The Taipei Metro Tour
- Jan 2, 2019
- 5 min read
It's only day one in Taipei and I am already so glad that Jenna thought of that stamp in her passport, because Taipei and it is fabulous and I already would recommend it to visitors who want to see another slice of Asia and I seriously don't understand why it is not on more people's radars.
We arrived at Taoyuan Airport at 5am (and Jenna happily received her first passport stamp) and the beginning of a long day of walking began as we made our way from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 (no we didn't walk all the way as there is a driverless train that connects the two terminals) but there is still a lot of walking involved.
We took the MRT train into the city (Taipei Main Station) costing NT$ 160 (which is roughly $8 Aus) and this was just the first of many trains we went on today. We bought an Easy Card for NT$100 ($5Aus) at the station and loaded it up with another $400 knowing that we are going to use it a lot. Using an Easy Card is easy and efficient and actually saves you money as each ride is slightly discounted when you use the card.(it also comes in handy if you need to buy banana milk at the 7-11 and you have forgotten your wallet but have the Easy Card on you.)
The scenery from the airport into Taipei City is spectacular, mountainous with so much greenery and even though it was raining it was quite magical with the mist coming through the mountains and I already know that there is a lot more of this mystical country that I want to visit so I think there might be quite a big Taiwan to-do list coming up.
Navigating the subway system was easy (which after today's adventures I think we are already pros at) but be prepared if you are going through the main station for lots of walking as it is huge (had flashbacks to Tokyo...although not as large it is a lot bigger than the stations we have to contend with back in Melbourne.
We are staying at the Tomorrow Hotel in Ximending the 'Times Square of Taipei and night and day are in complete contrast.When we arrived it was way too early to check in so we wandered around the area which was still quiet (very different from when we got back to the hotel) but I can understand why people suggest Ximending as a place to stay as there is a lot going on here.
We had our first meal in Taipei,
green onion and sweet potato pancakes with noodles which only cost us NT$260 ($13Aus for ALL of us) it was delicious and I hope that this is a good indication of how good and cheap the food is going to be while we are here.
On the way back to the MRT station(to start our adventures in Taipei) we came across an amazing temple, Taipei Tianhou temple, which gave us our first taste of spiritual contemplation, I am not sure what it is about temples but I find myself more drawn to them than churches, as I find them warm and inviting and whenever I am in one I take time to just sit and think.
This temple is dedicated to Mazu the Chinese Sea Goddess and was built in the 1700s, but after a fire in the late 1950s the temple was reconstructed which pleased a lot of people as they changed the layout helping with the Feng Shui of the building.
Our first stop of the Tapei MRT Tour was Liberty Square
which houses the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, the National Concert Hall and the National Theater. This is a huge square with it's impressive buildings and parkland and at certain times of year is home to mass crowds celebrating the many different aspects of Taiwanese life (including a lantern festival which is on my to-do list and I am thinking that it would be a really good excuse to come back to this part of the world because it would be knocking something off my bucket list.)
Both the concert hall and theater are used for both local and overseas performances and also used for conferences and motivational speakers, from Taiwanese opera to Shakespearean drama, symphony orchestras and Broadway shows. The memorial hall for Chiang Kai Shek stands out as it is the impressive white building that overlooks the square and the changing of the guards ceremony is worth waiting for, it is incredibly precise and disciplined and happens on the hour every hour.
From here we went to Xiangtian temple, which is devoted to Guangon a deified general who valued loyalty and righteousness, he was also great at managing finances so is worshipped as the patron saint of businessmen. so it is very popular. This is also one of the few temples that offers free candles to be used and that there is no donation box. As I said earlier I love temples and just like to 'sit' and breath it all in (the atmosphere and the incense)
While we were sitting we had some lovely Taiwanese come up to us and explain what was happening (it was rather busy while we were there) Many people were receiving blessings as it is the end of the lunar year and some lovely Taiwanese people came up to us to explain what was going on; that people want to sweep away the bad luck and encourage good fortune to follow them into the New Year and we were encouraged by the locals to have a blessing and receive good luck for the year which we eagerly agreed to and I think all four of us felt very privileged to accept those blessings.
From here we went to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall which is a memorial to Dr Sun Yat Sen who is considered to be the father of the Republic of China. The memorial hall is a lot more understated than that of Chiang Kai Shek and houses displays of his achievements and his role in the revolution which brought about the downfall of the Qing Dynasty.
This area is surrounded by Zongshan Park (Sun Yat Sen's Chinese name) and we sat and enjoyed the 'dancing water fountain' and the peace and quiet in the middle of a bustling city.
We also had glimpses of the Taipei 101 building which was once the tallest building
but now in 2019 ranks at number 10 on the list. On a clear day the 101 building dominates the skyline, but as Taipei is often covered in mist or rain you don't always see the top of it, so it was nice to be able to see it in all it's glory.
As we were in the area we headed to the Zongshan Cultural Park which is just a five to ten minute walk away from the memorial hall.
The buildings at the park were once part of an old tobacco factory and has been resurrected and now is a place that houses art galleries, artists studios,cafes and bookstores.
Exhaustion had set in at this point and we decided to finally head back to the hotel to finally check in and have a snooze, then a freshen up before we hit the first of the night markets Ningxia which was amazing with all the food choices.
To be honest none of us were extremely hungry and had nothing more than a really refreshing watermelon drink (there is plenty of time for eating later) rather than eating from the market stalls. I think also because we were all so tired and feeling a little seedy that the smells were a little overwhelming (especially that stinky tofu) that we decided to head back to the area around the hotel and one of the back alleys we had explored earlier in the day for a fabulous dinner, knocking off one of foods on our "Taiwan to Eat List", before crashing for the night.
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