Taiwan

March 13th

Once we checked into our hotel, our first priority was to find some food. Upon our hotel’s recommendation, we made our way to a tasty local restaurant—and we were not disappointed.

Naturally, since we were in Taiwan, we had to get a bubble tea for dessert… and every other day.

March 14th

For our first full day in Taiwan, my mom found a wonderful bus tour. It was a very fun experience despite the rain. We got to visit all sorts of places, like the coast, where we observed the interesting rocky landscape formed by ocean erosion and typhoons (I think?).

We also visited the Shifen Waterfall and Old Street, where we saw lanterns being released and got some local street food as well.

We finished the tour at the famous Jiufen Old Street, where we experienced a traditional tea ceremony in the iconic teahouse that looks like the one from the Ghibli movie Spirited Away.

Overall, a very exciting day.

March 15th

We made our way to the National Palace Museum, where we got to learn more about Taiwan’s history.

We realised there was a “Din Tai Fung” nearby, so of course we had to go there for lunch. Since it’s so popular, there was a bit of a wait—but it was totally worth it. The food was so good.

To end the day, we headed to Beitou and enjoyed a very relaxing (and stinky) hot spring. We went on the perfect day too, since it was rainy and cold.

We liked Beitou so much that we booked a hot spring hotel there for our last night in Taiwan.

March 16th

We visited the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which was such an impressive sight. The sheer size of it all and the surrounding buildings were stunning.

We even got to see the guard change, which was a really cool performance.

Afterwards, we went to see the Taipei 101 tower and did a little shopping.

For dinner, we went to the Songshan Night Market. Although it was super packed, we really enjoyed everything we ate.

March 17th

In the morning, we took a bullet train to Taichung, where we ate at the “Chun Shui Tang, Longfu Branch” restaurant—apparently the original creator of pearl milk tea! It was very good, and the food was also delicious.

We walked around a bit before taking the bus up to Sun Moon Lake, where we checked into our hotel for the next couple of days.

While walking around Taichung, we came across a street with plenty of anime murals, which were pretty cool.

We quickly learned that places don’t stay open very long up in Sun Moon Lake, but luckily we managed to get a tasty dinner at a nearby restaurant before it closed for the evening.

March 18th

Because of the bad weather, we weren’t able to do everything we had hoped to at Sun Moon Lake. So instead, we took some time to relax a bit and had comforting hotpot for lunch, followed by some classic 7-Eleven cup noodles for dinner. A much-needed, uneventful day.

March 19th

The weather had cleared up a little, so we decided to visit around the lake—it would’ve been a shame to miss out completely. We bought ferry tickets that let us access three different ports on the lake, so we could explore a bit more.

In the evening, we probably had the most interesting and delicious meal we’d had so far in Taiwan. We went to an indigenous Taiwanese restaurant, which served incredible local food. We were so busy eating that I don’t think we even got a photo of everything that came with the set tasting menu. It was a feast!

March 20th

The sun was finally out again, which was lovely. Before heading back to Taipei, we stopped at this cute café for a very tasty cinnamon roll to set us up nicely for the journey.

There, we said our goodbyes to Mugdha. She was such a wonderful travel buddy and we were so glad she was able to come along! (Mugdha is the same lovely lady who hosted us in Goa, India, and in Singapore)!

Then we made our way back to Beitou to check into our hot spring hotel, and decided to explore the area a bit more and make the most of the nice weather that finally graced us on our last day haha.