February 2023

Another solo trip 🙂

I was here for 4 full days and it was perfectly enough time to explore everything I wanted to see. I honestly think I could have done it in 3 days, but the 4th day made me  “slow down” and enjoy my much-needed vacation. I have listed the places of things to see and do, and places to eat in alphabetical order. I also added some photos & information below the list that I have experienced.

Just a random note, when I dropped off my baggage for my flight to Taipei, the airport worker told me that Taiwan does not allow one-way flights to Taiwan. They needed to see the rest of my itinerary – to see if I will be flying out of Taiwan. I am not sure if it is only at my airport that required that or if it is everywhere else, but keep that in mind.

Now onto the travel blog!

Taipei was a wonderful city! Everyone was really kind, the city was clean, the food was yummy, and the transportation was very efficient.

How To Get Around Taipei
Taiwan has multiple ways to get around. They have the MRT, Taiwan High-Speed Rail, local trains, the bus and taxi. When I was there, I used the MRT & local trains to get to my destinations. They have many different passes that you can purchase from a one way pass, a day pass to 72 hours passes.

Where Did I Stay
I stayed at Star Hostel Taipei Main Station in a private room. It was a very luxurious hostel I ever stayed at. I really enjoyed it. It was so safe. It was about a 5-10 minute walk from the MRT station. It was located very close to a few restaurants, 7/11, and stores. The hostel was very clean and they give you slippers to wear in the room and throughout the hostel (the lounge, kitchen, etc). They also give free breakfast daily, so that was a huge plus! In the evenings, they host game and movie nights to interact with others. I would definitely stay there again. 

How was the weather in February?
It rained on and off the first two days I was there, but it was humid and not cold at all. The last 2 days was partly cloudly and not cold at all either. I would recommend to bring an umbrella and check the weather before coming. Luckily, my hostel let us borrow their umbrellas, so that is another huge plus for them!

Side note
I went to Taipei during the Taiwan Lantern Festival. There seem to be a couple of lantern festivals. One is the Pingxi lantern festival, which is where you release the lanterns into the sky (and I missed it, because I landed in Taipei the day of). There was another one called the Taiwan lantern festival, which consisted of hundreds of beautiful and color lanterns (not your normal circle/oval shaped lanterns). These lanterns had characters, animals, etc. and it was lit all over Taipei for about 2.5 weeks. They even had a cute bunny show (since 2023 is Year of the Rabbit, but in Vietnamese culture, it is Year of the Cat). For the Taiwan Lantern Festival, they brought it back after 20+ years, so I am not sure if they will continue it moving forward, but I hope they do, because it was so beautiful. I will show photos and tell more information of it below. 

Things To See/Do
Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall
Daan Park
Elephant Mountain
Huashuan 1914 Creative Park
Lungshuan Temple
Red House
Taipei 101/Shopping Center
Taiwan Lantern Festival (not sure if this will continue to happen)
Ximendeng District
Jiufen/Shifen Old Street/Waterfall (located outside of downtown Taipei)

Things to Eat/Drink
Din Tai Fung (the original one!!)
Grandma Lai’s Sweet Taro Balls
Raohe Night Market
Shilin Night Market
Xing Fu Tang boba
Zhangmen Craft Brewery
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Things to do/see

Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall
This was actually the first sightseeing that I saw when I was in Taipei! You can take the MRT Red or Green Line and get off at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Station and take Exit 5. When I got off, I was in shock of how beautiful the memorial hall was. It was incredible. I felt so tiny. At every top of the hour, you can also see the changing of the guard ceremony for free.

Daan Park
This park is very big and is great for walks, runs, picnics, family/friend/date hang outs, etc. There are playgrounds, basketball courts, ponds, etc. It is also right off the MRT station too. I walked to this park after my lunch at Din Tai Fung! 

Elephant Mountain
This area is a small “hike” up the stairs to see the view of Taipei and Taipei 101. Take the MRT Red Line to Xiangshan Station, take Exit 2 and walk south along the Xiangshan Park until the end of the road, then turn left, and go up a small hill, then turn right and you will see a sign for Xiangshan Trailhead to go up Elephant Mountain. It is a lot of stairs and will take about 15-20 minutes to get to the top. I don’t know how I “hiked” up in jeans and a long sleeve, but I took my time. I would recommend to wear some work out clothes, because I was sweating haha! I mean you could wear a longer dress – just take your time to hike up. Make sure to bring some water. Half way up, there are two benches to sit and look at the view. Once you reach the top, there are about 2-3 benches to sit and a small area to take photos. There are no restrooms at the top. The views were nice! I’m sure it is a lot nicer during sunset to nighttime 🙂

Huashuan 1914 Creative Park
I personally wouldn’t highly recommend to go here, but it’s something to see/do if you have extra time. This park had a grass area for you to sit and have a picnic, etc. But inside the park, there were a lot of pop-up exhibits such as Baby Shark, Disney – Mickey Mouse, and a lot of other anime shows that I didn’t know of. They also have small stores to shop too. Some exhibits were free and some you had to pay for. I also saw a few restaurants inside the park too. I think this park is more tailored to families and kids. 

Lungshuan Temple
This temple was the first temple I visited in Taipei. Take the MRT Blue Line to Lungshuan Temple and take Exit 1. It was a beautiful temple to view and to pray. This was the first time I saw the Taiwan Lantern Festival decorations too. I got a bit emotional here just observing everyone praying. I was really grateful myself that it was my first day there and I arrived safely to Taiwan. 

Red House
The Red House is made out of bricks and have few shops inside to shop for souvenirs. This was a chill area. Take the MRT Green Line to Ximen Station, take Exit 6 and you will see signs to Ximending shopping street and Red House. 

Taipei 101 Shopping Center
Ofcourse you must see in the infamous Taipei 101 observatory. Take the MRT Red Line and get off at Taipei 101/World Trade Center Station and take Exit 4 on your way out. I actually skipped out on the observatory, but I did go inside Taipei 101 shopping center to window show. I felt poor there LOL! 

Taiwan Lantern Festival 
As mentioned above, the Taiwan Lantern Festival took place from February 5th-19th, 2023. I was lucky that I was able to see it during the time I was there. The lanterns were lit every night and there was something going on at different locations. I went to Taipei 101 and they had an exhibit with walls, musics, and lights that shined up to Taipei 101 tower, it was pretty cool! It lasted about 15 minutes or so. It also rained but there was something pretty about seeing a show outdoors with all of the lights, colored and graphic walls with Taipei 101 tower in the background. They had a lot of big maps around the streets and workers who were apart of the Taiwan Lantern Festival, and I followed the signs to see the next set of lanterns (or they called it display zone) – there were SO many! It was like a free exhibits to see all kinds of lanterns, it was great walking to see all of them. I also went to National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (north zone) to see the giant bunny and that performed for a few minutes, and Taipei City Hall Square (south zone) had a lot more lanterns to see. Pictures doesn’t do it justice! I do hope they continue to do this every single year and celebrate the different zodiac signs. I never seen so many rabbits/bunnies all over haha!

Ximendeng District
I would recommend going here during the night time so you can see all of the lights lit up. It reminded me of New York Times Square. Take the MRT Green Line to Ximen Station, take Exit 6 and you will see signs to Ximending shopping street. There are a lot of stores and food in this area.

Jiufen/Shifen 
I save Jiufen & Shifen for last. Jiufen and Shifen are about 1.5 hours away from downtown Taipei via local train. Jiufen and Shifen are located northeast of Taiwan. Jiufen is an old town in the mountains packed with teahouses, street-food shacks and souvenir shops. It is also famous for the movie: Spirited Away. Shifen is also a historical old town. It is known for lighting up lanterns into the sky on the old train tracks. They also have a few souvenir shops and street-food snacks too. There is Shifen Waterfall too which is about a 30-45 minute walk from Shifen Old Street.

I took the local train to get to (and not the MRT) Jiufen & Shifen. The MRT station does not go to Jiufen and Shifen. You can ofcourse get a taxi there too. It was a bit confusing purchasing a ticket from the Taipei Main Station to Shifen. There are many routes to get over to Jiufen & Shifen. But I’ll tell you the route that I went. I went from downtown Taipei to Shifen first and then Jiufen (you have to take a bus up to Jiufen) from Ruifang Station. Then, from Jiufen back to Riufang Station to go back to Taipei.

From Taipei Main Station MRT (platform 4), you need to go to TRA Ruifang Station, then transfer to the Pingxi Line to get Shifen Station. Then from Shifen Station/Pingxi Line, you have to go back to Ruifang Station and take a bus to go up to Jiufen. Wow, reading that is confusing right? Don’t worry, I screenshotted so many different blogs of how to get to these places. Also, the workers at the train stations are very nice and will help direct you. I even asked a lot of locals and they confirmed that it was the right direction as well. For the buses up to Jiufen, once you exit out of Ruifang station, walk down to the police station and make a left and the bus stop will be on your right side – near another police station. You can take Bus 788, 825, 927, 965, 1062 up to Jiufen. I think some of them are the same going back to Riufang train station too. I was lucky enough to have met locals at the bus stop to confirm which bus was the correct bus. You can use your MRT pass for the buses too, if not, then you will need to pay cash. If you use your MRT pass, you will need to tap in and out. 

I am not going to lie, I was a bit nervous with all of these trains and buses, because I read that the buses can take a long time. It is recommended to go to Jiufen/Shifen early in the day and come back early-ish, before evening time. It is an all day thing, especially, since it’s a 3 hour+ round trip commute, plus, your time exploring both places too. You can also stay overnight too. I didn’t stay overnight and I left Jiufen around 3:30pm to get back to Taipei. To get to the bus from Jiufen back to Ruifang station, I had to walk down a little bit more than where the bus dropped me off. It was near/beneath a temple area with a parking lot. Since I was alone, I wanted to be careful to not get back so late. I know that Jiufen may look better at night with the red lanterns lit up, but it was just as pretty during the day because I got to see the ocean from the top! I hope you go on a non-cloudly and non-rainy day, because I think exploring both Shifen & Jiufen would be more enjoyable. It worked out for me 🙂 

Besides that, Shifen and Jiufen was charming. I enjoyed Jiufen a lot more because there were more shops, food, and views. It was a cute little town. 

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Things to Eat/Drink

Din Tai Fung (the original one!!)
There are multiple Din Tai Fungs around Taipei, but based on my research, the original spot is located on Xinyi Road which is the same one as Xinsheng Branch. It was on the same block. The Xinyi one was closed when I walked by (it was a bit early), so I went to the Xinsheng Branch and it opens at 11:00am. I arrived at 10:30am and there were people in line already. They give you a ticket number and once open, they call your number and also display it on the screen. Believe it or not, I never had Din Tai Fung in the states, so what better way to try it at its original spot! The service was excellent. I was really impressed. Once I got seated, they brought tea over and an instruction paper on how to eat the Xiao Long Baos. Also, they have brown cloth bags for you to put your bags/purses/backpacks in so it’s not in your way/behind your chair. I ordered the pork Xiao Long Bao, cucumber salad, and the shrimp & kurobuta pork spicy wontons. Everything was delicious, especially the xiao long bao – which is what they are known for. All of it was $15 USD total!! A lot of my friends says in the US, it’s $15 for ONE dish. So I am glad I got 3 dishes for $15 USD total. It was so cheap and so delicious. I also met a girl from the Bay Area but was visiting her mom in Taipei. Those two also had friends from Michigan that sat at the table next to me. What a small world. After that, I used the restroom and it was very clean! Highly recommend!

Grandma Lai’s Sweet Taro Balls
This one is located in Jiufen. It may be hard to find because it’s in the hallways of Jiufen in between all of the stores and other food vendors. This one, I actually stumbled upon. It was very humid in Jiufen and I wanted something cold and these taro balls were really good! After I ate all of the taro ball, I drank the “drink” and it felt like taro juice to me with ice. It was about $1.50 USD. 

Raohe Night Market
Ofcourse, you have to hit up the night markets when you’re out in Taipei! There are so many! Out of all of the foods I tried, I really like the Black Pepper Buns. It is one of the first food stalls you see when you enter in Raohe Night Market. I also really like the peanut cilantro ice cream burrito too! Oh and ofcourse, try the Stinky Tofu! 

Shilin Night Market
I prefered Raohe night market more than Shilin. But Shilin is not bad to visit either because it is the biggest night market in Taipei. They had a lot of food vendors, souvenir stalls, and a lot of games to play. I had the Hot-Star Large Fried Chicken, strawberry coated with sweet sugar (for some reason, I thought it would be soft and chewy, but it was like hard candy LOL), and I also had a lime melon tea drink too. 

Xing Fu Tang
I guess you have to try boba out in Taiwan too! It’s known for it! I had boba from Xing Fu Tang which is located in the Ximending district/shopping center. It was very sweet for me (and I barely drink boba anymore. If I do drink it, I get less sugar as possible). I also had their popcorn chicken too, it was nothing new to me haha. 

Zhangmen Craft Brewery
I was craving a beer to relax after “hiking” up Elephant Mountain and wanted a beer before I went to the night market and found Zhangmen Craft Brewery located near Da’an district. The beer was really good here. I had like a sour one and it was very high percentage and I went during happy hour so it was buy 2 get 1 free. The bartender, Ryan was very nice and spoke some English. He was asking if I needed any help or any recommendations for Taipei and all. He wants to get into aviation! 🙂 He was very kind and gave me random souvenirs of Taipei too. I love the paper coaster. There are a few different branches of Zhangmen brewery, but go to this one!

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Overall, I really liked Taipei! It was safe and clean. Everyone that I met were really nice – even though not a lot of people spoke English, we were still able to communicate via hand signals and google translate and showing a physical map and all. I love the efficient and quick MRT transportation! The map was easy to understand. When a train was about to come, the lights would turn on and music would play. Also, everyone lines up and are respectful of who arrived first and all. I also like that there is another gate before entering the actual train (super safe, because anyone could just jump off into the railway). I wish they had that type of transportation and respect in America. The food was delicious too. I also think the Taiwan Lantern Festival made it a huge plus too!

I will never forget my kind encounters:

1. When I was on my way to the hostel, I exited out of the MRT station and followed the directions to the hostel – the escalator was not in service at that time. I arrived around 7am/8am and some escalators don’t work until later. So I carried my luggages up 3 flight of stars….wooo I was sweating! I did not realize how humid Taipei was going to be! As I was on my 3rd flight or stairs, an older-looking dad came down the stairs, saw me, immediately went to me, and carried up my suitcase to the 4th and final flight of stairs. I was in awe because I did not even ask for help! That was such a kind gesture and a good impression of Taipei.
   
2. When I was at Elephant Mountain, I asked a couple of different people to take my photos and there was this one older lady who offered to take my pictures. She was doing all of the angles and I appreciated it because it reminded me of my mom/other Asian ladies who try their best to take photos haha. She was very kind and also gave me some Taiwanese snacks. I was hesitant on taking it because my mind went to the worst (you never know when you’re traveling solo), but I took it and thanked her.
   
3. When I was on the train to go to Jiufen, I asked a couple if this was the correct train and they said yes. It was a bit of a longer ride, so I briefly closed my eyes for a few seconds and I heard that the Riufang stop was here. I opened my eyes and the couple also tapped me to tell me that this is the stop. What a nice and gentle reminder.
   
4. As I mentioned before, I met the nice bartender at Zhangmen Craft Brewery and he was very kind!

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If I had another day, I think I would have went to more night markets and the National Palace Museum. I completed everything I needed and wanted to see in 3 days (solo). As always, thank you for visiting Vivian’s Ventures. Have you been to the Taipei, Jiufen or Shifen? If so, tell me in the comments/reply section about your experience. What should I do when I go back? If you haven’t been, tell me what you are planning to do there. Any questions or comments, let me know. Let’s chat! #viviansventures