TAIWAN: where to stay, what to do, where to go

Every year, I do my best to give one international travel experience to Nacho kid. Last year we went to Thailand, this year was Taiwan. We almost weren’t able to go, because just 7 days before our flight, Geof caught Dengue and was hospitalised for more than 5 days. We went to Taiwan last July.

Fortunately, his doctor gave us a go signal that he could travel after his platelets stabilised. But the doctor said Geof wasn’t at 100% so he shouldn’t tire himself to much.

As a mom, this made me torn. I don’t know what’s the best decision to do. Anyway what’s done is done because we came anyway. My brother Kurt, and my super friend Arvin, went ahead first, because we have to rebook our flights because Geof was still sick on the flight date.

Trip Taiwan VLOG

Philippine airport and immigration

An untold rule in the Philippines, is that you never, ever, post on social media yet unless you already passed the immigration. I don’t know why but they’re really strict over there. Since Geof and I have been travelling a lot and have a lot of stamps on our passports, we don’t have problems anymore. The immigration just asks us the usual, when are we gonna go back, what are we gonna do. So we say, we’re just gonna have a vacation, and come back after the long weekend because Nacho kid has classes.

Going to the airport, and staying there to have late dinners or early breakfasts excites me. There’s something about the anticipation of travel, that makes travel more thrilling.

Hotel Midtown Richardson

Silly me, I forgot to take photos of the hotel we stayed in! We stayed in Hotel Midtown Richardson for a lot of reasons:

• Near the Ximending MRT station
• A few blocks away from Ximending Night Market
• It’s a 4-star hotel with good selection of breakfast buffet
• Room is very comfortable, has a window, and a bath tub. Lots of sockets too
• It costs around Php4,000 per night

Taipei MRT Line

The Taipei rail transit looks complicated as you can see in the map I provided, but not really. It was easy to navigate even for a first timer like me. Another great thing about their train line is it’s connected to the airport. So from the hotel to the airport it took us roughly around 30 minutes only.

Modern Toilet

My brother always wanted to eat at Modern Toilet, a restaurant inspired by toilets and poop. Funny right? I didnt expect much with their food but I was pleasantly surprised how tasty they were! I ordered Pork chop katsu, and was amazed how they kept the porkchop crispy despite being immersed in soupy curry. L-O-V-E. This is another thing I loved about Taiwan, everything , even the cheapest food, tastes so good.

More of what we ate in Taiwan

Could’ve took more photos but enjoyed our travel soo much! Also, stinky tofu isn’t that stinky at all. It was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. It has a bit of sourness and umami because of the yeast. It paired well with the sweet & sour sauce + veggies.

Yehliu Geopark

If you’re gonna go to Taiwan. I don’t recommend this tour at all. It was hot, and you go over there just to see some rock formation? What a waste of time. Geof also felt more sick because of the exhaustion, and vomitted water on our way to the rock museum

Shifen

All of our tours were booked via Klook. It’s convenient and had a bus that picked us up directly from our hotel. It was just our luck that the pickup point is Hotel Richardson. Taiwan is popular for its giant lantern town aka Shifen. One of the country’s way to support rural areas, is having various tourist spots to support the economy.

Jiufen

Zoo

Prepare for long walks if you plan to visit their zoo. While there are lots to see, I wasnt able to take photos ^_^; silly me.

Taipei 101

Among the tourist spots we’ve visited, the Taipei 101 was Geof’s favourite. It’s because since he was a little, he’s had a hyperfixation for the “world’s tallest buildings”, and Taipei 101 was one of them. It’s a tick off his bucket list! We paid extra so we can climb to the 101st floor and it was all worth it.

Geof was like our tour guide because even if this was his first time to go in real life, he has been watching hundreds of youtube videos and reading articles about this place. The elevator ride wasn’t nauseous at all. But what are the things to do once your inside? Take photos, and look at the view outside. You can see how tiny everything is from above.

Maokong Gondola

Day 3 and it’s now just the two of us. We wanted to visit the Maokong Gondola’s the other day but it rained. So that’s where we went to on the third day. We took the train, and yey we didn’t get lost!

The Gondola ride was 30-minutes long. The view was spectacular and you can see the temples, farms, and even the zoo from above. Geof enjoyed this one too! After the ride, we got lost. We couldnt find the MRT, so we took a cab all the way to the Taipei Ice Rink where I got my Golden Horse figure skating boots (which were TOO BIG for me)

Ximending Market

Finally for our last day in Taiwan, we didn’t stray far from our hotel and just hung out in Ximending market from day til night time. You can also find a Donki Japanese store here. Lots of street food, shops, and even live performances at the center! While waiting for the show, we went to a cat cafe, it was 20 dollars each for entrance and this already include 2 ice teas. Geof vomitted twice, and I felt bad.

Today is November 17th. Geof told me he wants to come back to Taiwan, and hopefully when we go here, he’s 100% and not sick 🙂