Exploring Taipei

everything we saw and ate in Taiwan

Last October was the first time I ever stepped foot in Taiwan. The year prior I had only been in the Taipei Taoyuan (TPE) airport for a layover. This time, I was traveling with Tim. We spent about 3-4 days in Taipei, which is just enough time to get an idea of the city, but not enough time to eat everything.

Sights

• National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall: 國立中正紀念堂

The surrounding National Chiang Memorial Park is beautifully landscaped. We walked around to take in the manicured lawn and architecture, before stepping into the hall and museum, for some much needed air conditioning. Unfortunately we arrived too early and they weren't even open yet at 8:30am. We were up early in the morning on account of jet leg and because we had just had an early breakfast at Fu Hang Dou Jiang.

We're always down to go to a free museum. This one in particular covered quite a bit about Taiwan's contemporary history, Chiang's controversial history, and there was an exhibit dedicated to comfort women and the tragedy of that time.

• Taipei 101: 臺北 101 600 NTD, ~$19 USD

It's quite an architectural beauty. The inside is one giant shopping mall. If anyone is interested, there are kiosks inside, where you can buy engraved chopsticks. For about 300 NTD, they make a pretty affordable souvenir or gift.

Looks quite nice at nighttime too. I think the mall was even more crowded at night, when the dinner crowd showed up.

We tried to visit the observatory level around sunset, but it didn't matter, since it was pretty overcast. It did make for a nice cloudy sky look.

• National Palace Museum: 國立故宮博物院 350 NTD, ~$11 USD

We visited the National Palace Museum on their 100th anniversary. It's interesting to me that this museum is 100 years old, while Taiwan is only 76 years old. I wonder what was in this museum 76 years ago. We checked out their many interesting jade pieces, some of which have copies sold in the gift shop. We both thought that their museum glass was very impressive. You can take very clear pictures of the artifacts with little to no glare. They are definitely using lower quality glass in the gift shop.

We would have explored the museum more, but we left when we got hungry for lunch. Maybe because the meat shaped jade made us hungry.

• National Taiwan Museum: 國立臺灣博物館 80 NTD, ~$3 USD

Admittedly, we stopped here because it was near our pickup spot for the Jiufen & Shifen tour, and because we wanted to be in air conditioning. This museum covers quite a bit of history about Taiwan's history during the Japanese occupation. There was also a puppet exhibit on the ground floor.

• Shifen Old Street: 十分老街

Super touristy. I was interested in seeing people release giant paper lanterns into the sky, but we didn't have any interest in getting our own lantern. I think only the multi-colored ones look nice. The ones that are one color, like all red, kind of look like trash bags. But that's ok. You only see it for a while, before it drifts off into the sky. It was fun seeing people put down their hopes and dreams, and hopefully manifest them into reality. Our guide told us that these lanterns are eco-friendly, because they're made from recycled paper. People can pick up the paper around the area, and get paid for sending the paper to recycling centers. So it's supposed to be good for people as a source of small income, good for tourism, and the materials are supposedly not terrible for the environment. However, as we were walking around the area, there was a lot of paper debris around the park. I can't imagine it biodegrades fast enough to not surround the nature, nor do I think it can all get picked up by the locals. Needless to say, I am skeptical about the eco-friendly claim.

Our guide also told us that there's been some decline in tourism, because the souvenirs used to be more expensive, and there used to be more people. There were already quite a lot of people releasing lanterns here, so I am glad it wasn't more crowded.

• Shifen Waterfall: 十分瀑布

This waterfall was the main reason I wanted to go on this tour. For some reason, I thought it would be easier to join a tour as opposed to venturing out to this waterfall on our own. Admittedly we did one quick loop around the area, and went back to the tour bus to cool down.

• Jiufen Old Street: 九份老街

This is definitely tourist heavy, but as the sun went down, the crowds really thinned out. As touristy as it was, this view is beautiful. This lantern decked neighborhood is very pretty to look at. We just did one straight shot down Jiufen Old Street, and had ourselves a dinner, while enjoying the view.

Eats

• Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle: 阿宗麵線忠孝

Even though this is served super hot, and it was a super hot day, this was so satisfying to slurp down. We ordered one large and one small. I think a lot of the pieces of intestines looked like silky enoki mushrooms. Normally Tim doesn't like intestines, but he finished the large very quickly. The rich broth was slightly brightened up by the fresh basil.

• Fuhang Soy Milk: 阜杭豆漿

We headed here around 6 am, on account of jet leg, and there was already a very long line. We made it inside at 6:50am. Even though we were in line for a long time, I was still wrestling with what to order, because a lot of the items are so similar.

I settled on ordering cold soy milk (豆漿), salty soy milk (鹹豆漿), sesame pancake with donut (博餅夾油條), rice ball with eggs (飯糰夾蛋).

Is it worth the wait? Who can really say? But this was definitely a great first breakfast in Taiwan. The 油条 was so heavy and filling, as was the 飯糰. That soy milk is so good, maybe because it is quite sweet.

• Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice: 金峰魯肉飯 170 NTD, ~$5 USD

We picked up some braised pork over rice (魯肉飯) for takeout because we were on our way elsewhere. When I filled out the form, the lady at the counter impatiently told me I filled it out wrong, because I put down check marks instead of a number next to each item. Oops. The meal was very rich, even though we shared just a few items.

• ShiLin Night Market: 士林夜市 Finally time to try our first Taiwanese night market.

  • Cheng Zu 丞祖胡椒餅

These were so good. So fresh and hot. I did burn myself a little, because the hot juices inside squirted on me. We got one pork and one beef bun. I'd definitely get these again.

• giant chicken cutlet - 雞排

I can't remember which vendor we got this from, but there are quite a few of them doing giant Taiwanese style fried chicken. Delicious

• oyster omelet - 牡蛎煎蛋卷

This was tasty, but I don't think I'd get it again. I was hoping it would be a bit more cohesive, but it just tastes like oysters tossed in an egg mixture. I also didn't like it served over hot lettuce, which got soggy.

• Yong Kang Beef Noodle: 永康牛肉麺館 $580 NTD, ~$18 USD

Of course we had to get beef noodle soup in Taiwan. Yong Kang's is quite rich.

Tim got the regular beef noodles (紅燒牛肉麵) and I got half beef and half tendon (紅燒牛筋牛肉麵). I can't understand why anyone wouldn't like tendons. When cooked properly, it's like delicious meat jello.

• Rao He Night Market: 饒河街觀光夜市

I know some people say that ShiLin is more overwhelming, but I found RaoHe just as overwhelming. I'm glad it is one straight street so you don't have to think too much about which way to go. But the one street is so long, and it's hard to know how deep you are in the market. So if you see something you want, get it, because it might take a long time for you to turn back later.

• Fuzhou Pepper Buns: 福州世祖胡椒餅 65 NTD, ~$2 USD

I believe these are the famous pepper buns. They're delicious, but it wasn't that hot, or fresh out of the oven.

They definitely have optimized their operations. Though I think they optimized a little too well. They have a pile of pepper buns ready to go. So they grab you one, and you can get it to go as soon as you order. The only problem is if they make too many, the pile gets cold pretty quickly. It would have been nice if it was just a little more steamy.

• Lin Mama pork buns: 林妈妈刈包 80 TWD, ~$3 USD

Deliciously rich and fatty

• Duo Duo Rou Rou Jia Mo: 多多肉肉夾饃 70 NTD, ~$2 USD

I was happy to see I love 刈包 and 肉夾饃 right next to each other. Two of the best hand foods so conveniently located.

I'd say the only bad part about the Rao He market is that there is almost nowhere to sit, so it's hard to buy multiple items, because there's only so much you can hold with two hands. A lot of the patrons were sitting on the sidewalk to enjoy their food. We sat on this tree planter, where others were also perched with their food. At one point, I noticed something scuttering around our feet. I looked down and saw a few cockroaches coming out of the root of the tree. They were definitely eager to feast on our crumbs.

• Yong He Soy Milk King: 永和豆漿大王 60 NTD, ~$2 USD

What an affordable menu. Great for breakfast or a snack.

This is really more of a takeout spot, but they have a small ledge where you can perch here to eat. We split a small snack of cold soy milk and egg scallion pancake (蔥油餅夾蛋)

• A-Jou Peanut Ice Cream Roll: 九份阿珠雪在燒

At Jiufen, of course we had to get the ice cream roll. Once they roll it up, it looks like a burrito. I actually had two on this day, because I already had one at Shifen as well. It's very interesting how refreshing and hearty it is for a dessert. The guy that works here is so charming and energetic. You can tell he loves his job. Before he starts making each one, he tells the customer 'ok video' to signify you can start recording, and before he wraps it up, he lifts the plate up to you and says 'ok picture.' Who wouldn't want a picture for the memory?

• Jiufen Xingyu Restaurant: 九份心宇食堂

We didn't do any research about restaurants in Jiufen, and just walked to the first place we saw. The food here is pretty good, and affordable, like almost everything else we ate in Taiwan. We got cold chicken noodles in peanut sauce and a braised pork belly over rice with bamboo shoots.

• A-Mei Teahouse: 阿妹茶樓

As true tourists, we came to the Amei Teahouse for their 'tea ceremony.'

I'm glad it came with sweet snacks. The tea was fine, and the ceremony was a nice little five minute performance. I will say that their bathroom doesn't offer a ton of privacy, so beware in case you need to use the restroom around here.

Accommodations

• Episode Daan Taipei

Last year we both signed up for the World of Hyatt credit card for the 5 free nights. Category 1-4 only, and thankfully all the hotels in Taiwan fit that requirement. When we checked into the Episode Daan, they said that our room wasn't ready yet. I was really hoping that they'd allow us to check in early after flying across the Pacific Ocean. But we did check in by about 2pm, which isn't too bad.

Once we entered, I was surprised that they were still using the thick fuzzy blanket when it was pushing 40C outside. Even though this kind of looks like a no-frills hotel, it actually has a lot of perks that come with staying here. For starters, there are complimentary snacks in the lobby. I enjoyed complimentary Yakult. There's also complimentary beverages, which we redeemed for morning coffee. There is also daily complimentary happy hour. They actually serve savory snacks including noodles and cabbage, and beer.

Even though they say that they don't offer single use items for conservation reasons, they still provide an amenity kit with an eye mask for sleeping, a sheet face mask, ear plugs, and a wooden gua sha, which I still have yet to try.

There is also a CD player that looks like a record player. I don't know what band this is, but I liked that we enter the room hearing Chinese rap.

• Grand Hyatt Taipei

I'm not sure if this was an upgrade or if the concierge person was just being nice when she gave us a room with a view of Taipei 101. While it is lovely to look at this architectural icon, it is a little too close to the hotel to really get a good look at it without craning your neck up.

I enjoyed their outdoor pool in the morning for a relaxing swim. Sometimes I prefer an outdoor pool, because indoor ones feel a little stuffy sometimes, and the lack of air flow makes the chlorine smell stronger.

Even though the Grand Hyatt has a more luxurious feel, I wouldn't mind staying at the Episode Daan again next time. The neighborhood actually feels more accessible to more restaurants and bars.

I already want to return to Taiwan to explore more places and enjoy more affordable eating options.