3 Mar | 喝茶，享受 － 這是我愛的台北 | Taipei, Taiwan

My ideal 3 day trip would have included an outing to either Jiufen 九份 or Yangmingshan National Park 陽明山國家公園. As I've mentioned in the last 2 blog entries, the weather in Taipei was just too cold and wet this time to go to either destination, so we settled on a mini-trip to Maokong 貓空. (I've got no idea how this place derived its name as it sounds so strange even in Chinese!) The decision was also made easier by the fact that the Maokong Gondola 貓空纜車 rides were advertised extensively on the Taipei City MRT trains.

When I was here in 2009, the Maokong Gondola rides were not even in operation as they were under extensive repairs. I was told they were the scariest gondola rides one could go on. (In actual fact, they had to shut down the service as a typhoon caused significant landslides near one of the Gondola towers in 2008) And the only other way to get there was to rely on a friend/acquaintance to drive you there to enjoy the Taipei City views and drink tea. We were game to try these new gondola rides, well at least I didn't tell M the history of this until we were on the return journey down from the mountains! Ignorance sure is bliss on such occasions.

The new and improved gondola rides @ Maokong

To get to Maokong it couldn't be simpler - simply hop on the brown Wenhu MRT line 文湖線 and head to Taipei Zoo Station. When you get out of the station, you will be greeted by cute cartoon characters such as the ones below, and you just need to follow the signs to get to the Gondola station (about a 5 minute walk). Once there, you will be presented with the option to go on the 'Crystal' cabin rides or the normal ones. I didn't know what the difference was so simply went for the non-crystal rides as there was no queue! (We later took the crystal rides on the descent. It just means the floor of the cabin is made of glass so you can see through it).

太可愛了吧！

2 Mar | Out and about in Taipei 遊台北 | Taipei, Taiwan

There’s never a dull moment when you have a list of twenty things to get through with only 2 days left to go!

Breakfast 早餐
The best way to start the day in Taipei is to visit the famous Taiwanese breakfast establishment known as ‘Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang’ 永和豆漿大王 . Yong He 永和 is a large city just outside of Taipei City itself, and they are known to make the best soya milk in the whole country. Thankfully most successful Taiwanese businesses follow the franchise model, so there was no need to travel to Yong He to taste the soya milk, as a 5 minute walk by foot was enough to find our breakfast. (And chances are, no matter where you stay in Taipei, you will find the ‘Yong He’ brand) Here I began what was a consistent theme on this holiday – over ordering.

Just some of the things available for breakfast

Dude cooking our breakfast

Here I am with our breakfasst

As one can see from the photos below we devoured the deliciously good soya milk 豆漿 with fried bread sticks 油條 + raddish cakes 蘿蔔糕 + chinese style omelettes 蛋餅. There's a lot more on the menu but I probably needed a party of five to at least get through half the menu! This is one of the best ways to taste an authentic Taiwanese breakfast on a budget. All this food for under AU$5. Bargain.

Address: 永和豆漿大王 located at 102 Fuxing South Road, Sec. 2 復興南路2段102號

National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院
It seems appropriate that after a heavy breakfast we should walk it off at one of the top museums in the world. The National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院 is a ‘Must See’ attraction for any first-timers to Taiwan, and in my opinion, repeat visitors! The National Palace Museum ranks up there with other top art museums including The Louvre and The Metropolitan Museum of Art for its incredible collection of the finest Chinese antiquities. There are over 675,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts ranging some 8000 years! You will find pieces from the Neolithic age to the last Chinese dynasty - the Qing dynasty. It is simply astounding to see how the Chinese civilisation has progressed in those 8,000 years and continue to progress in this modern age. Despite what history has written about Chiang Kai Shek, I still applaud him for taking all these artifacts from Mainland China and housing it in this incredible museum. I'm not sure if these artifacts could have survived war time China. My love for walking around museums and admiring artworks can definitely be attributed to my childhood spent living in Taipei. My mum cultivated in us an appreciation for history and fine arts via frequent visits to this amazing museum. Unfortunately, one cannot take photos inside the museum, so I only have external shots.

To get to the National Palace Museum
1. Take the MRT Danshui line to Shilin station 
2. Catch the Red 30 bus or bus 255 to the Museum

National Palace Museum
- 100 Years of the Republic of China

1 Mar | Taipei Revisited | Taipei, Taiwan

If you read this blog, you would know that Taipei is pretty much my 2nd 'home'. As Hong Kong is so close to Taiwan, I couldn't let a side trip to Taipei slip through my fingers! I went to Taipei this time with a good friend of mine, where we spent a good 3 days here exploring all we could in the short time frame.

One of the more surprising things about Taipei this trip was the weather. I thought it was going to warm up to the late-teens/early twenty degrees mark, not too dissimilar to HK, which would have meant good sightseeing weather. Nope, we got freezing cold 13 degrees and 2 unprepared travelers with just a thin blazer on hand! It was all grey skies as well, not the bright sunny Taipei I left behind 14 months ago. I had planned out this Taipei trip quite thoroughly, down to snacks and meals, but the weather put a dent on certain plans. I had to change the itinerary a bit, which was a bit annoying as I had drafted out everything on my lovely excel spreadsheet (I can't help it, itineraries are best done on spreadsheets!) I cut out a few things...M wouldn't have known otherwise :P

PS: I am splitting the posts into 'days' as I will never finish anything if I were to update everything in one go.


Day 1:
Once we settled into the very comfortable and convenient Park Hotel Taipei (I highly recommend it - 2 people for about $120/night), we went out in hunt of food! Taiwan is known amongst other Chinese groups for its fabulous food, but I must say since I have lived on the spices of South-East asian cuisine for so long, I am still biased. (Go Malaysian/Singaporean cuisine!) Yes Taiwanese food is great, but only if you know what to eat imo. I took M to one of my all time favourite Taiwanese eatery - 度小月. Here you will find a wholesome Taiwanese meal with a couple of updated fusion dishes to delight your palate. I like to ease people into the Taiwanese way of eating, and this place is the perfect transition restaurant. You will find great food, in a very nice setting at cheap prices. It is almost like going to a street vendor, but in a high class setting! The restaurant has been around since 1894 so you cannot go wrong here!

Street vendor-like store front

So much to eat, but only 2 travelers!

1 bowl of dry noodles, 1 bowl of soup noodles, and 1 fusion-sushi roll dish