It was my first time to be away from home on the eve of New Year and literally welcomed another year in mid-air! I'd say I like it because you are ending and starting the new year travelling. So, in this post, I will share with you places that my friend and I visited and walked in this beautiful city of Taipei.
Where did we stay: Backpackers Inn Taipei
Address: No. 84, Huaining St, Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan 100
Nearest Metro: Taipei Main Station and NTU - Red Line
Nearest Attractions: 228 Peace Park, National Taiwan Museum
I highly recommend this hostel because it is budget friendly, close to the metro, with free breakfast, staff speaks the language, clean and well-maintained.
How to go around the city: Taipei has a very efficient public transportation! So you can travel like a local! We did not buy an easy card which is fine. You can just buy every time you ride a train.
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| MRT Token |
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| Travel like locals! |
We actually don't have any itineraries and I realized that is how we roll whenever my friend and I are travelling. Looking around the hostel, I found some itineraries. Here it goes:
1. Signed up for the Free Walking Tour by Like It Formosa (you can like them in Facebook!) and voila, you already have three itineraries that involve about 2.5-3 hours of walking with tour guides. Though it is free, you have to give tip at the end. We joined the following walking tours: Golden Era and Historic tour. Here's their schedule.
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| Just be at the meet up point on time! |
* Golden-Era Tour: Started at Ximen Station. The guide related the history of influences in Taiwan and showed us the remnants of the Golden era.
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The North Gate (original structure)
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| Shop district. |
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| God of the City temple. There is a free blessed tea on the side |
* Historic Tour - started at Longshan Temple Station Exit 1
According to our guide, Taiwan has the longest Martial Law for 38 years under Chiang Kai Shek. The tour ended at his memorial hall.
Tip: Behind of this memorial hall is a very famous dumpling house. You should try it!!!
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| The group who joined the tour outside Longshan Temple. |
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| Old street |
How to get there: Jian Tian station exit 1, then take Bus R5
That's also the station for Shilin Night Market
This National Park is so huge. So you just have to choose your trail. We trekked the Mt. Qixing summit unexpectedly! :)
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| Trees have QR code if you want to read more about it. How cool is that! |
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Our fresh look before the trek :)
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| Our trail. 2.5km walk to the summit! |
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A lovely squirrel along the way!
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| We made it at the summit! |
3. Jiufen Old Street - Taiwan has many old streets and one of them is Jiufen. For a day, you can do Jiufen and Shifen but since it was raining that day and foggy, we just visited Jiufen then returned to Taipei. We got one-way free because we recommended our hostel in Facebook. We just paid the return way. From Jiufen, we took Bus 1062 and alighted at Zhungxiao Fuxing station, two stations away from Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall.
Jiufen old street is the inspiration behind the Studio Ghibli movie "Spirited Away". I am a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki so this is a delightful place to me even though it is raining.
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| I'm a happy kid! |
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Small alley full of shops!
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4. Sun-yat Sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101
After visiting Jiufen Old street, we walked from Zhungxiao Fuxing station to Sun-yat Sen Memorial Hall where Taipei 101 is also very visible.
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| Sun-yat Sen |
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| Two famous symbols of Taiwan |
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| Pointing at Taipei 101 |
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| Taipei 101 as the photobomb! |
5. Taipei Zoo - I am not a big fan of zoo but somehow my friend and I have enjoyed this place. It is a huge area and you feel as if you are inside a forest. Another delightful thing to see were families with children who were oblivious to rain because it was raining the whole time we were at the zoo.
We've seen koala and tapir which I haven't seen yet in my life!
How to get there: From Taipei Main Station, change train at Daan (R06) for the Brown Line (BR). This line will end at Taipei Zoo.
Entrance is NT60. Quite cheap for about a five-hour walk. You can also ride cable cars on the other side but we just opted to walked inside the zoo.
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| At the entrance |
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| Koala! For the first time, I've seen one! |
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| Great panda showing off! |
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| Tapir! |
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| Into the woods! |
6. National Taiwan Museum and 228 Peace Park - These two are on the same location near NTU station. The museum charges NT 30 for entrance while the park is of course free! These two are very close to our hostel, literally our neighbor!
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| National Taiwan Museum! |
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