I wasn’t sure I’d make it here while I was on this side of the world, but things have a way of making themselves work out. Anne was coming to visit me in Thailand. It wasn’t a long (enough, IMO) visit, but we were going to make the most of it. She had 3 locations for possible transfers: Japan (which is what I always fly through), South Korea….or Taiwan. She asked if I had a preference (she hadn’t been on this side of the world yet really…so my choice was Taiwan). Why Taiwan? I’ve heard really good things about the food (and if I’m being honest, I like Taiwanese dramas as well).

She was set to fly in at like 7 or 8a on the 8th of October. Whoa boy, that’s early. I decided to go a night earlier so she could at least drop her bags, freshen up and even maybe rest a little. We were both flying EVA air to Taipei. This would be my first time on this airline. I flew on a regular flight; she flew on the Hello Kitty flight. Arriving at like 8:30p, I had no clue what the city looked like. I saw darkness and lights from the train. And because it was raining and drizzly, I took a cab to the hotel. I was just NOT in the mood to walk the 1015 min at night in a city I was unfamiliar with. I thought about going out for food, but en the end, ended up with free instant noodles and tea courtesy of the hotel.

Anne arrived and we went for a simple breakfast of McDonald’s. We were both curious to how the menu would be different. There was a mushroom breakfast burger of sorts for Anne. And we both got honey milk tea (one cold and one hot). The honey milk tea was a winner. We stopped by Don Don Donki afterwards (she’d never seen or been in one and I love them). She did pick up a pistachio latter (also a winner). Then we hopped on a bus and were headed towards Maokong (where all the tea farms are).

We had to ride the a gondola up there. On our way up, we picked the crystal car (see through floor) vs a regular car. It was still gloomy out, but we didn’t car and it wasn’t actively rain most of the time. It was more of a misty drizzle, think ocean spray vibes. Once we got up to the top, we wander a bit and decided we were quite hungry and found a spot for lunch.

We ended up at Mountain Tea House. We ordered more dishes than we could finish and a carafe of such good tea. The view from the restaurant was pretty good. It overlooked the valley and tea farms below. What’d we get to eat: wrinkly smooth old man tofu, king oyster mushrooms with 3 cup sauce, chicken with tea oil, noodles with sesame oil, fried steamed rice rolls and the cold-brew kieh kuan tea.

After this, we decided to go to another tea house and just sit and enjoy the view. We bought some tea and experiences a tea ceremony. It’s so cool and now this is the only way I want to enjoy tea. On our way out, we were gifted some organic Taiwanese bananas. They’re small and skinny, but still taste good.

Shuang Hsiang Tea House: Mucha Tie-guan-yin OR Top Grade jin-xuan tea

That evening, after coming down off the mountain, we headed to Raohe Night Market because we were already on this side of town. We got in the first big long line we saw. It was the black pepper buns which is on the Michelin guide. We split it because we wanted to make sure we’d have room to try other things. sweet potato cheese balls, watermelon slushie, mochi (peanut, sesame, read bean).

Day 2 in Taipei was day trip day. The rainy weather was not letting up at all, so we made sure to bring our umbrellas. I also had my raincoat. It was about a 1:20 min ride up to the Yehliu Geopark. This park is located on the northeastern coast of Taiwan. From the pictures, it gave me Giant’s Causeway vibes and I really wanted to check it out. It was cool and I loved be so close to the ocean again (as if I’m not near or in the ocean enough). After all the walking, we needed some refreshments. Anne ended up with passion fruit juice and I had a grass jelly drink (with giant jellies). Juifen Old Town was our next stop and about 40-ish minutes away. We had to stop at the bus parking and take a local bus in. The alleyways are sooooo crowded and crazily filled with people (and umbrellas). Our first snack of the day (other than breakfast and bananas) was fried cheese sticks. This was followed up by a random restaurant where we had: rice cakes, pork cheese and fried tofu. Venturing further in after our “snack” we stopped for some more substantial food and got: shrimp fried rice, stir-fried water spinach, and Taiwanese beer. On our way out of the alleyways, we picked up more cheese sticks, but also stuffed (dense) pancakes (custard cream, red bean, sesame).

Our second to last stop was the Shifen Golden Waterfall. it was majestic and pretty. It was also wet and rainy. We walked through what used to be private land to get there. There was also a small market near the actual falls themselves, but we didn’t get anything.

The next and last stop of the day trip was Shifen. In Shifen, we’d get to indulge in xiao long bao and peanut ice cream rolls (and really anything else that struck our fancy. This was the other town where I’d get to do something I really wanted to do: release a paper lantern (which is possible even if it’s raining…or drizzling). For our lantern, Anne chose green. Green stood for vigor and success. We covered it with our wishes and released it into the gray sky. It was cool. Would totally do it again.

That night, instead of straying to far. We decided to check out the night market behind our hotel. Anne got a corn & cheese pancake. I got a spiced bacon wrapped chicken sausage. We ended our day out with bubble tea from Coco. We ended our night with fruit flavored Taiwanese beer, first pineapple, and then grape. They both tasted like fruit juice.

The next morning, we were bumming around Taipei when I didn’t have classes (and we had lunch reservations as well. We started by getting in a long line for some breakfast. It included a chinese cruller (youtiao), fresh cold soy milk, egg rolled pancakes and dumplings. This was followed up by an egg scallion pancake from another shop (this was the BEST).

Our lunch reservations were a Fujin Tree, which is a one Michelin star restaurant. We split a bottle of organic (delicious) wine instead of champagne (the prices for a bottle weren’t so fun). But also got: pickles, stir-fried season vegetables with wax apple, fried breadsticks and oysters with garlic sauce (insanely delicious and so many oysters), crispy egg tofu, steamed chicken with special chili oil and noodles with garlic and soy sauce. I think the bottle we choose was the Jay Select 2021.

After lunch (and to walk it off), we hit up our first temple: Xingtian Temple (which also had fortune tellers underneath). Anne got her fortune read here. I did not. We did, however, head over to Bangka Longshan Temple (where there are more fortune tellers underneath – this location had bird fortune tellers). We grabbed some coffee and explored the night markets on this side of town. We didn’t end up getting anything, but instead ended up getting snacks back at Ximendieng Night Market (behind our hotel).

A Ximendieng, I got fried chicken and Anne got fried mushrooms. We wanted about and got more food. A cheese “hot dog” for Anne (it was only cheese). And we shared broccoli and cheese (so much cheese) potato. I finished my night with a stuffed chicken wing.

Breakfast on our last day (the day we’d leave Taiwan) consisted of a youtiao pancake and an egg and cheese pancake. Both were enjoyed with unsweetened soy milk. We had time to kill and so we decided to go get our fortunes told…by birds. I also did a palm reading in which I was told I think to much (dude, my hands have SO many lines). Before our fortunes were told, we enjoyed a nearby tea house (LiuYu Teahouse) and had some really good tea. I could probably sit in there all day.

Our last snack before leaving the area: giant fried chicken cutlet (courtesy of Hot-Star) and french fries. After that, we went and grab our bags (and a juice and used the bathroom) from the hotel and made our way to the airport. I really enjoyed Taiwan and Taipei and can’t wait to come back and explore some more. It was a more food focused destination for the both of us, but we had to squeeze in some touristy things (and I’m glad we did).