From November 13-16, I went to Taipei! I went with 2 friend groups (one invited me, and I invited the other). We'll call them "the girls" (my roommate + another friend) and "the guys" (I met them via my hall, but not all of them actually live in my hall).
I was super excited for this trip -- vacation trip (with a flights) with my friends! Also, Taiwan has been a place I've always wanted to go to, so I'm quite happy to finally have a chance to go!
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| right after immigration in Taipei |
When we arrived, we had to take a bus from the airport to "Taipei Main Station" to catch to MRT (subway). The international airport is currently not accessible by train. I was able to use mandarin to help us find where to catch the MRT and we checked in into our hostel.
Immediately after putting our stuff down, we hit the Shilin night market (since our hostel was right next to it).
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| night market - indoor section |
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| night market was basically closing down when we were wandering in it, at about 11:30pm |
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| these types of stalls were my favorite kind of food in Taipei. I wish I had more pictures, but its basically various dough-y cakes and small meats (like a chicken wing or drumstick) and you pick what you want. They'll cut it up and mix it in a really savory seasoning based on if you want it spicy or not, and they give it to you in a paper bag with a wooden skewer. It's also really cheap! |
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| more night market |
After the night market, we went back to our hostel to sleep.
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| our hostel room - I was in the bunk with the green towel |
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| our hostel was really modern - there were multiple floors each with a common room area |
For day 2 in Taipei, the girls and I tried to hit as many touristy spots as possible
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| heading out! |
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| the MRT |
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| the entrance to an MRT stop |
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| first stop: longshan temple |
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| outside the temple |
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| selfie in the garden of the temple |
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| next stop: "red house" (not sure what it is -- some sort of performance hall) |
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| xi ming ding, a large shopping district, is right across the street from the red house |
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| on our way to the next destination -- this MRT stop reminds me a lot of O'Hare's blue line stop |
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| next stop: Chiang Kai Shek memorial |
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| panoramic of chiang kai shek memorial |
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| the memorial hall (think Lincoln Memorial -- it's about the same, with a statue inside) |
After a few sightseeing destinations, my two friend groups combined to eat lunch at a famous soup-dumpling chain restaurant, Din Tai Feng. It was....amazing (and affordable!). It also has a Michelin star.
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| group picture by the waiter |
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| some xiaolongbaos |
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| foood |
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| funny shaped siu mai |
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| the remains of zha jiang noodles (it was all that's left when I remembered to take a photo) |
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| more buns |
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| we noticed they have these small cutouts of dough to tell us what's inside! this is chicken |
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| crab buns were once in this container |
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| taro buns....amazing dessert |
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| group pic, selfie style |
After lunch, we (the girls) headed out for a little bit more sightseeing.
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| next stop: da'an forest park |
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| how are you doing today? |
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| it was a park that seemed to be geared toward children |
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| next stop: sun yet sen memorial hall |
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| next stop: taipei 101 |
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| While the girls went up taipei 101, I parted ways with them to join the guys. I had plans to go up taipei 101 with the guys on another day. |
In the evening, I went to Shida night market for dinner.
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| the famous oyster omelets... |
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| one was oyster, one was shrimp |
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| scallion pancake (cong you bing) |
And then we went to xi ming ding shopping district to do some shopping
Since it was getting late and the MRT was going to close soon, I headed back to my hostel to sleep.
Day 3 - while the girls went out to hike at the National Park with some of their other friends, I spent most of the morning alone and the afternoon with the guys.
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| MRT stop |
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| solo sightseeing: tamsui, a fisherman port |
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| streets of tamsui |
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| the area by the river that leads out to, ultimately, the ocean |
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| in Tamsui I walked to Fort San Domingo |
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| from Fort San Domingo, I caught a mini bus (surprising very similar to the mini buses in Hong Kong) to get to the MRT stop. What surprised me was how when you pressed the button to get the next stop, the bus would play an almost childish tune. |
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| MRT station at tamsui |
Afterwards, I met up with the guys to head to Elephant Mountain, a short 15-20 min hike (up stairs) to get a view of the entire city.
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| not quite sure where this was, but it's curvy escalators!! |
The climb up the mountain was pretty grueling - I am so out of shape ; ___ ; But the view was sooooo rewarding.
After coming down Elephant Mountain, we headed back to Shilin Night Market for some dinner
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| indoor food court area in the night market |
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| oyster omelette again |
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| it was raining... |
Day 4 - With a flight at around 5pm I planned to only go to a museum with the guys before heading for the airport.
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| lunch - beef noodles! |
The museum we chose to go was the National Palace Museum. Supposedly a long time ago, Chiang Kai Shek brought A LOT of Chinese art and culture pieces to Taiwan, where it was spared from the cultural revolution (I could be wrong). According to Wikipedia, it would take almost 12 years for the museum to finish exhibiting all the artifacts it has, if it continues to rotate it's collections for display.
While there was a lot to see inside, two artifacts I didn't see were the 2 most famous ones: the jade cabbage and the meat shaped stone.
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| the museum entrance |
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| the courtyard outside the museum |
Taipei is an amazing city. It has a lack of public trash cans, but somehow it is still decently clean. It has amazing street food and night markets that can keep me occupied for so long. Since we easily covered all the sightseeing in 2 days, I'd say there isn't too much to see here in terms of sightseeing, but a lot to cover if you want to go to all the night markets and malls.
