouses also await you as you leave the station as this area has a number of tea plantations. You can also purchase tea infused ice cream - lucky me! 😁
I think my gondola riding experience from around the world tempers my opinion about this ride. This ride was more of a means to an end (easy way to get to the top) than an end of itself. The limited diversity of scenery and vistas diminished my overall experience.
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| Boarding gondola |
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| View from top of gondola ride |
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| View from top of gondola ride |
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| Entrance at top of gondola |
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| Interesting character 1 |
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| Interesting character 2 |
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| Kitty cats abound |
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| More lovable/photogenic kittens |
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| Heading down |
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| Looking south east on the way down |
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| Taipei 101 |
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Imagine how busy this place gets with a
corral set up like this! |
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| Welcome to Taipei |
Bathroom Technology
Welcome to the world of cool bathroom fixtures. Boys do like their toys! The toilet was completely automated with the liability of instructions being in Chinese. The seat is heated. I've included a short video of the toilet in action - at least the lid lifting automatically as you approach the toilet. Lid also automatically closes after a few minutes (and the toilet flushes itself).
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Sink faucet - forget the
standards hot and cold taps! |
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| Toilet control panel |
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| Roommate |
Taichung
I was off to Taichung, a two hour train ride south of Taipei, on Friday morning. Taichung is the gateway city to Sun Moon Lake, the largest alpine lake in Taiwan and popular tourist destination. Taichung is Taiwan's second largest city (~ 2.8 million people) with somewhat limited tourist sites to visit.
I did have a little adventure in getting to my hotel. My original plan was to take Uber. Boat (he is introduced in the next section) mentioned Taichung had a Metro system (one line) so I decided I'd experiment with taking the bus. After a protracted wait at the train station's bus stop, I got on my bus only to discover I was on the right bus, however going in the opposite direction. Thank goodness for Google Maps. The bus driver alerted me to my mistake, let me off at the next stop and indicated that I could catch the bus going in the correct direction in about five minutes at the bus stop across the street! If I would only read Google's instructions a little more carefully! Yes, I did get to my hotel.
I've also spent time this week in booking my Sun Moon Lake accommodation as well as organizing the tickets for the different buses to get to Sun Moon Lake and destinations thereafter. I'll be providing an update in next week's blog on how everything worked out.
Taiwan Railway Ride
Completing the online train ticket transaction introduced more adventure into my life. The system follows a linear logic that I had to learn. The first step is to identify the trains you might want to take on the day of your travel. Step 2 is searching your first three choices of trains to confirm if there are seats available. Once you are successful in finding a train seat you can then begin the 'formal' online train ticket booking. You have the option to pay for the ticket online or to reserve the seat and find an outlet to pay for the ticket within twenty-four hours (I think). You are allowed three attempts at getting it right. If you exceed three attempts, you are locked out of the system for 30 days. Yikes. I was successful on my second attempt to get a ticket and pay for the ticket online. The final step was going to the train station to have the ticket printed for use when boarding the train and exiting at the destination. Thank goodness I allocated sufficient time in advance for these activities along with the convenience of being relatively close to the Main Station to retrieve my ticket and board the train. BTW - the mobile app is Chinese only so good luck with that!
What would a train ride be without meeting someone new? I was blessed to be sitting next to my newest bff - Boat aka Jeffery. My friend explained that his Chinese name includes boat. He has a younger brother so Jeffrey is known as big boat and his younger brother is known as little boat. Boat is in the middle of his first year of an electrical engineering degree at a Taipei University. He was on his way home to visit his mother, an English teacher, for Mother's Day. It was interesting to hear the challenges he had in adjusting the pace of university life in his first year. I had the same challenge in my first year over 40 years ago and I know my sons had the same challenges in their first year.
Boat also had an interesting opportunity in pursuing his education. He had earned high school scholarships that opened the door to attending university outside Taiwan. While his mother was encouraging him to go international, my 18 year young friend Boat was struggling to understand how that path would be beneficial as compared to staying focused on his studies in Taiwan. There was more perceived certainty for Boar if he stayed in Taiwan than attending university outside Taiwan.
Boat had a great command of English. Having a mother who is an English teacher is a definite advantage. Boat mentioned that the focus in school was learning how to write English which helps explain the number of local people I've met who are hesitant/self-conscious to speak English.
The train ride was comfortable and smooth.
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| Train carriage |
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| Meet my new bff - Boat 'aka' Jeffrey |
Reminder
At 1:47 am on September 21, 1999, a strong earthquake of 7.3 in the central part of Taiwan occurred. 2,415 people were killed, 11,305 injured, and NT$300 billion worth of damage was done. It is the second-deadliest earthquake in Taiwan's recorded history, after the 1935 Shinchiku-Taichū earthquake. The museum, which is built around a collapsed school building, was established to remind citizens to stay vigilant to earthquake prevention and disaster relief measures. Click on the link above if you want to learn more.
The museum also had an earthquake simulation theatre that I participated in. I truly want to avoid being in an earthquake. It's frightening! The simulation, as simple as it was, removed any doubt in my mind. Earthquake safety procedures have been top of mind since arriving in Taiwan. And I quote - 'Located at a compressive tectonic boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate, Taiwan is a haven for those interested in the dynamics of the Earth’s crust. One of the things that make Taiwan geologically intriguing is its frequent high seismic activities. This is a result of the fast plate motions in the region.'
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| Photo of earthquake aftermath |
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| Canadian volunteers helping |
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| School building aftermath |
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| School building aftermath |
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| School building aftermath |
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| Earthquake fault line |
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| Fault line details |
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| More fault line info |
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| Fault line exposed |
Engineering for Safety
The earthquake also highlighted the risks associated with inadequate construction practices that compromised a building's structural integrity. The implications of taking shortcuts in building infrastructure, columns specifically, is both striking and alarming!
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Right side is an example
of good construction practice |
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| Done right |
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| This is inadequate |
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Left side shows the secure approach
for rebar in columns |
In the Neighbourhood
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Alcohol, Tea, Coffee
Do I need to say more? |
Travel Administration
How familiar are you with the requirement to have an
International Drivers Permit (IDP) to rent vehicles in foreign countries? Something to add to your planning checklist if you intend to rent a motorized vehicle in your future travels.
Taiwan is the first country in all my travels that requires foreigners to have an IDP in order to rent motorized vehicles. Yes, the requirement is enforced; I checked with a car rental company on Saturday! I was aware of what an IDP was having purchased the permit years ago through the Canadian Automobile Association (and never used) when traveling to Europe with intention to rent a vehicle. The CAA is the only authorized agency in Canada that issues IDPs. I've included a link the the IDP international association to help you in your travels plans. My saving grace in this situation is I had planned to use public transportation for getting about Taiwan!
Next Week
I'm working my way to Sun Moon Lake and Alishan National Scenic Area to enjoy Taiwan's natural beauty. I traveled to Taichung as it is the gateway city to Sun Moon Lake. I'll also be traveling to Chiayi to use as my base for a day trip to Alishan. The local accommodation in the Alishan National Scenic Area leaves a lot to be desired and/or is insanely expensive.
'See you' next week! Stay happy and healthy!
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