Camping in Taiwan was a fun experience (except for all the mosquitoes). We went camping in Jianshi, Hsinchu. It was different than I thought it would be. I would definitely go camping again in Taiwan. I think camping was easy because we were with family at the time.
On our way up to the mountain, we had some beautiful views along with some bubble tea. I’ve never seen orange bubbles in bubble tea before (by the way, Taiwan has the best bubble tea that I have ever tried)! Once we reached the campsite, we really had a good view. The mountains faded into the mist. The further I looked, the more layers of mountain I could see. It looked so neat!
Camping in Taiwan means driving up to a spot with a bathroom, shower, pool, and a little instruction manual on where to put your tent and how to put it up. I was kidding on that last part, if you haven’t figured it out yet. But seriously, this campsite was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be a lot less civilized.
The tent sites sat on top of plastic pallets to keep you up above the wet grass. There were sinks, refrigerators, and a freezer to keep your food fresh. Campers were very well prepared. They had all the neat camping gear you could imagine.
Dinner for the night included barbecue, hot pot (kind of like soup fondue), rice, and salad (You must be thinking wow! Really? Yeah really that’s what we had. It was great). The showers were pretty good, not including the bugs and webs. Don’t be too surprised if you see a dead beetle in the corner of the shower *shiver*.
I slept very well considering I don’t normally sleep in a sleeping bag. I was sweating when I got up, probably because I slept in my clothes, in a sleeping bag, with no ceiling fan, in the middle of summer. But it wasn’t too bad, since the minute I went out of the tent, I immediately cooled off. It was cool and misty outside in the early morning mountain air. That’s the difference between backyard camping and camping on a mountain.
Before breakfast, my dad and I went out to explore. We noticed a little suspension bridge that goes across a small, fast moving stream coming down from the mountains nearby. It was swiftly flowing, clean, and clear. I didn’t notice any fish, but the stream would be able to support some.
On the other side of the bridge was a person’s backyard. Then we came to a road and saw some early morning bikers. We decided to head back. On our way, we spotted a snail and brought it back to show everyone.
We relaxed for a while, at least until I took a glance at the forest nearby and spotted a monkey. It was cute (not as cute as a rabbit, but cute enough) and it was just sitting there on the trunk of a tree that had fallen. The monkey was so quite, that most people in the campground had no idea it was there. We got some good pictures of it taking a morning stroll.
Breakfast was like dinner, except with fruit instead of salad. I thought it was wonderful and judging from the size of the cut pieces, the dragon fruit and mango must have been huge! It was super delicious!
Later during the day, we got some good shots of insects and butterflies around the area. There were also some interesting looking plants that I had never seen at home. Then we started to take down the tents and put away the equipment we no longer needed. Around noon, we left for home.
Lizzy and King Hop's tips when camping in Taiwan:
- Put on sunblock – The sun can be intense, especially around noon. It will feel like you are burning alive if you don’t have some sunblock on.
- Wear a hat – Even if you have sunblock on, still bring a hat. The neck and face are more vulnerable than the arms and legs. We tend to put more sunblock on the arms and legs than the face, neck, and ears.
- Bring Bug spray – One thing that really bothered me on this trip was all the mosquitoes. I cannot count how many mosquito bites I got during the camping trip. I found out that it helps if you spray a lot of bug spray around the ankles and wrists. Make sure the bug spay contains 25% DEET.
I had a lot of fun on this trip and if I go camping in Taiwan again, I will be better prepared. I had a good time and I am glad that I survived the mosquitoes. It was nothing like I expected it to be because I thought it would be primitive. Instead, it was a very comfortable camping trip and we had a lot of great views.
I would go and try again with a different spot and a different time of the year, instead of mid-summer. I’ve learned that in Taiwan, when you eat, you really eat. You eat a lot of good food and you eat very often.
Camping Site in Jianshi, Hsinchu
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