31.10.19 - 7.11.19 Taipei

Our flight left Seoul on time at 22:40 and we arrived in Taipei shortly after midnight. So far so good, if we hadn't booked our room from this day on and therefore could only check in in the afternoon. So we took as much time as possible with the usual procedure - immigration, baggage claim, etc., and then found a place at the airport and tried to get some sleep. Fortunately, we were not the only ones and the airport staff tolerated or ignored this, as we know, this is not a matter of course. We didn't really sleep, but nevertheless a few hours later we made our way to the city to be near the meeting point for our AirBnB room. While looking for a cafe, we passed a tofu shop where they not only had traditional soy milk and tofu pudding, but also tofu soft ice cream and even as affogato.

After the best breakfast ever, we actually found a cafe where we spent time with bad coffee, a bad first choice on our part in the city known as the coffee capital of Asia... although nothing else was open. Checking into our room went smoothly and to our delight, it was earlier than expected. So we were back on the street on time for lunch without luggage and found ourselves incredibly tired in the line of Din Tai Fung, a very famous Taiwanese dumpling restaurant chain. This branch was the very first one, so we almost had to have our very first Din Tai Fung visit here.

After this delicious first meal in Taiwan, of course, we had to have our first bubble tea. We already fell in love with this drink in Melbourne and now we are excited to be in its country of origin.

Then it was time to sleep. We were back on our feet only for dinner. We visited one of the countless vegetarian buffet restaurants and were very impressed - okay, Lea was very impressed. Then we strolled through a night market and Mathias had his first Gua Bao and was also impressed.

On the second day, we started refreshed and motivated and first visited the grand Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, a former president of the country who was very authoritarian and therefore not very popular nowadays. Although many things named after him have been renamed, the memorial remained.

Then we strolled through the streets and also came across the botanical garden.

In the early afternoon, we met Ben, who was our roommate in Melbourne for a while and has been living in Taipei for almost three months now, learning Chinese. It was nice to have a reunion. We also strolled through the streets with him. Mathias ate a famous Gua Bao and drank a famous bubble milk tea.

For dinner, we met Ben again. We visited a sesame noodle restaurant and for dessert, we had tofu pudding with peanuts.

On the third day, we visited the formerly tallest building in the world - Taipei 101. But we contented ourselves with seeing the shopping center in the basement and didn't pay nearly 15 euros per person to go up.

Our path then led us past another memorial, where we accidentally saw the changing of the guards. Funny who came up with such choreographies...

We continued to a 'Culture and Creative Park', of which there are several in the city. An area with park landscape and buildings filled with workshops, shops, and cafes. This one also had a great community garden. And there was a market, so it was very busy. But otherwise, it was a nice place to hang out.

At the end of the day, before our feet couldn't carry us anymore, we visited a night market where Mathias, of course, chose a famous stand again, in which we stood in line for a while to buy him a stuffed 'bun'. Night markets have a long tradition in Taiwan and there are at least 30 of them in Taipei and its surroundings.

The next day we wanted to take it easy, but ended up walking 20 km again. Our goal was Din Hua Street, where there are many old buildings and traditional shops. And also many people who wanted to see it all. On the way there, we passed through a great park dedicated to the memory of a bloody suppression of an uprising shortly after World War II.