May 23
For our first full day in Taiwan (nothing that eventful happened on our landing day asides from settling into our hotel and grabbing some fast food), we went on a walking tour of Taipei. With our guide Wallis, we explored Ximen district, the old parts of Taipei, the Presidential Palace and the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. Wallis was an exceptional tour guide and answered all of our questions, including Taiwanese history, politics and actual ground situation with Taiwan’s relationship with China and the cultural divides between Taiwanese people and recent Chinese immigrants. It was a fascinating tour! I would highly recommend anyone visiting Taipei to do a walking tour!
After our tour, we went to Din Tai Fung for some soup dumplings. I have to say, it blew most of the soup dumplings I have had in North America out of the water! Din Tai Fung also had a guide on how to eat the dumplings properly, which was massively helpful for someone like me who doesn’t eat a lot of Chinese food. After lunch, we visiting Taipei 101 and the shopping district nearby.
We wanted to go to Raohe Night Market but it started to rain, so we had to be quick. I got a black pepper beef bun which is apparently on Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list and some Xinjiang-style beef skewers. If it wasn’t for the poor weather, I would have stayed a lot longer and ate a lot more at the night market. Regardless, it was really fun trying out the new Taiwanese cuisine.
May 24
This was our flex day, where everyone went to do their own things in Taipei. After spending so long together, it was essential that we all decompressed for a bit and relaxed. We also had a few poeple falling ill on this trip, so this day was critical for recovery.
In the morning, I went to get traditional Chinese breakfast with Jack, which comprised of Chinese donuts, scrambled eggs and sweet soy milk. It was really greasy but a great breakfast. Afterwards, I went to a coworking space in the city to work on some things. Fortunately, there was a beef tendon noodle soup shop nearby. It was a hole in the wall and I was the only foreigner (all good signs in Taiwan). Within minutes of seating, I was served with a hot bowl of soup and promptly chowed down. This was the best soup noodles that I got in Taiwan by far.
After some more work, I visited Wistaria Tea House. This tea house was the centre of democracy activism during Chiang Kai Shek’s dictatorship, so there is some historical importance to the tea house. I was taught by the waitress how to pour tea in a traditional way and also chowed down on some pineapple cakes. It was excellent, relaxing end to the day. I would recommend others to check out the tea houses in and around Taipei.
For dinner, I met up with my friends and we went to Huaxi Street Night Market for more food. I got some braised pork and rice, which was truly what I needed after a long day.
May 25
In the morning, Oli and I went to Taipei’s Botanical Gardens. The gardens were quite big and had a variety of plants from all over Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The garden owners did a wonderful job of organizing the plants and designing a visually pleasing aesthetic all throughout the garden.
Getting back at lunchtime, we met up with the rest of the group and proceeded on a tour of Northern Taiwan towns with a private driver. This was my favourite experience throughout the entire Taiwan trip. We first visited Yehliu Geopark, which is a small peninsula about an hour away from Taipei. The geopark has really interesting rock structures shaped by the everlasting forces of erosion from wind and sea. Furthermore, there was a short 30-minute hike to explore the end of the peninsula that served gorgeous views of Taiwan’s north end. This was my favourite part of the Northern Taiwan tour.
We visited Shifen waterfalls next. The waterfalls were cool to see and we walked a bit into Shifen as well, but the town itself didn’t have much to see. We then visited Houtong Cat Village. Personally, I am not the biggest fan of wild animals, so I was quite bored going to a village overrun with cats. For those who are really into cute cats, then definitely stop by here!
The last stop of the tour was Jiufen, which is famous for allegedly being the inspiration behind Spirited Away, a beautiful Studio Ghibli movie. We got there around sunset and briefly saw the orange glow bask the lush hills around the town before we headed inside the labyrinth that is Jiufen. Since it is famous, the town is pretty much overrun by tourists. I didn’t have a great time navigating the streets during sunset (which is the most busy time as people all want to see the Jiufen lamps). Jiufen actually closely reminded me of Positano on the Amalfi coast: the touristy busyness yet the natural beauty mimicked my experiences in the southern Italian town. We quickly realized that the town was too busy and we ditched to go to Taipei early.
May 26
The weather in Taipei was extremely balmy this day so we decided to spend most of our time indoors. We made our way to the National Palace Museum to start off the day, which was surprisingly far away from the center of Taipei. The museum itself is a massive structure with 3 floors of various artifacts from various Chinese dynasties. My favourite exhibition was the jade exhibition, which showcased many jade art from the Chinese mainland as well as the artifacts from the Qing dynasty that were deposited on Taiwan. However, I wouldn’t recommend visiting this museum for tourists unless they have a good grasp of Taiwanese history. The museum dives deep into the art of Chinese dynasties and does an excellent job with art history, but it is difficult to place it into context of the wider Taiwanese and Chinese societal currents of the age. I had to rely hard on my AP World History knowledge of Chinese dynasties to understand why certain artifacts were significant.
After the museum tour, we explored the Ximen area a bit more and grabbed a bite of beef noodles, which wasn’t nearly as good as the the noodles I had in the hole-in-the-wall shop I had earlier in the trip. After walking around in the humid 30C+ weather, our entire group decided to rest in the hotel for a bit and go out for a bit for dinner.
For dinner, we tried some Taiwanese fried chicken, since that is apparently a top dish to get in Taiwan. I have to say, it was pretty mid. I split out from the rest of the group to catch up with another friend who was in Taipei, explored Ximen a bit more and then crashed.
May 27
Nothing really exceptional for this day asides from getting to the airport and flying out to Chiang Mai to start the Thai adventures.
Tips
- It is extremely helpful to have a friend who can speak Mandarin with you (even better if they know Fujianese). Most Taiwanese people can communicate with English but are more comfortable with their native Mandarin. Almost all signage is in traditional Chinese characters (not even Simplified Chinese) so it may be difficult to understand. Fortunately, Google Translate can come in handy!
- Transit: when you land in Taiwan, you can get a card for transit tap-ons and tap-offs at the airport. However, public transit here is not that much better than just hailing cabs/Ubers since traffic is quite bad. The metro system is not nearly as extensive as Japan so you will mostly have to rely on buses or Ubers
- Late May is not the best time to visit the country as Taiwan is under the “plum monsoon” during this time. This is a persistently rainy and cloudy season that starts in May and extends to June. This will hamper travel plans
- 7-11s are all the rage in Taipei and you can get a decent meal at any 7-11. I went to 7-11s almost all the time for breakfast and quick lunches