We got up at 4:45 and started getting ready. We managed to set off an alarm on the front door as we were leaving.Thankfully after leaving it for a bit we were able to re enter the code and silence the alarm before the national guard turned up to arrest us. 

We walked to Nezu Station and caught the Subway to a stop that was a short walk from a central train station where we were able to buy tickets to the airport. We couldn’t figure out how to purchase tickets for the Skyliner express and ended up catching a normal train that ran to the airport. I was concerned that we were not going to make it in time, especially as you normally need to be at the airport at least 2 hours prior to boarding an international flight. We needed to change trains but were helped by a couple of our fellow passengers, one was a young bloke who had been out partying all night and was heading home for some rest. Then there was a lady whose parents were from China, but she had grown up in Japan. She had a daughter around Paige’s age, and she was going back to China to visit her parents. We stuck with this lady as we were all going to the same place and she knew the drill. This also gave us an opportunity to chat with her in Chinese. 

We arrived at the airport around an hour before our flight. We had loaded our bags with all of our warm gear that we had been wearing on our flight out of Australia. This made our bags over weight. This meant that we needed to check two of the bags, we zipped up, secured and checked in Cassian’s and my bags. This allowed Scotty and Christine to take their bags on board. 

We located the gate and found a cold water station where we could fill our bottles. It was lucky that we did as the flight didn’t have water, nor did they have much in the way of food offerings. This was a bit disappointing as we hadn’t had time for breakfast and we weren’t going to arrive until lunch time. 

The Flight

The flight was smooth and we quickly got through customs. They didn’t actually need to see the completed entry cards, I think they were able to look them up with our passport details. Once we got through customs, we decided that we should get some food. Alas the only place we could find on the top level was a Subway, we didn’t know there was a bottom level that had a massive food hall with a wide selection of food offerings until we were on the way out. 

Easy Cards

We ate a couple of 6” Subway sandwiches and then bought Easy cards from a vendor not far from the Subway. The Easy card can be loaded with money and can be used for a wide variety of purposes from hiring bikes to paying for goods in the 7-Elevens. One of the main purposes that we wanted them for was catching the train into the city. We were able to load credit onto the cards at the information centre after discovering that the machines don’t give change. The machines are easy to use and very efficient if you don’t need change. We loaded our cards with $200NT cash but discovered that we should have put more on. The $200NT got us to the main transfer station but we needed to top up with more before we could move on. Cassian put $1000NT on straight away, but this was probably too much as it took him most of the trip to get through it, $400 – $500NT is probably the optimal amount. 

Ximen district

The train system in Taiwan is super easy to navigate with well defined tracks and easy to understand maps. Most messages are in Chinese and English. The accomodation that Christine found was really close to all of the action, so as soon as we stepped out of the Ximen train station there were people, restaurants, shops and street performers everywhere. We wandered through the action and checked out some of the street performers doing their routines. We made our way to the accomodation and arrived in time to check in. Scotty headed for the shower and then went off exploring. 

Cassian, Christine and myself dropped our gear and went in search of food. No sooner had we left the accomodation then we got roped into helping one of the street performers with his death defying stunts. The show was fantastic and we had front row seats. After helping the street performer we navigated our way to a Korean BBQ place and this time we were relatively successful. We were able to navigate the app for ordering more meat and Christine and Cassian located a stack of vegetables and mushrooms to cook. In effect we cooked our own meals, which was kind of perfect in that we could cook things exactly the way we wanted them. 

I will admit that I probably ate a bit too much and it made me feel a bit off for a while. I am used to having balanced meals and these protein heavy meals are not in any way balanced. 

Shilin Night Market

We dropped some fruit that we had purchased back to the accomodation and then went in search of the Shilin Night Market. The night market was only a few stops away from the accomodation and we located it quickly and easily. We took some photographs at the entrance to the market and then made our way inside. 

The crowds were thick and the sound of hawkers all flogging their wares was intense. The first isle that we walked into was packed full of games, these included shooting games, dart throwing and hoop throwing games, then there were stalls loaded full of gambling machines where both adults and small children were playing. Some stalls had mahjong games going where the stall owner was playing against a number of contestants all on a different boards. 

We then walked into the fried food section where there were all types of snacks and meals from dumplings through to meat skewers. We picked up a couple of waters from a Family Mart, we were able to pay with our Easy cards, and then continued with our exploration. We eventually wandered into the clothes and knick knack isle where we stopped to buy some souvenirs to take back as gifts for friends and family back home. We picked up some key chains, and a lamp for Katelyn. 

In this process we lost Cassian who had continued walking and disappeared into the crowd. We wouldn’t see him again until we got back to the accomodation. Cassian had had a quick look for us and then made his way back to the accomodation. We tracked around the outside of the market and then waited at the entrance for a while before deciding to head back to the accomodation. Thankfully we were able to get some WiFi at the train station and give Cassian a call, he was already back at the accomodation by this point. Alas the travel sim that we were using was not yet working, something to do with the settings. But with the knowledge that Cassian was safely back at the accomodation we navigated our way back on the trains and met Cassian in the lobby of the accomodation so that we could go up in the lift together. We showered off after our adventures and headed to bed.

Day 4

Gan Mei Alley

We were up reasonably early so that we could have some breakfast and get started for the day. Christine had managed to track down a blogger who had recommended a nearby dumpling restaurant by the name of Gan Mai Alley for breakfast. The blogger was on the money, the food was incredible and inexpensive at around $600NT for a plate of dumplings, 3 x hamburgers with steamed buns and Scotty’s pancake dish. We also had a 2 x soy milks with red beans, and a black tea.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

After our meal we headed for the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. We got off at the station before the memorial and walked to it, as this is what Chat GPT had said to do, however it would later turn out that there is a station at the memorial that we could have gone to directly. 

The memorial was surrounded by gardens and large temples. In the gardens people were practicing Tai Chi and doing exercise on the exercise equipment. We stopped to do a few chin ups on the chin up bars and met an 84 year old bloke who comes to the gardens to do a few backwards summersaults on the bars every day. He said that he does around 10 per day and then has breakfast at the cafe. We joined him for a few backwards summersaults and found that he was a lot better at them than we were.

It was just after this that Cassian headed off to go and meet up with Nicole. Nicole’s flight had been significantly delayed which meant that she had flown from Australia to the Philippines, had a two hour lay over and then flew on to Taipei. Nicole was tired and had spent a lot of time flying. 

Christine, Scotty and I continued exploring the shrine. We did a rocky re-enactment on the stairs leading to the shrine and then took some photographs with the Chiang Kai-shek memorial statue that depicted Kai-shek relaxing on a chair with a broad smile on his face happy in the knowledge that Taiwan had become a successful, modern, independent, democratic society. 

Taipei 101

After the shrine we made our way over to the Taipei 101 building so that we could go to the observation deck. We arrived and found the entrance to the elevators for observation deck, which was located on the 89th floor and 382m high. Cassian and Nicole arrived just after we did. We all made our way onto the elevators and were whisked to the 89th floor at a top speed of 1010m/min which was significantly faster than the one in Japan. The views out over Taipei were spectacular, and one thing that Cassian noticed was that many of the roof tops had gardens and other useable space. This we could clearly see from the viewing platform. 

After Taipei 101 we headed back to the Ximen station and went in search of a hot pot restaurant that had been recommended by Christine’s blogger. On the way we came across a small shop owned by a bloke form Peru, he had salsa beats pumping so we stopped to dance some Salsa out the front of his shop. We located our restaurant but because we didn’t have a booking we went on to a waiting list. We waited for a considerable period of time before we decided that we had waited enough and went in search of another place, we ended up finding a place that served curry, rice and vegetables for a great price. We filled up and then headed back to the accomodation for a siesta. 

Xiangshan (Elephant Mountain)

After our siesta we navigated our way to the Xiang Shan station and walked a few hundred meters to the Xiangshan trail walk entrance and started our ascent. The walk up was steep with stacks of stairs, there were loads of mosquitos just like Peggy Lea had said on her Youtube video. There were 3 viewing platforms at various heights where you could stop and take in the view out over Taipei city. At the top of the mountain we found some more chin up bars and we did a couple of reverse flips with a 74 year old lady who was doing a workout on the equipment.

We tried to fly the drone at a number of points but it said that it was a restricted area and wouldn’t take off. We took photographs as the sun was setting over Taipei from the various viewing platforms and from some boulders that are at the top of the trail. Once the sun had set and the lights had come on we descended the stairs and headed for the Ningxia night markets.

Ningxia night markets

In the markets we quickly located steamed soup dumplings place and ordered a couple of trays of dumplings. From there we grazed our way around the markets, my favourite dish was the Chinese pancake with vegetables. Christine managed to track down a mango smoothie, we would have thought there would have been a lot more smoothie shops around considering how warm it is and the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Our last stop was the lady selling ice cream peanut wraps. She had a large block of peanuts that she shaved with a plane, she would put the shavings into a pile on some pastry and then put three dollops of ice cream onto the peanut shavings, sprinkle some coriander over the top and then roll up the pastry and serve it in a bag. Christine and Scotty tried one scoop of each of the three different types of ice cream that she had. I can assure you they were all delicious.