Taipei

We ended the trip with a 2 day layover in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. It was a fun busy city full of enough sights to entertain us for a few days.

The most well known temple in Taiwan, the Mengjia Longshan Temple was built in 1738 by settlers from Fujian as a gathering place for Chinese settlers.
Located in the old village part of Taipei, Wanhua District, this temple has stood the test of time and lasted through several natural disasters and wars.

One of the top attractions in Taipei is the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and this place is surrounded by a beautiful manicured garden. Here, you’ll also find the National Theater and the National Concert Hall. The most photographed is the Memorial Hall itself for Chiang Kai Shek, the former President of Taiwan (Republic of China) from 1928 to 1975. The iconic white building is octagonal-shaped with blue roof and two stairs leading to its main hall where a massive statue of Chiang Kai Shek is sitting. we were lucky enough to arrive right before the changing of the guards here which happens every hour...it was quite the spectacle!!

When it opened in 2004, the 1667-foot-tall Taipei 101 was the worlds tallest building. Although Dubai’s Burj Khalifa stole the title in 2009, the 101-floor structure (which has an additional five floors underground) now has a different claim to fame, the worlds toughest building. A 730-ton damper helps steady the Xinyi Road tower, which sits 660 feet from a fault line on an island often hit by typhoons. Contained inside the massive structure: a huge mall, including a 1200-seat food court with the most amazing lunch options, we could barely decide what to eat, and three-star Michelin restaurant.

We were very excited to head to the 91st floor of the city's iconic landmark – Taipei 101 tower to see the breathtaking landscapes from high above atop one of the tallest buildings in the world but sadly the weather did not cooperate and the visibility was so poor we did not want to spend the money to see fog....in fact it was so foggy when we were in the city at no point did we ever see the top of this building from the street. Maybe we'll come back again one day and try again!

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We did hike up Elephant Mountain for another one of the best views of the city . It started raining torrentially right at the beginning of our hike and we luckily took refuge under a building that was close to the start of the trail. we were grateful we didn't get caught in it further up. After about 20 mins the rain stopped and we were able to complete out hike to the top.

Ko Rong Samloen

Koh Rong Samloem is a little island about 15km south of Sihanoukville in southern Cambodia and is said to be comparable to Thailand islands 30 years ago when many islands were still undeveloped. It was the most beautiful amazing island I've ever been to, we could relax, enjoy the beauty of clear water and white sand with amazing beaches with NO traffic, NO cars, NO roads…there wasn't any longboat traffic or noise either, just a ferry that arrived and departed 2 time a day. 

Koh Rong Samloem is just 9 km long and 5 km at it's widest point!  From our hotel on Saracen bay on the sunrise side, the distance to the beach on the sunset side of the island is little more than a kilometer walk through the jungle.  Koh Rong Samloem is 90% non-developed so there are lots of places for trekking. There are 2 paths through to the sunset side, one we did the first day...it took about 15 minutes and it was an impromptu visit that we did barefoot through a nice sandy jungle path. The beach over there was ok but it wasn't the white sand beauty of Saracen bay, it was course brown sand and the water was wavy.
A few days later we took another path through the jungle, closer to a 45min walk with flip flops but we probably should have worn shoes...it was a tough hike and not worth the ugly beach we encountered over there. We actually left early and didn't wait until the sun set as we were worried about navigating the hike once it got dark. Most of the hotels were on the beautiful Saracen bay side and we felt sorry for anyone who booked on on the sunset side as it was profoundly worse!

Koh Rong Sanloem has more recorded history than most of Cambodia’s islands. In 1857 the British Royal Navy’s HMS Saracen conducted a survey of the Cambodian coast and islands, leading to production of the first map of the area three years later. Heart-shaped Saracen Bay got its name from that British brig. Between 1863 and 1953 the French took only a middling interest in the island, building rudimentary roads to connect its various parts.These days, however, the roads are a distant and long-overgrown memory, and travel around the island is done by boat. One of the last vestiges of the French on Koh Rong Sanloem is a lighthouse atop a mountain on the southern tip of the island. We didn't hike to it but is supposed to have great views.

One of the cooler things this island has to offer is at night the phosphorescence can be seen in the water on the shores of the quieter parts caused by bioluminescent plankton. The conditions in the Gulf of Thailand around Koh Rong are perfect to witness this phenomenon. The plankton respond to disturbance by lighting up even brighter as you splash away. A combination of low light pollution on the island and the warm temperature makes these tiny glowing lights visible in the ocean after dark.  We were so excited to see this and we so disappointed to learn that since it was a full moon on the days we were there it was too bright to see it. Perhaps an excuse to come back again some day.