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Taipei, Taiwan

Updated: Oct 29, 2021


An island rich of culture, diversity, freedom and progressive. I will be spending a total of 24 hours in Taipei during my return flight from Auckland to Amsterdam.


Day 1:

As my flight arrives early hours in the morning, I spent about 2 hours trying to get my transit passes and portable wifi so that I can navigate my way around the city. After getting everything sorted out, I took the airport express to the city, taking about 30 minutes or so.


As it is still rather early and no businesses have opened, I went to the Bo Pi Liao Historial Street, seeing a small stretch of buildings that were once occupied by immigrants and also the main city centre.


I have also managed to secure a reservation to the tallest Starbucks in the world, located within the Taipei 101 building. You can read about it on my blog. I spent about an hour or so having my breakfast and enjoying my view before continuing on my adventure. Unfortunately all of my video footage got destroyed as my external hard drive decided to go bust.


I took the easily and widely connected train system to an outer suburb called Beitou, a famous hot springs resort town about 45 minutes from Taipei city. I walked to the Ketagalan Cultural Centre to check out their museum about the aboriginal tribe of Taiwan, right next door is a hotel called Beitou Hot Springs Resort, which seems to be on the mid to high end side. I went in to enquire about their hot springs, which I was given a laminated card with the picture and rates. I booked the private bedroom with hot springs, I had done some research and I think this may be one of the cheapest room for what you get. You can also read about into this hot spring experience on my blog.


After my relaxing hot spring, I headed back downtown to get ready to meet up with my high school friend who is now residing in Taipei. I went to the Raohe Night Market while waiting for her to finish up work. After a long walk of about 1km, filled with endless choices of street food and various other items, it was time for me to meet up with my friend.


We went to a local Taiwanese cuisine restaurant which is mostly popular with locals. She ordered a range of small plates to try out the various food available there. After a long chat and dine, it was time for me to head to the airport for my flight to Amsterdam.


Day 2:

During my return layover, I knew most of where things are, so it was a lot smoother for me to get my passes and head into the city. There was a delay for my flight from Amsterdam so I have arrived an hour later than scheduled.


After sorting out my things at the airport, I headed into the city to join the free walking tour that I have signed up for. Since I was slightly early when arriving at the location, I went to get a drink at a bubble tea shop nearby, which are the only few stores that open during the early hours.


The walking tour guides are both Taiwanese with a passion for their country and wanted to showcase what Taipei has to offer, and to explain the rich history that Taiwan has. The tour lasted about 3 hours, a few of the places I have already been to on my previous layover, but it was nice to hear from a local about the history and also to bring us to some other famous landmark that I didn't know of.

After the tour, I met up once again with my former high school friend, after lunch we headed over to Maokong, one of the mountain villages with a specialisation in tea plantation. The village is easily accessible by their famous gondola, about a 20 minute ride one way giving you a great view of the city and countryside.




We got into one of the tea houses to enjoy some local tea and overlook Taipei. After about 2 hours watching the sunset, we headed back down and it was time for me to head back to the airport.


CONCLUSION:

There are a lot more to see and do in Taipei and neighbouring city, connected by the bullet train. Taiwan is also one of the first Asian countries to widely celebrate the LGBTIQ+ community, which is a great tourist destination for LGBTIQ+ to enjoy without heavy criticism or facing prosecution.




 
 
 

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Damien Chung

 

Founder, Writer, Content Creator of  PJR

 
 

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