Location: Taipei, Taiwan

I thought for sure today was going to be a recovery day, but it turns out nope! I woke up at 7 am and was so ready to hit the road and get adventuring. There’s no time to be tired! Magically I had retained what Eyal taught me last night about the subway station and I was able to work it out enough to make it to Taipei 101!

I love starting or ending my time in a city with a really tall viewpoint, so what better way than one of the worlds tallest buildings? The Taipei 101 was the worlds tallest building until the Burj Khalifa was built in 2010. So now it’s claim to fame is that it was the first building over 500m tall. Oh yeah and the elevator takes you up that 500m in 35 seconds. I walked around the observatory a few times, getting my bearings for the city and taking it all in.

Once I had my share of the incredible view, I decided to go back to earth (which also only took 35 seconds) to visit Village 44, Taipei’s first military decampment area for rehousing soldiers and their families in 1949. It was small and there wasn’t a whole lot of information, but it was a nice place to relax and get some food. Some of the low old houses had been turned into little shops, one of which was Good Cho’s. The front of it is a little market full of handmade teas and environmentally friendly products, while the back is a traditional Taiwanese restaurant. Again, I have no idea what I ate but I pointed to something on the menu and it turned out to be mostly amazing.

I mean it started with them bringing me a little bowl of wet rubber mushrooms and a glass of some weirdly thick and sweet cold red drink so I was worried… but the rest of it was perfect.

I wandered over to Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall. Sun-Yat Sen is the founder of modern China, and there was a giant imposing statue of him sitting right in the entry way, fronted by two honour guards. Luckily I arrived a few minutes before the hour, as the changing of the guard was about to take place with a whole bunch of very slow marching, boot clicking and gun swinging.

Nearby I strolled through Da’an Forest Park, kind of reminiscent of Central Park. There are old men playing chess, teens playing basketball, a roller-rink and many many twisty vine-y trees. I walked for what felt like half an hour and still didn’t reach the other side. I did stop and take a break to see the Taipei Grand Mosque though (just the outside, unless you’re praying you aren’t meant to go in).

I was getting hungry at this point and had been walking for a really long time, so pulled up my list of restaurants recommended by people from the hostel and chose one near me at random. A few blocks away I got a seat at Din Tai Fung, famously known for having the best steamed dumplings in the city.

Well I haven’t had other dumplings here yet but I can see why there’s such a fuss about them. I have a feeling I will be eating a lot of dumplings in the next little while here…

I hopped a train back to the hostel and met a couple new Canadians in my room: Justin and Terrence. The three of us went downstairs, met Matt, Helena, Jack, Zach and a few others. We all sat around visiting with a beer, and talked for quite awhile about how we all ended up in Taiwan, of all places. Eventually we wandered down the street in search of dumplings (they were tasty but not as good as Din Tai Fung) and bubble waffles. Bubble waffles look like waffle batter bubble wrap with each bubble filled with something of your choosing. I stuck with good old fashioned chocolate to be on the safe side. Also they come in a cardboard purse?

We returned to the hostel and played a few rounds of darts (which is I guess a big deal here?) before my jet-lag kicked in. I was so sleepy I passed out with my iPad on my chest.

No idea what’s on the docket for tomorrow!

Sav

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New People:

• Justin – Canada
• Terrence – Canada
• Helena – Iceland
• Matt – England
• Jack – Australia
• Zach – USA