Asia- Budget Style: Taipei (2.5 Days)

May 20/21: Flew SFO to HK, then HK to TPE on Cathay Pacific. Took the Kwo Kuang bus from the airport to Taipei Main Station where I met the rest my party. Had sizzling curry pork cutlet at the department store food court across from the station. So cheap, only ! Went shopping at Ximending (Ximen MRT). Great place for young people to shop, eat, and hang out! Stayed overnight at my friend’s dorm at National Taiwan Normal University after sampling local street food (fried chicken, fried mushrooms, stinky tofu) at the nearby night market.

May 22: First stop was the CKS Memorial Hall where we showed up just in time for changing of the guards. Had lunch at "The Modern Toilet", a very interesting restaurant where you sit on toilet seats and eat your food out of your own toilet bowl. Went shopping in the air-conditioned comfort of the underground mall underneath the Main Station. To our delight, cheap shoes and snacks were everywhere! Went on to the Sun Yat-Sen memorial. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t very nice so we did not have to chance to go up to Taipei 101 as we had planned. Ended the day by having sushi and a wonderful shaved ice, condensed milk, and fresh fruit dessert!

May 23: Ate wonderfully delicious soup dumplings for breakfast. Called an airport service to take us to the airport for our flight to Singapore. Found that this was the most efficient way to travel as we had a total of 4 people and a decent amount of luggage.

Quick Tips:

Go to the night markets: great food, good shopping, and a very interesting atmosphere.

I would say that Taipei isn’t really English-speaking person friendly. A lot of the restaurants where we ate did not have English menus but I think that was because we ate at places off the tourist trap.

Best Way To Get Around:

Take the MRT (subway)! Very clean, fast, air-conditioned, and easy to navigate. It has easy to read signs in English and goes to all of the main places.

We did also ride on some buses, but the signs at the bus stops were all in Chinese. So I would only recommend the bus if you are very sure where you are going and when to get off.

The KwoKuang bus from the airport to Taipei Main Station was very fast, clean, and air-conditioned.

The food court located in the department store across from Taipei Main Station had a lot of variety at rock-bottom prices. They had sizzling curry pork katsu for $3, and it was very tasty.

Eating here was a very unique dining experience to say the least. You are seated at a bathtub (your table) surrounded by toilets (your seats). Your food comes in your own sizzling toilet bowl with a little "poop" on the side. I had curry chicken which came with a side of vegetables, soup, and rice. Dessert of ice-cream comes in a squat toilet. Very fun place to eat and food was good for all less than $10!

It is fried tofu with a "stinky" sauce poured over the top. Definitely an interesting snack. You can smell it down the block and have no trouble picking out the stall that sells it. I thought it was okay but it was one of my friend's favorite foods.

I was very impressed with CKS Memorial Hall but surprised by the fact that there were so few tourists visiting. Got to see changing of the guards at around 11am which was very interesting to see. Also has a free museum inside.

Outside looks somewhat drab when compared to CKS Memorial Memorial. However, you should definitely go there to look for the men flying kites higher than I had ever seen before. The inside has the actual monument itself along with a small gift shop. Also try to massage your feet on the stone walking paths that surround the grounds. You're supposed to walk on the entire path but we could hardly take one step without feeling the pain.