JOURNEY2: Taipei, Taiwan. In the land of night markets & bubble tea, the only way to burn all the calories is to hike mountains and see waterfalls - the only view that is truly worth the climb!
My friends & I ventured to Taipei during its Spring season, when it was neither too hot, nor too cold. However, Spring made the mountains foggy & rainy. In the midst of our hike at yangmingshan, it showered & the path up-top were too slippery hence, we couldn't take the risk.
Throughout our time at Taipei, we aimed to feast at every night market that was near our apartment so we could indulge in the true taste of Taiwan. So, I'm sharing our itinerary to help you get ideas for your next trip to Taipei!
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
- Shi Fen
- Jiu Fen
Day 4
We took private transport to Leofoo village from Taipei Main station because we felt that the village was too far away. With Klook's transport service with admissions, we found that it was worth the price! The chauffeur came on time & was very friendly too. Since the theme park was deep into the village, it's best to take private transport. It's super worth! We got to rest in the car as we headed back to Taipei Main Station, before commuting to Shilin. If we had not pre-booked from klook, we would've stood in the train and squeezed with the many others who were heading home from work, ahem -- peak hours.
Day 5
Day 6
- Shopping at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi
Just a travel tip,
Bring your own recyclable bags for groceries.
Though plastic bags are easily available at night markets, convenience & grocery stores require payment of about NTD$5 per plastic bag used. As we shopped in Carrefour & visited Family Marts, we used our own recyclable bags or squeezed our loots into our day-bags. Their convenient stores have tables & chairs, so we usually eat our food and drink our hot tea in peace before venturing out again. That way, we didn't have to carry our food with us.
Travel Tip #2,
Prepare to keep your litter with you.
Growing up in the Lion City, we're all used to being surrounded with bins. However, it's really hard to find rubbish bins around Taipei. Though the night markets have their designated rubbish area, there aren't much bins around especially in touristy places such as Jiufen/Shifen, mountains, underground shopping malls, etc. As responsible tourists, we should keep our litter with us until we find proper bins to discard them.
An alternative that frequent travellers practice; to bring along a plastic bag - to discard everyone's wrappers/sticks/tissues before throwing it at a bin once its full.
Travel tip #3,
Sanitize, Sanitize, Sanitize!
Just a friendly reminder, always practice hygiene. Practice it wherever you are AROUND the globe. I don't think of myself as a germaphobe, but I think it's really important to keep your hands clean at all times. Very often, we touch the things that millions of others have touched, especially when commuting the public transport.
Not all of their public toilets have soap, so it's always good to have a sanitizer with you, or perhaps some wet tissue (though it'll just add on to the amount of litter you already have in your bag.) It's best to have your sanitizers ready & accessible, like the ones you hang at the strap of your bags so you don't have to contaminate your other belongings when you rummage through to find your sanitizer.
With all the travel tips I could possibly think of, I hope you're ready to venture into the beauty of Taipei! Perhaps, you could also share with us your own Taipei experience!