I hadn't really considered the implications of touching down in Taipei at 00:30 when I booked the flight. The airport was still crazily busy and immigration took a long time to clear. I didn't have the required flight ticket out of Taiwan but they never asked for it, so once I made the front of the queue I quickly got a free 90 day tourist visa. Another stamp in the passport, and another country I could put a tick beside in those on-line 'how many countries have you visited' polls.
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| Rainbow bridge |
All the info I had from the lonely planet and various websites said buses running to the city would stop at midnight, the cost of a taxi was looking at >£20. This turned out to be duff info, a bus to the main bus station in Taipei was scheduled to run every 30-40 mins throughout the night.
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| The sign tells me that this bus is headed in exactly my direction |
The queue for the bus ticket was horrendously long and once I'd bought the ticket the queue for the bus was longer, it snaked around and inside the terminal. This was going to take all night or so I thought.
I spoke to someone in charge, a difficult conversation as his English was only marginally better than my Chinese, I understood because it was so busy they have put extra buses on. And so they had, bus after bus pulled in and the queue soon went down. Where else in the world would a bus company add extra buses after midnight to cater for increased demand?
The bus station was about 1.5 km away from my hotel. No taxis were around so using the maps.me excellent navigation app (travellers should get this and pre load destinations) I found my hotel with little problems, but even so all the waiting around had pushed it to 03:00, and I was tired.
My hotel/hostel was described as one of those capsule hotels where you sleep in a tiny coffin like space. This hotel however was more of a plush backpacker dorm room. You had your privacy with the aid of a curtain to pull across, but you did share the room with plenty of others. The place was quite luxurious, the staff friendly and the price cheap.
I was woken just some 3 hours after falling asleep by a rustling person in my room. He must have gotten every single plastic bag and scrunched it into a small ball. This went on for 5 or 10 minutes, thankfully he left as a very tired Phil was starting to lose patience with him.
To avoid carting around many guidebooks with me, I got the digital edition of Taiwan Lonely Planet. Generally I like the Lonely Planet guides, sometimes I have a love hate relationship with them when it is clear slack research has been done. Getting around using the digital version is much more difficult. I tried to take the walking tour, something I find easy, but swiping left and right between the map and the navigation instructions just isn't the same to me as flicking the pages. Perhaps I'm just old school when it comes to books.
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Longshan Temple
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Digital or physical the walking tour had a few mistakes and a few places where I interpreted the instructions incorrectly. The tour once on the right path led me to many fantastic temples and museums and parks. It was a long trail when tired.
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Red House
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Along the route I took in some Iced bubble tea. It had an acquired taste, the black bits were chewy jelly tapioca, which every now and again you got a lump sucked up the straw.
I asked in the hostel a place to go to see some nightlife, it was Friday night in Taipei after all. I however was having a few nights off the beer after a reasonably busy last few nights in Philippines. I was directed near the red house which was part of my earlier walking tour. I was tired and just wasn't feeling it, so after a walk around I took the underground back near my hostel and found some delicious duck noodles.
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| Bubble Iced Tea - the bubble is tapioca |
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| Duck Noodles |
Another fairly restless night despite been ultra tired meant I decided not to extend my stay here but move on to another part of town. The place I found was great, only a little more expensive, but I got a private room, the hosts were great, it was very secure and located right next to the train station I needed to be at for my next destination a couple of days later.
Language was proving a little difficult, most Taiwanese could speak a little but seemed shy and afraid of making a mistake. I had many conversations speaking via the excellent interpreter that is Google Translate.
I was told of a local specialty, a Taiwan Hamburger, and my host showed me where they were best. It was a mix of pulled pork and fatty belly pork in a very soft and spongy bun, with added ground peanuts, some dark green stuff (presumably seaweed) and coriander. It was a little over £1 and absolutely delicious, so I had another.
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The making of the pork bun
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That afternoon I visited Taipei 101, the 5th tallest building in the world. I went up to the top floor and stayed up there for around 3 hours. I was mainly chatting with the locals and visiting Chinese tourists, having a laugh and a joke with them where the language barrier allowed.
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On top of the world at Teipei 101
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Sadly the weather wasn't brilliant, it was trying (successfully at times) to rain all day. This meant that the 91st outdoor floor was closed and also spoilt what would have been magnificent views. Whilst I was there it had become dark, so I got to see buildings illuminated in neon signs.
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| Not my favourite huge building but a good one |
On my way home I called into Riohe Night Market. Night markets are similar to town fairs in England, with games for kids and temporary street stalls selling local delicacies. I loved this night market, and it really was an experience to many of my senses. Some of the stalls, my nose told me to move on quickly, others my eyes didn't like the look of what was on offer.
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Deep fried seafood stall
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One stall had a huge queue making similar, but different pork buns to what I'd had earlier. As I stood in the queue you could almost imagine the commentary Rick Stein would have given this place on his food hero's series.
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| My supper getting made |
Dough was beaten flat on steel surfaces, before been passed to someone to add a handful of spring onions, then a handful of pork was added and the bread rolled into a perfect shaped bun. A sprinkling of sesame seeds and then places of the side of a burning hot ovens. It was good to watch whilst I waited in line. Delicious too at £1, a bargain.
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Just needs to be put in the oven now
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On the way back I caught a Chinese style show, I had no idea what was going on, but watched for a bit. It was a hybrid of a Punch and Judy show and an Opera.
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| Chinese show |
Another early night, another night without beers, but I was woken firstly by a group of 20 noisy Chinese who had been sampling the beer it seemed, and then a fire a few buildings away meant 6 fire engines with full sirens blasting for a hour or so at about 02:00.
So my first 3 nights in Taiwan I had very little sleep. This still didn't stop me from taking a full day trip in. I did It all on the metro (MRT). First stop in the northernmost station on the lines was Tamsui. It was really nice here, traditional old buildings, churches, temples and a fort.
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Tamsui
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The walk back was just as entertaining as I walked along the riverside, which had plenty going on, almost a UK seaside town feel to it , from years gone by. With it been Sunday, many locals were having a day out.
A few stops towards town was Beitou a town built around thermal pools. Lots of the buildings had a 1970's concrete theme, but there were nice modern eco-buildings.
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| Hot spring valley |
I took a walk along Thermal Valley which led to a turquoise/green lake which was so hot it had steam coming from it. Locals used to cook eggs in the lake but too many injuries led to safety fences been erected.
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| Steaming hot springs |
There are many thermal pools and spas where you can bathe in the thermal pools. Some more pricey than others. I choose the public pools which for 80p offered great value. It had 6 pools. Very cold, cold, hot, very hot, boiling and ridiculous. I managed to stay about 5mins in the one I labelled boiling, I did dip my toe in the ridiculous pool, and thought better of it.
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| Hot spring pools |
I calculated that I had gone through 48 MRT stations that day all for about half the price of a single trip on the London Underground. The Easy card is a must for any visitors to Taiwan, it makes it cheaper and is much more convenient. I got to use it on buses throughout Taiwan.
Another trip to the night market, another pork bun, some sausages washed down with some cranberry juice it was an early night at 21:30. I had the hotel to myself this night, and was looking forward to a full uninterrupted night. Just as I was having a glass of water on the balcony the owner arrived with a few beers, a couple of hours later the early night was well out of the window.
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Sausage man
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Peter the owner arrived at the hotel with some breakfast for me as a present. It was thin Singapore style noodles, with a HOT chili flavour, various other things were in the soup, some I tried, but others didn't look do-able.
I loved my stay in Taipei, had a great time, just the two beers and if I return at the end of the trip (likely), I will stay again in the 2nd hotel.
Next up is my time spent in Eastern Taiwan.
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