Hello, let's continue our journey to Taiwan shall we...
Day 6 we flew from Seoul to Taipei early in the morning so we still had the day to explore. Taiwan was much more different than I expected. When talking about Taiwan in my university classes or with friends, it is often discussed with the East Asian countries of Japan, Korea, and China, so my expectations were that of East Asian influence. However, upon arriving, I found out that it actually has a lot more South Asian (and of course Chinese) influence than I thought, which does make sense given its geographical location. For example, one of the things that surprised me the most was the number of mopeds there were. It was probably a 5:1 ratio of mopeds to cars at least! Mopeds everywhere you looked 👀 The different areas of Taipei had very different looks with a mix of Western, East Asian, Chinese, and South Asian influences.
We first went to our accommodation to drop our bags and check in. We then chilled for half a second while we waiting for our third party member to join us and then the three of us headed to a late lunch. We stopped in a random shop we found while walking and had some pork noodles. I won't be able to name much of the Taiwanese food we ate because we did a lot of pointing and eating random things. My less adventurous eater of a friend struggled a little bit more in Taiwan because they use ingredients and animal parts we don't often use in Western cooking but I enjoyed trying new things. We then explored one of the areas of Taiwan with many shops just taking in the new sights for a while.
For dinner, we headed to a night market. Upon arriving, we were met with a terrible smell. We learned the next day that it was the legendary stinky tofu we were smelling. I never did end up trying it, though. The night market was a fun, new experience and it was very interesting to see all of the different food stands. We ate a couple things and I got a fried sweet potato ball. I learned some Chinese for this trip but I ended up chickening out and not really using it because they spoke enough English and it felt pretentious to try and speak what little I know.
Also, we got a bubble tea every day 😂
The next day, we had a day bus tour planned for three different locations. Let me tell you, it was so nice to not have to be the planner and transportation manager and food finder and culture knower and brain for the day 😄 It was great to have such a knowledgeable and funny tour guide. We started the tour heading to Yehliu Geopark. This geopark was so cool and unique! You know I love rocks and this place and very interesting rock formations across the strip. It was so interesting to see how the sea has been eroding these rocks. Our tour guide said that NASA said this place is the closest thing you can get to Mars on Earth. Fairly believable because it was a very cool place.
Next on our tour was Jiufen, a traditional Taiwanese shopping town/street. The shopping street we went to in Jiufen was crazy! So many shops with so many things. Luckily, we had an inside scoop with a tour guide and she gave us the recommended spots so that were weren't lost trying to find what we wanted forever. Her spots did turn out to be great, too. We had some delicious sausage, delicious sweet potato balls, tried and bought some great tea, and saw the tea house that was an inspiration for the Ghibli movie Spirited Away.
Next next, was the Shifen waterfall. It was quite beautiful and a pretty walk through the forest to get to it.
Lastly, we went to Shifen. Here we made a giant paper lantern. We wrote our wishes or just fun things on them on it and then lit it and sent it up into the air. It was really fun! The tour ended with our hour drive back to Taipei and some fun quizzes and information from our tour guide.
We ended the night by going to another night market and grabbing some food. I ended up consuming about 2 dragon fruits in one sitting (not on purpose I swear) and let's just say I feel like my insides were pink for days 😂
Day 8 was our day trip to Taichung. It was a tough start to the day because by the time we got to the station to buy tickets, all the sitting tickets had been sold out and there was only standing tickets left. So, I stood for 2 hours 😰 That was tough, especially after all the walking we did the previous day. We arrived to the Taichung station and outside was a really fun market. There were many anime characters I recognized and a lot of shops selling really pretty handmade goods. I grabbed a delicious bagel before we headed on our way.
Stop one was the Comic Museum, which turned out to be less about comics and more of a pretty park but we were not upset about that. I saw one of the craziest trees I've ever seen so it was a definite win for me.
After that, we stopped by a recommended dessert place from my acquaintance who is Taiwanese and it was exactly what we needed. It had gotten quite hot and this dessert was nice and cool and refreshing. You choose some ingredients you want and it goes into a broth that can be served hot or cold. I got red bean, tapioca, chewy mochi balls, and peanuts. It wasn't too sweet so it was perfect for a break.
After our sweet treat break, we went to a visual illusion museum. This place was cool and we were able to see and participate in many fun visual illusions 😄
After the museum, we went to two beautiful parks. We noticed that Taiwan has many nice parks in the big cities and it was very nice to chill or take a walk there.
Lastly, of course, we went to a night market for dinner. I got this amazingly delicious sandwich and a bubble tea.
Day 9 we were exploring more of the outer skirts of Taipei. We went to Tamsui, Beitou, the National Palace Museum, and Shilin.
Tamsui had a nice river/seaside shopping street where we enjoyed eating and shopping for souvenirs.
In Beitou, the station had a cute, small museum on the station's history and a beautiful central park. The library is famous here but unfortunately was closed the day we went so we only saw the outside.
The National Palace Museum was spectacular! It was such a beautiful building on the outside and in. The exhibits and pieces they had on display were magnificent and I learned so much about Taiwan and Chinese history and trade.
In Shilin, we briefly stopped by the night market and walked around a bit. This night market not only had food stands but a lot of game stands as well.
A little south of Shilin, we also stopped at Dalong Boaon Temple. It was a beautiful temple with so many intricate details.
There are some differences I've noticed between Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese/Chinese temples. Korean temples feature colors such as maroon red and turquoise/cyan green, Taiwanese orange, red, yellow, and many other bright colors, and Japanese mainly red, sometimes orange, and neutral colors. Korean temples often have a certain style of paint pattern with intricate flowery designs incorporating family crests and such. Taiwanese temples' intricate details appear not only in the paintings but in the architecture itself. The roof pieces and columns have intricate carvings from stone and wood to the point where you could analyze one temple for days. Japanese temples tend to have a simpler design featuring the Japanese style roof and roof ornaments of Shachihoko, dragon carp creatures to ward off fire.
Also at the temple, there happened to be a local play being performed so we stopped and watched it for a little while as well.
The last day, we focused on central, downtown Taipei. We first went to the Chang Kai-shek Memorial and the surrounding park area. It was a beautiful park featuring beautiful architecture for the theatre and musical halls. The inside of the memorial hall had a small exhibit on Chang Kai-shek, where I got to learn a little bit more about his life.
We then grabbed lunch with one of my friends I made while studying abroad in Nagoya (it may seem like I have a lot of friends and that is semi true). We got all you can eat hot pot and filled ourselves with happiness. It was nice to catch up with my friend after not having seen her in two years. We are similar in the fact that we love to travel. I always see her Instagram posts and am jealous of her travels and vice versa 😆 I often ask for her travel recommendations.
We made a brief stop after lunch at the National Taiwan Museum, a small museum featuring interesting exhibits and takes on analyzing culture. For example, two exhibits were about puppets and bugs and how you can look at a society and culture through those.
Then we checked out Taipei 101. Not only is the building and view impressive but the giant shopping mall/area around and beneath it is crazy! We got lost a couple of times haha. We went up Taipei 101 and were able to see some views of Taipei. We chilled there for a long time because we had time to spare and were a bit tired from all our travels.
For dinner, we went to the famous Din Tai Fung restaurant chain. We got a big collection of dumplings, both savory and sweet and they were heavenly delicious.
Our last stop before the airport was another night market 😂 We went to Raohe Night Market, the new big bad of Taipei. We didn't really eat or buy anything, but just enjoyed the atmosphere and bought some time. Lastly, we picked up our bags from the hotel and headed to the airport.
We flew back and drove back home from the airport, thoroughly exhausted but filled with good experiences and memories.
Well, that was my spring break trip to Korea and Taiwan. I hope you enjoyed reading it 😁
P.S. If you notice some of the pictures look like my camera is dirty or has a weird glare, it's because I broke my camera case, fixed it, and then broke it again 😅
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