Co-op in Okinawa: Exploring Taipei

Being honest, Taiwan was not very high on my places to visit during my time in Japan before I came here. It was really the interns who where at OIST before me who got the idea in my head. The flights from Okinawa to Taipei is actually shorter than those to Tokyo (and less expensive), and US citizens don't need a visa...sign me up! Unfortunately there was a typhoon sitting offshore most of the weekend and there was pretty constant rain, but we still managed to fit a lot in.

I think I can break down the weekend into two categories:

Food
Tourist sites

The food scene in Taipei is going strong. I liked the way one person described the city to me--where as in other cities young people will go out for a night of drinking, in Taipei they will go out for a night of eating. The city is famous for many of its night markets, they open around 6pm but don't really pick up until 9 or 10 and are open until 2! Depending on which market you go to there will be different things, some have food as the main focus where as others will include more shopping stalls. Either way they promise a lively environment with lots of street vendors (even on a rainy night!)

We made it to two of the larger markets while we were here (Shilin and Raohe) and tried things from, what seemed to be an amped up crepe sandwich (see picture) to a variety of fried sea food, and topping off each night with bubble tea.

Grilled redbean, crepe, sandwhich? (whatever it was, it was tasty)

Mochi balls--there was a very long line for these--not sure it was worth it, but definitely interesting and seemed to be a local favorite

Of course, the food scene isn't entirely about the night markets. We also ventured out in search of the best dumplings, seafood, and hotpot.

I didn't even know where to start...

If you're looking for food in Taipei, you will inevitable come across Din Tai Fung. While heavily visited by tourists, I would say it actually does live up to its reputation. After all who wouldn't like Michelin star soup dumplings.

Last food picture I promise. But hotpot was also a good choice.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, we did spend some time exploring the rest of Taipei and some of the surrounding areas. With four days total in Taiwan we spent Saturday and Tuesday in the city and took day trips to some of the surrounding areas on Sunday and Monday. Even so, with so little time for an entire country, we definitely ended up sticking to a lot of the typical tourist stops

Even though I know virtually no Chinese, with picking up on a few things it was very easy to get around. The transportation system is really good and very easy to figure out (sorry Boston, it still has the red, green, orange, and blue lines--but it is way better than the "T") and we easily caught buses out of the city to some of the top places we wanted to go.

Starting in Taipei-- Probably one of Taipei's most prominent landmarks is Taipei101. Despite my best attempts, the photo cannot really do it justice (+ clouds) but it is indeed a very tall building.

Taipei 101

Some of the highlights of the city were liberty square plaza which is home to the National Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall, National concert hall, and National theater, as well as numerous surrounding gardens.

Garden in liberty square

Chaing Kai-shek memorial hall

I am also very glad we made it to the National Palace Museum. The museum has a collection which ranges over 10,000 YEARS of Chinese history. Between ancient scrolls and paintings and 11th century B.C.E pottery, getting a real glimpse at some Chinese history was really amazing. Maybe part of it is because I grew up in Boston, and most of our museum's focus is on the past 400 years, let alone the past 10,000...

Guardian lion at National Palace Museum

On our two days outside of Taipei we visited Juifen, a town north of Taipei, which supposedly the Miyazaki film Spirited Away was based on. An old mining town, it is built into the mountainside near the coast. While it has definitely embraced the tourism boom since the movie's release it was still awesome to wander the steep, narrow (crouded) streets. The rain was relentless while we were here, but still a good day.