Now onto the important stuff:
It's not a trip to Taiwan without a visit to the capital, Taipei. However, due to this week being Chinese New Year's, all hotels were pretty pricey/fully booked, so Chloe and I decided to day-trip it. We purchased high speed rail (HSR) train tickets about a week after we purchased our flight (back before we even arrived in Shanghai) to ensure that we were guaranteed space on the train there and back.
Since it was a day-trip, we headed out early...as in we woke up at around 6am to catch the train to Taipei. The night before we left, Taipei was scheduled to rain all day. I can't remember the last time I went to Taipei and it didn't rain, so we definitely had our fingers crossed for no rain. Our itinerary was planned by a friend of mine, Ren, who also took us around the city.
Taipei is a pretty standard city to visit. There are attractions that everyone who comes to Taiwan has to see (especially if it's anyone's first time), such as Taipei 101, 淡水 (Tamsui/Danshui) and a few other hotspots which we hit up.
Our first stop was Danshui/Tamsui, a sea-side district in Taipei. After we arrived, we took the ferry over to Bali, a small town across the river.
After Tamsui, we headed over to Ximending ( 西門町), which is a shopping area in the Wanhua District, for Snow King, which offers 73 different flavors of ice cream, ranging from the normal flavors such as chocolate and coffee to the weirdest flavors such as pig's knuckle and pork floss. Unfortunately, we weren't that adventurous, so the only flavors we tried were honey, Taiwan green tea, and taro (taro and green tea pictured above).
The infamous Taipei 101 was next on our list. Taipei 101 is located in the Xinyi District of Taipei. It is currently the second tallest building in the world.
Welcome to the inside of Taipei 101!
The view from the observatory deck of the tower. Sadly, the 91st outside deck was closed due to the weather (potential rain), but the view from the inside of the 89th floor was still pretty decent.
Our tickets to enter the observatory. Tickets run at 450NT$ per person (about $16). The wait to get to the top of the tower was about 30mins to an hour.
I'd have to say our trip to Taipei was pretty successful. It didn't rain, our HSR train wasn't crowded, even though it was Chinese New Year, there was no real pushing and shoving in Ximending, and I made first visit to the top of 101 even though I've been to 101 many times.
Thanks Ren for taking us around!
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