Taipei - Final Thoughts

This concludes my blogs about my trip to Taipei! It only took a few weeks to get them all done! :) Just a couple final pictures that didn't fit into any other categories!

This is Analyn, my newest friend from the Phillipines. She works at the hostel where I stayed and is super sweet! I had a good time talking with her, and thanks to Facebook, we can keep in touch!

 Foot massage!! I got two of them! It was about $12USD for a 30 minute massage, and it was wonderful!! Definitely enjoyed this relaxing time!! :)

That's all for now!! Next time...Japan!! See you soon! :)

Taipei - Food

And we're back! I'm almost done with my Taipei blogs, which is good since I'm about to go to Japan and take a lot more pictures to show you!! This post is dedicated to some different food that I tried in Taipei.

One night at my hostel, a couple of Malaysian girls were staying in the same room with me, and we got to talking. She was telling me about a place nearby that supposedly had a really good breakfast menu and suggested that I go there as well. So the next morning, that's just what I did! This was my only 'true' Taiwanese breakfast (I'm lame, I know) and it was pretty good. It was definitely interesting, but worth the try!

My breakfast...some baked bread thing with a green onion omelet and a fried piece of dough, served with a bowl of sweet warm soymilk.

 The note that the girls wrote so I could order breakfast!

When I was preparing to go to Taiwan, everyone told me about this restaurant, Din Tai Fung, that I had to try. Apparently it's ultra popular, even with the locals, and it's gone global because of it's popularity. My temple tour guide told me where to go, and off I went!

The sign outside. My original wait time was 45 minutes but it got cut down because I was willing to share a table with other tourists (they were all Japanese). 

My meal...two kinds of dumplings (their specialty) and the house chicken noodle soup. All was delicious! The middle dumplings (pork) were the best...probably why they're the most popular thing at the restaurant!

Enjoying my lunch!

A how-to card for eating the dumplings!

The folks hard at work...making tons of dumplings!

Lastly, the guidebook suggested trying beef noodles because of their popularity in Taiwan. So, one day after shopping, I stopped by a little eatery and pointed to the word in my book, and was brought this meal. It was pretty good, although there was some spice that I couldn't identify that I wasn't too fond of. Besides that, all was great!

I think I ate other Taiwanese foods, but these are the only ones that were picture-worthy...so that's all for now!

Taipei - Confucius Temple & Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

On Wednesday of my trip in Taipei, I visited the Confucius Temple and the Chaing Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Admittedly, these two sights would probably have been more interesting to me if I knew a little more about their histories, but even still, they were good to see.

My first stop was the Confucius Temple. In my guide book, it said this was the best one to see in Taipei, so I went with that advice in mind. I was wandering around aimlessly and snapping shots like a tourist when I was approached by one of the temple's English-speaking guides. The girl was really sweet and we had a good time while she showed me around the temple. It definitely helped to have a guide, because I would have been clueless otherwise! Here are a few shots from the temple visit:

I love all of the bright colors of the temple...look at all of the detail of the ceiling.

Some traditional wear of the temple.

After lunch, I headed to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Once again, I'll reiterate that if I had known more about the history, it may have made more of an impact on me. Still, it was interesting.

The big bronze man is Chiang Kai-shek. Hopefully you can get idea of how big it was from the guard standing on the side.

A view from the top of the memorial. There was some setup for an event, so you can't get the full effect of the grounds.

From the bottom looking up on the top of the memorial.

There was some kind of practice going on and it was really cool to watch.

More bright colors!

The entrance gates for the Memorial's grounds.

The pretty gardens.

The Memorial from a distance.

More pictures to come...once my Blogger decides to cooperate with me!

Taipei - Taipei Zoo & Maokong

On Tueday of my visit to Taipei, I headed to the Taipei Zoo and the Maokong gondola. The zoo is super easy to get to because the subway goes all the way there (another point for the Taipei transporation system!). Also at the Taipei Zoo stop is the first stop for the Maokong gondola. I always love riding on gondolas, so I was excited to ride this one up to the Maokong (I'm going to call Maokong a 'suburb' of Taipei...not sure what the locals call it)!

If you're ever in Taipei and you need something cheap to do, head to the zoo!! It's only about $2USD (60 TWD) and there is a ton to see!! On a special note, don't go there on a Monday...that's when they clean all of the exhibits and so the cool things are all closed!! Also, the gondola is closed on Monday, so you wouldn't be able to enjoy the splendor of that!

Anyways, I enjoyed my day at the zoo! It is really large and there a lots of different types of animals. The main 'feature' are the pandas. I was really excited to see them, that is, until I saw their 'home'. It made me really sad because the baby panda was inside this large building with concrete flooring and a few items to make it seem like home. It almost made me feel bad that I wanted to see it. But, since I did, here are a couple of pictures: 

 This sign that was inside the exhibit made me laugh: 

 I always love seeing the monkeys...so cute!

 For some reason, this zoo had a large focus on poo. This is just a wall near the souvenir shop. And in each of the bathroom stalls, there was a 'fun fact' about poo. I didn't feel right taking a picture of that though! 

I don't want to bore you with zoo animal pictures (you should be familiar with most of them), so that's all for now!

After the zoo, I headed to the gondola for a nice ride up the mountain! Maokong is known for delicious tea, but since I'm not much of a tea connoisseur, I don't really know the difference!! I think my Maokong experience was quite different than the average person that visits there!

The Maokong station at the top of the mountain

 Some views from the gondola

 I did have to have some type of tea at the top, so I went with bubble tea! Before my trip to Taiwan, my cousin let me know that this drink is native to Taiwan. To be honest with you, the tapioca balls kind of gross me out, but the actual tea/milk is really yummy!! 

Thus concludes my day at the zoo and gondola! More pictures to come soon!

Taipei - Taipei 101

By far, my favorite 'attraction' in Taipei was Taipei 101. This is currently the second-tallest building in the world, behind some new building in Dubai. A few years earlier and I could have been to the tallest building in the world! Haha!! Anyways, I have a small obsession with tall buildings, so this was right up my alley!

I went to see Taipei 101 first a night so I could get a glimpse of it in the dark, and then I returned the following day to see it in the daylight. I only went to the observation deck during the daylight, since I still haven't quite figured out how to take good night pictures! Here are a few pictures from the building:

Lots of Christmas spirit in Taipei!

Busy streets of Taipei.

Taipei 101 in the dark!

Taipei 101!!

Views of the city from the 89th floor!

Taipei 101's shadow cast over the city!

More city views!

The world's largest wind damper...apparently this absorbs some of the wind so the building doesn't rock back-and-forth!!

Me at the top!

Probably won't ever see these numbers in a stairwell again!!

Taipei 101's mascot! Cute!

On the 88th floor, they had some displays of coral and jade...I thought it was pretty incredible what people could make out of those! These are coral:

Taiwan!!

Sign marking the building as the world's tallest in 2004!

From the bottom looking up!

And again! The building is supposed to resemble a stalk of bamboo.

The top half of the building.

This is the view from a road near my hostel...which was about 5 subway stops from Taipei 101!

And a familiar LOVE sign at the base of the building!

It was a really nice day, and I enjoyed visiting the building! Hopefully one day, you'll get to experience it too! :)