A convenient layover from Bangkok brought us to Taipei for a few festive days of food and exploration. As soon as we got into our apartment, we headed out to enjoy the beautiful 80’ weather and get a lay of the land. We walked past a couple major sites including the Presidential Hall, National Theater, and imposing Chang Kai Shek memorial hall.
Our destination was Taipei 101, long the world’s tallest building, and now still impressive just because it towers so high above everything around it. We were able to see the tail end of sunset over Taiwan’s [mountain range] and city lights plus Christmas lights after dark.
We had one more nice day on the forecast and used it to take a little hike up Elephant Mountain, where a series of trails is accessible from a metro stop. We got glorious city views and came across a mountain temple, before entering back into the city for lunch. We continued our walk all day, along part of the [river walk], through the old section of downtown, ending at a night market for some street eats.
The next day was Christmas and it began to feel a lot more like winter, cool and drizzly. We spent the first half of the day in the National Gallerie Museum, where [Chinese] stowed many of the classical Chinese art, furniture and calligraphy so it wasn’t destroyed in the cultural revolution.
Our final day rained on and off, but we still did some outdoor exploration, walking the lush botanical garden and stopping by some more impressive temples.
Throughout the course of our trip, we tried some typical Taiwanese cuisine like rich noodle soups, several varieties of dumpling, and a pig’s blood cake (like a blood sausage but with sticky rice). For Christmas dinner, we did a special sit-down dinner of roast duck withe a collection of vegetable and soup side dishes. I also tried to channel Christmas spirit with sweet potatoes (in fried puff form) and roast chestnuts from street vendors.
Of course, we also checked out the lights displays at the mall. An unorthidox Christmas, and certainly a memorable one! We headed home Boxing Day to celebrate the normal way with each of our families, making that a wrap for 2025 travels!