LittleSandyBeach

After dropping our bags off at the hotel we went straight out to start exploring as we only had two full days to see everything in Taipei. Just down the road from us was a very nice local market street with lots for sale, especially vegetables and fish.

Our hotel was located in New Taipei so we hopped on the metro and made the journey across to Taipei city. It took about 1 hour and then we made it to the country’s most known landmark Taipei 101!

It was the first building to break the half-kilometre mark and was the tallest building in the world between 2004 to 2009 at 508m. The structure resembles a bamboo stalk made up of eight stacked segments, symbolising good future and prosperity.

At the bottom of the building is a huge luxury mall spread across 5 stories. It reminded us a lot of the mall in the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The top floor is known as the grand plaza which is very impressive with the tower connecting into the space.

The next morning we went straight to Taipei Zoo. It is the largest zoological garden in Asia and one of the top municipal zoos in the world. It’s also known as the best value for money zoo in the world at 100 NTD (£2.34!) and for locals 60 NTD (£1.40!)

At 160 hectares we definitely got our steps in exploring and it was brilliant with such diverse range of animals, many of which are endangered and part of breeding programs with the zoo focusing on rewilding. We were glad we got to see a couple of their Giant Panda’s.

Other highlights of ours was the five massive hippopotamuses, lions and of course the Small Clawed Asian otters that were as always very playful. Then we came to the reptile house and Tasha was on the menu for lunch for the Burmese Python…

We had a great time exploring the zoo for 4 hours and highly recommend it. Near the end of our trip we got to see a Formosan Black Bear that is endemic to Taiwan. It is considered the most representative animal of Taiwan’s wilderness with 60% of the land still covered in forests.

We then headed back into the city to go to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Chiang Kai-shek was the first president of the Republic of China. After his death in 1975 it was decided to build this giant hall to commemorate his life and political legacy.

In front of the Memorial Hall is Liberty Square that is flanked by the National Theatre and National Concert Hall which are both very impressive buildings.

There are 89 steps leading up to the Memorial Hall representing the age at the time of Chiang Kai-shek’s death. The building is white with a blue tiled roof representing the colours on the flag. Inside the hall is a giant 6.3m high statue of the past president.

Every hour from 9am to 5pm the changing of the guards occurs just in front of the hall so we made sure to catch that…

Underneath the hall was a museum on Chiang Kai-shek’s life with lots of original artefacts from some of the clothes he wore to many letters he wrote.

There was also a pop up exhibition we looked around called Flowers of Freedom which was about Taiwan’s journey to becoming a democracy and the historical struggle for freedom of speech.

After we left we were walking across the plaza and saw quite possibly the coolest thing we have in all the time we’ve been travelling… a skateboarding Jack Russel!

In the evening we went to Ximending which is a huge pedestrian shopping and entertainment district. There was hundreds of shops, cafes and arcades dotted around with some of the stores even open 24 hours a day.

The next day we first went to see the Tsui Hang Pagoda which was built in 1965. It is named after the birthplace of the founding father of the ROC, Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

Right nearby was our next stop the National Museum of Taiwan. It is the oldest museum in Taiwan, established in 1908 during the Japanese colonial period. The building itself is stunning completed in a renaissance style with a distinct Greek temple facade.

We enjoyed looking around the main building which is focused on earth sciences and botany. There was also a whole section called ‘Exploring Taiwan’ which tells the story of the islands indigenous cultures and natural evolution.

Also included in the small entrance fee of 30 NTD (70p) we got entrance into the Natural History Branch located in the old Land Bank building just across the road. We were blown away when we walked into the main room by the massive models of dinosaurs!

It also had parts dedicated to the old bank that the building was originally built for including the banks vault and the restoration project to bring the building back to life. When exiting we went through the museum shop which normally we are not interested in but here you could buy real dinosaur bones, megalodon teeth and meteorites!

We then made hast towards the Elephant Mountain hike located near Taipei 101. It’s famous for its panoramic city skyline views seen by climbing the 600 steps up. We weren’t ready for how steep it was and the first time in a while being surrounded by mosquitoes wasn’t fun!

For dinner we went to Ningxia Night Market known as ‘Taipei’s stomach’ due to its dense concentration of street vendors. After squeezing through the crowds we decided to try some steamed pork dumplings, chicken thigh skewers and a strawberry daifuku. It was all delicious!

Just before heading back to our hotel we had to try some bubble tea as Taiwan is the birthplace of the world wide culture phenomenon that originated in the 1980’s. Bubble tea (also known as boba) is a tea based drink and typically combines tea, milk and sweetener served with chewy tapioca pearls at the bottom. We went to 50 Lan which is the most popular chain across Taiwan having over 600 stores known for its consistent taste and great value.

Yesterday we made our way to Taipei Songshan Airport to catch our flight with T’way airlines to Seoul in South Korea! Apart from the turbulence, the flight was good and we arrived 15 minutes early into Gimpo Airport in Seoul.

To get to our hotel we took the metro that took around 1 hour. We were blown away by our room because of all the amenities included! It has a Japanese style toilet with heated seat, hair straighteners, heated bed, Netflix and even a heated floor! A slight change from a tent in the Thai jungle!

Now we have one week in Seoul to explore and see what it has to offer!