Around Taipei City

Day 1
Nov 29, 2014
Taipei

It has been over a year, September 2013 to be exact, when we booked our flight to Taipei. And yet, more than a year later, we still did not have any itinerary a day before our departure. Worse, we had not booked any hostel yet for our first night.

It was only a few hours before our flight that I finally was able to find a hostel - Easymind Guesthouse - that would allow us to check-in a few hours after midnight. We arrived in Taipei at 12 AM but we had to wait for two hours for the bus to arrive to bring us to the city. It took 50 minutes to get to the city and it was already 4 AM when we finally arrived at the hostel. We felt bad for the receptionist who we had to wake up to let us in but I felt worse for the guests that I awaken while preparing to sleep (damn squeaky bed!).

 A few hours later, it was time to to check-out and move to our next hostel. I thought Easymind hostel was already cheap at 740 TWD per night but our next hostel - H132 Hostel - was even cheaper at 500 TWD. What made it even better was that the rate included a simple breakfast - bread, jams, fruits, and coffees. H132 hostel is definitely highly-recommended.

It was already afternoon when we finally started sightseeing. One thing that is great about Taipei is its very efficient train system - it is very easy to get from one tourist attraction to another. The people are also very disciplined - they fall in line while waiting for the train. They also stay on the right side of escalators to give way to rushing passengers.

The first place that we went to was Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, built in the memory of the former president of Republic of China. The Memorial Hall square is used for mass gathering while the National Theater and National Concert Hall are popular venues for events.

We then went to the National Palace museum where we spent a few hours checking out the different galleries that describe Taiwan and China's rich history and culture. There were paintings and calligraphy, centuries-old ceramics, wonderfully-crafted furniture and some exquisite treasures such as the Ivory Ball from Qing dynasty.

 The last stop for the day was at Shilin night market where we bought a few souvenirs - some shirts, oolong tea, and pineapple cakes.

We ate at Double Content which is found in Shilin market. I was surprised to see the big servings  - my order was actually good for 2 people and yet I only paid 150 TWD. It was cheap but the food, especially the hotpot, were really good.