May 5, 2011 | 8:48 am

Two Weeks in Taiwan (video)

Posted by Lisa Niver Rajna

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Two years ago, George and I meandered from Indonesia to Mongolia. We thought at the end of our eleven-month adventure we would return home from Beijing to Los Angeles. Then, while in Laos, we discovered a brochure about Taiwan and immediately this new island climbed to the top of our must-see list. Everything about the young country beckoned to us.

At the end of our big Asian trip, George found an amazing flight from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Los Angeles and we missed out on Taiwan, which is why we headed there for the last two weeks of April on our Spring break.

Our American Airlines Frequent Flyer miles allowed us to take a Cathay Pacific flight (14+ hours) from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. We saw so many movies that I barely even remember what I watched.  Our second flight was delayed more than an hour but our bags spat themselves from the luggage carousel, Mr. Yang picked us up (which the hostel had arranged for us for 900NT—Taiwan money about $30). We were so happy to see a sign with our name on it

When we got to the Mudan House, around midnight Sunday April 17, Doris the owner of the hostel had waited up for us with house slippers to wear and showed us the laundry room with filtered drinking water. Our map has the corner 7-11 on it, which is a staple in Asia. Doris is amazing and so is Mudan House.

Our room was great, clean with shelves, private bath, big shower and towels. For us, this constituted true luxury! There was cable for Internet in the room if you brought your own laptop and a shared laptop downstairs. They have breakfast from 8-9:30am cooked by Aunt Acco.

On our first day we explored Taipei using the Metro. As we entered the metro, we saw part of a parade. Our first stop was Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. And so for the first time, our day-to-day traveling life went straight to video!