Taiwan… you’re my favorite Asian country. I love the beautiful blend of island / city culture. The ability to go hiking, clubbing, and eat good food all within a few miles distance is amazing to me. I hope one day I’m lucky enough to live here and fully immerse myself in a country I have revered for so long.
For a few other (way better) recos, please take a look at my friend Brian’s doc, he’s a definite foodie and knows Taipei like the back of his hand.
ITINERARY
August 2016 - 2 days @ Meander Backpacker Hostel (one of the nicest hostels I’ve been in! Recommend to book if ever in Taiwan)
December 2018 - 4 days @ Airbnb for NYE (shoutout to Will Cai for planning this bomb trip and coordinating 30+ people)
December 2019 - Best 24 hour layover with Will, Jenny, Vishnu, Art, Danny, and Tim
+ countless of times coming here as a kid
HIGHLIGHTS
Walking around Shilin and Raohe night markets; and bargaining for food, clothes, and trinkets.
Eating classic Taiwanese dishes. Few favorite dishes include boba, oyster omelet, beef noodle soup, braised pork rice, gua bao, tea leaf eggs (amazing and can be found in any convenience store), pastries (lots of bakeries reminiscent of 85C), fried chicken, thousand layer pancakes, shaved ice with red bean, and xiao long bao. My favorite thing to get is Stinky Tofu (always prefer soup / steamed tofu over fried).
Eating at some really bomb restaurants. Places to eat at…
Din Tai Fung: Go to the original store if you get the chance. (However, note… it’s a lot smaller and therefore wait is longer.) They have this in the US (LOL one is 15 min away from my house in Torrance) BUT quality is better (I couldn’t notice it but this is the general consensus) and most importantly… IT’S HELLA CHEAP. Food for 8 people (including drinks) came out to be $125 total. In comparison, I had food for 3 people in Torrance two days prior (with less food) and it came out to be $30!!!!!
Favorite things include: spicy cucumbers, spicy wontons, spicy noodles, xlb, and my fav.. Chocolate xlb to finish off the meal!
Yong He Soy Milk King: For a wonderful traditional Taiwanese breakfast. Grew up with my dad taking me to a local store in Torrance on Sunday mornings eating breakfast. Nothing feels more like home than a shao bing you tiao. (Peep the Yelp review for my favs!)
Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice: Ah, nothing better than $1 bowl of pork rice. Pork belly, tea egg, and sauteed spinach. An amazing breakfast all for sub $3.
Addiction Aquatic Development: A bit further out (around 15 min drive from center of Taipei) but so worth it. Confuisng layout, navigate inside and grab a number for “standing sushi”. Some of the best sushi I’ve had in my life, with reasonable cost. The must gets: Chutoro and Otoro is $5, Salmon Belly Nigiri $1, Miso Soup (with fresh fish) $3, and huge oysters (set 6 for $10). Spent $60/per person, and had over 10 pieces of nigri, yakitori, oysters, beer + sake, and hand rolls. This is a MUST in Taiwan.
Umber (my work hubby from Visa) came from Singapore to visit me in Taiwan. It was SO FUN catching up with him here, and eating sushi and drinking sake and gossiping about our old work days.
KFC: Alright, I’m not usually one to go off on American Fast Food brands when traveling but this place does the BEST egg tarts. $1 for 1 egg tart. Worth to get.
Acheng 阿城鵝肉: The best goose you will ever have.
Spending the afternoon at Sogo (local department store) eating. Inside they have a huge food court which consists of revolving belt of sushi, bakeries, and din tai fung.
Shopping at Ximending. Awesome shopping center reminiscent of Ladies Market in Hong Kong. Lots of fun shopping with both American stores (H&M, Adidas) and pop ups. Can easily spend a whole day lost buying clothes, eating, and playing all their arcade games Some must gets…
Stickers w my name & number. You can get 100 high quality stickers for $3. Great to put on chargers and other things you need to complain.
Facemasks / beauty items on par with Korea. One of the things I always get is Nexcare Pimple Patches and animal face masks. Better price, and some you honestly cannot find on Amazon.
Socks!!! So many cute socks for $1, I always stock up for back home. Why get socks from Costco when you can get cuter socks in Taiwan?
Really cool drinks and fun bars.
Four Play: Birthday cake with 25 shots, drug set (for creative drink presentation lol), and around the world set. A MUST for high quality drinks in Taiwan.
Franks: rooftop lounge
Pong (play beer pong with strangers, loser opts to buy the pitcher), rage cage
Celebrating NYE at Omni Club and catching the Taipei 101 fireworks. Bottle service here is INSANE, and I had an absolute blast. It was probably one of the best ways I could have imagined closing out 2018. I felt inspired by this city I love so much, grateful to be amongst some of my most cherished friends, and while 2018 had some pretty low lows, it just reaffirmed my thought that 2018 was pretty kick ass and I have a lot to do to top 2019. :’)
Embracing “open bottle container” in Taipei. SO AMAZING being able to drink alcohol out in the open. Get baijiu alcohol, a quarter the price of what is offered in the states, and some are 58% alcohol. Be prepared tho when drinking.
Hiking Elephant Mountain for the sunset. It’s absolutely gorgeous and one of the best views of Taipei/101 you can get.
Hiked this again with Will, Jpark, Vishnu, Morris, and Jenny in the rain and still is as good of a hike as ever. 101 is absolutely beautiful in no matter what weather, and getting to spend time with good friends is a fun bonus.
Taking cool day trips to Jiu Fen (famous for spirited away) and Shifen (famous for lanterns).
Shifen: Multi-colored lanterns for $5 that you can write your wishes on. They are very eco-friendly (bio-degrades) and people are actually paid $1 for every lantern they collect. I recommend for photos to get your own lantern cause in the moment when you release the lantern its nice to have your own. I absolutely loved writing wishes and goals for 2019, especially as I came here on the last day of 2018.
Heading to Plum Garden to learn more about calligraphy (a favorite and must see museum that hasn’t been infiltrated by tourists) and Yu Youren. Note, only open weekends.
Cooling off at Beitou Hot Spring (local pool). This is right next to Plum Garden, easy to make a good 2 hour trip in Beitou. Lots of beautiful monuments and gardens in the area. Wonderful to enjoy the hot spring that flows through whole town.
Visiting Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Lots of culture and history behind creation of Taiwan.
Getting our hair done at a Taipei salon but more importantly, Janet trusting me (and my mandarin!) enough to correctly translate everything she wanted done to her hair to the stylist. Now that’s friendship.
Hanging out with college friend Stanley and helping his friend film a commercial for Athentek.
LOWLIGHTS
Janet and I realizing we wore Meander’s house slippers outside until it was too late. Ending up hiking Elephant Mountain in some 99 cent broken slippers
Oversleeping and missing our flight to Vietnam. Meh, it happens.
Throwing up on the plane three times. You have not witnessed pain until you dry heave water into a paper bag three times on a flight post NYE.
Getting Airbnb cat-fished. Granted it was New Years, but we definitely overpaid for an Airbnb that did not live up to its pictures. Again, it happens.
Missing Plum Garden on December 2018 trip. Note to self: always check times before heading out.
Been before, but missing JiuFen in December 2018 trip due to rain was tough. Stood outside for almost an hour with our tour group before our tour guide gave up and said it would take almost 4 hours of travel time.
