Taipei, Taiwan

Two weeks ago, I flew to Taiwan for an academic conference. Many Singaporeans love traveling there for vacation, so some of my friends expressed a great deal of jealousy upon hearing about the conference. Since I’ve never been to Taiwan before, I decided to spend a few extra days enjoying the area.

Taiwan was really fun. Let’s start with priorities. Food:

Guess what? Chicken Butts! Yep.

Taipei has a bunch of night markets, which are filled with all sorts of amazing treats. Here are some examples.  

Xinmending Night Market

Raohe Night Market

Keelung Night Market

Seafood! The fried soft shelled crabs were great!

This was a fried potato covered in cheese, bacon, and other toppings

You don’t even have to go to the night markets, though. Food can be found anywhere.

This was a stall selling pork and cabbage buns where I ate breakfast. The language barrier meant that I just pointed at things and handed over money. It worked. Perhaps not efficiently, but still, it worked.

Taiwan also has some fun statues on the streets.

Big Pow and his friends can link to your cell phone via blue tooth play music. We played Taylor Swift's "Blank Space"

7-11's mascot in Taiwan

My favorite

While there, I traveled with one of my friends at the conference. We made a day trip outside of Taipei to the north coast.

Here we visited Yehliu Geopark, which is home to some stones worn by the sea and wind to produce interesting shapes, including this one called “Queen’s Head.”

The same day we visited Jiufen, a mining town on the side of a mountain overlooking the coast. It was the inspiration for “Spirited Away,” a Japanese cartoon that I enjoy about a bath house for spirits.

Here's a shot I took as the sun was going down.

 

I also had to see a few of the major buildings in Taipei, including the Chiang Kai Shek memorial. 

Taipei 101, which used to be the world’s tallest building, was unfortunately shrouded in clouds, so I didn’t make it up to the observation deck.

I also met a friendly local at the conference who offered to show me around on the weekend. One day we visited Tamsui, which is located on the coast north of Taipei, conveniently accessible through the city train system.

At Tamsui, we came across a pumpkin contest.

The largest clocked in at 500… 500 what? I’m not sure. It was all in Chinese.

We also went for a bike ride across the river in Bali.

Some uncles were flying kites along the way.

He's filming his kite with his cell phone. So skilled.

I also enjoyed a few hikes, despite the fact that it was about 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity. My first hike was the Elephant Mountain trail, which provided a wonderful view of the city and Taipei 101.

 

The other hike was to the top of Yangmingshan National Park. It was an amazing hike overlooking the Taipei basin. It was a fun experience.

The top of Mount Qixing, though, was almost unbearable due to the winds.

Even so, the views were worth it.

Next time I visit Taipei, though, I’m going when it’s cooler. I don’t think I could endure hiking in the heat like that again.