Taiwan Part 1

by Brianin Taiwanon Posted on

Jump Ahead:
Day 1 | Lungshan Temple, Taiwan Democracy Memorial Park, Huaxi Street Night Market
Day 2 | Xindian, Bitandiao Bridge, Taipei Zoo, Zhinan Temple, Maokong, Ningxia Night Market

I had some comp time expiring the month of April, and rather than let it convert back to overtime I decided to burn it!  Trying hard not to let an opportunity to travel pass me by…  Anyway, I had already done some research on Taiwan before (got a pretty good system down by now)… it’s relatively close, it seemed like a simple itinerary (which was good due to the lack of time to plan), and it could be a fairly cheap trip all things considered (exchange rate ~1USD:32NTD, airfare ~$400USD).  I had time to take a more ambitious trip but to be honest, it seems like I’m just getting over a previous trip when I have to start planning for another trip… always a slight feeling of being behind and having to catch up on planning for something coming up just to make the most of my time in Japan… even now I’m thinking of how to space out the remaining trip ideas I have for this year…  I know I’m very fortunate for all the opportunities I get and I sure do appreciate them, but along those same lines I still have to make the most of what I can so I hope I don’t come off as spoiled or rubbing it in anyone’s face (for lack of a better expression)… especially that last post about the onsen.  Anyway… I flew to Taiwan on a Monday in April and flew back to Japan that following Saturday… almost five full days to explore Taipei.  I thought about taking a train down south but decided to keep it simple (tired of planning and researching trips)… so basically all my itinerary consisted of was one temple, one museum, one fancy building, and one night market with tons of food along the way…. everything else was researched and decided on while there… all bonuses.

Day 1

There are two different airports you can fly into, Taoyuan and Songshan... both were about the same price but I chose Songshan since it is way more convenient and centrally located. First thing after getting my bag was finding a SIM card for data (because Google maps is awesome when traveling). Lo and behold, a phone company right there near the exit... first time using my unlocked Japanese phone, service was fast, simple, easy, worked great, and about $15USD for the week. Also exchanged money while there and the exchange rate was way better than in Japan (typically the case). Free wifi in the airport also... so why can't Hawaii make it this easy for tourists? I don't know....
The metro station is right outside the airport... it is super cheap and I used this mode of transportation a lot during my stay... trains are pretty frequent and never had to look one up or wait long for one... the routes are easy because you only need to remember the color and the last stations for directional purposes. Just to give an idea, one way fare from the airport to Taipei main station was only $25NTD, which is like $0.80USD. Catching the train everywhere, including buses and gondolas, I spent maybe $18 for the entire week on transportation. If not for the gondolas, maybe $13.
First thing I did after the airport was get an easy card, which is basically a prepaid card that you can load with money so you don't have to keep calculating and buying individual train tickets.. there are other options with the card, such as unlimited 7-day passes but I stuck with just loading as necessary. The metro is so cheap that unless you plan on catching other forms of transportation (like gondolas and buses), pay as you go is probably more economical. In the end I ended up paying just a little more than I would have if I did the 7-day unlimited but I also used some special forms of transportation... with the exchange rate and all that, it was really only about a $3USD difference for the entire week, so maybe it's better to just get the unlimited so you don't have to think about anything... depending on your budget, the difference will probably be only a couple dollars either way...
So not even 30 minutes after picking up my bag from the conveyor belt at the airport, I'm in the country, got a phone plan, got my transportation covered, and I'm heading towards the hotel... easy, efficient, convenient. This really stuck out in my mind... again, I feel like Hawaii really needs to get on board with this, especially it being the tourist destination that it is.
Stations are pretty clean, lines for queuing are a little different, but people seem to obey them here
The trains seem wider than the ones in Japan... not as quiet though hehe. Although, I must point out that usually Chinese is a very hard language for me to listen to, mainly because it always sounds loud and harsh... not so here in Taiwan (where Mandarin is the official language). It sounds much more calm, and even more quiet, which was a nice surprise. You can also find quite a few Japanese and English speakers here, which I suppose had a lot to do with the islands seemingly complicated history with the world.
Pineapple bread and an pan haha. There is definitely a lot of Japanese food in Taiwan so I stayed away from it as much as possible.
The hotel (Caesar Park Taipei) was pretty strict about their check-in time, so I left my bag with them and headed out to knock out one of the main items on list. This was at Mengxia park right in front of Lungshan Temple.
Lungshan Temple is supposed to be one of, if not the most popular temples in Taipei.

Varoius deities are worshipped here, and again I’m not very religious so I go for the atmosphere and nice buildings… more information on the temple can be found here:
http://www.lungshan.org.tw/en/index.php

Offerings
I didn't know what these were for at first... people would pray with them and then drop them on the floor. Apparently, when you ask a question with these, how they fall on the floor is what your answer is... learned something new!
There are various halls to look at here, very nice temple.
From Lungshan Temple, I walked over to the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Park. Scooters everywhere here. That square in front of the crosswalk is where scooters can queue in front of the cars... I don't know how I feel about that yet... I mean, they are pretty much in the intersection... plus they have to cross the pedestrians in the crosswalk to get there...
Many bike share stations around...
At the memorial park, started to rain a little.
Human towers
One of these buildings was a huge concert hall and I can't remember what the other was... maybe a library or museum.
Huge memorial

http://www.cksmh.gov.tw/eng/index.php

Just one of the ponds at the Memorial Park.
Finally went back to the hotel via metro... Caesar Park Hotel is kind of like a fancy business hotel, not terribly expensive but great location right at the Main Taipei Station so getting around was really easy from here. They also had a money exchange service here... the rate was slightly better at the airport but difference really was negligible.
Bubble tea! Can't go to Taiwan without drinking a lot of this
There was still some daylight left in the day so I went out walking again to the 2/28 Peace Park just to look around
One of the things that really stood out to me were the HUGE intersections... I mean ten lanes across and I think about 50 seconds to use the crosswalk... why?
Since this trip was hugely influenced by food, I thought I should go to the night markets to search for good eats... There's quite a few to choose from so I did some research on which seemed the most worthwhile. The first one was on Huaxi St near Lungshan Temple (same MTR station).
Walked up and down for a while, still a little intimidated by having to order food anywhere...
Games for the kids with ticket system and everything
Random things...
Not as many people speak English at these kind of places... some carts have places to sit and order and eat behind them, so not all are the same...
Eventually found a place with a picture menu... easy one piece item type stands (for example, meat on a stick) are fairly easy to use hand gestures and figure out cost (the cost per piece is usually the big number on the front of the cart). Full meals are a little more confusing... sometimes pay before eating, sometimes after, and seemed like a lot of custom type orders depending on what you want in your soup or bowl or dish. Almost everything at these street markets are cheap though... yes there are tourists but there are also many more locals too... each night market is different.
Like a hard boiled egg deep fried in some batter with sauce to top it off... I believe it was $10NTD or like $0.30USD
Didn't know what the green sauce was... turned out to be wasabi and I put waaay too much haha
These carts are the easiest to order from
This one... aww man, I want to eat again just thinking about it.. probably the best thing I ate in Taiwan... soft bun, fatty piece of pork cooked for I don't know how long, pickled vegetables, crushed peanuts, cilantro...... gaaahhhhh soooo good. I was so full by this point already I had to take it to go. I would say this night market was a very close second to one of the other ones I went to during the trip.
On the way back to the metro, stopped back at the Temple just to get some night photos... it was nice!
Remember that delicious pork bun? This is a better view... gaaahhh.... look how fat that piece of pork is... and of course, I had to try a classic Taiwan beer (not so good)...
Just for example currency
Different size bills. Pretty eventful first day all things considered... really freed up my itinerary for the rest of the trip.

Day 2

Coffee and a cheese tart at Mr. Brown's coffee. This was just one of those bonus days... decided to catch the green line down to Xindian to check out the green river.
The river is not far from the station at all.. freeway bridge.
Bitandiao Bridge
Seems like a typical waterfront park.. you can rent little kickboats to float around the river in too.
Pretty quiet at this time of morning... just people walking and relaxing such as myself.
They have a row of restaurants up the hill overlooking the river... seems like that kind of place that couples go to at night sometimes.
Bitandiao Bridge again
Foot traffic only...
Walked just halfway across to get some photos... good look at the river.
Of course, more bubble tea before getting back on the train!
Took the green line all the way back up and then transferred to the brown line which I took to the end as well...
Taipei Zoo! A bonus trip since I had the time...
Just going to throw some pictures on here... don't think they need explanations...
For the kids... haha
Overall, it was a pretty good zoo... felt like there were a good variety of animals to look at and they had all the major ones... it was definitely hot walking around all day though.
Anyway, after a few hours at the zoo, I still had some daylight, and although pretty tired and hot already, I decided to take the gondola up from the south exit of the zoo into the mountains.
First got off at the Zhinan Temple Station. After a very short walk, you can visit this temple overlooking parts of the city... it's a pretty interesting environment being on the side of the mountain and all...
Seems like these places are always under some kind of restoration...
This is either a Buddhist temple on the side of the mountain or an elementary school... I'm pretty sure it's the elementary school though.
Probably not safe... again.
Looking up the valley, on the gondola again heading to the top Maokong Station.
Lots of trails and temples on this mountain that you could hike to... I didn't have the time and this was all unplanned for me.
From what I could gather, this was some old road with some history behind it... to me it was just a street with some potential restaurants for food and a good view
Found one!
Cozy little place... nice terrace to relax and eat... I was pretty tired by this point... just a ton of walking so far...
Back towards the Maokong Station
Next to the station is a short row of vendors selling various foods/snacks... nothing that looked all that worthwhile to me...
Fairly long ride just to get all the way back down the mountain...
Had to go back to the hotel just to shower and rest a bit...
Then headed out for dinner!
Second of three night markets, and the best in my opinion, was the Ningxia Night Market... not that many tourists here, similar to the one near Lungshan, however this one was almost ALL food. Local night market, focused on good cheap food, with not many tourists???? No brainer... Yes awesome.
Super soft, super tasty mochi
I'm pretty sure this was chicken
This looked so amazing... but too big and had to manage my portions for maximum variety!
At one end of the market, I saw this long line for one stand... which was very uncommon up to this point so it caught my attention... I decided, what the heck, I'll give it a try and wait...
after about 20-25 minutes I got to the front!
Probably the second best thing I ate (see night one)... this was like... a bunch of things I don't even know wrapped in like lotus rice or something... I just can't describe it... a little spicy, a little vinegary, a little meaty, a little vegetables, a little crunchy, a little chewy... oh my goodness..... excellent!
Then one of the popular dishes in Taiwan, oyster omelet!
I was a bit hesitant at first, and really couldn't tell which places were good or bad so I went to one with a bit a of a crowd... had no idea what it was going to taste like but I knew I had to give it a try... it was actually delicious! There's eggs obviously, oysters, cabbage, some kind of batter, some kind of sauce... haha, now that I think about it... I don't know so much of what I ate on this trip...
Then Taiwan shave ice!!! This was another MUST on this trip... one of my favorite shave ice places in Hawaii (and I've been to many) is owned by a lady from Taiwan, and that Taiwan style shave ice is soooo good...
This place kind of had a lot of fruity options so I went with mango... popular choice but not really the type I was looking for... still very good and refreshing... hit the spot.
After eating my fill of night market food, I just walked back towards the hotel since it wasn't that far... on the way back, I stopped by some random places such as the Museum of Contemporary Art
Taipei City (Underground) Mall
Taipei Main Railway Station, not to be confused with the Main metro station... this is where you would catch the train to visit other sides of the island.
Nice, large, clean, many shops inside
Another underground mall leading to my hotel

To be continued…

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