Day 4 - Taipei (Hot-Spring, Temple No. 3, Dumpling Restaurant)

Today, let's take a look at the daily life of garbage collection in Taiwan:

Gabage collection takes place 5 days a week (morning and evening at the same time) and is announced with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. You can track the garbage truck through an app because there are no garbage bins. Instead, people bring their garbage to the truck on the street. Of course, garbage separation is also practiced here. Three different garbage trucks arrive at the same time, so people go from one to another to dispose of their garbage. And of course, there is no pushing and people line up nicely. Tomorrow, we'll talk more about this topic!

Today was a metro sightseeing tour. The first stop was Hot-Spring Valley with the oldest bathhouse museum. Well, it was nice, but not necessarily on the top 10 list.

After that, we took the red metro to the memorial hall with the national theater and the changing of the guards. It was quite spectacular as the men performed the rifle movements and steps with 1000% synchronization. Worth seeing - it belongs in the top 10!

On the huge grounds/park, opposite the national theater, stands the National Concert Hall.

Stop number 3 (blue metro) was also our 3rd temple - Longshan - and finally with dragons on the roof.

Now, just before the Chinese New Year, everyone wants to bring offerings and be well prepared for 2023. It's already crowded, but apparently, next week there will be even more going on.

Just around the corner, there is the Bopiliao Historic Block -> remnants of architectural houses from the 3 time periods (Qing Dynasty, Japanese colonial period, and the Republican Era) can be seen. Small but beautiful, and you also pass by general stores and markets where people do their shopping.

Our last stop today (green metro) was the Dumpling Restaurant Din Tai Fung, which has been awarded a Michelin star. Our wait time was limited to about 30 minutes.

It was an experience to eat dumplings in this way (filled with shrimp, pork, and vegetables), and to finish it off, we tried sweet buns with chocolate and taro (sweet paste similar to sweet potato). The dough and texture taste like yeast dumplings.

And finally, we took the orange metro to our hotel "The Landis".