Location: Taipei, Taiwan

We woke up early today, excited to head out on a day trip to Wulai District a couple of hours south. The bus ride there was full of hairpin twists and turns up and over a tree covered mountain and into a gorge where Wulai came into view. The deep blue steaming river flowed underneath a red suspension bridge connecting two sides of the town. In high season apparently you can see people splashing along parts of the riverbank where naturally hot spring water flows out of the ground.

The small streets were lined with traditional food stalls and aging brick or wood buildings. The whole thing very much reminded me of a less touristy Skagway in Alaska. Taiwanese style. Just the feeling was happy and quaint for sure. At one point we found ourselves in a lineup for a little log cart that chugs up the mountain towards a tall multi-step waterfall, in front of which you can have lunch or coffee (we opted for the former). We laughed the whole way up and down, chilly but so surprised we had found this silly little cartoonish cart to ride in.

After a few hours of exploring we made our way back to the city, realizing we had to almost pass by Din Tai Fung on the way there… who can pass that up?! (I say almost because the minor detour is completely worth it). We stopped in to warm up with some hot wonton soup and tea, savouring every bite.

For a couple of days Max had been mentioning a board game store he wanted to visit – we tried a few days ago but it seemed to be closed because of the new year. It turns out we weren’t even looking at the right shop to begin with. Lots of shops were reopening today and tomorrow so we chanced it by grabbing some Tiger Sugar and walking over there. We did eventually find it with the help of a few locals and when we walked in Max gasped audibly. I don’t think I’d seen him quite this excited yet this trip! He spent a good hour browsing the stacks of games and cards, picking up and enthusiastically explaining everything he knew (which was like… most of them) and quickly looking up the rules for all the ones he didn’t.

We hadn’t been warm much of the day so we decided to head back to the hostel and cuddle up with a taping of The Bachelor (I would like to note that Max’s tune about the show changed drastically in an hour and a half. He’s still not a fan but that’s just cause he hasn’t given in yet!

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