Taiwan

I just got back from a 3 night trip to Taiwan with my partner. It was a well-needed vacation for me and I got to sort of recharge myself. Truth be told though, it was actually a very tiring trip and I ended up sleeping most of the day today.

So our trip started out on Thursday afternoon in Tokyo. We drove to the airport and took Justin, our dog, to the pet hotel where he would be staying for the duration of our trip. Our JAL flight was pleasant enough and the food was normal airplane food. Nothing special but it was ok. We got into Taiwan on time.

Now my boyfriend is a public transportation freak and he insisted we take the public transportation into Taipei city. So we boarded the bus for a 20 minute ride to the high-speed railway station. I was actually nervous because all the characters were in chinese and almost nothing was in english. The other thing is that most people did not speak English. So I had to depend on my partner to read and decipher what the characters meant. The train station was very modern and nice. We had about 30 minutes to kill so we wandered around the shops. There was a 7-eleven store and it was quite interesting to see how different the things are. I quite enjoyed that. The train ride itself was smooth and quick. We got to Taipei Station and caught a taxi to the hotel.

We stayed at the Sherwood Hotel. It was a nice hotel, but for some reason i expected more. I was actually a bit disappointed and probably would not stay there again. Not saying it was bad...just expected more out of a luxury hotel.

After checking in, we headed out to the train station for a visit to the night market. I found the train system in Taipei to be very good and on par with Japan's train system. We got to the night market and got ready to explore.

We were quite hungry when we arrived and I had a list of things I wanted to try. We had this snack that was quite popular with the local people. It was this crunchy pie thing that they put into a tortilla like wrapper and then pounded with a mallet to destroy the insides. It was actually quite tasty, but a bit heavy with the deep-fried insides. My partner didnt like it, so I ended up eating some of his. We then found a noodle shop where they were serving the popular beef noodles. We got some of those and some boiled dumplings. Then we found dessert and had some shaved ice with fresh mangoes and sweet milk. Yummy. :)

I also tried these cherry tomatoes on a stick that were then coated with some hard sweet candy. My boyfriend thought they were weird. I thought they were interesting. I ended up throwing most of it away though. We found a fruit stand and got some fresh mangoes and guava. We threw the guava away. It wasn't so tasty.

We also found a lot of other things that we didn't try at the night market. We were just too scared to try them mostly. Stinky tofu was very popular and I had read about them. However they were just too smelly for us. Just walking past got us feeling queasy. I know I should them one of these days. I heard that they taste better than they smell so maybe one day. There were also a lot of chicken feet, meat intestines and stuff that I was just too scared to try. Other than that though, it was a great experience that everyone has to try out once.

We got back to the hotel and took a shower before going to bed.

Next day, we woke up and I wanted to get some warm soy milk that everyone eats in Taiwan. I found one just outside the hotel so had that. It was nice and felt good in my stomach. For lunch, we headed to the popular Din Tai Fung. Gosh the line was long and hot! I got sunburned that day and was starving by the time our seats were available but it was totally worth it! These were the best dumplings I've ever eaten. They were absolutely perfect! The way the hot soup burst into your mouth...the delicate taste of the soup itself...the perfect seasoning and texture of the meat inside...and the delicious wrapper....all dipper into soy sauce and vinegar with fresh sliced ginger. Yum.

We kept things light and only ordered these dumplings with some vegetables and noodles. We then headed out for the popular shaved ice place. We had to wait in line there too, but it was soooo good. Continuing on this food journey, we had another bowl of shaved ice with local taro and sweet milk. Yummy!!!

After all that food, we went to Taipei 101, the 2nd tallest building in the world the the fastest elevators in the world! Ok, I was not expecting much from this building but my partner and I were in awe of this masterpiece. The building was really huge! The buildings in Tokyo seem tiny compared to this one building. Yes, it's that tall. We took the elevators that took us to the 89th floor in about 37 seconds or something like that. It was sooooooo quick! The view from above was like looking out from an airplane window. I love this building! We had to talk to the 91st floor outside observatory. The view from the outside is not that great because it is surrounded by a pretty tall concrete wall for safety purposes. Now there are also restaurants on the higher floors but we didn't have reservations to go there. Next time.

The base of the building itself is a huge modern mall. The decor and design is science fiction modern and we just loved this place. We ended up having dinner at the food court there. We walked around the area and we were so tired by the end of the day and feet so sore. We took a cab back to the hotel. We were just too tired to walk to the train station.

The next day was spent at the National Palace Museum. Very impressive collection and it has made me appreciate how grand Chinese history actually is. So many things I never knew and all very impressive. We had some nice tea and dim sum in the tea room. Then we caught a cab to more department stores. We wanted to buy pineapple cake and needed to go to a number of places. You really have to try all the different varieties because they all taste different from one another. Some have more filling than others, some are sweeter, some have a more buttery taste, etc etc. You will eventually find your favorite. In the end, we got a whole bunch of pineapple cake, some taiwan mochi and some famous taiwan tea. Lunch was at this local place serving noodles. Good food.

Dinner was at a Shanhainese restaurant at Taipei 101. Yes my partner wanted to go up one more time to see the night view. He promised to take me to a nice restaurant if I agreed to go. Of course I said yes. It was really nice though and the night view was actually more impressive than daytime. Dinner was wonderful and absolutely delicious! We had this chinese cabbage salad that I had never eaten before. I know it sounds really simple, but I can't even describe the dressing. It was very tangy....like vinegar and lemon, and also spicy although you couldn't see any red color. Very delicious. Our scallops and asparagus was perfect and the orange pork spareribs was so yummy! The best part of the entire dinner at least for me, was the dessert.
I ordered it because it was something I've never had in my life. It was a green tea cake with preserved plums. My god, it was delicious! There were 4 pieces and my boyfriend hates sweets so it was all mine! I couldn't finish them so we had a doggy bag to take home. It tasted just as good the next day. I wish they made these for purchase so I could take them home with me. Hmmmm......I miss those cakes already.

The final day, we mostly rested in the room and had a light breakfast at starbucks. We checked out at 10am and I had an argument with the cab driver about the fee. My partner felt bad about it and bought me another box of pineapple cake at the airport to get me into a better mood. Nice guy he is. :)

Overall, the trip was great. As you can see, we hardly had any rest and I felt exhausted everyday of the trip. Although the plane trip was short, I had my usual panic attacks on both trips. I had to take a double dose of pills to calm me down, which them made me sleepy. I do hope that someday I won't have to worry about these attacks that don't seem to go away. They are just really troublesome.

Next time, I think I'd like to take it a bit more easy in Taiwan. I'd also like to visit some other parts of the country and maybe even visit a hot spring. Taiwan is very near Japan so it's a very doable trip. People were very nice except for that taxi driver. Food was delicious. The country was exotic and modern at the same time.

This trip was written in haste so I hope you don't mind how terribly messy this post is. I am sleepy and it's midnight and I just don't have time to edit and rewrite. hehehe. Forgive me please.

Taiwan I will see you again soon.