117. [DIEC] Taipei: Taking a trip in the capital of Taiwan
I had a stopover in Taipei. It was about 9 hours, but I felt like I needed a couple of hours of some snooze time. I woke up around 7AM and decided that I was going to have a super long breakfast before heading into the city. I was a little bit tired and didn't realize how long my layover duration was. I left San Francisco around 12:25AM and slept the entire flight, but I still needed some rest.
While at breakfast, I was so groggy trying to drink my oolong tea in the morning. I had some nice scrambled eggs, ham, rice, and broccoli in the morning to accompany my Chinese tea.
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In preparation for my short little trip, I asked my Taiwanese friends about what to do in Taipei. I only had a couple of hours before I had to head back to catch my flight and wanted the highlights. To supplement this rapid-paced itinerary, I got some ideas from the nice tourism programs available at the airport tourism service booth, located right when you receive your luggage at the baggage claim. This booth is very close to the metro station entrance. The nice layover tours are called the "Taipei Free Half-Day Tours", which the Taiwan Tourism Administration organized for tourists in the capital city. Transit or transfer passengers with 7- to 24-hour layovers before their next connecting flight are highly recommended to participate!
[Link on how register for the tours if you are going to Taiwan as a stopover: How to register: Taipei Free Half-Day Tours]
I stopped at the booth and was greeted by a nice employee, who was kind enough to show me the way to the train station and recommended me some sightseeing stops that I must see since I was doing the "Self Guided Tour". They give you a pamphlet, map, and two ticket vouchers for the airport MRT with a return trip back.
I was a little bit nervous going alone since my Mandarin or Taiwanese Hokkien was virtually nonexistent, but I decided to push on. I wasn't going to stay in the airport the whole time. That would be terribly boring.
I've traveled through a lot of metro systems, but I haven't gone through a lot of the major ones. For now, here are my top 3 public transportation systems (maybe I'll write about this in the future) in my opinion:
- Hong Kong MTR - so fast, so efficient. When I was there, there was a grand opening for one of the new lines and people were waiting for the first train leaving at 5AM. People literally sprinted to get on and be one of the first passengers for the train. I truly admire the locals enthusiasm and pride for the MTR. It's actually so endearing to see.
- Singapore MRT - when I was there, my parents were so impressed to see kids who looked younger than me and my brother (we were about 13 and 9, respectively at the time) taking the train by themselves because it was so easy to get around the city. Singapore trains are scary fast and so clean.
- Tokyo Metro - I have a really good memory of the train conductor/operator waving at my sister and cousin and interacting with them from the front of the train while it was delayed. It was very cute to see. Trains in Japan are top tier.
This may be controversial, but I really liked the Métro de Montréal (it was relatively safe, even if it had the faint scent of piss...) When I went into the city centre during another long layover, my French was not very good at the time, but I navigated around fairly easily!
[8AM-9AM]: My experience on the Taipei metro system was very seamless. Even though I received a free ticket from the airport tourism booth to get to the main station, but I bought a train card at the nearby convenience store because I wanted to stray off the path. I am not very good at reading Chinese characters at all, but English translations are included on each of the maps and signs I went to. I was equipped with just my backpack and Google Maps and stepped into the train.
I sat by the window and took in the mountain sights and greenery. It was such a lovely train ride that took about an hour. I disembarked at the Taipei Main Station and decided to set off to my first destination on foot so I can take in the sights and snap some photos. I went around the Datong District before heading towards my next stop.
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[9AM-10:30AM]: Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall was one of the first sightseeing things I did. I walked to the Zhongzheng District and toured around the plaza. The Memorial Hall is an impressive monument in memory of the late president of Taiwan, Chang Kai-Shek. To reach the main hall, you need to climb up 89 steps, which represent Chang Kai-Shek’s age when he died.
View of the plaza
Flags and changing of the guards
It was a very good day with nice weather!
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I climbed the steps up and circled around the building a couple of times before sitting down in a corner away from the tourists to determine my next moves in the next hour. I trailed my fingers on the paper map along the metro line to find certain stops along the way that could fit my tight time schedule.
The changing of the guard ceremony takes place every hour on the hour from 9AM in the main hall. I was lucky enough to witness a gathering around the front of the Memorial Hall with people in uniform in a straight line and Taiwanese flags held up. In addition to the majestic main hall of the memorial, there is an exquisite Chinese garden around the building. The plaza around the building halls were amazing. It felt so big and the architecture was so lovely. The material is white marble. The roofs are decorated with deep-blue glass as part of the reflection of blue sky and bright sun.
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[10:30AM-11:30AM]: I continued to walk around the Zhongzheng District since my next destination was quite close to the national monument. A friend of mine suggested to visit Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice Restaurant, which is Taipei's most famous braised pork rice bowl place.
I arrived at the address maybe 15 minutes before opening and tried to walk past the barricade of chairs into the restaurant. One of the staff chased me out and told me it was too early beacause they were still preparing some of the soups and ingredients. There was not a customer in sight and I was just being a dumb American tourist. I scurried out of there and visited the nearby market- Nanmen Market. This was a famous local market, newly refurbished and quite close to the Memorial Hall MRT station, exit 2.
Inside Nanmen Market were a lot of cured meats and traditional Taiwanese dishes ready for takeaway. I went up one level and browsed the merchandise at the narrow boutiques and trinket places. I sat on a bench, right next to a couple of Taiwanese aunties. I was a bit sweaty after my trek around the block.
A picture of some takeaway meals you can buy at the Nanmen Market. You can get traditional meats and goods here!
Once the clock hit 11, I walked back to Jin Feng and saw that it was packed with customers. I stayed in the queue for a couple of minutes, trying to practice how to say "lu rou fan (滷肉飯)" (braised pork rice) to the waitress. I was sat at a shared table with one another guy. The waitress pointed at the QR code taped on top of my table. I guess I didn't need to embarrass myself with my poor Mandarin skills.
I ordered one braised pork rice, deep fried tofu, and a braised duck egg, along with some green vegetables stir fried with garlic. I didn't realize that I was starving until I took a bite of the pork rice. Flavors filled my mouth. Holy hell. It was so good. I was looking around the tables to see if there's a spare spoon lying around. The guy across from me saw me struggle and saw me write "spoon" in Google Translate for a Chinese translation and took pity on me.
He asked me, in Japanese, if I was okay and I responded politely:
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"大丈夫ですか？" (Are you okay?)
"ええ、大丈夫です。ありがとう! ...あの、スプーンはありますか？" (Yep, I'm good. Thanks! Uh... Is there a spoon?")
The guy was very kind and flagged down the waitress and asked on my behalf. We engaged in a Japanese/Chinese conversation for a little bit before we realized we could both speak English.
”サンフランシスコから旅行しました。” (I flew from San Francisco.), I told him. He was a bit curious. I haven't spoken Japanese in a while so maybe he suspected my American accent was peeking out.
"アメリカ人？" (Are you an American?)
"はい、英語を話しますか？" (Yes, do you speak English?)
"Ha, yeah."
"Oh man, haha. Your Japanese is so good."
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My new friend and I had a brief conversation about his office job, his visit to Hokkaido, and a quick travel story on how he went to Thailand for a bit. After a few minutes, he said he had to go back to the office and waved me goodbye. My lunchtime pal wished me luck on the rest of my travels. It was a rather short, albeit pleasant, conversation. Once he left, the staff immediately sat a couple next to me and they were staring at me eating ravenously and enjoying my first Taiwanese local cuisine. They were looking at me and smiling because I had such a giant order.
My lunch today. I ate so much. Not pictured in the photo: a giant plate of stir fry bokchoy and asparagus, as well as a teapot of oolong tea.
They asked me in English about where I'm from and they were really impressed that I was navigating Taipei alone. I felt instantly cool. The couple wished me luck as I left my lunch spot with empty bowls and plates.
I spent about ~NT$100 (around $3.23USD/2.94€/$4.30CAD) for my big lunch and I was overjoyed. It was one of the most satisfying meals I have ever had in my life to be honest.
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[11:30-1:30PM]: It was a rather quick train ride to the World Trade Center station. I wanted to visit the Taipei 101 skyscraper. The queue to get in was a little bit tricky to spot. The ticketing booth is located near the front, but you have to walk a little bit deeper into the building to find the line to enter the elevator that brings you to the top of the skyscraper. I bought my ticket and waited about 10 minutes to get on the world's fastest passenger elevator (maximum speed is 1010 m/min). It didn't feel like a fast ascent at all, but there is a light show on the ceiling of the elevator. It was such a delight. I felt my ears pop while on the ride.
A beautiful view from up above!
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The views at the top were incredible and the city looked so cool from up above. I bought some postcards and got carried away. I admired the views and wrote to my friends about what I did that day. However, I spent way too much time there and totally forgot that I had to get my ass at the boarding gate pronto.
[1:30-2:30PM]: I looked at my flight ticket and realized that I have to report at the boarding gate at 2:15PM. It was 1:30PM and I ran to the train station, hoping that I could catch the train back to the city center. I consulted Google Maps about the travel time back to the airport via train. It was going to take way longer than I anticipated. The train arrived at Taipei Main Station.
Once the gates opened, I immediately sprinted to the main street and flagged down a taxi. I was in such a rush. I was breathing way too hard when I plopped myself down on the backseat. The kind driver did not speak much English, but understood that I needed to get to the airport when I said:
"Airport please. 謝謝 (thanks). I am late. Sorry uncle." He simply nodded and then drove pretty fast. In the backseat, I was shaking. I was pretty anxious about not making my flight.
But anyway, I was cutting it real close. I made it to the gate just in the nick of time. It was around 2:05. I ran through security, begged a couple of people if I could cut through immigration in front of them (such a bad move on my part... Do not be late! Do not be a shitty traveler that decided to be run to the gate! Do not beg other airport guests to hop the queue! I would be pissed if this happened to me!), then ran through the terminal like my life depended on it.
Funnily enough, I was delayed by almost an hour taking off anyway.
Places I Visited:
- Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (100, Taiwan, Taipei City, Zhongzheng District)
- Visit around the morning time for a nice stroll and to see the changing of the guards
- Beautiful garden area around the plaza/memorial hall area
- Jin Feng (金峰魯肉飯) Restaurant (also sometimes spelled "Kinfen")
- Try the braised pork bowl!!! 10/10
- Nanmen Market (南門市場) (No. 8號, Section 1, Roosevelt Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100)
- There is a seating area in the floors above.
- Traditional meats and goods here. They looked really cool.
- Taipei 101 (No. 7, Section 5, Xinyi Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110)
- The view is unforgettable. I loved it.
My favorite statue. I saw this while I was at the Memorial Hall
These streets are so cool.
~ taipei- hey hey,
<3 K