{"id":324,"date":"2017-02-13T08:39:52","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T08:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/?p=324"},"modified":"2017-03-16T09:00:24","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T09:00:24","slug":"the-last-of-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/13\/the-last-of-taiwan\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing the adventure of Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"

We were supposed to go to Taroko Gorge after Taipei, but the weather was rubbish. \u00a0So rather than go east, we went west to a smaller city outside of Taipei called Hsinchu. \u00a0To get there, we took a high speed train. \u00a0I simply can’t understand how the USA doesn’t have these amazing trains everywhere. \u00a0Fast, efficient, convenient, and cheap.<\/p>\n

Hsinchu was fine by any standards. \u00a0We stayed in a pretty normal hotel that had a cool kids club. \u00a0There was a giant swimming pool, kids water station, a million different water massagers, and saunas. \u00a0Swim caps were mandatory. And hilarious. \u00a0It was Keali’s first time to be in a locker room where the women walked around totally naked. \u00a0Her reaction was pretty priceless. I didn’t take any pictures in the locker room. You’re welcome.<\/p>\n

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\nThe hotel also had a kids jumpy and play room. \u00a0The kids loved it. \u00a0Scott and I just hung out, read, or played cards. \u00a0Not very exciting but it was nice to be away from the loudness of Taipei. \u00a0As an added bonus, Scott and I snuck down to the hotel bar for an entire hour of kid-free time. Magical.<\/p>\n

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The last night in Taiwan, we traveled back to Taoyuan which was near the airport. \u00a0Since it was our last night, we went to one of the famous night markets. \u00a0There was every kind of food one could possibly imagine there. \u00a0Chicken feet, chicken testicles, unnamed or unrecognizable things, and virtually anything a person could want was available. \u00a0We tasted tons of different food, but the favorites were an Indian wrap made with a fresh thrown tortilla, a French crepe like dessert, and some Thai eggrolls and a Thai sandwich bun. \u00a0It was apparent that we were all so beyond done with the Chinese food. \u00a0We are now trying to figure out if we really want to spend a month traveling through China…<\/p>\n

Leaving Taiwan for Vietnam was an experience. We had to present paperwork at the front check in to show we had visas in order. They scanned our checked bags and then had us open them to show items like bug spray, batteries, etc. The experience made me really appreciate packing cubes. Once through that though, it was smooth sailing.<\/p>\n