Happy Lunar New Year to everyone!
I've had a week off for the holiday, which has been so relaxing. Thankfully I was able to contact a travel agent and get a great deal for my friends and I to go to Taiwan for 4 days. We got to stay in a 5-star hotel right by the Main station and round trip air tickets for less than what you'd pay just for the airline tickets! I went with Jenny, Simone, Maibritt, Linea, Svenja, and Sabrina.
We arrived on Tuesday and went to the Shilin Night Market where we had a successful shopping and eating adventure! I had stinky tofu, taro milk tea, and a cream bun. Mmmm, I was so excited that everyone really enjoyed the night market. It can be really overwhelming because of all the people and items for sale. The next day we went to Ding Tai Fung, the famous dumpling house for brunch. We ordered the must-eat dish, Xiao Long Bao. Basically small pork dumplings witha little soup in them. Everyone loved the food and from there we walked to Taipei 101, formerly the tallest building in the world. It took awhile to walk there, but it was so warm and sunny! Perfect weather! Definitely not what I was expecting, so I was wearing Uggs and a sweater. I even had to pull out my UV umbrella to help cool down. The weather really agreed with us while we were there. Went to the top of 101 and got some ice cream while enjoying the view of Taipei. From there we attempted to go to the Maokong Tea Plantation, but the gondola to the plantation was closed for the New Year. But at least I got to see where the pandas are! It was pandamania down there. I will have to save time to go see the pandas when I go back to Taiwan in May.
That night we kind of split up and I showed Linea, Jenny, and Maibritt around the mall under the Main station. We got some snacks, and went back to the hotel to rest a little. For dinner Sabrina, Maibritt, Linea, and I attempted to find another night market, but never did, so we went back to the main station for dinner and shared some huge steamed buns. The guy at the restaurant remembered us from earlier and had a lot of fun talking to us trying to guess where the girls were from.
The next day we had some traditional Taiwanese breakfast called Fantuan. It has shredded pork, a fried dough stick and maybe something else all wrapped up in rice. Then we headed over to the National Palace Museum. Spent a few hours there and we split up. Most of the girls went to Beitou for a hot spring, while Maibritt and I went to the Confucius Temple and explored the markets around there. I later found out that the hot spring they went to was nude, oops! But they still enjoyed it. That night we went to the younger area of Taipei called Ximending. There's always a lot going on, but there were so many people a few of us left early since we were going the next day anyway.
Our last day in Taipei was really relaxed. I took some sticky pics with Maibritt and we wandered around Ximending, the train station and the area around our hotel.
This experience in Taipei has really given me a better understanding of where everything is. Usually my mom takes me everywhere and I don't really think about it. But now I feel a lot more confident travelling around in Mandarin-speaking countries. I can already tell my Mandarin is improving! Jenny felt the same way too. It's different being there with family where we just go out and eat, shop, etc. This time I got to see some different areas of Taipei and fend for myself. We were so nervous the girls wouldn't enjoy Taipei, but I can tell they all enjoyed the hotel and all the things we introduced them to.
