Taipei!

We were originally planning on heading to Jordan after Sri Lanka, but as circumstances evolved, we decided to instead backtrack and head to Taiwan. We managed to make it through some overnight flying— leaving Colombo near midnight, with a connection in KL— surprisingly fresh, and landed in Taipei City. Though we really enjoyed Sri Lanka, we were particularly excited about this destination, and I think that Taipei will be one of the highlights of our trip.


The architecture of much of the city is a bit… utilitarian, but even coming in from the airport on the light rail, we could appreciate the beauty of the surrounding environment: the river, the mountains nestled in clouds, the sea, and the lush vegetation. Everything just seemed so green. 



One of the best parts of our stay in Taipei was the fact that we were staying with our friends Allan and Sandy. Even though we hadn’t seen each other for over a decade, and have added a bunch of kids to the mix, it just felt natural to get back together and hang out for a few days. It’s been a few months (since Australia) that we’ve been on our own, and staying in a house with people we knew was a nice change!

Not only were Allan and Sandy great hosts, but they were also great tour guides! They took us hiking up a mountain in Yamingshan National Park (easily accessible by bus from the city) to get some stunning views; out to explore some cool neighbourhoods; to the Shilin night market; and Allan even took me out for a run along the river.

We told Sandy that eating was a big part of our style of travel, and I don’t think we could have had a better food guide! I think we discovered all of the best things that could be found to eat in the city, including the famous stinky tofu (Ben is a fan!) , a hot-pot restaurant with all-you-can-eat ice cream (everyone was a fan!), lots of bubble tea (of course), the night-market scene, and a bunch of other things for which I forget the name, but remember the taste! I’m staring to get hungry again just writing this…



We also headed off to do some of the touristy things on our own, and Taipei’s extensive light rail (the MRT) made it very easy to get around. We hit the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, whose architecture is rather impressive, as well as the National Palace Museum, where a lot of China’s most impressive artifacts and artwork ended up after the KMT fled to Taiwan after the communist revolution.

With our bento boxes in hand, we then boarded a train to start our journey around the beautiful island.