Taipei
For Christmas I was the lucky recipient of a weekend trip to Taipei, courtesy of my wonderful fiance. We just returned the other day and had a great time. There’s a little background to this though, I should mention that one of my best friends from high school who I grew up with, Jack, was from Taiwan. We haven’t been in touch for years, but this trip put us back in contact which really made me happy(Jack lives in Boston now). I’ve always wondered what Taiwan would be like, but for some reason I never went until now. I don’t know why I didn’t visit sooner, as it is simply a beautiful and impressive city. Although we were only there for two nights and three days, we really made the best of it, seeing the National Palace Museum and the 89th floor of the Taipei 101 Building among many other sites.
Reason #1 to visit Taipei: The food Taipei’s local and international cuisine is something to write home about. From our first fancy restaurant to our last outdoor street market food, it was an endless culinary paradise. There were plenty of oddities that left us with a few questions(I’ll only say this once. Turtle heads.), but the majority was brilliant. My usual advice to anyone visiting, try everything. This must sound so bizarre to Jack, if he’s reading this. He’ll remember how much of a pain I was when we were younger. I had a lot of trouble eating seafood or anything remotely foreign. I can’t even imagine how he dealed with me back then. I don’t know what happened between then and now, but my favorites have gone from pizza and hamburgers to snake and eel.
Reason #2 to visit Taipei: The National Palace Museum THE most beautiful Chinese history museum I have ever seen. Gorgeous, smart displays and a breathtaking collection of ancient Chinese artifacts. Yes, the highlight was the stone carved cabbage. Not joking. See the photos for a few sneaky shots I took.
Reason #3 to visit Taipei: The people Taiwanese people were endlessly kind, friendly, and helpful at every point of our trip. Even the taxi drivers were excellent, they knew the city(they didn’t rely on silly computerized car navigation systems) and were very considerate and patient with us. We were surprised at how many people could speak Japanese and English as well. Even the night markets, which in Hong Kong can be tricky with pickpockets, wasn’t a problem, no one bothered us even once. This made exploring so much more enjoyable and relaxing.
A few other highlights include seeing the changing of the guard at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, the back massage parlours, and the nightlife. The Memorial Hall was spectacular. They change guards once every hour during the day, and the ceremony is very cool. They spin their rifles and march out, making quite a spectacle. We got there just in time to see it, totally worth it. Afterwards that evening we hit our final massage parlour for a good back and foot massage, then stumbled our way over to the Taipei 101 for a night view of Taipei from the 89th floor. The elevator takes 39 seconds to reach that floor, pressing your brains into your feet. Our final destination that evening was Brown Sugar for a live jazz show and martini.
We were sad to leave, our last day was bright and sunny. We were able to fit in one last boiled tofu and soup lunch before heading back to the airport. I hope we can visit again, and for longer next time, there’s still so much more to see.
