[Taiwan] Final Thoughts

Here is a summary of links to all my blog posts about my amazing Taiwan trip:

A Truly Terrific Trip to Taiwan
Taipei
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei
Jiufen, Shifen, and Yehliu Geopark
Taichung
Caesar Park Hotel in Taipei
Taiwan Travel Tips
Taiwan Final Thoughts

Yehliu Geopark

Our itinerary was fixed on the days we had tours but it was relatively open on the days we didn't so we adjusted our plans depending on how much time we wanted to spend at each place and how much energy we still had left. (On our 5th day, we had a late start and the pace was relaxed for most of the day because we were already quite tired.) This is what our Taiwan trip looked like:

Day 1: Arrive in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Day 2: See more of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and its surrounding areas (e.g. Liberty Square), Longshan Temple, Bopiliao Historical Block, Ximending (including Red House), Taipei 101 Observatory, and Ambi Space One Immersive Exhibit
Day 3: Day Tour: Shifen (Waterfalls and Sky Lantern Experience), Jiufen, and Yehliu Geopark
Day 4: Taichung Day Tour: Zhongshe Flower Market, Miyahara Ice Cream, Chun Shui Tang (original boba tea store), National Taichung Theater, Rainbow Village, and Gaomei Wetlands
Day 5: National Palace Museum, Chia Te, Raohe Night Market
Day 6: Departure from Taiwan

Longshan Temple

Among the many things I love about Taiwan is their airport, specifically terminal 2. It might just be my favorite airport terminal in the world. The waiting lounges at the boarding gates were designed by EVERRICH Duty Free Shop to showcase different elements of Taiwan and Taiwanese culture. These include the Secret Realm of Chinese Medicine (C5) which shares information about herbal remedies and medicinal plants, Echoic Memory of Taiwan (C7) which puts on display the country's musical history, Wandering the Island (C9) which features information about its many islands, and Formosa Culture (C10) which showcases Taiwan's different indigenous people.

Formosa Culture waiting lounge

Ours was the Taiwan Film-Weaver Waiting Lounge (C8) which features Taiwanese cinema over the years. I would have loved to spend more time at the terminal just to be able to go through each of these lounges and learn more about Taiwan. It was like a free museum!

Taiwan Film-Weaver Waiting Lounge (C8)

There was also an EVA Air Hello Kitty section at the airport.

EVA Air Hello Kitty section at Terminal 2

Another thing that really amazed me as well about Taiwan is there are a few places with free entrance. I wouldn't have mind paying an entrance fee to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall but admission here is free, which is absolutely awesome. Then we had out visit to Ambi Space One Immersive Exhibition Venue which also had free entrance and it was a great way to cap off our second day in Taipei. My mom did notice a tip box at the entrance of Ambi Space One and since we enjoyed our unplanned visit to this place, I left a tip.

Chiayi Exhibit at Ambi Space One in Taipei 101

My family and I didn't get a chance to eat at any of the popular Taiwanese restaurants and food places that most people go to, such as Din Tai Fung. We had most of our breakfasts at Caesar Cakes at the basement passageway of our hotel to the Taipei Main Station. We had dinner at the Tim Ho Wan next to our hotel. In Ximending, we tried looking for a place with local food but they were all full when we got there so we ended up having Western cuisine at Joyful. I actually really liked the burger I had here.

Burger and fries at Joyful in Ximending

Thankfully, our tours provided us opportunities to eat a lot of local food. We also got to enjoy xiao long bao on multiple occasions. There is a good beef noodle place near our hotel - Liu Shan Dong - but we didn't get a chance to eat there. We did get our chance to enjoy this dish when my family and I had our final lunch at Lao Zhang Halal Beef Noodles at the airport. This place was established in 1950 and their beef noodles are very flavorful and really good!

Lao Zhang Halal Beef Noodles

I also really like pineapple cake. Chia Te supposedly has the best in Taiwan but I also really liked the version from Lao Zhen Xiang Bakery in Jiufen. This bakery offers free taste to patrons and their freshly-made pineapple cake, which you get to try while it's still warm, is exceptionally good. Each piece is also packaged in its individual, beautifully-designed box.

Lao Zhen Xiang Bakery in Jiufen

In my previous post, I  talked about falling in line for almost an hour at Chia Te and I ended up buying a lot of items here. Aside from their pineapple cake, I also bought many other items including their Nougat Scallion Cracker Sandwich (I thought this was just okay) and their Pineapple Cranberry Pastry (I liked this, but the standard pineapple cake is still my favorite.)

Pineapple Cranberry Pastry

The suncakes we got from Ichihuku in Taichung were very good too! (They kinda remind me of the Philippine piaya, which I also love.)

Suncakes from Ichihuku in Taichung

We also had a couple of Peanuts experiences in Taiwan, which is pretty cool since I love Peanuts (and it is also their 75th anniversary this year). I previously wrote about the Peanuts drink I bought from a vending machine on the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall grounds. My family and I also had a good breakfast at My Warm Day (MWD) in the Taipei Main Station complex, which had a Peanuts theme.

Cool Peanuts and Snoopy wall display at My Warm Day

I had the pancakes with sausage and egg which was pretty good. Interestingly enough, My Warm Day doesn't have coffee. The cashier told us that we could get coffee from 7-Eleven and have it with our meal. Cool!

Pancakes with sausage and egg at My Warm Day

We also had breakfast at Miss Croissant on our first day and on our last day in Taiwan. This small cafe is just right next to our hotel and the food here is pretty good. They also had a promo that if you exceed a certain amount on your bill, you get a free keychain and we got one on each of our two visits. Cool!

Miss Croissant

I am also really happy that I was given a really good Acefast powerbank for my birthday earlier this year. It was perfect because it charges really fast, even if there are two devices being charged at the same time. On our tour of Taichung, both my phone and our pocket WiFi device ran out of battery in the late afternoon - I thought I had fully charged our WiFi device in the evening but apparently I didn't - and while we were on the bus, I charged both devices. This helped us continue to be connected to the internet and I was still able to take lots of photos on my phone the rest of the day. Cool!

Beautiful eye-shaped ceiling light and design at the National Taichung Theater

Taiwan really proved to be a great destination for us. There are so many places of interest here that I wouldn't mind visiting again. Hopefully, I can do that soon.

View of the city from the Taipei 101 Observatory