weather in october

sorry i meant taiwan

hey born,

October is a GREAT time to visit Taiwan. Spring is rainy, summer is hot, winter is not bad but the day-to-night temperature change can be extreme so you need to carry two sets of clothes. October is perfect.

The East Coast and the Central Mountains are absolutely stunningly beautiful.
Green Island and Orchid Island have great coral reefs which can be (should be, and are) snorkled until Christmas or later.
Tainan, in the south has so much history, if you are into that, you should consider it a can't miss destination.

You're an experienced traveler so you probably already know how to ride a (small) motorcycle, but if you don't, you should learn before you go.

Absolutely positively enjoy the night markets. Don't eat dinner in Taiwan (unless it's raining), just snack your way through the markets. The food is top shelf.

Enjoy your journey

thank u sooo much bob
if u have visited our website u ll see that wherever we go we usually rent a scooter cos we love to live the place also from that point of view
thank u so much for uor suual precious tips

My family and I really hit the jackpot when we were on Green Island. It’s a great place for anyone who likes snorkeling, but I can’t guarantee will have the kind of outstanding once-in-a-lifetime experience we did.

We booked a mini-package in the Taidong train station. It included a stay in a hotel right on the fishing harbor, a scooter rental and one snorkeling trip. It was early June and the univeristies had let out but the main travel season had not begun. We beat the heat by swimming in the lagoon near the lighthouse and having seaweed and fruit with shaved ice (a local specialty.)

The snorkeling trip was astonishing, and the reefs were so amazingly close to shore it would have been perfectly safe even without the quadruple back-up safety system the local guides employ.

Dinner was at a rooftop open-air restaurant overlooking the water.. They brought us our food raw and put a small BBQ grill on our table. We joined with the table next to us (some Taiwanese) and spent many hours cooking food and drinking beers.

We loved it so much we opted to extend our stay. That meant we started paying cash for everything and the locals LOVED that. We set off some fireworks that we had brought from the main island and the locals loved that as well. The Green Island natives are not beggers but they are poor and Taiwan staples like fireworks and beetlenut are either expensive or non-existent there.

The next day we took a second snorkeling tour, and circumnavigated the island by scooter.

Back when Taiwan had use for a political prison, it was thee on Green Island. It has now closed and has become a minor tourist site. Go or don’t but treat it the way you would treat a memorial to war victims.
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At night, the weather cooled down a little and we went to the outdoor, saltwater hot springs (I am not sure if they have re-opened after storm damage.) It is on a small cliff on the very east side of the island. it's quite beautiful, but I couldn't help imagining how stunning it would be to go there a half hour before sunrise, sit in the hot tub and take in the views then.

You can charter a boat for fishing, but only the locals are allowed to fish from shore.

Some of the locals had been out harvesting giant sea urchins (which they sell for a small fortune to Japanese sushi houses), but the ones that don’t survive being torn off the bottom are eaten immediately. The Taiwanese are always known for their hospitality, but my combination of cash, beetlenut and fireworks made the locals fall in love with my family and they invited us to join their BBQ. In addition to the sea urchin there was a soup made from a fish that looks like a rainbow, and lots of beer.

Everything we ate had been in the ocean only hours ago, and it was a meal fit for kings.

We also had a little bit of deer jerky (another local specialty) which was nice if you like jerky.

The hospitality of the locals was simply outstanding. Before I left I felt as though I should go through my luggage and see if there was anything I could leave for them.

I’ll be back one day.

Edited by: LongIslandBob

what a great report
thank u so much bob as usual

ps
where do u live now?

I fell onto hard times (health) and now live in a working class town bout 90 mins East of Manhattan.
I still do some international travel, but most of what I do for now is more or less local. It'll get better

Edited by: LongIslandBob

great bob
thanks