EVA Airlines proved to be a great choice for our 14+ hour flight to Taipei (despite everything having a Hello Kitty theme…even the outside of the plane). This experience just confirmed that North American airlines need a lot of work. The service was quite good. We were given a menu for our two meals and enjoyed complimentary wine. I binge watched ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ season 1 and was even able to get some sleep.

We knew we didn’t want to experience more exhaustion by adding on a connection so we decided to spend a few days in Taipei, Taiwan as that would be our layover city. I’m so glad we did. I had zero expectations regarding Taiwan. We had been to southeast Asia, but had not explored China, Japan or Taiwan at all. We lost an entire day on the plane and landed at 4 a.m. local time. The airport experience was good and immigration and customs went well. Our driver to the hotel met us and soon we were cruising to our hotel in downtown Taipei. Unfortunately, we were unable to access our room upon arrival (we were aware of this as we tried to let them know we would be in early, but they wouldn’t let us in at that hour without paying for a full night). Even so, the hotel staff was amazingly accommodating. We stored our luggage and sat in the lounge where we were able to enjoy some complimentary coffee, sodas and snacks. Eventually we ventured out to find a breakfast spot the hotel clerk recommended. The side streets were reminiscent of Vietnam with the multiple motorbikes zooming by and limited space for pedestrians.

We found the corner food vendor called Miss Chin’s Soy Milk. We asked a few questions about the food and were pleasantly surprised at the server’s knowledge of English. Our early breakfast consisted of egg rolls, sweet bread with some spinach, garlic noodles and meat dumplings (for the boys). We even tried the soy milk since that was what they were known for. It was all delicious and inexpensive.

It was early, but we weren’t feeling too energized to explore too far. We were right across from the Tapei Arena so we took a look. It seems early hours are when local folks can go for a run and get a bit of exercise without dealing with traffic. If you wait any longer, you wouldn’t be able to do much outside due to the heat. We were tired, so we hung out at a Starbucks where two iced coffees and a vanilla bean drink cost more than our breakfast. It was really heating up outside, so we decided to wait in the hotel lounge until our room was ready. Check in was at 4 pm and they told us we could probably get in at about 12 or 1. I think they took pity upon us or just wanted us out of the lounge, so we were pleasantly informed we could access our room about 10:30.

The hotel has a nature theme. Decorations consist of rocks, trees, birds, etc. If you ask Michael we were on the spider floor as they had some interesting hallway decorations. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the toilets. First of all, the seats were heated. I found that nice, but Liam had a point that it felt like someone else had just sat on them…so there’s that. They also had controls so you could rinse and dry your bum. An interesting feeling for sure.

After showering, we passed out for a few hours until dinner time (there is a 13 hour time difference from Chicago). The family has limited faith in my navigation skills, but finally we did find a recommended dinner spot called Bravo Beer. It was a nice meal with a variety of options.

For our first full day, we decided to do the Hop On, Hop Off bus tour. These have proven to provide solid information on the cities we visit and give us a good ‘lay of the land’. The buses here run about every 40 minutes. The line for the bus at the main train station was not shaded and it was very hot. We were only able to get two seats on the inside upper deck with air conditioning. Maeve and I tried to get some pictures so we sat in the sheltered upper deck that sprayed water on occasion just to cool off passengers. This wasn’t the best tour. It went by quickly and we were not able to get too many pictures. There were two lines, one downtown and another that covered more of the outskirts of town. We never managed to make the second line. It was just too hot and we bailed on that experience. We headed back to the hotel to cool down and nap again as we were still getting used to the time change.

Upon a recommendation, we found a distant spot for a vegetarian restaurant for dinner which was near a night market. I found the alley-way where the restaurant was, but I didn’t look across the way. We were seated at the wrong restaurant which did not have many vegetarian choices. I had some spicy friend tofu and was disappointed we missed the intent of the hike.

The next day we ventured to the Taipei Zoo. It was a large zoo, which meant more ground to cover in the oppressive heat. It was a lovely zoo. We tried to get into the cooler house, but we didn’t last too long before heading back to the hotel. .

After some rest and cooling off, and yet another nap, we headed to the Shillin Night market. The intention was to eat dinner here…street food, but we couldn’t identify much of it and there didn’t seem to be many vegetarian choices. Liam gave a valiant effort…I don’t think he’s still sure what he ate, but he wasn’t fond of it.

One interesting observation were these storefronts filled with those games you see in arcades where you navigate a claw to try and get a stuffed animal or some other prize. These were all over the city and they were rarely empty. I never went in, but they were filled with all sorts of items. They must prove successful at some point to warrant the money spent.

Observations of Taipei in no particular order:

The metro system is unbelievably clean. You’re not allowed to eat or drink on the trains. Don’t chew gum either…I was warned I could be fined, but then couldn’t locate a trash bin. There simply was no trash. It was a well-organized, maintained and efficient system.
The people we encountered were very nice. I don’t think Taipei gets a lot of tourists. They were happy to help.
Love the toilets, just don’t flush the paper.
There seems to be a 7-11 store every few blocks and they’re awesome.
There wasn’t too much of a cultural difference in terms of clothing. Women wore shorts and tank tops - not too conservative.

I’m so happy we were able to experience a short trip to Taipei. If we return, we’ll come during a different season as there is much more to see and enjoy.