Fun Taiwan 2011
I think before I get to the blow by blow photo journal, I should first tell the story of the run up to this trip. It was a bit stressful for me, more stressful than usual. Possibly because it's been two years since my last trip abroad and first time since getting married to need a Visa to go to our destination. The stress came from our visas not being immediately approved because Mike didn't want to bother his company for a certificate of employment. I had to go back to the embassy several times, and was even yelled at for a random mistake. STRESS! And then when our visas were approved and I gave myself permission to get really excited for the trip, I check Googlemaps for directions to the hotel I had booked and found out that it's not where it's supposed to be! I chose our hotel based on its location on the hotel map of tripadvisor.com specifically because it was a five minute walk away from an MRT station. Imagine how upset I was to find that according to Googlemaps, the hotel I booked was on another part of town and a kilometer's walk away from an MRT. WAH! During this whole time, Mike was on non-stop work trips and I couldn't vent on him. I really seriously was thinking, if our hotel and plane tickets hadn't been paid for in full already and it wasn't too late to get a full refund, AYOKO NA.
Fortunately, in the end everything fell into place. Our hotel was inconveniently located, but other than that, it was good. Our bathroom had a jacuzzi and we had a massage chair in the room. Plus there was free wifi in the dining hall and people at the front desk there were nice and helpful. Mike and I enjoyed Taiwan immensely! There was plenty to do and see, it was easy to get around, the people were warm and friendly. For us, the shopping is better than Hong Kong or Bangkok because they don't guilt you into buying their wares, or get mad if you walk away. Most of the stuff we found there is not available here, in Greenhills or in Divisoria. And not expensive even to our Manila standards. And the food, oh the FOOD! I am by no means a foodie, but I really liked the food in Taiwan because it was all good, and all cheap! As in very reasonably priced. Busog kami ni Mike spending the equivalent of P300 or less. For the two of us na ha. Whether in a hidden side street or in a department store food court, we were not disappointed. Even the food in the museum cafe was reasonable. So, we loved it. Fun Taiwan talaga! Yay Taipei!
Day 1: We arrived in Taipei at like 12:30AM on March 18 (Happy Birthday Mike! Happy 1st Anniversary to me and Neil Gaiman!) so we took a cab to our hotel and went straight to sleep. Against all odds, we were up and ready to leave the hotel at 9:30. The first place we wanted to go to was NOVA, for the main reason Mike wanted to go to Taiwan, which is electronics shopping. After getting our bearings and figuring out the MRT system, we reached the NOVA 45 mins before it opened at 11. So to kill time, we walked to nearby Taiwan National Museum.
The exhibits weren't very interesting, even for me who loves museums, so after poking around at their history of rice and other forgettable displays, we walked around the Peace Park behind the museum where there were pretty flowers and nice pagodas. There was a pond with fish, and funny signs we laughed at because we didn't know what they meant. I posted one in FB. We think it means No Drowning.
After we had killed enough time, we went back to NOVA where there were plenty of interesting things, but nothing that caught Mike's fancy enough to make him buy. We bought an iPad stylus though. We have yet to use it because I've given up the iPad for Lent. I guess I can use it on my iPhone for now.
After NOVA we had lunch in a nearby Shinkong Mitsukoshi (a department store, similar to Rustan's) food court. The food was yum but too spicy for me. Then we walked back toward the Ximending night market known for its leather goods, shoes and bags. On the way, we found another museum, across the street from the boring museum and it was AWESOME! They had a giant dinosaur exhibit and I got to touch a real dinosaur bone! Entrances to these small museums were just 20NT. That's about P30. SUPER SULIT. We could have spent hours there. But the shoes were a-calling. And I bought a pair of Hush Puppies boots in the street market. Sale! And Mike said Hush Puppies were much more expensive here in Manila so I was happy to find my boots.
After more walking, the lack of sleep from the night before took its toll on us. We headed back to the hotel, had dinner at 5PM and then fell asleep. Hahaha! At 8PM we pressured each other get up and headed for Shilin Night Market. The weather was COLD and it was raining a bit, but the crowds still came to the streets. The Taiwanese love to shop and Shilin is the place to find trendy clothes at reasonable prices. Mike was able to buy work shirts at the equivalent of about P400 each. Super good deal!
Day 2: After breakfast, we took the MRT to the farthest northern end of the line to Danshui to explore the old street and wharves. I wondered why they advertised this place as a popular tourist destination, but street stores and street art were very charming. Despite the dreary wet and cold weather, entire families came to shop, play perya-style games, eat giant cones of ice cream and just enjoy the outdoors and each other.
In our explorations, we found this small shabu-shabu place where each person gets their own small shabu-shabu pot and lutuan. One bowl like this was just 120NT (P180). It was super sarap and super sulit! I hardly ever, rarely, almost never take photos of food, but I have more food photos on this trip than all my previous trips combined. Haha! Well, partly because the Lumix GF1 takes excellent food photos. But also because everything we ate was yummy.
After covering all of Danshui and buying pasalubongs like Crazy Lion and Dancing Zebra, we hopped back on the train and made our way to the Taiwan National Palace Museum, which is the biggest museum of Chinese art outside of mainland China. It was huge! And the many many steps to get up almost made Mike walk back home. Haha! He is not a fan of museums. But I love them! So he bore it as long as he could. I saw a lot of amazing works of art to inspire my love for Chinese painting. Its too bad we weren't allowed to take photos inside the museum.
When we were too tired to take another step (plus, the museum was closed and they weren't allowing anyone to get in anymore) we sat at the bus station to wait for a bus to take us to the MRT. A couple of guys from Vietnam asked us if we wanted to share a cab with them and we gratefully agreed. One of them spoke much much better Chinese than Mike so we reached Shilin MRT station easily. Between the 4 of us, splitting the taxi ride wasn't so expensive anymore. We had dinner at a hole-in-the-wall turo-turo type place near Shilin where they had a picture menu (yes!) and a seller who spoke English (hooray!). I wanted to include this pic because of the crab-shaped carrot. Love the attention to detail! We spent about P250 between the two of us and we were super busog. We went back to our hotel and called it a night.
Day 3: We checked out after breakfast but we had the entire day to kill because our flight wasn't till 1:30AM the next day! After leaving our things and asking the front desk for directions to the nearest Catholic Church, we headed for Taipei 101.
After 2 whole days of bargain shopping, it was a bit jarring to explore mall after mall of high end designer brands. I told Mike we should have gone here first, so that we could appreciate how cheap stuff were at the street markets. Haha! We skipped the trip to the top of the tower because of the long lines of noisy tour groups. Instead we walked around the mall and enjoyed the street performers in the nearby tiangge-style area.
At 5:30 we set out to catch the 6:00 mass but it was almost 7 and we still couldn't find the Church! My feet were killing me and Mike was tired too, so we just explored the Zhongshan area (half-hoping to find the Church somehow, but knowing God would understand), had dinner and then headed back to the hotel to kill time with internet until our taxi to the airport arrived at 10PM.
(Mike with Mazinger-Z in Danshui, and me with Harrods Bear near Zhongshan. I have a Harrod's bear in my collection my Mom bought in Harrods, London)
We were hoping to get to do some last minute spending-of-the-coins pasalubong shopping at the airport, but when we got there at 10:30, and our gate wasn't even open for check-in yet, all the duty free stores were closed. Fortunately, there was free wifi near our gate so I fiddled with my Instagram and Mike slept as we waited to get on our plane. We were so tired, and my feet still hurt a bit up to now, but we were happy and we really loved Taipei. I spent more than I planned, but less than what Mike planned, so I guess that was ok. There was a big flower festival going on while we were there, and I sort of wanted to go, but Mike wasn't interested at all. So I guess I wasn't interested enough to drag my husband through a bunch of flowers, especially since we didn't have enough time to see that AND the other places we saw.. But I think maybe if we go back there at this time of year again, I will skip the National Palace Museum (because I've seen it) and go see the flowers instead. And if we're lucky and we get to bring the kids with us next time, we will go to the Taiwan Zoo and ride the Evil Gondola of Death From Hell, and maybe stay at a hot springs resort in Beitou. Needless to say, despite the visa hassle, I can see myself returning to Taiwan.
Caveat for other would-be travelers (Hi Tita Marifel!), most of the locals don't speak a word of English. Not even in the touristy areas. Mike put his Xavierian education to good use, fortunately still knowing all his numbers, how to haggle, how to ask where is the bathroom, and how to say, "I'm Filipino, I don't speak Chinese very well." To which the person he is talking to would smile and explain things to him like he was a 3-year-old. We couldn't eat at places that didn't have pictures in their menu because while Mike can speak a little, he's totally illiterate. So if you're going to Taiwan, either learn a little Chinese (if you know the numbers, directions and food words, you're pretty much set), or bring a calculator for haggling, and an iphone or ipod touch. My friend Judy got around the Chinese-speaking problem by saving photos with mandarin captions on her ipod touch for things and places so she could show the cab driver or sellers. But even if you can't speak Chinese, you can get around. The MRT stations all have English translations, as well as most street signs. Plus the Taiwanese are very helpful and friendly. They will do their best to help you despite the language barrier.
Yay Fun Taiwan!
Fortunately, in the end everything fell into place. Our hotel was inconveniently located, but other than that, it was good. Our bathroom had a jacuzzi and we had a massage chair in the room. Plus there was free wifi in the dining hall and people at the front desk there were nice and helpful. Mike and I enjoyed Taiwan immensely! There was plenty to do and see, it was easy to get around, the people were warm and friendly. For us, the shopping is better than Hong Kong or Bangkok because they don't guilt you into buying their wares, or get mad if you walk away. Most of the stuff we found there is not available here, in Greenhills or in Divisoria. And not expensive even to our Manila standards. And the food, oh the FOOD! I am by no means a foodie, but I really liked the food in Taiwan because it was all good, and all cheap! As in very reasonably priced. Busog kami ni Mike spending the equivalent of P300 or less. For the two of us na ha. Whether in a hidden side street or in a department store food court, we were not disappointed. Even the food in the museum cafe was reasonable. So, we loved it. Fun Taiwan talaga! Yay Taipei!
Day 1: We arrived in Taipei at like 12:30AM on March 18 (Happy Birthday Mike! Happy 1st Anniversary to me and Neil Gaiman!) so we took a cab to our hotel and went straight to sleep. Against all odds, we were up and ready to leave the hotel at 9:30. The first place we wanted to go to was NOVA, for the main reason Mike wanted to go to Taiwan, which is electronics shopping. After getting our bearings and figuring out the MRT system, we reached the NOVA 45 mins before it opened at 11. So to kill time, we walked to nearby Taiwan National Museum.
The exhibits weren't very interesting, even for me who loves museums, so after poking around at their history of rice and other forgettable displays, we walked around the Peace Park behind the museum where there were pretty flowers and nice pagodas. There was a pond with fish, and funny signs we laughed at because we didn't know what they meant. I posted one in FB. We think it means No Drowning.
After we had killed enough time, we went back to NOVA where there were plenty of interesting things, but nothing that caught Mike's fancy enough to make him buy. We bought an iPad stylus though. We have yet to use it because I've given up the iPad for Lent. I guess I can use it on my iPhone for now.
After NOVA we had lunch in a nearby Shinkong Mitsukoshi (a department store, similar to Rustan's) food court. The food was yum but too spicy for me. Then we walked back toward the Ximending night market known for its leather goods, shoes and bags. On the way, we found another museum, across the street from the boring museum and it was AWESOME! They had a giant dinosaur exhibit and I got to touch a real dinosaur bone! Entrances to these small museums were just 20NT. That's about P30. SUPER SULIT. We could have spent hours there. But the shoes were a-calling. And I bought a pair of Hush Puppies boots in the street market. Sale! And Mike said Hush Puppies were much more expensive here in Manila so I was happy to find my boots.
After more walking, the lack of sleep from the night before took its toll on us. We headed back to the hotel, had dinner at 5PM and then fell asleep. Hahaha! At 8PM we pressured each other get up and headed for Shilin Night Market. The weather was COLD and it was raining a bit, but the crowds still came to the streets. The Taiwanese love to shop and Shilin is the place to find trendy clothes at reasonable prices. Mike was able to buy work shirts at the equivalent of about P400 each. Super good deal!
Day 2: After breakfast, we took the MRT to the farthest northern end of the line to Danshui to explore the old street and wharves. I wondered why they advertised this place as a popular tourist destination, but street stores and street art were very charming. Despite the dreary wet and cold weather, entire families came to shop, play perya-style games, eat giant cones of ice cream and just enjoy the outdoors and each other.
In our explorations, we found this small shabu-shabu place where each person gets their own small shabu-shabu pot and lutuan. One bowl like this was just 120NT (P180). It was super sarap and super sulit! I hardly ever, rarely, almost never take photos of food, but I have more food photos on this trip than all my previous trips combined. Haha! Well, partly because the Lumix GF1 takes excellent food photos. But also because everything we ate was yummy.
After covering all of Danshui and buying pasalubongs like Crazy Lion and Dancing Zebra, we hopped back on the train and made our way to the Taiwan National Palace Museum, which is the biggest museum of Chinese art outside of mainland China. It was huge! And the many many steps to get up almost made Mike walk back home. Haha! He is not a fan of museums. But I love them! So he bore it as long as he could. I saw a lot of amazing works of art to inspire my love for Chinese painting. Its too bad we weren't allowed to take photos inside the museum.
When we were too tired to take another step (plus, the museum was closed and they weren't allowing anyone to get in anymore) we sat at the bus station to wait for a bus to take us to the MRT. A couple of guys from Vietnam asked us if we wanted to share a cab with them and we gratefully agreed. One of them spoke much much better Chinese than Mike so we reached Shilin MRT station easily. Between the 4 of us, splitting the taxi ride wasn't so expensive anymore. We had dinner at a hole-in-the-wall turo-turo type place near Shilin where they had a picture menu (yes!) and a seller who spoke English (hooray!). I wanted to include this pic because of the crab-shaped carrot. Love the attention to detail! We spent about P250 between the two of us and we were super busog. We went back to our hotel and called it a night.
Day 3: We checked out after breakfast but we had the entire day to kill because our flight wasn't till 1:30AM the next day! After leaving our things and asking the front desk for directions to the nearest Catholic Church, we headed for Taipei 101.
After 2 whole days of bargain shopping, it was a bit jarring to explore mall after mall of high end designer brands. I told Mike we should have gone here first, so that we could appreciate how cheap stuff were at the street markets. Haha! We skipped the trip to the top of the tower because of the long lines of noisy tour groups. Instead we walked around the mall and enjoyed the street performers in the nearby tiangge-style area.
At 5:30 we set out to catch the 6:00 mass but it was almost 7 and we still couldn't find the Church! My feet were killing me and Mike was tired too, so we just explored the Zhongshan area (half-hoping to find the Church somehow, but knowing God would understand), had dinner and then headed back to the hotel to kill time with internet until our taxi to the airport arrived at 10PM.
(Mike with Mazinger-Z in Danshui, and me with Harrods Bear near Zhongshan. I have a Harrod's bear in my collection my Mom bought in Harrods, London)
We were hoping to get to do some last minute spending-of-the-coins pasalubong shopping at the airport, but when we got there at 10:30, and our gate wasn't even open for check-in yet, all the duty free stores were closed. Fortunately, there was free wifi near our gate so I fiddled with my Instagram and Mike slept as we waited to get on our plane. We were so tired, and my feet still hurt a bit up to now, but we were happy and we really loved Taipei. I spent more than I planned, but less than what Mike planned, so I guess that was ok. There was a big flower festival going on while we were there, and I sort of wanted to go, but Mike wasn't interested at all. So I guess I wasn't interested enough to drag my husband through a bunch of flowers, especially since we didn't have enough time to see that AND the other places we saw.. But I think maybe if we go back there at this time of year again, I will skip the National Palace Museum (because I've seen it) and go see the flowers instead. And if we're lucky and we get to bring the kids with us next time, we will go to the Taiwan Zoo and ride the Evil Gondola of Death From Hell, and maybe stay at a hot springs resort in Beitou. Needless to say, despite the visa hassle, I can see myself returning to Taiwan.
Caveat for other would-be travelers (Hi Tita Marifel!), most of the locals don't speak a word of English. Not even in the touristy areas. Mike put his Xavierian education to good use, fortunately still knowing all his numbers, how to haggle, how to ask where is the bathroom, and how to say, "I'm Filipino, I don't speak Chinese very well." To which the person he is talking to would smile and explain things to him like he was a 3-year-old. We couldn't eat at places that didn't have pictures in their menu because while Mike can speak a little, he's totally illiterate. So if you're going to Taiwan, either learn a little Chinese (if you know the numbers, directions and food words, you're pretty much set), or bring a calculator for haggling, and an iphone or ipod touch. My friend Judy got around the Chinese-speaking problem by saving photos with mandarin captions on her ipod touch for things and places so she could show the cab driver or sellers. But even if you can't speak Chinese, you can get around. The MRT stations all have English translations, as well as most street signs. Plus the Taiwanese are very helpful and friendly. They will do their best to help you despite the language barrier.
Yay Fun Taiwan!