I had this grand plan of celebrating my 25th birthday at Hong Kong Disneyland. It has been seven years since I was last in HK and it seemed like a fun idea to celebrate quarter life at a theme park. To hold my chocolate-coated Mickey-shaped ice cream while strolling around like a kid on her first time out of the country. But for some reason, I ended up in Taiwan. Mostly that reason is my college best friend who has been in and out of Taiwan the last couple of years and has been promoting it like a sponsored social media influencer. We hastily booked a roundtrip flight with the announcement that Taiwan will be lifting its visa requirement to Philippine passport holders, but it was postponed and we were already reeled in so we had to pay extra for the visa.
I am marking this trip as a major milestone in life. It was not only the first time I went out of the country without my parents, but also my first out of country trip not sponsored by my parents. I made it a point that I would be traveling out of my own pocket without compromising my savings by the time I'm 25. Here I am, a buzzer beater. This seemingly little milestone makes me happy after all the times I doubted my progress as an adult. Jumping from one career to another and giving up my tenure has caused a slump on my income so it was a challenge earning a decent salary in the past year. This may not have been a Eurotrip, but hey I worked hard for it.
We arrived at Taoyuan Airport a little past 1AM. Since it would be such a waste to book a hotel for half a day, we decided to sleep at the airport like a true backpacker. But I'm not, of course. I had 15kg baggage allowance for 3 days of stay. Fortunately there were small couches, outlets and free wifi at the arrival hall. Downside of sleeping at Taoyuan Airport? There are only a few people at night and they blast the airconditioners as if the place was an ice skating rink. Piece of advice, bring a thick jacket, or winter jacket if you're not built for low temperatures like me.
I was stuck with the boys because Liz had law school (I'm so glad she's finally taking the bar this year and will finally be able to join our trips) and Marj is now a flight attendant based in Jeddah and couldn't take a leave. Hopefully our barkada will be complete on our trip next year.
It is the total opposite outside though. July in Taipei is like April in the Manila. The sun can and will burn your skin. I'm not tolerant of extreme weathers be it hot or cold, so this trip was a real pain given the weather. Not to mention, the storm that wreaked havoc in the Philippines followed us all the way to Taiwan to ruin the trip. More about that later.
We stayed near Taipei Main Station since I thought it would be nice to be at the center of the city. I sort of wish we chose Ximending instead because Taipei Main is a lab rat's nightmare. But you'll be amazed with the places and things you'll find in the basement of Taipei Main Station. There are more or less five levels below the ground, malls and train stations intertwined as if there is an entire city down there. You'll be surprised which part of the city you end up in when you go back up some random flight of stairs coming from the basement. I heard even locals get lost down there.
It's Ram and I's first trip out of the country together. This made me realize how happy I am to have him as my best friend and travel buddy. I just fell in love with him tenfold after this trip.
It was the middle of the day and it was scorching hot. I was getting dizzy walking around when it was 35 degrees outside and we barely had any sleep from our red-eye flight and the freezing airport. But we still somehow managed to follow our self-made itinerary on our first day. If you're wondering about transportation, we purchased a reloadable Easycard at 7-eleven that you can use for trains and buses within the city. If you're used to commuting in Manila, commuting in Taipei will be a breeze.
Taipei 101 has 101 floors, hence the name. It's a skyscraper that's always in sight from any vantage point within the city.
Taipei 101 Mall only has luxury brands inside. Grandiose architecture and ambiance, everything was impressive... except for their food court. The food was unsatisfying to say the least.
Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
The statue of Chiang Kai Shek up in the middle building. I didn't do enough research, all I know is that he was a Chinese political and military leader, but I guess he must have done something great to deserve a memorial hall this beautiful.
Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
I don't really take thousands of pictures when I travel. I feel like I only need to take a couple of IG-worthy photos and just let my eyes enjoy the rest. I only start to regret it when I'm already blogging about it. But at least I got to take good photos of CKS Memorial Hall. One of the reasons why I don't take many photos as well is that I only use my iPhone camera (if you could tell from the quality). I'm saving up for a new camera this year so I can take better travel photos.
Shilin Night Market
Okay, this is one thing I regret not taking a load of photos of. THE. STREET. FOOD. If I'd have to rate the things I loved about Taipei, street food would be number one. Skip the fancy restaurant dinner and head on over to a night market on each night of your stay. You will not regret it.
Spicy Chicken for 100 NTD - heaven for the spicy chicken lover. Why don't we find stuff like this on our streets?
Mango and Strawberries and Cream Bubblewrap Waffle for 80-90 NTD each
I didn't try these so I don't know what they are, but they looked good so I snapped a photo LOL
So before this trip, I said I would not leave Taiwan without trying their (in)famous stinky tofu. I got the impression that if you don't try it your trip would be incomplete, but then when I got a whiff of it from a 10-meter radius, my stomach churned and I decided I couldn't do it. Maybe in another lifetime.
On our second day (the day of my birthday), the storm was forecasted to come. It didn't change its mind as much as I prayed it to but at least God gave us half a day of sunshine so we were still able to go to Jiufen in the morning. It's about an hour and 30 minutes away (train and bus ride) from Taipei and that's quite far since traffic's really light in Taiwan. Although it's only on the outskirts, the bus ride made me quite anxious as we steered away from the city and traversed mountains.
Jiufen was one of the places I really longed to visit in Taiwan. Whenever I go to another country, I make sure to visit a place with scenery that speaks a lot about the country's culture. Jiufen, being culturally rich as it looks, made sure I wouldn't leave Taiwan without meeting that requirement.
Jiufen Old Street
First thing you'll notice about Jiufen Old Street: Stairs. Lots and lots of stairs.
You'll think Jiufen Old Street is just one narrow alley from the facade but when you get inside it's actually a maze of alleyways composed of teahouses, food stalls, restaurants and souvenir shops.
An art shop somewhere in Jiufen Old Street
Scenic view of Jiufen from the old streets
Jiufen was a gold mining town until mining discontinued in the 1950's. It holds a lot of stories which makes it all the more interesting. Right now, it is a prospering mountain city-tourist spot kept alive by its establishments. The famous anime Spirited Away's setting is based on this place so you'll find a lot of Spirited Away items in souvenir shops. Quite odd as I thought it was based on some old town in Japan.
The rain started to pour carrying strong winds, even my umbrella's trusty windbreaker couldn't handle it. People started running around in raincoats and that was a signal for us to go back to the hotel. The weather was so unforgiving that we had to cancel our trip to Shifen Waterfalls and Yehliu Geopark. Just seeing the waves crashing towards Yehliu was enough warning. Sadly, the entire afternoon of my birthday turned into a staycation.
Outside Ximen Station
Sporting raincoats in Ximending
Evidently, we still braved the storm that night because we didn't want the entire day to go to waste. We got to shop a little until the winds became harsh and trees started falling, that was our signal again to go (run) back to the hotel. They say if it rains on your birthday, you are blessed. I'll take that for a fact to console myself from our ruined itinerary.
The following day was just as harsh. We went around the city but almost all attractions we planned to go to were closed because of the storm the day before. They were either cleaning up or doing maintenance. The saddest part was Maokong Gondola was also closed. I was really, really looking forward to that glass cable car ride and our last day was rash in giving disappointments. *sigh* I was just comforted by the fact that at least the skies were finally clear and I got to take decent pictures outside.
Huashan 1914 Creative Park. This used to be a 20th century wine factory, restored into a hip multi-purpose park
Inside Huashan 1914 Creative Park
Beitou Hot Spring Museum
A view from the trail in Beitou Park
I would say the day was a waste but we got to go around the city, got to ride 4 lines of MTR and taste McDonald's (yes the taste of fastfood varies in every country so it's valid). I couldn't remember a day in my life when I was as tired as I was on the 30th of July 2017. My legs practically gave up on me that day. So despite the circumstances, it was still sulit.
Would I go back to Taiwan? Yes, definitely. Apart from the fact that I wasn't able to tick all the places on our itinerary, it's impossible not to love Taiwan's cheap food, easy transportation and kind people. Despite the language barrier, the Taiwanese are really pleasant and accommodating. It's hard not to get attached to this lovely nation.
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