We landed in Taipei on a warm Monday afternoon, took a taxi to our hotel in Ximen, checked in, and immediately set out to wander the neighborhood. Within the hour, we had gotten bubble tea at 50 Lan, bought a knock-off bubble tea carrier, eaten some incredible beef noodles at Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles, and played the first of many, many claw machines.
The next morning, we stopped at Fong Da Coffee – a coffee institution since the 1950s – for strong brews and a little breakfast, then hopped on MRT to go to Taipei 101. The plan was to go up to the observation deck, until we realized that the line stretched down two flights of stairs and then across the floor of the entire mall. We decided to skip the observation deck and wander through high-end luxury stores instead, trying on clothes and jewelry until we felt hungry again. We went downstairs to the food court and put in our name for Din Tai Fung, the insanely popular Taiwanese restaurant known for its soup dumplings. We sipped coffees at the Starbucks Reserve until our table was ready, then proceeded to have a really tasty lunch. On the way out, we stopped at the designated “photo spot”, where you can watch the kitchen staff make dumplings.
When we stepped outside Taipei 101, we stumbled upon a pop-up for Omar, one of the more popular Taiwanese whiskey distilleries. In exchange for taking a photo and posting it on social media – clearly Lummi’s responsibility – we were gifted a tasty Christmas cocktail.
Not one to stop the whiskey train once it gets going, I dragged Lummi to the Kavalan shop in Da’an. Kavalan is currently my favorite whiskey, so I was already planning on buying two liters in the airport before our flight out, but the shop has smaller sizes and more variety, which is better for gifts.
After some much-needed foot massages, we walked to nearby Linjiang Street to get our first taste of a Taiwanese night market. We bought dumplings while standing in line behind some Santa Clauses, gawked at all the vendors and street food, recoiled at the poop-like smell of stinky tofu, and I even won a stuffed Pikachu from a claw machine.
While walking out of the night market and trying to plan our next move, we happened to walk by Zoca Pizzeria, an Italian restaurant that was strangely buzzing with lots of activity. A quick search on my phone revealed that it was apparently one of the best pizza places in the entire city. Further inspection of the situation reminded me that a lot of places in Asia celebrate Christmas on the 24th – not the 25th like in America – so all the activity we accidentally stumbled upon was actually Christmas dinner! We decided to take advantage of our good fortune, claimed the last open table on the patio, and drank red wine and ate a legitimately excellent pizza for dinner. Pikachu was shocked at the turn of events.
For “actual” Christmas Day, we decided to take the Maokong gondola and head up into the mountains for some nature and tea tasting. It was a gorgeous day and the long gondola ride offered stunning views of the rolling hills and the city below.
Once we reached the top, we treated ourselves to a cat-themed green tea ice cream – as you do – before ambling along the road, admiring the scenery and taking in the cool, fresh air.
Our walking destination was Yao Yue Teahouse, a well-known teahouse that apparently operates 24 hours a day. You know, for those… late-night tea binges? Jokes aside, it was definitely worth the long walk. The tea and snacks were excellent and the view was all the lush greenness you could ask for. We made sure to buy some extra tea before leaving.
After retracing our steps, taking the gondola back down, and jumping on MRT to get back to the city, we had some snacks and drinks at WOOBAR, the rooftop restaurant and lounge at the W Hotel. Though we had been promised views of Taipei 101 by our guidebook, something was clearly lost in translation, as the iconic bamboo-looking skyscraper was nowhere to be seen. That said, the views of the surrounding skyline were still pretty great.
The next morning was a bit rainy, so I hit the Internet, trying to find a breakfast place in our neighborhood that would require the bare minimum of walking. And that’s when I realized there was a cafe half a block away that was also polar bear themed. What.
The restaurant is called Polar Cafe. Every table has a stuffed polar bear, there’s a polar bear on the menu, they sell polar bear gifts, and, most importantly, they float a sculpted, detailed marshmallow polar bear in your coffee drink. Lummi and I ended up going again before we left Taiwan. The food was alright, but honestly, who cares about the food? A polar bear in your coffee, people!
Fueled by coffee, eggs, and polar bear whimsy, we set off to visit Confucius Temple and Bao’an Temple, two popular temples that I had visited on my previous trip and was eager to show to Lummi. The weather had cleared, blue skies were out, and we spent a couple hours slowly wandering the temple grounds.
After a coffee to recharge, we got an Uber to Huashan 1914 Creative Park, a former sake factory that has been turned into a large multi-purpose space for artists, non-profits, and live productions. On the weekend, the crowds are there to browse all the various goods for sale in the wide variety of shops. Everything is unique and there are quite a few weird, wacky, and fun items among the tables and displays of more traditional gifts.
After getting back to our neighborhood, the highlights of the evening included brown sugar milk tea and a foot massage; the former seems to be all the rage in Taipei right now and the latter is a timeless classic.
Friday was our big field trip day, first to Beitou in the morning and afternoon and then Jiufen in the evening. Beitou is mostly known for its hot springs, so that was our big motivation for going. It’s readily accessible via a relatively short MRT ride, but once you’re there, you feel far from the city. As something of an orientation for Lummi, we first walked to Thermal Valley, a small tourist sight where you can get right up next to the steaming, sulfuric water that flows throughout the town.
We called an Uber to take us to Kawayu Spa, which had been recommended by TripAdvisor and a random blog post I had found. It was a little bit of a drive from the center of town, but definitely worth it. We had a very nice soak for about an hour in a private room, then had an excellent lunch at the restaurant. The grounds are really nice – they look especially magical in nighttime photos – and there was a large koi pond too.
We made our way back to the city and set our sights on our evening destination: Jiufen, an old mining town that has become a major tourist destination due to its narrow, winding streets, hillside location, countless shops, and thousands of lanterns. Its popularity increased a lot after people noticed that it looked like the town in Spirited Away, though I don’t know if there’s indisputable proof that there’s actually a connection between the town and the movie. Nevertheless, the town has run with it, and now Jiufen is teeming with tourists all day, every day.
The crowded alleys were super annoying to navigate and there were way too many people, so I think it’s safe to say that the tourism has been oversaturated here. However, our stop at Jiufen Teahouse made the trip worthwhile. It was beautiful and quiet and calm, so we stayed a while, drinking pot after pot of delicious Taiwanese green tea and eating some small snacks, including green tea cheesecake and some interesting-looking eggs.
The walk back out of the maze of alleys and shops was much more serene than the walk in since all the shops had closed and most everyone had left. We snapped a few photos, then called an Uber to take us back to the city.
Back in Ximen, we went to the local branch of Monga, a very popular chain of take-away Taiwanese fried chicken. I’m not quite sure how they do it, but the cutlets are about $2 and some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. We tried original flavor, spicy, and seaweed flavor and they’re all amazing. The sweet potato fries have extra sugar and salt and are also phenomenal. The whole meal is a crazy calorie bomb but absolutely worth it.
Energized by Monga, we set out for more bubble tea and claw machines, then took our winnings to the hookah lounge next to our hotel. With lanterns overhead, Bruce Lee movies playing on the projector, a full bar, and a huge selection of shisha, it was a great place to finish off the day.
Our last full day in Taiwan was much calmer by comparison, mostly spent purchasing pineapple cake and other sweets at a few shops, wandering some new neighborhoods, walking through 2/28 Peace Park, and visiting Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a massive national monument in the “civic center” part of the city.
We spent a large portion of our last day trying to figure out how to pack everything we bought into our luggage and we even had to buy a cheap bag to make everything fit. And of course there was one more visit to Polar Cafe, one more trip to Monga, and just a tiny bit more bubble tea and claw machines. Seriously though, Monga is crazy good and brings out some kind of devil in me.
Taipei was such a great time, as expected, and I was really happy that Lummi could experience it with me. Because Taiwan is relatively cheap, has great weather, flies under the radar (in terms of tourism), and is a direct flight from San Francisco, I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be back before too long. Ideally, we’ll both be at 100% health for the next trip so we can get out of the city and have some adventures in the rest of the country. Taiwan is certainly much more than just Taipei and I’d love to go explore it.