Taipei is certainly famous for it’s night markets, but it’s changed quite a bit since I last visited about 10 years ago. Back then, the night markets had a lot more food stall whereas this time, I found the night markets more evenly divided amongst food stalls, clothing stores, and other non-food booths. It definitely made it more interesting for the kids, because our tummies could only eat so much before we have to turn away from those delicious food calling our names!
One of my favorite part of this trip was getting to go to the outskirts of Taipei. Since we hired a driver, it was a lot more convenient and efficient for us to explore outside of Taipei, despite the limited days that we had on this trip. We went to both Jiu Fen Old Street, as well as Shi Fen Old Street, where we got to marvel over beautiful lush sceneries, walk through old streets filled with local vendors, and my favorite part–releasing wish lanterns with the girls.
The wish lanterns were released on an active railroad. As it was constantly filled with people releasing their lanterns, we had no idea it was active until someone yelled that a train was coming….at high speed. Somehow, everyone knew to jump off the tracks before the train hit….thank goodness. The lack of safety measures in Asia always shocks me. It makes for some great stories to tell, but ofcourse, that is only if you survived it.
3 days did feel a bit short to see and experience everything on our list, so we’ll definitely be back in the future, especially since it’s such a short distance from Hong Kong. For this particularly trip, we’re just glad we survived an earthquake, railroad, and way too many dumplings. 🙂
