Loa on the Go

We started the day with breakfast in our hotel, which is included in a stay at many places in Taiwan. I had a breakfast of crispy tofu skins and sesame noodles, while Jensen had tater tots, taro balls, and a sandwich with egg. This is of course what we both have for breakfast every day in Seattle (haha). It was all set up for us when we left our room, and set us up well for the day.

Taitung’s proximity to beaches and forests was part of why we had decided to spend a couple of nights there. Lacking a moped, we hopped on a bus to take us to a nearby National Forest.

We started up the “brave climbers trail”, which was stairs straight up into the jungle. Initially we thought this would be a piece of cake, but the humidity proved to be formidable, as seen below.

The work was so worth it, landing us in lush forest with the cutest little deer, views of the nearby mountains, and the city below.

After following every available trail and seeing different creatures, microclimates and plants on each, we descended and soaked our feet in a spring. The nearby area is famous for hot springs, but this one was refreshing and cool, with apparently great benefits!

If the cute native deer and amazing hike weren’t enough, on our way out we saw monkeys, both in the park and on our way through town to the bus stop. Jungle bingo card totally full! We were stoked.

Once back in town, we visited the beach where we met a very friendly stray dog, walked through a large park right next to town, and picked up mochi.

We stopped into a random restaurant that looked good for dinner and were blown away by local fried fish and noodle soup with Chinese chives and pork.

We grabbed some fun local chips (the seaweed flavored Lays are our favorite so far) and a couple of Taiwanese beers to try, and put on a record in the main space of our hotel. The next morning we’ll be on the move again!