Taiwan for the First Time

My parents have been visiting us in Japan every spring the past few years. The ironic thing is that they are not the type to travel just to see the cherry blossoms, and they are baffled by the crowds. Since we just visited the U.S. a few months ago, my parents came to us and we decided on Taiwan as a place to visit together. 

Flying into Taipei

Traveling with three generations is no easy feat. As the middle generation, H and I require the least attention. My mom is another matter - picker than the kids (by a long shot) and not a fan of spending one more second outdoors than necessary. We couldn't be more different. The thing about Taiwan that we hoped would united everyone is the excellent food. 

After some research on good places to eat and the necessary reservations, I realized that eateries are tightly concentrated and don't require reservations unless it's relatively formal. Living in Japan has left me with an instinctual need to make reservations in advance. Tired from work and looking for a casual family place to eat on a Friday night? Forget it unless you've anticipated this moment by making reservations days in advance. Japan is reservations for everyone for everything. Yes it promotes order and predictability, but it really is exhausting having "plan" all the time. 

This was one of the things I really appreciated about eating in Taiwan. There are lots of casual eateries but there are also some nice casual restaurants that set aside a good number of walk-in seats. You will not miss out on good food for lack of a reservations.  

We arrived on a Friday night. By the time we had checked into our hotel, it was peak dinnertime. I look up a couple of restaurants that are part of a nearby shopping complex not expecting much. The restaurant we went was so so good - far exceeding my expectations. Chinese food that is well-seasoned, not too oily, incredibly flavorful, and with lots of options. The place had different variations of rice - black and white mixed, quinoa rice, and red mixed rice. Unfortunately we were too hungry to take photos. Here are a few photos of other delicious things we ate. 

Taiwan is known for its breakfast foods. They are for people who love carbs and savory breakfasts. There are breakfast joints literally everywhere, but the most well-known ones are Fuhang Soy Milk, Sihai Soy Milk, Ding Yuan Soy Milk. We had every intention of trying all of these. Instead, we went to a small scale neighborhood place our first morning in Taipei and ended up going there every morning thereafter. My typical order was cold slightly sweetened soy milk (you can take it hot or savory) with shaobing filled with egg. We also tried the steamed buns (with either vegetables or sweet adzuki bean paste) and a breakfast burrito-thing made with rice instead of tortilla. 

One note about eating out in Taipei - it is incredibly easy, even for big groups. Restaurants tend to be small, but they are so highly concentrated that it was never difficult to find a place that could accomodate a party of 6 during mealtimes. In Tokyo, it would be a big challenge to find a decent place to eat without reservations. This more laid-back dining culture really suited us and our needs. I could go on and on about the food, but we didn't just eat. 

Taiwan is not a big country, but we wanted the trip to be slow-paced, so we made Taipei home base and stayed close with only a couple of day trips out of the city. 

Taipei Zoo/Maokong Gondola

Taipei Zoo has some of the nicest animal enclosures. Despite also being an island with a sizeable population, Taipei feels open and spacious compared to Japan, and this is true of the zoo as well. At Ueno Zoo in central Tokyo, you could easily wait for an hour to catch a glimpse of the pandas. We were lucky to see numerous pandas in action - running, climbing, eating, playing. I've really never seen so many active pandas anywhere. 

We rode the scenic Maokong Gondola from the zoo to a village called Maokong. What is in Maokong? Cats, we heard. There wasn't much there. Maybe we were just tired, but it was a bit underwhelming (lots of tourists, not many traffic lights or sidewalks). 

Dihua old street 

This was one of my favorites. It's an old neighborhood where you can see some colonial style Japanese architecture in the low, red brick fashion - architecture that is now rare even in Japan. We went on a hot day, but the line of shops are all covered, so it wasn't bad at all. 

I bought the most souvenirs here - dried fruits (mangoes, Chinese dates), nuts, pineapple cakes, tea, postcards, and other nicknacks. Some of the shops are repetitive. For instance, there are a lot of dried fruit/traditional Chinese medicine shops. But there are also unique shops selling artisan goods and cafes/restaurants. The culture center itself had some lovely exhibits, not to mention one of the few toilets in the area. 

Raohe Night Market

We could not leave Taipei without going to one of its famed night markets. But which one? We went for one of the most well-known: Raohe. Even though we arrived just an hour after opening, it was already quite crowded and got more so as the night wore on. The food was exceptional. We left the kids at home and were very happy we did so with the crowds, smoke, and lack of places to sit. We also shared almost everything, though the portions weren't big; we just wanted to try as many different stands as possible. 

Beitou

On our last full day, we took another day trip to Beitou, only half an hour away from Taipei by public transport. Beitou is known for its hot springs and Japanese-style public bathhouses, as well as its history. We visited the Beitou Museum, a restored historic bathhouse, which presented Beitou's storied history under and after Japanese rule. 

Beitou had some lovely parks and stunning views. 

Hot and sulfury all along this path.

It seems people used to be able to sit along the banks and dip their feet in the spring water, but sadly no more

The museum, originally built as a hotel in 1921 under Japanese rule

The beautiful inside. After falling into a state of dilapidation, it wasn't fully restored until 2008

Despite it being April, it already got pretty hot midday with the sun. That did not stop our kids from playing at a local park for hours in Beitou. These spacious parks had such nice structures - swings, slides, climbing towers, even a zip line. 

We really enjoyed our time in Taipei. It's a city with lots of nature and space. The people are warm, and the food is excellent. We never had the time to get that last bubble tea we promised, so now we've promised our kids "next time we go."