Taiwan

At the beginning of January, we took a short trip to Taiwan, then came back through Tokyo before heading back up home. It gave us a chance to see some new sights and some good friends. The trip to Tokyo also meant Seri could indulge in parfaits—plural. But that’s another post.

We headed to the Hakodate Airport on Sunday afternoon. Hakodate’s airport mostly serves domestic traffic, but they have one international flight every day, to Taiwan. Our itinerary only accounted for one full day in Taiwan, but we wanted to try and make the most of it while we were there. The flight was relatively short, just under 4 hours. We passed Korea and the Southwestern tip of Japan, and arrived in the late evening at the Taipei Taoyuan Airport.

We’d been told navigating Taipei is a bit tricky, with incorrectly labeled street signs and even poor Google Maps directions to shops. Our hotel actually provided us a PDF with instructions on getting there from metro system. We didn’t really have any difficulty, though, and arrived at our hotel shortly thereafter.

Once we’d stashed our things, we wanted to hit a nearby dessert shop before turning in. Seri found a nearby place that was open late and we walked over. For being Sunday night, it was surprisingly busy, but the line still went quickly. We stumbled a bit ordering, mostly just pointing at pictures, but then the host started speaking a bit of Japanese, which made things easier.

One thing we noticed almost immediately after leaving the hotel—and every moment spent walking the streets during the trip—was the number of scooters there are in Taipei. It’s like some huge biker gang, except less threatening. They’re just everywhere. In fact, there were so many of them, Seri had trouble sleeping because we were on such a busy street.

The next morning, we looked into heading out to a well known breakfast spot called Fuhang Soy Milk for some fried breadsticks and soy milk (youtiao). Unfortunately, Fuhang is closed on Mondays, so we had to find another spot. Fortunately, Seri’s sister’s friend Sirena has lived in Taiwan for the past 8 years and was happy to offer some suggestions. The shop we ended up going to was good, but she would later assure us it wasn’t nearly as good as Fuhang. Oh well, something to look into next time.

Before we flew out, Seri had been corresponding a fair bit with Sirena. We had planned on meeting her on Monday for lunch at a beef noodle soup shop, but had a few hours to kill before then. We decided to head to a nearby area called the Huashan 1914 Creative Park. This place started out as a Japanese winery in the early 20th century, but after multiple changes of ownership and a looming demolition, it re-opened in 2005 as a space for artists and non-profits. Some artists have storefronts, while others have full exhibit spaces. We decided to check out the Miniature Life Exhibition, with works created by a Japanese artist named Tatsuya Tanaka. He takes everyday objects and makes miniature scenes with them. Pretty creative stuff, really.

After the creative park, we wandered around a bit and headed to a park park called Daan Forest Park. It was a relaxing park with a jogging track, some ponds, and a basketball court, among other things. It was a nice way to spend the late morning before meeting up with Sirena.

The lunch spot wasn’t far from Daan Park, which was fortunate because my feet were starting to hurt a bit. We arrived at Yong Kang Beef Noodle around noon, and were glad to see only a few people in line in front of us. The dish to get here was obviously beef noodle soup, and it was great. We shared a side of marinated cucumbers and finished our meal, heading out to greet a line nearly 30 people deep. Suckers!

Initially, I thought we were just going to meet up for lunch with Sirena, then part ways. She didn’t have plans for the rest of the day, though, and was happy to show us around for the day. She is an incredible tour guide.

Our first stop was to get some tea. I’ve had a hard time pinning down a good source of pu-erh over here, but she assured me she knew a good spot to get some, as well as some oolong for Seri. The tea spot I looked up online was super touristy. We passed by it, but Sirena got her tea elsewhere, where it was cheaper, and as good—if not better. When we got there, it looked like a local spot. Metal tea drums lined the shop floor in a somewhat haphazard fashion, and the shop workers skipped the pleasantries and focused on selling tea.

Sirena spoke to a clerk, and he opened one of the drums with pu-erh and started talking… to me. I had no idea what was going on, but he kept talking to me while Sirena laughed at me from behind him: apparently she’d told him I spoke Japanese (incorrect!), so he started on describing the types of pucks they had on offer to a blindsided American. Very funny, Sirena. Once the clerk realized I had no idea what was going on, he turned to Sirena and probably called me an idiot or something, I have no idea. She laughed. Anyway, I came out of it with a puck of tea the size of a personal pan pizza, so I was OK with being slightly humiliated.

Next, Sirena had the clerk take us to the back of the shop, where they had more drums of tea. Maybe they were more special? Who knows. We got to smell about 4 different types of oolong, and Seri chose a couple of bags to take home. Sirena bought a few bags, too, to alleviate any suspicion she might not regularly shop here and was just trying to poke fun at me, the foreign tea purchaser.

Tea-in-hand, we headed out and passed a shampoo and scalp massage shop. Seri asked me about going to one of these places while visiting, and my answer was basically, “meh.” But Sirena thought it would be fun, and after speaking with an employee, it was decided. We’d go grab some boba, and come back to get our hair did.

Boba in Taiwan is… just great. It’s like ramen in Japan: you’re probably gonna enjoy it. Sirena actually took us to two different places, pretty much next to each other, so we could sample two different styles. Seri’s was supposed to be a traditional milk tea, but I guess they forgot the milk so it was just tea and boba. Mine had grass jelly and no milk, and was super tasty.

I didn’t really know what to expect out of the shampoo shop. It helped to have Sirena there to translate, since the employees didn’t speak English. I’m not exactly sure they knew how to deal with Western hair, though, and after kneading, shampooing, and blow drying, I was left with… something. You know that feeling where you’re not totally in sync with your barber/stylist and after they’re done doing whatever it is they think is best for your hair, you immediately start futzing with it? That times ten.

With our incredible new hairstyles, we headed to Sirena’s favorite night market. Taipei has a number of these, and going at least once is a must-do. One great thing about the markets is how easy it is to buy a small bite or two from a stall, then move on to try other things from other stalls. We started at one end with a pepper bun (hújiāo bing). I was worried it might be too heavy to start with but it was a nice weight.

The next stop was to a sausage vendor to get a Chinese sausage (I think it was xiangchang). Pretty greasy, and I’m glad we only got one. Apparently you can also get this wrapped in a larger sausage, but it might’ve been a bit too heavy (and I was basically on auto-pilot as Sirena was ordering most of the food).

Lining the street are larger sit-down areas, and we ducked into one called Monga, a fried chicken shop. I hesitate to call what we ordered a “small bite”—the three of us struggled to finish it. But it was extremely tasty, with a nicely seasoned batter. It was also incredibly hot, which made it hard to eat quickly.

Then we started getting weird. A stall at the far end of the market specialized in offal, and Sirena picked up some pig blood’s cake and sticky rice. I wasn’t really having it, so I turned it down. Maybe next time.

Our penultimate stop was to get a favorite of Sirena’s, stinky tofu. We’d been smelling this the entire time at the market, and even though it smelled pretty awful, I told myself I had to try it.

It sucked. Like, a lot.

Living in Japan, people like talking to foreigners about how much they dislike natto. Whether it’s the slimy consistency or the fermented smell, it turns people away. I don’t hate it. It’s one of those things where its bark is worse than its bite: once you eat it, it’s different than what you might expect. I don’t love natto, but it’s not terrible.

Stinky tofu is terrible, through and through. Not only does it have an offensive smell, it tastes exactly like it smells, the entire time you’re eating it. There’s just no escaping the smell, and it was all I could do to try and cleanse my palate. Just horrible stuff. No thanks.

Finally, as we headed back to the metro station to get to dinner, we stopped by a dessert shop to get some shave ice. I opted out, since dinner was at Din Tai Fung later and I didn’t want to spoil my appetite too much. Seri bought an Oreo shave ice and seemed to enjoy it well enough, but I suspect there are better shops to be found.

Finally, we ended the night with some xiaolongbao at Din Tai Fung. It was a great way to cap off an exhausting, but awesome day. Had we another day, we might’ve seen more nature-y things, but I was happy with how the day had played out, especially since I hadn’t anticipated having such a great tour guide.

The next morning we flew out to Tokyo, a short 2.5-hour flight. I’m sure we’ll be back though, given how easy it was to make the trip.