When it comes to being a tourist in Taipei, there’s no denying that one of the major highlights is indulging in the delightful experience of street food tripping. The vibrant and bustling streets of Taipei offer a culinary adventure like no other, enticing visitors with a wide array of mouthwatering delicacies and flavors.
In the various commercial districts of Taipei, including the bustling Ximending area where my wife Marissa, son JM, friends Jun and Kat, and daughter Cassie and I stayed at Hotel 6, you’ll discover an abundance of day and night markets. These vibrant markets are a treasure trove of shopping opportunities, with a wide array of apparel, souvenirs, and, of course, an enticing selection of local street food.
On top are Taiwan sausage, beef noodles at A Zong, and milk tea, try Xing Fu Tang for the latter, there is always a long line of people, stinky tofu looks popular too but not for me, then, there are the taro balls, fish balls, squid, scallops, oysters, chicken wings, even a peanut ice cream roll made before your eyes.
For hot pot dishes, one of the best is Mala, right across from our hotel, there are several branches of this restaurant, but my wife and I passed up on that, pricey for one, we had lunch instead of fried rice with shrimp in a small authentic Chinese restaurant nearby, and enjoyed it.
Shopping was not what we expected, apparel items were more expensive than in Manila, same with simple souvenir items. However, we did not pass up on buying Taiwan’s pineapple cake and boba milk tea, plus dried fruits and noodles at Donki, a Japanese discount store.
Going beyond all these food trips and never-ending shopping walks, we took a package tour that brought us to three places outside Taipei’s commercial districts. The first stop was the Yehliu Geopark on the north coast of the island.
The area, once submerged, is now dry land, with a lot of eroded rock formations that have interesting looks, mushrooms, honeycombs, and whatever interpretation local people have of it.
The next stop was Jiufen, a famous old street with many narrow side streets and stairs, full of stalls that offered anything and everything, and again, all sorts of street food. We tried beef noodles, sausage, braised pork with rice, and ate right there on the sidewalk.
Tea houses are also popular in the area, and depending on the location, they can offer a beautiful panoramic view of the bay below.
The third stop brought us to the majestic Shifen Waterfalls, 20 meters high, and 40 meters wide, that end in a natural pool below, surrounded by trees. Actually, it was only one of the many waterfalls in this place, but Shifen offers the best sight.
Nearby was the Shifen old street, popular for its giant message lanterns that people release into the skies. The launching pad is an old railroad, still in use, with stalls selling lanterns for NT200.
According to local folks, a nighttime visit is more spectacular with hundreds of lit lanterns floating skyward.
We finished the day with a visit to the Shilin night market but had the same experience; prices were on the high side.
The following day, we dropped by Taipei 101 for the mandatory picture taking of this iconic building, but the cost of going all the way up was a bit deterring, close to P2000 per head.
Instead, we spent our money on a gondola ride that brought us to the Taipei Zoo, impressive by its size and the animals housed there in near-natural settings, we missed out on seeing the red panda though, in fact, we could not even visit all the areas unless you are willing to walk far, we were not, and it was nearing closing time.
In between tours, we stayed in the hotel room to avoid the hot sun, venturing out only in the afternoon till night, simply walking around the area.
After four nights and five days, we were back in Manila, the end of a wonderful vacation.