GOOD MORNING! SURPRISE! I’M IN TAIWAN! So yes that is true, however I am actually just in the airport, leaving after spending the last five days here in my new favorite city! Due to my blog being down because of me relocating to Hong Kong and my domain host not liking that, I haven’t posted much at all since traveling abroad! That is about to change. I am going to break my trip to Taiwan up by day since we did so much and I took so many photos. Then I may or may not do a Taipei tour guide type post, we’ll see.
Okay well let’s get into it! Buckle up, this is a lot!
Thursday night after a long week of classes and travel anticipation, Michele and I headed to the airport and arrived after midnight. Our Airbnb host somehow gave us two addresses and we wound up going to the wrong one, not speaking the same language as our many taxi drivers, we were thrown into complications almost immediately. BUT! It was hilarious even in the moment and something I know I will never forget. That’s what traveling is all about right? Finally arriving to our room around three am we were POOPED! But ready for a full day of exploring and adventuring the next morning.
Before even setting foot into the city, we escaped it. We took the MRT (subway system) down to the zoo where we rode a gondola high into the mountains. This was the perfect start to our trip. What’s a better way to see the city than from above? And let me tell you it was beautiful. There are options to get off at the zoo, a temple, or ride to the town at the top Maokong. We rode it to the top.
Maokong was SO beautiful, and not just the views, but the buildings, the flora (the only fauna we saw were cats hanging outside of cat cafés, does that count?) and the streets were enchanting as well. While exploring we decided to pop into a teahouse for a snack. I don’t remember the name of where we went, however the mountain side is lined with teahouses and I doubt you could go wrong at any of them. We sat at a natural marble table and sipped high mountain oolong tea along with snacking on some of Taiwan’s famous pineapple and oolong tea cakes homemade by the owners. We lost track of time and spent over an hour just sitting, talking, and sipping. It was too pleasant to not!
Skies started to look a bit grey so we decided to head back down to Taipei for lunch! Pre-trip Michele and I watched plenty of “What to do in Taipei” videos on YouTube. In one of the videos a group of friends went to this restaurant called King Ping Chayu. It looked amazing, we had to try. We were actually able to find a voucher for a meal for two where they basically treated us like princesses and brought out tea, after bun, after dumpling, after noodle soup, it was SO much food and so worth it because it was all delicious.
The perfect meal to kick start our trip! Especially since King Ping is super famous! They started out as one of the first tea shops, and then transformed into one of the most famous restaurants for the delicious Taiwanese beef noodle soup! I highly recommend checking sites like KKDay, Airbnb, Groupon etc. for vouchers and excursion tickets, prices will be cheaper and you may find you are trying something you otherwise wouldn’t!
After lunch skies cleared a bit and we decided to explore the neighborhood. We did some shopping, some snacking, and some temple hopping. The thing about Taipei is that there is something to do everywhere. Every street, every alley and corner felt like it’s own little neighborhood. The smells of bakeries, fresh fruit and incense from temples fill the streets, streets that are lined with vintage stores, market stands, lanterns, and people from all over, kind people smiling as you pass and spreading nothing but good vibes.
After a pitstop back at the Airbnb to rest up, we headed out to the Shilin Night Market for some shopping, people watching, and man oh man some GOOD food. The night markets are a must when visiting Taipei. Bustling with people from all over the world, they have turned into a bit of a tourist hole, but for all the right reasons, the food is amazing, it’d be wild to pass up. We tried a bunch of things: sweet potato balls, sweet and sour french fries that were as long as our legs, delicious noodle soup, candied strawberries, veggie buns, and so many more scrumptious, greasy, fried delectables.
