Life in the Fast Lane

A few months ago, my sister announced that there was a seat sale and that we had to book right now. Before I could even process things, she booked plane tickets for herself, our mom, and me to Taipei. "Girls' trip!" she said.

Weeks later, my brother Chuck decided to make a similar booking for himself, his wife/my sister-in-law, and their son/my nephew. It ended up being a most-of-the-family trip after all (our Dad and youngest brother couldn't make it anymore due to work and school, respectively).

As random as this trip was, I knew we had to be smart about several things since: a) none of us had been to Taipei (or anywhere in Taiwan, except for Chuck, who was only there for work and barely got to walk around); b) we wanted to keep to a budget; and, c) we had to factor in the different "needs" of our family (i.e. we had a toddler with us, we didn't want to tire our mom too much, I had a health condition).

First things first, though. We needed to book where we would stay. After much researching and asking around, the best thing to do was to book a place in a strategic/central area that was near several convenience stores (always a wise move) and close to an MRT station. Chuck and I went back and forth, deciding on several options, until one 3-star hotel from Agoda caught my eye based on pictures, seemingly good reviews, and a workable price range.

I ended up choosing the King Plaza Hotel, which is across a Family Mart, a 7-Eleven, and a Starbucks, had lots of shops around it (including a pharmacy), and was a stone's throw away from the Ningxia Night Market. It was also a 10-minute walk away from the Zhongshan MRT Station, and if you wanted to give yourself even more of a workout, probably a 20-minute walk away from the Taipei Main Station.

Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take photos of our rooms and the hotel itself, but if you've been to 3-star hotels in Hong Kong, then this is fairly comparable. The hotel itself is located only on the 3rd floor of No. 163 Nanjing West Road (don't make a mistake by going to the 4th floor, because that floor houses a different hotel), offers free breakfast (a typical simple breakfast buffet), and had acceptable amenities in the room (the rooms were quite small but not too cramped, and each had a queen-sized bed and a single bed).

Next on our list of priorities were our visas. Chuck and his family had US visas, so all they had to do was to get a US Travel Authorization waiver instead of a Taiwan visa. For my mom, sister, and yours truly, I got each of us e-visas.

The funny thing was, weeks after getting our visas, the Taiwan government granted visa-free access to Filipinos beginning November 1st. Our flight from Manila would be on October 31st, late in the evening, arriving in Taipei on November 1st early in the morning. True enough, when we landed, we didn't need to present our visas to the immigration officers. Yes, you could say that it was a waste of time (and money) to prepare our e-visas, but I would rather be safe and have them just in case we still needed to show them.

Anyway, after a late night flight, we finally landed in Taipei at 1:35am on November 1st. We were able to arrange a pick-up service, c/o a Filipino driver who was recommended by my mom's friend, so we were able to bring all our bags and a sleepy toddler to our hotel in peace.

Here are the things that we were able to do in Taipei. Not all of us were complete for each activity or destination (there were times we would split up, then meet for a meal) and we also tried to group the activities according to what were close to one another. Towards the end of this blog, I will list some tips that we learned along the way, that I feel you will likely benefit from.

1) Din Tai Fung

Anyone who is anyone knows that Taiwan is the land of xiao long bao (soup dumplings). And anyone who is anyone knows that when you say xiao long bao, you are referring to Din Tai Fung. We couldn't not begin our trip without a visit to the nearest Din Tai Fung, which was, thankfully, just a 15-minute walk away from our hotel. We had to wait about 20 minutes in line — which wasn't bad by DTF standards — and once we were ushered in, we were brought to a cozy corner table.

As expected, the food was great, which is why we spent quite a bit for this meal. This ended up being our most "expensive" meal of the trip, since 90% of the time, we were eating street food.


2) Taipei Peace Park

A historic park located near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, it contains memorials to the victims of the February 28 incident in 1947.


3) Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

Named after the former President of the Republic of China, this memorial hall is not just a national landmark, but has since become an increasingly popular tourist attraction.


4) Ningxia Night Market

Thankfully, this street (and night market) was a less than 5-minute walk from our hotel. We had dinner here twice, on our first and last nights. We particularly enjoyed the torched beef cubes, their version of an okonomiyaki, their dumpling noodle soup, and their Taiwanese popcorn chicken.



5) Yehliu Geopark

For your outdoorsy fix, make the long trip to this famous geopark, known for various rock formations beside a beach. It took a while before we were able to find the West Bus Station of the Taipei Main Station (we walked around 30 minutes from our hotel, and we had to navigate the entirety of the main station before reaching the West Station).


Eventually, we did find it, and we were able to use our Easy Cards (more on this later) for the bus ride. It took an hour and a half (costing around NTD 95, if I'm not mistaken) to get to the Yehliu Bus Station, then another 10-minute walk to the actual geopark where we paid the entrance fee of NTD 80 each. But the journey was worth it.




While we didn't go to the roofdeck of this famous skyscraper, we were able to have dinner in the foodcourt, walk around for a bit and do some window shopping.




7) Taipei Zoo

Not that I've been to many zoos, but this is easily one of my favorite ones. It's accessible, the grounds are huge, and most importantly, the animals have lots of space and are well taken care of. The zoo is at one end of the Brown Line of the MRT, and the entrance fee is only NTD 60 per person. My three-year-old nephew had a blast. Unfortunately, it would rain every now and then, but there are many places where one can chill (and order food or a drink) while waiting for the rain to pass. Note, though, that the zoo closes by 5pm.






8) Shilin Night Market

From the zoo, we took the train back to the city to hit this famous night market. As with many other night markets (and street markets in general), you could food trip or shop the night away in this place.










Believe it or not, this is a restaurant. Yes, a restaurant wherein you will be sitting on toilets and eating and drinking from toilet- or urinal-shaped bowls or glasses. It's as trippy as can be, and had my nephew cracking up. He didn't even want to eat the poop-shaped chocolate ice cream at first, until we managed to convince him that what was on the bowl wasn't actual poop, but ice cream. Food-wise, the selection was random (from curry dishes to sandwiches), and taste-wise, it was just so-so for me. Really, one would go there primarily for the experience.




Xièxiè, Táiwān, for the wonderful time that we had!


P.P.S. I forgot to mention that we were able to go to church in Taipei. Thank you to the Bread of Life community for the warm welcome!