Two days in Taipei

Taipei, the capital of Taiwan encompasses old authentic, traditional Chinese culture, with modern sky scrapers, exclusive nightclubs and a metropolitan feel. We only stayed here for three nights and to be honest hadn’t heard that much about the city so didn’t really know what to expect, but we could have easily stayed longer. Due to the relaxed atmosphere, it turned out to be a welcome break from the bustle of south east Asia plus the fact that you could walk to everything which meant we had two very peaceful days of strolling around. Not forgetting the incredible Chinese temples, super friendly people, seriously interesting history and of course deliciously moreish food! 

Taipei is divided into 12 districts and has a cheap, efficient and very easy to use Metro system or MRT for getting around the city, though most landmarks and attractions are walkable. Taxis are also widely available and they use Uber here, they’re obviously more expensive but do-able if you’re stuck – we got an Uber from Taoyuan airport to Zhongshan as we landed in the early hours of the morning which cost us 998TD/£24.

We booked our accommodation the day before we were due to arrive (which is pretty standard for us) and managed to find a great guesthouse via Agoda called Yachuan Guesthouse with a private bathroom in the Zhongshan district which cost £71/2854TD for three nights. We’d definitely recommend this hotel (the owner kept giving us free beers!) and the district, as there were so many shops and restaurants nearby, we felt this district had quite a lively and commercial feel so it wasn’t too much of a culture shock. The hotel is tucked away down a side street so there’s no outside noise, and it’s only a 6 minute walk to the nearest MRT station. Personally we don’t think it matters what district you stay in in Taipei as you’re never far from an MRT and everywhere is so easy to get to. 

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial and Taipei’s Temples

For our first day in the city we decided to take in some Taiwanese history and headed for the Chiang Kai-shek memorial, a national monument erected in memory of the former president of the Republic of China and probably Taipei’s most iconic attraction. The monument is surrounded by pretty Chinese style gardens and ponds, filled with locals having their lunch, we spotted some folks having lessons to learn how to play the erhu (kind of like a Chinese violin) too. The monument has two sets of white stairs leading up to the statue of Chiang, each with 89 steps to represent Chiang’s age at the time of his death. At the top of the stairs is a Lincoln-style statue of Chiang with guards watching over either side. We were lucky enough to get there to see the changing of the guard too which happens between 10am and 4pm each day. The monument holds regular exhibitions and has a museum dedicated to the president, documenting his life and the history of Taiwan. If you’re interested in Taiwan and China’s political history and Taiwans development as a country its worth a visit. 

After a leisurely look around, we headed to Taipei’s famous Chinese temples located in the Wanhua District. We walked here from the monument which took us around an hour, you can also jump on the metro which is much quicker but we always like to walk in a new city to really get a feel for a place (plus we like to try ALL the food so we always need the exercise!). The city also offers Hop on Hop off style site seeing buses if you want to get round everything and don’t have much time. After walking past impressive looking government buildings and huge hotels we arrived at the cities oldest district of Wanhua or Manka. Wanhua is a lively district with bright neon signs, so many food places and shops and stalls as far as you can see, but it’s also where you can see the old streets of the city along with its historic temples. Taipei’s most famous cultural attraction in Wanhua is the Longshan Temple, a stunningly beautifully temple from the 1700s originally built for the Chinese Buddhism goddess of kindness and mercy Guan Yin. The temple has actually been damaged by earthquakes and other disasters over the years, however the locals have always faithfully restored it. The richly painted ceilings, decorative gold and red lanterns, bronze dragon statues and incredibly detailed carvings and sculptures are seriously impressive. It really is one of the most stunning temples we’ve seen (and we’ve seen a LOT of temples). What’s different about the temple is that it’s busy, not with tourists taking photos, but with worshippers who sit in the main courtyard of the temple singing Chinese versus and praying so you really get to experience some Chinese buddhist culture. There are also lots of traditional streets/shops selling tea sets, antique shops and herbal medicine shops surrounding Longshan so be sure to stroll around afterwards.

From the Longshan temple, all of the other temples are in walking distance. They’re very much hidden away in the busy streets but they’re very well signposted (in English too!) which made walking to each one easy. The Qingshan temple is only a 5-10 minute walk and is signposted from Longshan, it’s not as famous as Longshan but it’s still worth a visit to see its beautifully painted intricate ceilings and wooden carvings. There’s three floors here so do make sure you explore all of them as each one is more beautiful than the last! 

Another of our favourite temples was the Boan temple, a Taiwanese folk temple in the Datong district. It’s famous for its 200 year old dragon carvings which slither round the columns guarding the historic temple. There was no one around when we were here so we had the whole place to ourselves to explore. You can watch a traditional dance performance here on weekends.

Whilst in Wanhua, we also stumbled across the Bopiliao historical block which is an old street made up of 18th century architecture. A lot of creatives have started to regenerate and conserve this area and have occupied a few of the little old houses with galleries and craft shops. There’s a traditional puppet theatre there, unfortunately for us though they only do performances on weekends so we didn’t manage to catch one. 

The Food

There are plenty of food options in Taipei and our only problem was deciding where to eat! Taipei does food well and there’s more than just Chinese cuisine on offer. You can get Japanese bento or sushi, Korean BBQ, amazing bakeries with western food are also available should you be craving a taste of home. We however only had one thing on our minds and that was Dim Sum!  

On every corner you’ll find a Chinese restaurant or a little stall serving steamed buns and dumplings which all smell amazing! We found a restaurant not far from our hotel in Zongshan, the owners spoke no English but like most of these local restaurants, they had photos of the food so you can point to what you want if you’re mandarin isn’t quite up to scratch… We ordered Perch soup which was sour and salty and delicious, along with 3 kinds of steamed dumplings, and a chicken with ginger dish. FYI you get a lot of food at these places and local diners tend to order one thing at a time then order more if they’re still hungry which we didn’t do and ended up with 24 dumplings which was WAY too much food leading to Cam chowing down 16 dumplings, and not surprisingly feeling a bit stuffed! Also we should note that the etiquette here is to tick what you want to order on the menu sheet provided then take it to the cashier and pay before you eat, kind of a fast food situation. Our food came to around £20/825NTD but we could have ordered half of what we had and still been more than satisfied. Oh and all of the local Chinese restaurants have big vats of Chinese tea that you can just help yourself to for free! There are also beef noodle restaurants all over the city where you can get a huge bowl of noodles in a deliciously spicy, meaty broth for about £4/161NTD. 

The street food culture has been huge in every part of Asia we’ve visited and Taipei is no exception. There are quite a few street food markets in Taipei with the biggest being Shilin and Rahoe, but as we were staying in Zhongshan we were closest to the Niangxia Night Market. This small but busy, cramped street holds stalls filled with Taiwanese snacks such as fried yam balls, oyster omelette and pork liver soup, with the odd bubble tea and shake stand thrown in for good measure.

Taipei Arena and Martyrs Shrine

We also happened to stumbled across the Taipei arena which has a cool underground network of bars, food stalls and restaurants and stalls selling vintage clothes and hand made jewellery, it’s right by the Expo park so perfect to grab a drink after a jog, or in our case a very steady walk! From here you can walk to the Martyrs Shrine which took us around 30 minutes. The shrine was built in memorial of those who died in the civil war in mainland china. The shrine is guarded by active ROC military personnel and you’re able to watch the changing of the guard at 5pm each day. We watched it in the pouring rain and got absolutely drenched but it was definitely worth it to see the impressive choreography that these soldiers perform.

A new favourite

We were suprised at how much there was to see in Taipei and though we left feeling sad that we’d only had a small taster of Taiwan we both felt that it was a country we will definitely return to as there are so many other places to visit, along with their coast line which we’ve heard great things about. We can definitely say Taipei is one of our new favourite places and we’ll definitely be back to experience the ever-growing Taiwanese culture that’s emerging from the throws of mainland China. Our advice is even if you can only include it as a stop over for two days you should do it! You won’t be sorry, we promise.