Tapei, Taiwan: June 1st - 3rd

We arrived in Taipei late afternoon and were greeted by Ben’s parents (Bob and Carol) and Chung-Li (Bob’s co-worker at Boise Inc.) It was so great to see them! :) We had a traditional Taiwanese dinner in downtown Taipei. It was very delicious and boy were we beyond-full when we walked out of the restaurant. The rest of the evening was spent walking through the largest outdoor market in Taiwan. The market wasn’t so much street vendors like we have seen all throughout Thailand, but just hundreds and hundreds of retail stores located in narrow streets with thousands of locals and tourists navigating their way through the chaos.

Our first full day in Taiwan was spent visiting Old Taipei where a quaint street and beautiful Buddhist temple were located, the 2nd tallest high-rise in the world, and at a tea garden restaurant located up in the hills of Taipei. We had an amazing experience up at the tea garden. We enjoyed ‘old’ tea and dinner there. Most of the dishes were cooked with tea leaves or in tea - superb! The view from the restaurant was of the downtown skyline with Taipei 101 being the dominant figure.

On our last full day in Taiwan, we visited the National Palace Museum where most of China’s treasures were on showcase, we enjoyed the amazing view of Taipei from the top of Taipei 101, we were spoiled with a relaxing afternoon at the hot springs spa, and stuffed ourselves silly (again) at a wonderful dinner up in the hills with family and friends.

Overall, we really enjoyed Taipei and look forward to coming back someday to do more sightseeing, especially in the south. The people were friendly, the food was delicious, the shopping and markets were great, and the modern structures were impressive.

Following Taipei would be a fabulous week in Hong Kong.