ultimate trip to southern Taiwan

[spock]

Guys, I'm looking for some help/information.

Right now I live in Taoyuan but in August I'll be free for two weeks.

Because it might be only chance for me to visit southern Taiwan, I want to see as much as possible.
I was thinking about going to spend most of this time in southern Taiwan.
My first choices are Tainan (I'm really into religion and culture of Taiwan) and Kaohsiung.

So... I want to start in Sun-Moon Lake, see temples and lake spend one night there.
My next stop will be cultural capital - Tainan for 4-5 days there is so much to see....
I want to spend about 5-6 days in Kaohsiung to have a look around city and Little Liuqiu

Is it enough time?

I have some left, some people told me I should go to Yunlin, Kending (is it expensive?) and Taidong (trip to Lanyu sounds interesting).

Do you have any suggestions???

I'm also looking for some cheap places to stay like B&B's etc.

[louisfriend]

Guys, I'm looking for some help/information.

Right now I live in Taoyuan but in August I'll be free for two weeks.

Because it might be only chance for me to visit southern Taiwan, I want to see as much as possible.
I was thinking about going to spend most of this time in southern Taiwan.
My first choices are Tainan (I'm really into religion and culture of Taiwan) and Kaohsiung.

So... I want to start in Sun-Moon Lake, see temples and lake spend one night there.
My next stop will be cultural capital - Tainan for 4-5 days there is so much to see....
I want to spend about 5-6 days in Kaohsiung to have a look around city and Little Liuqiu

Is it enough time?

I have some left, some people told me I should go to Yunlin, Kending (is it expensive?) and Taidong (trip to Lanyu sounds interesting).

Do you have any suggestions???

I'm also looking for some cheap places to stay like B&B's etc.

I'm my own humble opinion 4-5 days checking out Tainan is a bit of an overkill and 5-6 days in Kkh sounds boring as hell. I wasn't overly impressed with sun moon lake myself and enjoyed my time in alishan better. I would spend a couple of days there and cut a day or 2 off Tainan, then not spend a whole lot of time in kkh on my way to Kending before skipping around to enjoy the beautiful east coast starting with Taidong and working my way up back around to Taoyuan completing the circle but that's just me. If you go gushan in khh and see the monkeys be sure to hit one with your umbrella or walking stick those little bastards are demons and have it coming.

[tommy525]

the monkeys are mean but do not hit them, it will make them vicious. Its also illegal.

[Mucha Man]

When you're at SML pop up to Puli to see the Chung Tai Chan Monastery. Make sure to arrange a tour beforehand so youcan see all the cool stuff like the indoor teak pagoda. Also there is a new Buddhist statue museum there that is outstanding: both the design and lighting and the pieces

On the way south you have to stop at Beigang and Xigang for the Mazu temples, two of the oldest and most venerable in Taiwan.

Also stop in the tiny Yunlin County seaside village of Santiaoluan. NT3 billion dollar temple. Some incredible craftsmanship and the overall structure is southern so it's a real bit of taiwania.

Then there are the temples north of Tainan where they do the boat burning and also Ciji Temple is Xuejia, has a museum of old jiaozhitao pottery by Master Yeh Wang. Again, outstanding.

Hell, I'm just giving you my temple tour from Lonely Planet. Buy the damn book.

Anyway, so much good stuff to see in the south.

[Mucha Man]

A few other things to see:

Guanziling hotsprings and drive road down to Tzengwen Reservoir
Moon World
Aogu Wetlands
Foguangshan
Donggang to see the Donglong Temple. This is where the have the mass boat burning every 3 years but it's still cool to see the gold foil temple arch

[vitalpenghu]

If you're interested in temples and religion, you should definitely visit Dai Tian 麻豆代天宮 Daoist Temple in Ma Dou, Tainan County. An extremely bizarre temple that has extensive animated puppet-like displays dedicated to representing Daoist Hell, and another to Heaven. It's tacky, creepy and unlike anything I've seen.

[spock]

thank you for information, there is so many places I want to see but unfortunately my budget is very limited, do you know any cheap b&b's, dorms etc in places like Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taidong ??

[babab00m]

In Tainan, rent a bike or scooter, then you can see everything pretty quick. 2/3 days probably enough.

[BigJohn]

There are also some lovely things to be seen a bit further inland:

I would suggest Meinong in Greater Ktown for a day, then follow the road up to Liugui (very pretty) and Maolin (beautiful mountains) and then around to Sandimen and Wutai (aboriginal culture).

[Mucha Man]

There are also some lovely things to be seen a bit further inland:

I would suggest Meinong in Greater Ktown for a day, then follow the road up to Liugui (very pretty) and Maolin (beautiful mountains) and then around to Sandimen and Wutai (aboriginal culture).

Have you been recently? I was in the area last year and it was still pretty messed up. I have heard Maolin is back on its feet though.