Day 17- A 24 hr layover in Taiwan
Day 17:
你好，臺灣！
Welp, it was bound to happen. At some point, we would have flight delay, train issue or bad weather.
Torrential rains in Taipei caused or flight from Tokyo to be delayed almost 3 hours.
Meaning our 3 pm or so arrival turned out be after 6pm. The amazing thing, my window seat allowed me to see Mt Fuji from above! Also great perk, we were able to send all of our luggage minus our carry-ons, checked thru to San Francisco .
Taiwan was a tricky stop for us as it’s currently caught in a war of words between the Trump administration and the Chinese government. The chinese claim taiwan as a renegade province that they will take back by force if necessary, while the US has a mutual defense treaty to protect it in case if an invasion. The week prior to us leaving, the Chinese started unannounced like fire drills using land, sea and air equipment and personnel. Essentially simulating an invasion.
Tensions are high on the island. We were still going to make the most of it, quickly checking into the airport hotel then getting an uber into Taipei city.
There were 4 things on the agenda to do, and we’re were able to do 3. The Chiang-Sek memorial museum was the only one off the list due to the time, it was now closed for the day. So, our first stop was Taipei 101.
The super tall building that used to be the tallest building in the world. It’s now dropped to # 11. It just under 1,700 feet and 101 floors. Its exterior is shaped in traditional Asian architecture often seen in homes, temples and offices. It also has an incredible light show seen during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Because of the lingering clouds from the earlier showers, we decided against going up to the observatory.
We did check out the high end shopping on the attached mall complex, but you can only go into so many Louis Vuitton, Prada and Chanel stores.
We needed to be where the real action was, what Taipei was known for. It’s night markets and street food. First up, the market on Raohe Street, right off the Jilong river.
You’ll know you’re there as the entrance is the Songshan Ciyou chinese temple. The other discerning way you’ll know, the smells. At first, as its hits you like brick walk, you have no idea what it is.
Is it the sewer? Is it the food? Is it the river? It envelops you completely.
We walked thru, perusing the various stalls with octopus, eels, tongues, eyeballs, cheese, fruit, and garlic bread.
We ended up feasting on a 10 ounce sirloin steak and noodle for under $12 each.
We also had some fruit candy and a toffee donut.
It was now tine to head out as we had limited time and it was close to 1030pm.
Taipei itself prides itself on being one of the safest, most welcoming, most open cities not only in Asia but the world. It was the first country in Asia to legalize same sex marrriages in 2019.
We went to the Ximending district which had a free, open, positive energy to it but was packed with people of all ages. There were shops, places to eat, drink and dancing. And that’s how we ended our night, in a great positive experience in Taipei.
Albeit it brief, the City was welcoming even with the crap weather and shortened allotted time. We headed back to the hotel just before midnight, for our last night in Asia.
Final step count was 11,270 and 4.96 miles.
#taipei101#raohenightmarket#ximending#taipei#taiwan #Asia2025
