Multiple people questioned ‘Why Taiwan?’, even more raised an eyebrow at the thought of hiring a rental car to self drive around the island. I’m happy to share Taiwan is amazing, we could easily have spent more time in this wonderful country. And with the exception of an occasional tropical storm and the ever present cavalcade of scooters, driving has been easy and given us the freedom to really explore Taiwan. Arguably the windy roads of Alishan and Sun Moon Lake are better to drive than many country lanes in the north of England. 

We’re now 2 weeks into the trip. Since leaving Taipei we’ve spent a week travelling the length of the country down the west side to the southernmost point Kenting. Throughout this time, many things have remained consistent:

• The home schooling continues to go well, with Jennie taking the lead and the kids adapting to fit the schooling hours around the weather and travel.
• We’ve continued to visit the Night Markets. In particular we enjoyed the vibrancy of Feng Chia Market in Taichung and the Sunday Night Market in Hengchun. Elsie has become a master of chop sticks, and Rory a master of polishing off an entire serving of dumplings. 
• Weather has continued to be hot and humid, with the pattern of overcast weather while sightseeing, clearing to beautiful days just as we leave to go to the next destination! Fortunately it makes the photos nice on the last day…no instagram filters yet, however I am becoming a master at framing shots to cut out crowds of people to make attractions look quiet and finding the only bit of blue sky.

Accommodation has exceeded our expectations for the average €100/night (which will drop when we get into China). All our hosts have been exceptionally welcoming, breakfast has been great and we’ve been fortunate to have scenic views. In the less well-trodden areas like Alishan, Google Translate has been our trusty companion with it mediating payment, transfers into town and breakfast orders. What did people do before Google Translate? The 3 kids continue to accept sharing a double bed, with a new Price configuration of Rory sleeping at the foot of the bed across the width, and his sisters at the top of the bed. We’re sure in years to come, Molly will be questioning why we subjected her to sleep with her siblings, although she can look forward to her own bed in our China destinations.   

Over the past week we’ve visited Taichung (1 night), Sun Moon Lake (2 nights), Alishan (2 nights) and Kenting (3 nights). All have added to our trip, with highlights including:

• The benchmark for geography lessons were set high with a visit to the 921 Earthquake museum. Despite seeing regular news footage of natural disasters, we’re hoping tectonic plate movement sticks in Molly’s mind after witnessing the actual destruction from a 7.3 earthquake in 1999 as we toured the site of a former school sat on the fault line.
• A morning of joyful expression at Rainbow Village (a previously condemned military housing saved by a now 97 year old resident’s decision to strike a deal with Dulux and paint his entire village) and Zhongshe flower market, the best garden centre I’ve visited, written as though I’m a connoisseur of garden centres…where our kids loved running between the sunflowers and posing with the props.
• Did I mention it was hot! Well, it got particularly hot riding around Sun Moon Lake, the biggest lake in Taiwan and a popular local holiday destination. We turned our noses up at the electric bikes and went for normal peddle power. While much of the cycle path is flat, the topography changes and both Jennie and I can testify to the challenge (and subsequent strange aches) of riding up and down hills with a child between their legs rather than sat behind.
• Alishan was spectacular, set 2,500m high up in the mountains we looked down upon the sea of clouds for sunset, and after a 3.30am wake up, father and daughter bonded as we watched a memorable sunrise over the mountains. Clearly Molly was at her joyous best later in the day when tiredness kicked in. 
• Finally, Kenting was the place we were most hesitant about visiting. We had read that the area had previously been overrun with tourism, and indeed there was evidence of over-commercialisation with entry fees to questionable sights, but when the sun came out there was no denying Baisha Bay was a stunning beach. The few hours on the beach and in the water with the kids reinforced our decision to travel.

The pictures look great and largely everything is going well, but not everything is running smoothly. Jennie and I continue to search for answers to many questions, not least:

• How to turn down the decibel levels of 3 children? After 3 weeks at my parents before leaving, I don’t think they could imagine the volume could turn higher…it has!
• How to ensure 3 children share? At Disney it is who gets the character signature first, in hotels it is who presses the button in the lift first…now all 3 kids are competing to find the ink stamps at Taiwanese attractions first.
• How to ensure Rory listens to any semi-important instruction?
• Is it conceivable we could stay off alcohol until we hit Australia? We’ve only had one beer and one wine in 2 weeks, which is a miracle given the 3 points above.
• How do parents who share their bedrooms with children ever conceive again? We definitely don’t want 4, but how on earth do people practice with 3 kids deep breathing in the next bed?

For all the amazing sights, inevitably there have also been some impressively underwhelming attractions. With no offence intended to our host countries, I thought I’d keep a track of these as we travel for the next 10 months. More on these to come soon 🙂

And now…our thoughts turn to the journey back to Taipei, this time up the east coast, and the slightly more challenging logistics of travelling to Guilin and Yunnan in China.