Taipei Trip (November 2018)

It's been a while since I last updated this blog!

Lately, V and I have been pining for a trip. We're working on that, but in the meantime, I'd like to write about our trip to Taipei, Taiwan last year. Whoa, has it been almost a year already?!

So, last year, after much thought about "relaxing" and "doing what we loved", V and I decided that we'd go on a trip as a family before the year ended. We were hearing nice things about Taiwan, and, since the country began their visa-free entry for Filipinos, we chose it as our destination. I excitedly (and nervously, haha) booked budget flights and AirBnB for our 5-day holiday in Formosa.

And I'm so glad that we visited Taiwan.

Weeks before our trip, V and I had doubts about travelling with our toddler. Ya know, things like, diaper changes, is the stroller going to be an issue, nap times, and how were we going to carry all that luggage with us, with a tot in tow? But our worries were dispelled when we landed at the airport.

We had an easy time at the airport. I mean, yeah, we were caught up at the immigration line for a bit, but I’d say it was still smooth. 

Taipei is generally a stroller-friendly city. Maybe we encountered stairs-only places less than five times—- mostly the train stations that were being renovated, and the front of our AirBnB. Usually, elevators and escalators were available, and the streets were accessible, too. 

And diaper changing was okay, too, in this city. Restrooms that we got to use were equipped with changing tables. 

As for the attractions and activities, Taipei has a lot (and I mean a loooooot) to offer kids (young and old haha). 

And then the Taiwanese people. They were so polite and helpful, those that we interacted with. It didn’t matter if we couldn’t speak their language. They were ready to help whenever we struggled with directions. Once, we took the wrong bus, and the driver even asked if there were English speakers on board, just so they could help us. They are amazing. Haha.

Our Day 1 in Taipei began a bit rainy. But it wasn't really an issue, because from the airport, we just took the express train straight to Taipei Main Station, and then transferred to Ximen Station. We only spent maybe 15 minutes in the light rain, when we walked to our "home base station" in Zhongzheng for those five days.

We arrived at the AirBnB around 3pm already, and we hadn’t really had much to eat for lunch, so we looked for the nearest vegan place to grab something to eat: Rice Revolution. The people there were really nice, welcoming us, despite the time. V had bibimbap, while had soy milk hotpot with rice, which I shared with the Little Beancurd. It was good enough to fill our empty stomachs.

We went back to our accommodation to rest for a bit, and then decided to explore the neighborhood. Minutes later, we found ourselves riding the train to Shilin. We were trying to find a vegan takoyaki stall located there, but we headed to the famous Shilin Night Market, since we were closer to it. There, we sampled fried milk (!) and grilled flavored king oyster mushrooms , which were especially delicious while hot. We also tried the yummy, gummy, fried sweet potato balls that had something like a custardy filling. Afterwards, we attempted to still look for the takoyaki place. We found it, but unfortunately for our tummies, the stall was already closed.

So we went back to our home base.

Day 2 was spent at Taipei Zoo, and Taipei 101. After our train ride to Taipei Zoo Station, we just walked about three minutes, and we were at the entrance of the zoo. I liked that the entrance fee was only 60 NTD for adults, and Little Beancurd got in for free, since he was only 2 years old then. As we gave our tickets to the staff, some young girls handed us small pieces of paper with some Chinese characters, as well as time, printed on them (12:30 - 12:45). We thought it wasn’t anything important, and even lost one of them, but those turned out to be our “tickets” for the panda viewing! They hand those out to maintain the capacity of the panda viewing area.

The weather was sunny, so the walk around the zoo wast rather sweat-inducing. Haha. We mostly spent our time there at the mini-zoo for small kids, and then at the panda viewing area. The air-conditioned panda viewing area was a welcome respite from the noontime sun. Maybe because it was getting a bit humid, or we were getting hungry, we decided to leave the zoo and have lunch. That was how we landed in the Taipei 101 area. Haha.

The Taipei 101, which was the tallest building in the world from 2004 until 2010, has 101 floors. People can take the elevator up to the observatory at the 89th level for a about 600 NTD each, but V and I would much rather spend that amount on food haha. So we just marveled at the structure from outside, and dined at the food hall inside the 101. I had salmon tempura (which I didn’t know came with shrimp tendon tsk tsk), while V ordered food from an Indian resto, and got some takeout veggie dishes from the deli section of Jason’s Supermarket. We also shared a bowl of the popular mango shaved ice dessert.

We spent a few more hours inside 101, with me buying “pasalubongs” from the souvenir shops, and also from Jason’s. Then we got lost on our way out. But there were always people who would try to help us. We got to our home base safely, albeit with weary feet.

For Day 3, we bought some scallion pancakes from a local bakery, for a quick breakfast fix. Then we went to a stationery store in the Banquiao district for my sister’s craft bilin. This was not exactly in our itinerary, and the place was rather far from our home base, but it was okay. We had snacks at a nearby 7-Eleven, then headed to Eslite, an uber-artsy bookstore-slash-mall, selling unique items. Eslite was so unapologetically hipster, I immediately fell in love with it. Haha. So much so, that we visited another Eslite branch in Xinyi that same day!

After securing my sister’s order, we headed to Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. This place is, as its name states, a creative park, where artists come to display their works, creative business people to sell their wares, and people to just... be creative. Before, though, the place was actually a tobacco factory, which eventually stopped operations as the demand for tobacco decreased. Now, it is considered one of Taipei’s historic sites.

Right across Songshan Creative Park, we found out, was another Eslite. And out of all the Eslite branches that we visited, I think that this one is my favorite. This branch has its own hotel, and this branch is where various creative workshops happen. I mean, glass blowing?! At the basement of Eslite, is where we also has the best meal we had in Taipei, too. I just don’t know what the restaurant’s name was, but we had vegan shrimp tempura (so freakin’ yummy, it tasted like the real thing), udon noodles, silky, black sesame tofu, and other small veggie dishes that were just delightful.

Our bellies were so full, but because it was chilly outside, it wasn’t long before the food we feasted on was completely digested. Haha. We returned to our home base tired, but happy.

Day 4 was our last day of exploring Taipei. We spent this first at the Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall, where we were amazed by the grandness of the entire place. It was truly a sight to behold. Although we wanted to, we did not enter the museum anymore, because we thought that the toddler might get bored inside. Instead, we just took in the beauty of the architecture, and let the Beancurd run around the grounds for a bit of “exercise” LOL.

Then we headed to another creative park, Huashan 1914. There, we had lunch at an Italian restaurant. I would not really recommend it, as the food was so-so. But we were famished, and that was the first food place that we saw. Haha. Then, we got to visit a sort of (free!) exhibit by Panasonic. V and the little one enjoyed trying out the interactive parts of the exhibit. 

We also visited an impressive porfolio exhibit by college art students. Those kids are really talented!

Afterwards, we visited Syntrend, a nearby mall specializing in electronics, since V wanted to scout for laptops. There was a floor for toys, so Beancurd had something to busy himself with, as we browsed the displays. Then we headed to Longshan Temple, just to see the structure. Althugh The Beancurd fell alseep in his stroller already, we did not enter the temple courtyard anymore, as we wanted to avoid disturbing those who were there to actually worship. We walked around the area for a bit, too, trying to find a TCM pharmacy (V ran out of his cordyceps), and reached the Bopiliao Historic Street. It was closed when we visited, so we just snapped a few photos there, and headed to Ximending Shopping District for dinner.

Funny thing is, Ximending was super close to our home base, but it was the last place that we went to during our trip. I liked Ximending, because it had a lively vibe. Bright lights, and lots of young people going in and out of street-side boutiques. It reminded me of the shopping areas in Hong Kong, such as Mongkok, and Tsim Sha Tsui.

We found a stall that cooked these palm-sized crispy pancakes with fillings that you can choose. We tried the tuna, chocolate, and custard with red bean, and they were all tasty. The Little Beancurd loved them.

Our last night in Taipei concluded with us catching a street performance of a harp musician, playing lovely music. It was around 9pm, I think, when we walked back to our AirBnB. Before entering the building, V took one last photo of it, as a remembrance of our awesome vacation in Taipei.

We woke up super early the following day to head to the airport. We took a cab to Taipei Main Station, since it was where the airport express train was. We got to the station a tad too early, though. It was still closed when we got there. So we waited outside, along with other early birds, until the station staff gave “opened” for the day. Luckily, Little Beancurd was just asleep the whole time. He just woke up when we had to alight the train at the airport. 

We had a few hours of waiting time at the airport, so we spent our remaining NTD’s buying breakfast at 7-Eleven, as well as some last-minute pasalubongs at the souvenir shops.

This trip, I’d say, is the best trip that I’ve had. I enjoyed the sights, went on a (mostly) guiltless food trip, had self-control with shopping hahaha, and shared such a wonderful experience with my family.

—

I will try to write a separate entry in the near future about our expenses, as well as some other places of interest in Taipei (that we wanted to visit, but failed to, because of time constraints). Hopefully, that would be helpful for other families out there (with young kids, too) that are planning to visit Taipei.

(1 NTD = 1.65 PhP during our trip)