Taipei - Taiwan 🇹🇼

After my last 2 weeks of surfing, sun, beach and sea in Bali, the journey continued for me. At 12:40 I got on the plane in Bali and said goodbye to Indonesia for now and landed in Kuala Lumpur a short time later. This is not my destination, however, but only a stopover for 9 hours. At midnight I continued on and 6 hours later I got off in Taiwan. To be precise, in Taiwan's capital Taipei. After I had gone through all the checks and was able to pick up my beloved backpack, I took the bus to the hostel. The plan was to drop off my backpack at the hostel and then get breakfast and make plans for Taipei. I never really plan anything for the country I'm traveling to, but I usually at least find out a little about what I can do and roughly where I want to go. But for Taiwan I have absolutely no idea how or what. After a bit of searching, I found my hostel on the 5th floor of my high-rise building. The only problem was that the front door was closed and there was a sign saying that you couldn't drop off your luggage until 1 p.m. and check-in was at 3 p.m. It was 9 a.m. and I had about 30 kilos of luggage on my shoulders as usual. When I saw a bell next to the front door, I thought I'd see what would happen if I rang it. About 5 minutes later a woman came out of the door who had obviously just gotten up because of my ringing and just looked at me in surprise. I asked if I could put my backpack down now. Since she didn't speak a word of English, she just pointed to the sign. But lugging my backpack around for another 6 hours wasn't an option for me and I asked if I could just leave it here in front of the door. Since she didn't understand that either, she just shook her head. So I turned around, insulted, and wanted to leave. Then she indicated to me that I could put my backpack down inside and check in later. Happy and tired, I looked for some breakfast. I took it with me and sat down by the river that flows through Taipei and looked at my city maps to see what I was going to do that day. I then walked through the city until 3 and looked at the various districts and markets. At 3 I had already booked a walking tour, where a Taiwanese woman led us through the city for 3 hours and told us a lot about Taiwan and Taipei. The next morning I had already planned the next city tour, this time focusing on the historical aspects of the city. So I spent my morning doing that. In the afternoon I then looked at the museum in the Memorial Hall and on the way home I explored the districts of Taipei further. In the evening I tried one of Taiwan's famous night markets, right near my hostel, and was definitely not disappointed. After that I went to the liveliest district of the city, Ximending, to see it at night and in the evening. I think that was the first time in Taiwan that I saw several "white" tourists in a short space of time. Otherwise, you hardly see any western tourists. Nevertheless, girls travelling alone with backpacks are probably not very common, because the locals look at me as if I were the first person here to do something like that. And even if I tell someone about my trip, it is something very, very foreign to them. The next day, I met up with Elizabeth early in the morning, who I had already met in Japan. Since she has been living in Taipei for 2 months, she was able to show me the insider tips for Taipei. First, we went up a small mountain above Taipei and were able to admire the Taipei 101 Tower. Then we made our way to the city's jade and flower market. I don't know how many kilometers long this market was, but it was huge and it was really impressive how many plants and flowers are actually native to Taiwan. I also didn't know that Taiwan has so much jade and was very impressed by this fact. Elizabeth then introduced me to the tropical fruits of Taiwan and I think I had the juiciest pineapple of my life and the mango was simply fantastic. It was also new to me that Taiwan is so rich in fruit. After that we looked for a place to have lunch and chat a bit. Then we took the gondola up another mountain above Taipei, which is populated by tea fields and countless tea houses. After a short walk we sat down in what was probably the most remote tea house in the middle of tea fields and bamboo forests next to a small stream. There we drank tea for hours, ate dumplings and chatted about old and new family stories. When it got dark we went back down and admired the lights of Taipei. After that we went home briefly to change and then we met up again because Elizabeth wanted to show me the nightlife of Taipei. Together with her friends we went into town to a club and danced there all night. When it got light and I could see the Taiwanese sun for the first time (since it had been cloudy and raining the previous days - it is currently the rainy season in Taiwan) I went to bed at 6 in the morning. After a few hours of sleep I had my breakfast and sat down in the botanical garden, which I happened to see on the way to the National History Museum. When it started to rain I went to the museum. In the evening I looked for another night market in Taipei and enjoyed the night market atmosphere there too. But I went to bed early. So my time in Taipei was over for me and I continued south along the east coast. 🫶🏼