So four days in Tawain turned out to be both a cultural and culinary adventure that we never could have imagined…Four days allowed us to see some awesome sights near Taipei but we are definitely itching to get back to check out the rest of the country
We flew to Taipei on Thursday November 14 and arrived at our Air BnB- literally a stone’s throw from the most dominating feature in Taipei- the giant skyscraper Taipei 101. Although it was tempting to go right up, our stomachs were growling so we took a short subway ride to the original Din Tai Fung in the very cool Dongsheng neighborhood – where we feasted on 8 different types of dumplings….the food was so good and so unique in Taiwan – from all kinds of street food to hot pot to crazy ice shaving desserts – that we are dedicating a whole separate blog to the topic…but (SPOLIER ALERT) –  two words that make the Taiwan Din Tai Fungs way better than the Singapore ones…CHOCOLATE DUMPLINGS
After our feast, Dad really wanted to try out another specialty – beef noodles at the YongKang – so we got takeaway and ate it back at our hotel. Next up, we fought through the drizzle to the epic Taipei 101. Stretching 508 m tall, it was the world’s tallest building from its opening in 2004 until the 2010 completion of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirate. A very unique skyscraper- instead of having a needle-like point – it stays wide all the way up. With a shape inspired by a bamboo tree, giant Chinese emblems on its corners and 8 sections consisting of 8 floors each (8 is a lucky number in China), the architect definitely created a very unique design. Taipei 101 also had the record for the world’s fastest passenger elevator- 60 km/hr for quite some times- only taking 40 seconds to get up the observatory on the 89th floor. Other than the awesome view from the top, the other highlight was a huge suspended damper (660 metric tons) that lessens the swaying of the building during high winds or earthquakes. The last highlight was a super cool bar on the 88th floor- (Bar 88) more details on the food blog.
We woke up Friday ready for a day trip to the north coast area. Met our driver for the day, Mr Lin who took us first to Jiufen. Spectacular views of the coastline and the lush hills greeted us as we walked through the town. Also got our first glimpses of the awesome temples in Taiwan- sticking out all over the countryside- with super cool dragon statues framing the roofs. 1st stop in Jiufen was the AMEI teahouse- famous for inspiring (or maybe inspiring) the Spirited Away anime series…but for us an awesome place to experience a tea ceremony and oolong tea. Tea ceremony was so cool- as hot water was heated right at your table over a kerosene burner- and there was acrazy ritual of making the tea, letting it seep for 10-40 seconds (time increases with each poor), using a narrow glass to sniff the tea aroma and finally drinking out of tiny tea cups…after tea we walked around the narrow alleys of the town for more great views and….street food!
Next stop was the New Taipei City Gold Museum in the neighboring town of Jinguashi. The gold rush in this are dates to the 1890’s- but really got going after Japan took control of Taiwan (1895-1945). The beautiful village has old gold mining carts, train tracks, Japanese style residences and an awesome museum that shows all of the minerals they mined. You even get to touch a 2000 kg bar of gold! We made a few stops along the coast to see the Golden Waterfall, Shuinandong / Yin Yang Sea (where the yellow waters coming from a river mix with the blue of the ocean) and Elephant Rock. Elephant Rock was the coolest as it was in an old fishing village- famous now for night fishing tourist trips (large lights attract huge schools of fish). You took a great walk along the beautiful coast to get to a series of mushroom capped rocks – and then of course to the very cool arch named elephant rock!
Last stop for the day was Shifen- a town famous for railroads and Chinese lanterns. Little did we know they would be combined. In Shifen, we decorated a Chinese lantern with family hope and dreams (and maybe encouragement for our favourite football team) – and a list of the countries we’ve visited. Then you walk out onto the railroads- light up the kerosene soaked fuel and let your lantern fly into the skies. So many folks are releasing the lanterns one goes up every few seconds. What is even crazier is when the train wants to come through, the police have to clear all of these people of the tracks… after that we walked through the town for ..you guessed it..more street food! Last stop was a quick walk to the Shifen waterfall and then a ride back to Taipei.
The next morning was all about tea! We took a windy road up into the hillsides to arrive in Pinglin. Our 1st stop was the Pinglin Tea Museum (and yes Mom, they took all the trees and put them in a tea museum…and charged the people 80 NT toes ‘em)..cool place that explored tea from around the world and showed the process of fermenting and drying tea leaves. Then off to a tea shop for yet another ceremony – some delicious light oolong tea (lightly fermented) and then we bought a bag of this honey flavor tea- that was not infused with honey. Flavor comes naturally when a certain batch of tea tries to protect itself from cicadas. Last stop was the gorgeous thousand island lake (actually not a lake at all- a very windy river with lots of peninsula that look like islands). Here we saw tons of terraces of tea plants at a tea plantation- just like they grow rice!
Back in Taipei, it was time to see the city. After our hot pot feast for lunch, we used to the subway to 1st get to the Da’an Forrest Park- where we saw awesome birds and lots of little dogs in baby carriages. Next was the awesome, powerful, imposing Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall- a huge square headlined by a memorial to Taiwan’s 1st president- who lost the struggle with Chairman Mao in China and moved with 2 million of his closest friends to Taiwan. A bit of an infamous character as was definitely a bit of a cruel dictator. We saw an absolutely awesome changing of the guard at the memorial. Dihua street was next – a shopping street where we sipped some brews and teas in a speak-easy type tea house called ASW, grabbed some dried fruit, listen to some cool music and bought some beautiful kitchen bowls and cutting boards. Very cool place as they offered tons of local goods. Next was the Rahoe Street Night Market- and it was pumping. We battled the crowds for some delicious dumpling and pepper porks- then walked past a huge temple and had a picnic on the steps next to the Rainbow Bridge and the Keelung River. Last stop was back in Dongsheng for Monster Ice and some take-away chocolate dumplings!!
Our last day in Taipei started off with some serious exercise- a short but very steep hike up Elephant Mountain for some awesome views of Taipei 101 and the Taipei skyline. Next up was a stop in the north part of town- where unfortunately our efforts at a traditional Taiwanese breakfast were foiled- but we still found a great little tea/coffee shop and some crazy baked goods. Then we saw the awesome Ba’on temple- dragons everywhere and some very cool flower motifs. Even got to head up to a 4th floor temple for an overview of the whole area. After a quick hike through the Confucius temple (found a few cool statues as Bee channeled his inner Confucius), we headed north again to Beitou and the Spring City Resort. They had 10 or so different pools – all at different temperatures and different configurations of bubble jets Resort was set on a beautiful mountainside. Afterwards, we hiked down to see the source of the mineral water- the bubbling lake at Thermal Valley. Then back to our AirBnB to grab our stuff, say goodbye to Taipei 101 and head to the airport! What an adventure!
Teasing N with those bird photos, are ya?? Looks like you have found another special place to make memories! Love the family lantern…may all your dreams take flight!