Taiwan Part 2

by Brianin Taiwanon Posted on

Jump Ahead:
Day 3 | Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Songshan Culture and Creative Park, Taipei 101
Day 4 | Tamsui, Taipei Country Club, Hobe Fort, Fort San Domingo, National Palace Museum, Shilin Night Market
Day 5 | Elephant Mountain, Taipei 101, Daan Station Park
Final Day 6 | Departure

Day 3

Heard there was a garden on the roof top of the hotel so I went to check it out in the morning..
I don't know about the garden part but the view was pretty good...
Taipei 101 in the distance
Then I went over to this huge roundabout, I'm still not sure why but I guess it looked big on the map so thought it might be nice in person... raining hard this morning which didn't make it all that much fun. I guess it's called the Renai/Dunhua traffic circle.
Walking over to the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall... see how those scooter squares just kind of sit in the intersection??? Seems easy for a car to lose control and just wipe out a whole box full of scooters...
Breakfast... haha panda tiramisu cake and coffee...
Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Similar looking to the previous Democratic Memorial hall but different person
Small museum about his life..
From there walked over to the Songshan Culture and Creative Park...
This used to be an old tobacco factory/living community... since been converted into a "creative space" where you can find some interesting shops and a design museum.
Some of the displays
Bought some pastries to take back to Japan... more pineapple. People still associate pineapple with Hawaii... but so many places in the world produce pineapple products...instead I like to tell people Kona Coffee can (arguably) be more representative of Hawaii because it's the only state in the US that produces coffee.
I noticed a few of these shops here and there... DIY type... this one was making leather goods, thought it was a nice idea.
Walked through City Hall... can you tell I'm just wandering around aimlessly in the rain?
At the cinema building
ATT 4 Fun mall... pretty much where all the night clubs are located in Taipei... one building... and what I thought was interesting was the nightclubs here are pretty much open bar once you get in... scary thought huh? Oh, I guess the drinking age is 18... But if partying is your thing... I guess you can head over to this place.
Then finally made it to Taipei 101...
The base is a huge mall, very fancy, but shopping isn't really my thing... just admiring the atmosphere and air conditioning...
Main hall
Was raining so I saved the observatory for another day... Also, the Din Tai Fung restaurant that everyone talks about was closed for a "company event" on this day so missed out on that also...
Instead, went back to the underground mall near the hotel for some beef noodles.
One of those times where the lady who took my order told me what I should get rather than what I told her I wanted... In this case, I'll say it was ok because what she gave me was good. That's another thing... people here were generally more tolerant about my lack of language skills here... for the most part they just kind of chuckled and we somehow managed to communicate.... other places I'm used to getting some kind of disappointed look or attitude even.... I do have a tendency to confuse people though... especially in this part of the world, people speak to me in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, with English usually coming last.
Just relaxing back at the main railway station with coffee on the second floor. The entire second floor is a food court.
Bubble tea for dessert haha, I got the alligator bubble tea... I still don't know what it was actually supposed to taste like.

Day 4

By recommendation I woke up early to line up for this restaurant, Fu Hang Dou Jiang... I guess the specialty was eggs because that's pretty much all I ate haha Less than 15 minute wait... but I guess typical wait can be closer to an hour sometimes.
Working hard...
Eggs in so many ways...some good, some not as good... even the drink was eggy..
After breakfast, I caught the train to the end of the red line, all the way out to Tamsui...
Then jumped on the bus to their fisherman's wharf area...
Kind of cheesy at first, definitely touristy...
But water views are always calming...
China in the distance
Caught the bus a little ways back, had to get off near the waterfront and walk a little to my next destination...
These fish were just begging to be caught I think.
Yes, the Taipei Country Club... but not Yani Tseng's home course I guess... smaller but still decent looking... the club house wasn't that great though and pro shop was seriously lacking.. maybe not even qualify as a pro shop really...
Looked like some kind of high school tournament maybe...
Right next to the country club is Hobe Fort.. was free so thought I'd just take a peak... I guess this area protects the river from entry further into Taipei so it was heavily protected back in the day...
Some of the halls were kind of creepy...
Following that was Fort San Domingo
You could enter into this building to take a peak...
They just have a bunch of rooms decorated in the old way...
And for some reason, a love exhibit on the second floor....maybe a city of romance?
Just following the road, there is the oxford university...
And the white (customs) house...
Another view of the water...
Walking down the street back towards the boardwalk area...
Kept seeing these waffle places for dessert, thought I'd give in and order one but ended up being HUGE... I ate it all though
Old Tamsui Street
These scooters.. man.. even in this tight alley they still ride them... unbelievable...
Back at the station, still raining...
On to the main event for the day, the National Palace Museum.. from Shilin Station, you just follow the signs to Zhongzheng Rd and catch the bus from the corner... there's enough information and pictures to manage properly.
The bus was pretty crowded going there...
Finally got there...
Huge museum...
No pictures allowed inside so can't share much other than they've got some cool artifacts that make this museum definitely worth checking out... it was a bit crowded but since I was on my own I could kind of speed through things... you can also pick up a radio set that supports different languages so you can go at your own pace... Funny thing was.. I think I skipped past their most poplar item in the museum??? which was like this jade carving thing that looked like lettuce??? hahaha I just saw it in the gift shop after.... oh well... lettuce... haha but they have other things in there too lol
Garden outside the museum...
And this station saved me a bit because my phone was dying... I think every metro station has these charging stations for public use and they are located outside of the gates so you don't have to swipe through just to use them.
Then walked a short distance to Shilin Night Market... from what my research told me... this was the most popular night market to go see in Taipei... unfortunately it was my least favorite...It's large, and spread out over a few blocks, however it was very touristy, lots of junk to be sold, and the food seemed way better at the other night markets...
They do have these smaller restaurants where there is just this spread sitting out, you make a plate and they charge by the weight... seemed like this was an easy and popular option for many locals..
Was just raining hard
Lots of random junk...
More clothing shops than food shops I think...
Stinky tofu
This smell, even though I didn't realize it at the time... will forever remind me of Taiwan... it's not stink... it is unique, and you'll smell it at all the 7/11's and convenience stores that have it sitting out there... the taste is pretty good... just not something I would eat every day maybe...
You'll see a lot of the same stand/companies at the different night markets...
I kept walking around the streets thinking I just wasn't finding the good spot of the night market.. but nothing changed so eventually I gave up and went back home, shoes all soaked from the rain.

Day 5

Last full day, and I was hoping/expecting a little better weather than the rain for the past couple days...
Decided to do this hike that I read about online a bit... catch the metro to Xiangshan station (last stop on red line)... walk south along the park, then take a left at the end of it... follow the street up the hill a bit and follow the signs from there, you'll find the beginning of the Elephant Mountain hiking trail pictured here...
It's pretty much all stairs... but not difficult at all. Some site say when you get to this fork in the trail, go left... others say go right... it really doesn't matter, although the right side is a little more direct when going to the popular rocks that everyone takes pictures from.
I went left...
It wasn't as direct, but you'll see signs and the trails connect again in certain places... if you're just aware of the surroundings and direction, you should be fine.
At the area with the rocks... barely break a sweat coming here but a pretty nice view of the city afterall...
See! See! People like taking pictures from the rocks! hehe
I climbed up on my own rock to avoid all the other people..
Taipei 101
Just fooling around, on a rock, with a camera...
Back at Xiangshan Station... one of those escalators that levels off midway.
Went back to Din Tai Fung at Taipei 101, just one stop on the metro. They were open today!
The problem I've always had with dim sum type places, they are very difficult to go alone, just because in order to try many different foods, you end up with A LOT of food.
I thought I had ordered a bunch of small things... but when they gave me my take out bag (I did take out because the waiting line to dine in was way too long, plus there was a food court nearby you could eat at) I immediately knew I ordered too much haha nice bag though
Yikes... I guess their Xiao Long Bao is most popular... but not life changing to me... Lot of hype around this place and it was good... I'm just glad I didn't wait in that long line to dine in. I ate everything here except some of the rice... hehehe I guess I was hungry after the short hike.. but still... waaay too much.
Since the weather was as good as it was going to get during my trip, I had to do the observatory deck at Taipei 101... I honestly had to question whether or not I was too full to ride this elevator.... I still think the elevator has a negative affect on having to use the bathroom... this being something of an extreme elevator... I had my doubts...
Phew! Made it to the top without any incidents! haha
Many views
Oh, hello out there
Huge intersections again
yeah... those scooter squares are just not working for me...
Enjoyed the clouds here
Only one quarter of the top outdoor deck was open...
One of the more interesting and unique things about this tower is the wind dampener that you can actually look at...
I never gave much thought about this kind of thing before, probably because they're always hidden... so I learned quite a bit about this technology... they even had videos during storms and this gigantic ball was really moving good... I probably would've been a bit freaked out hehe
They even gave a shout out to Yokohama's Landmark tower! One of the worlds most advanced systems...
Size reference
It would be crushing...
Then on the way out they have a bunch of coral displays...
Which of course is followed by a seemingly overkill amount of jewelry shops selling coral type jewelry....
But these globes were nice...
Then dessert in the basement food court again..
But wasn't my favorite...
Next for a quick stop at Daan Station/Park
Started raining again so didn't stay long...
It's called a forest park... I guess because of small little sanctuaries like this bird one.
Dinner was beef noodles again!
Pretty delicious
Then smoothie house shave ice! Probably one of the most popular shave ice places... this one was like red beans, taro, peanuts, very good.

Day 6

Last day in Taipei
They had a Tim Ho Wan next to the hotel.. since I missed out on this popular restaurant back in Hong Kong, I thought I'd give it a try here..
That and another bubble drink hehe
I thought I learned my lesson from Din Tai Fung... so I ordered less variety... but I guess the portion sizes were larger so it was still a lot again
Then I checked out of the hotel, caught the train back to the airport... and said goodbye to Taiwan..
Not my plane, but just saw it and thought someone might like the picture

Aahhh… so… even though I hadn’t planned on doing much in Taipei… I was actually able to fill in the days pretty well with various things… I think the food had to have been the highlight of the trip, especially the first two night markets… originally I really only had the Lungshan Temple, National Palace Museum, Taipei 101, and Shilin Night market on my itinerary so you can see for yourself how many more things there are to do here… I hear the southern side of the island is unique too, so maybe that and the food warrants another trip eventually hehe…

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