Beautiful Taiwan

The past four days have been filled with tons of shenanigans. I have gone all over Taipei and even went out of the city limits a few times. I have also tried tons of unique foods; mainly from street vendors, who are abundant in Taipei. Here is a highlight of the places I have visited.

Taipei Zoo
The Taipei Zoo was fairly similar to any other large city zoo, but the highlight for me was seeing a live panda for the first time!

Din Tang Fung Restaurant
The next day we went to central Taipei city and ate at a famous restaurant called Din Tang Fung Restaurant. They hand make wontons with 18 folds. Its kind of cool place because the wonton makers are visible to the customers through a glass wall. Even Tom Cruise visited in April to learn how to make the wontons.

Taipei 101
Conveniently,  this building was in the basement of our next destination; Taipei 101. Taipei 101 is the 2nd largest building in the world (behind Dubai). I got to go to the 90th floor and saw the amazing night view of Taipei. But what makes this building truly unique is the "damper", or iron ball, that is dispended in the middle of the building for the public to see. This damper helps absorb earthquakes and wind so the building doesn't sway.

Yangmingshan National Park
This beautiful park is on top of one of the mountains surrounding Taipei. It has spectacular views and has a few hot sulfur pits. I didn't realize how stinky sulfur could be; it was similar to rotten eggs. After getting over the stench, I really enjoyed the scenery.We also visited the National Palace Museum which had a lot of ancient Chinese artifacts.

 

Shilin Night Market
Taipei is famous for their night markets. In these night markets there is a ton a vendors selling a variety of things, from stinky tofu to foot massages. Speaking of foot massages, I got my first Chinese foot massage. It kind of hurt, but my feet felt like air afterwards. And the guy said I had a healthy body, which they can tell by massaging your feet. 

Pingxi District
Pingxi is a a little, old town near the northern coast of Taiwan. It is famous for Chinese lanterns. This is a famous Chinese custom where you right your wishes and prayers onto a large Chinese lantern and then it floats into the sky to the Chinese gods. Every color on the lantern represents something different, for example white represents the future and red represents family or relationships.

I'm starting to get use to the food and weather but I am still adjusting. My friends are keeping me very busy everyday, so I am experiencing so much! Taiwan is a really great country.

Sincerely,

Alix