We practice our usual routine; get on our plane, plan our way into the city, determine what neighborhood has what we want (cheap room in a good location.) We've gotten good at this. In the beginning of the trip we analyzed every little step but now we know that any specific plan will be adjusted so we just determine the broad strokes in advance.
First things first, we find out a taxi from the airport is out of the question. It would be about $100 US. A bus on the other hand will get us in for about $2 US each. As you may imagine, not a difficult choice. We locate the bus quickly and it's a little over an hour before we hit the city center. Bill and I are the last two on board and as a result we are in separate rows. While I sat beside a quiet little old lady, Bill sat next to a young woman holding a baby– the fact the she never sat still was one thing, but her hitting the baby when it did not cooperate was infuriating!
We hadn't pre booked our room a few day ahead as we've been finding better deals everywhere in person. This would prove not to be true in Taipei. With heavy bags we looked for those ubiquitous touts that are normally without end but could not find a single one – I never thought I'd miss seeing them. We saw a YMCA and asked about price -they wanted over $100 a night. No. In Hong Kong our room was $27 a night and Taiwan is supposed to be cheaper!!
We headed to a few more of the hard-to-find hostels and they were all full. Finally it was time to hit the Internet. We found an Internet cafe underground and overflowing with gamers and we searched for rooms online. We found one of the cheapest we could and wrote down the long instructions to get there. The directions were clear so we jumped on the subway and got right to the correct neighborhood. We had a building number that seemed to not correspond to anything... We asked some local shop keepers for directions and they simply gave us blank stares. There were no hostels in the area and when we finally found one it was not interested in giving us a price. After asking at the 7-11 (which according to the directions was supposed to be near the hostel) no one had a clue where the address was – and we were just exhausted! Was it the language? Was it us? Were we just not understanding? On the sidewalk I looked up to see this small little number that was the address we were looking for. The sign for the Hostel consisted of a business card taped to a fount door.
As we would discover the hostel was not bad at all; clean, mostly comfortable, but we only had a bathroom down the hall. We couldn't help compare Taiwan to Hong Kong--it was now costing us more with less amenities and as the guide book described, not a whole lot to do.
We head out in our little neighborhood for something to eat. Now I have learned on this trip not to be picky. If it looks edible and it's cheap enough I'm going to eat it. Bill has always had this attitude so by now we're always looking for the same thing, “cheap and easy”. We pass many street vendors which I've come to like but they are all selling things that, let us just say, are not making me hungry unless chicken foot soup or my personal favorite stinky tofu in fried pig's blood sounds appetizing. The smell even now makes me want to throw up--how anyone could eat this I have no idea. We find a steakhouse (I'm not kidding) that served traditional Taiwanese food. Bill and I both had the pork which came over noodles and with a raw egg on top...
We yet again would be here for a few days with James and Nao and plan to meet up to see the Taipei 101. After our brilliant time in Hong Kong we were excited to see another big city, this one home to the world's (current) tallest building, The Taipei 101. Most of Taipei is not skyscrapers or walls of glass so the 101 can be seen from just about anywhere. It's designed to resemble a bamboo pole symbolizing the strength and flexibility of the Taiwanese people. It is, as the name will tell you, 101 stories tall and until the Burj in Dubai is complete, the world's tallest building. We went to the top in the world's fastest elevator which goes from the ground floor to the 91st in a screeching 27 seconds. We checked it out and Bill seemed to not have been affected by the height so we headed up a few more floors to the observation deck which has fantastic panoramic views! It was there that I saw the sign, "No Jumping," – what!? They need a sign for this, really? That's a bit unsettling.
View from the top of Taipei 101.
James, Nao, Bill and Adam at the top of the Taipei 101
Later that night we went to a famous night market that was alright, not great but not bad. They had a local favorite – fried cheesy squid balls with mayonnaise (of course) and some really delicious dumplings! Other than that it was endless video arcades filled with games to win prizes that were flashing, beeping, and jumping out at us. We dove in, I threw some beanbags at cans filled with sand that never moved and then Bill shot pellets at balloons hitting every one of them, winning a Chinese fan that he gave to Nao -it was a blast! After that we stumbled onto a pet shop where we all picked out the puppies we wanted but sadly had to leave without.
Later one of James' friends Joe met up with us and we went looking for a bar to have a beer when we found the infamous Modern Toilet restaurant. That's right, it's a restaurant with a toilet theme. The chairs are actual toilets and the decor is all very bathroom like. The Taiwanese think of things we can't even imagine -or wouldn't...
After a beer we were all beat so we headed home after having an easy but fun day. Now what do we do? We check our guide and it's clear that the tower is the main event and most everything else is not really all that interesting. We spend a day checking out the local scene but are just not impressed with the people, place, or food. The best food I had in Taipei was sushi! We had stumbled onto a great restaurant that wasn't expensive and we both had plenty of sushi and a beer for $6 each. I know it will be too expensive in Tokyo so I'm trying to get my fix now.
We spent the remainder of our time in book stores, walking through the parks and working on the blog as the weather was rainy almost the entire time we were there. With Hong Kong having been such a great build up of excitement and intrigue, Taipei was lackluster at best. If we'd known there wasn't much there there we would have spent less time. It's the only city so far I frankly would just as easily have skipped. Next and final stop outside the States is Tokyo: both Bill and I are VERY excited and the only problem is the cold weather--we need scarfs!
As seen on a metro platform
