Taipei - Quick four night stop-over in Taiwan

Taipei, Taiwan was added to the schedule as a four night stop-over on our way back to California from Indonesia. Eva Air doesn’t have a formal stop-over program like some airlines but does allow one stop on longer-haul flights; definitely check out Turkish, Emirates among others for these types of programs. This allowed us to book a single flight with four nights in Taipei without any price difference.

Anyhow, onto Taipei. Our expectations were “hot and humid”, which after 7 weeks in Indonesia was not exciting us. And unfortunately it was even hotter than Indonesia - upwards of 95F. This kept our sightseeing to a minimum and our enjoyment of our hotel AC to a maximum. Fortunately we had booked the club level at The Regent Taipei and that was a worthy spend. But onto Taipei the city.

If I had to compare it to another city, I’d say, sorta like Hong Kong and a bit like Singapore. The city, food, culture and shopping definitely comes across as a cross of Asian cultures. And given Taiwan’s history and location, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Once occupied by the Japanese at other times by the Chinese there are influences from both. Language is more aligned to Mandarin, food has influences of Chinese and then there’s plenty of Japanese restaurants, poke and sushi as well.

We spent one afternoon on a walking tour of the old town learning more about Taiwan’s history while seeing some of the sites. Then spent another day visiting Chaing Kai-Shek’s memorial and Taipei 101, taking a break mid-day to enjoy the hotel AC, seriously!

One of our days was spent on the north coast of the island, about one hour drive from Taipei city, visiting a few smaller towns. As always, I’m glad we got out of the city to see more of the landscape, country and some different villages.

On our day trip out of Taipei City we visited three places, Yehliu Geopark, Shifen and Jioufen - a bit more below on each.

Yehliu Geopark is a super unique spot on the north eastern coast. It has “sculptures” made of soft limestone rock formations, naturally shaped by wind and water erosion. The most famous, with a que to take photos, is Queens Head. The other shapes and sculptures were really cool looking, making for a unique landscape. It was hot as all could be, and we were thankful for a warm ocean breeze and a cold, fresh coconut.

Shifen, our next stop, is a town that had its glory days in coal mining which is no longer happening. The Main Street is a train track surrounded by tourist shops and yes, a train arrives regularly from Taipei, Shifen being the end of the line. With each train arrival/departure, tourists are pushed off the train tracks, reminding us much of Hanoi’s coffee street. Why are there tourists on the tracks in the first place? During Japanese occupation, women and children would stay in this mountain village. They would release lanterns into the sky to let people in the surrounding areas know there were no Japanese and that they were safe. Today, people come to write their wishes and prayers on large paper lanterns and then release them into the skies above. Nearby is a waterfall that is famous in Taiwan… it’s a pretty waterfall and worth a visit, maybe during the spring when the weather is more friendly.

Our last stop was Jioufen with it’s own interesting story of days gone by. After building the US railway system, some Chinese returned to Taiwan to build railways. During the building process gold was found in the nearby river creating a gold rush in the mountains above, and Jioufen become gold rush town, like many of ours in the Sierra Nevada’s. Imagine a Chinese version of downtown Truckee… sorta like that. It’s high above the Pacific Ocean though, with stunning views, sunsets and an alleyway of shops and eateries.

Overall we enjoyed seeing a bit of Taipei and see its appeal. Food was a bit challenging with a few places offering vegetarian and even fewer knowing or understanding gluten free needs. We got by for the few days we were there. Overall,we enjoyed the visit, though would have preferred more favorable weather - maybe next time in the spring!