Exploring Taiwan

I’ve always been rather stingy with money. I can’t explain exactly where this trait came from, except that I started babysitting when I probably should have still had a babysitter myself. My parents, realizing how much money I was making at age eleven, decided from that point on, outside of the necessities, anything I needed I could buy myself. This led me to grow up being very meticulous about how I spent my hard earned babysitting bucks, and now it’s carried into my adult life.

That being said, when I moved to Japan I vowed to myself that I would not be stingy when it came to travel. I could tear myself up about whether or not I could afford vegetables (they’re very expensive in Japan!), but travel was a necessity. Therefore, keeping with my promise, when my friend Rosie told me she wanted to go to Taiwan, I immediately said I was joining.

Rosie and I decided to get a flight out of Osaka, as it was a good bit cheaper than the flights from our nearest airport. That meant when it hit 4:00 on Friday afternoon, 15 minutes earlier than when I’m supposed to leave work, I was racing out the door to make the train. Rosie and I sat on the train marveling at how early we were going to be, googling the restaurants in the Osaka airport, and daydreaming about our delicious dinner to come. We could not have been more wrong. After a bit of a confusing train switch from the Shin-Osaka station to the airport, and an exceedingly long line to check in for our flight, we passed through security with about 15 minutes to spare. We raced to Starbucks, the only fast food we could find, grabbed truly the strangest sandwich I have ever eaten, and walked straight onto the plane.

The flight was turbulent which, growing up sitting with the luggage in the very back of the Barron with my dad as the pilot, typically doesn’t bother me, however, the knowledge that we were barely missing the huge typhoon moving into Japan made it a bit more unnerving. All was fine, a bit bumpy but fine, and we landed in Taipei at 1:00 in the morning.

We woke up in our delightful hostel, had breakfast there, and then hopped on the bus to visit the National Palace Museum. This is the kind of museum where you could’ve spent a full day winding through the plethora of rooms in the palace. We opted for a few exhibits that sounded interesting to us and meandered through them, admiring the intricacy of the pottery, jewelry, and artwork. On our way out, we sped through the space with the jadeite cabbage, quickly glancing at it, not even realizing it is one of the most famous pieces in the museum. A glance seemed to be enough, in my opinion.

Taipei is known for its many delicious foods, so a lot of our trip was centered around eating as much as we possible could. After the museum we headed to a beef noodle shop, which Rosie had researched. It was delicious with incredibly tender beef, but Rosie told me at the end of the meal that my lips were bright red. I have almost no tolerance for spice and it was definitely spicy enough to give me a nice natural lipstick. It was in a cute neighborhood, so we took a stroll around after our meal and ended up at tapioca tea shop that was so good. It did however send us over the edge from feeling pretty full to uncomfortably full. We made a plan for the rest of our day while we waited on the feeling to pass, deciding we would rent bikes to get to Tamsui to see the sunset. We discussed stopping over at Beitou Hot Springs on our way, and while looking up pictures realized we have become so used to Japanese onsens, neither of us thought to bring a swimsuit and assumed we could just stop off and have a quick (nude) dip on our way. Note to self: in Taiwan swimsuits are required.

We walked for a while before picking up bikes and ended up seeing some really amazing gardens and temples along the way. We laughed at the fact that neither of us had researched Taipei at all and had relied solely on suggestions a friend from my time working in Alabama had sent us. We took everything Brandon told us as truth and outside of that had no plans. I always find that walking around a new place is the best way to stumble upon hidden treasures.

Tamsui had a lovely market that we strolled through and was situated on the water, so the view was amazing. After a long walk around the area and seeing the sunset, we hopped back onto the train to go the Shilin Night Market. As we were wandering in, we saw a long line at a food stand and decided long lines must mean the food is good. We waited for a good long while and ended up with the most incredible pork bun, arguably my favorite food from the trip. We weren’t sure if we were actually in the market or not, but our doubts were quickly resolved when we hit a literal sea of people moving up and down a street. We made our way through the market, trying dumplings, soup, fries, and beef. The food was all delicious, however to say the crowd was overwhelming would be a major understatement. By the time we were ready to go, we about sprinted out of there.

We woke up the next morning, discussed the horrible snorers in our hostel rooms, and made our way to the original Din Tai Fung location. Din Tai Fung is a famous restaurant chain with over 160 locations around the world, known for its xiaolong bao (soup dumplings). Rosie and I were in heaven, savoring every bite of the pork, truffle pork, chicken, and shrimp and pork xiaolong bao. We also had a chocolate bun, which was just heavenly. Every bite was amazing, and it was very exciting to see what the hype was all about at the original location.

After our dumpling brunch, we took the train to the end of the line where we emerged in the mountains. Soon enough we were on a gondola, enjoying spectacular views of the rolling hills below us. We got off and saw a huge sign with the names of about twenty different tea houses pointing in every direction. Brandon had told us about one in particular, the Yao Yue Teahouse, so we strolled down the mountain road, unable to read any of the Chinese writing, praying we hadn’t missed the tea house we were hoping to find. We quickly lost all the tourists and it was just us and the occasional straggler. We began popping into various tea houses to ask them for directions to Yao Yue. Eventually we arrived and made our way down a small path until we saw an adorable tea house nestled deep in the trees, surrounded by beautiful jungle and a view of the surrounding mountains. We ordered the local fermented tea and tea oil noodles, along with xiaolong bao, because having it once in a day is simply not enough.

After enjoying our tea and snack (meal?), we made our way back into the city and went to the Shida Market, which is close to the National Taiwan Normal University. This market was much less crowded than the one the night before, and had tons of cute shops, as opposed to just food. We wandered through the boutiques, stopping occasionally to buy little things here and there. After our fill of shopping, we went to a hot pot restaurant. Rosie really wanted to do this, and I was skeptical because it’s rather pricey, but it was so very worth it. This was an all you can eat for two hours restaurant with unlimited ice cream, drinks, and, of course, amazing entrees. When you go to a hot pot restaurant you sit down at a table with a cooker in the middle and you choose a broth flavor, all the veggies you could dream of, as well as meat. They bring out all your items and you dump all the veggies in and let them cook. The meat is sliced incredibly thinly and you just have to dip it in the hot broth and wiggle it around for a number of seconds before it’s ready. They have tons of sauces and spices that you mix together, so you dip it in the sauce you created and enjoy!

Our final day was largely consumed by our trip to Jiufen. The setting of the film Spirited Away is supposedly based on this seaside town. It took us about an hour and a half to get there, but the second we stepped off the bus and saw the stunning view of bright orange shrines against the rolling hills and crystal clear ocean, we knew the journey was worth it. We made our way through the market, which is known for its distinctive red lanterns, and eventually landed at a cute restaurant with a fantastic view for lunch. We split a big ole beer, soaked in the incredible mountains and ocean, and then slowly meandered back through the market to head back to Taipei. Once back in the city, we popped into a few more shops and eventually went to our final night market, Raohe. We ate until we could eat no longer and right when we took our final bite, it began to rain. Our cue to leave.

We had such a wonderful trip, seeing the city, mountains, and a picturesque seaside town. Being someone who went into the trip knowing almost nothing about Taiwan, I can now say I would highly recommend a visit. Just make sure you take someone along who wants to eat anything and everything!