All posts tagged: Taipei

Taiwan: Taipei – Taipei 101, Christmas Illuminations, 大佳河濱公園 Park for 2014 Countdown (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

Taipei 101 is the pride of many Taiwanese. It is modeled after a bamboo, and is extremely stable despite strong winds and typhoons that hit Taipei due to its unique design and sound foundation and architecture. Taipei 101 holds the Guinness record of being the fastest elevator in the world to bring people from ground level to 88 floors. The 360 degree view of Taipei from Taipei 101 is stunning: The walk around Taipei 101 during this Christmas season is also very enjoyable with the Christmas illuminations at 16 degreeC nights:

Taiwan: Taipei – Hope Hotel 全家歡商務旅店 and Cosmos Hotel 天成大飯店 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

As we had 2 legs of our tour in Taipei, we spent 2 nights in Hope Hotel (全家歡商務旅店) and 1 night in Cosmos Hotel. Hope Hotel (全家歡商務旅店 ) was very affordable at around NTD$1500 (SGD$60) per night. It looks sleazy but it isn’t. It is a very simple no frills room with basic bedding, 1 pillow each, clean toilets and heating. But for city visits, where we usually spend very little time in the hotel rooms but outside exploring the city, I think Hope Hotel meets our needs and is very centrally located at exit Z6 from the Taipei Main Station.   Hope Hotel (全家歡商務旅店) Address: 台北市中正區忠孝西路一段72號4樓 Phone 預約電話: 02-23814755 Site: http://www.hopehotel.com.tw/ — Cosmos Hotel (天成大飯店) was relatively expensive but that is because we booked it at very last minute on Dec 30 for Dec 31 stay, when we did a slight tweak to the itinerary. Like Hope Hotel, it is extremely convenient from Taipei Main Station (Exit M3), but it has a lot of nice facilities that Hope Hotel lacks – entry only by security card at lift for added security, …

Taiwan: Taipei – Shi Lin Night Market 士林夜市 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

Shi Lin Night Market (士林夜市) is the ultimate Taiwan night market experience with overload of our senses: smells, noises, huge selection yummylicious food – oyster egg, steak, innards, teppanyaki. Shi Lin was very enjoyable for us in December as we could enjoy the walk and food without the rain or humidity. For this post, we must apologize for some poor res photos as we focused only on eating so all shots are shot on camera! On Level 1, we tried: Chicken Chop – loads of MSG, Pepper and Oil. Much better than any I have tried in Singapore though it is the same “Hao Da Da” brand. Big Intestine Wrap Small Intestine (大腸包小腸) with garlic – very strong meaty flavor. This is Taiwanese version of hot dog, which is a pork sausage wrapped in a glutinous rice sausage. Must have for all who love sausages but be prepared to queue! Right outside the Ci Qian temple in the heart of Shilin Night Market. Ah Liang Mian Xian (阿亮麵線),  also near Ci Qian Temple. Strong seafood …

Taiwan: Taipei – Xi Men Ding 西門町 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

Xi Men Ding (西門町) is hailed as Taiwan’s version of Harajuku/Shibuya and it does not disappoint in delivering the same city energy, glitzy lights and ads, and crowds in the shops and restaurants. I believe the shopping will be great in summer, but most of the shops were selling winter wear, which I will hardly wear in Singapore. Even the name Xi Men Ding (西門町) has Japanese roots – the character 町 means cho in Japanese, which means a part of a municipal ward, a term commonly used in Japanese addresses. We tried a random stop for breakfast, Tian Tian Li, which turned out really good! We tried a few famous food places in Xi Men Ding. First up, famous Ya Rou Bian (鸭肉扁) coffee shop, which has been opened for 63 years now. The shop name is called duck, but they actually sell goose meat! We shared a quarter of a goose and liver. Goose are usually tough but this meat was soft and tender. N enjoyed the flavourful liver very much and managed to finish it despite …

Taiwan: Taipei – L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Restaurant 侯布雄法式餐廳 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (侯布雄法式餐廳) is one of the best meal experiences I ever had, joining the ranks of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay @ Hospital Road in London, and Saito Sushi in Tokyo. Taiwan does not have Michelin Star ratings, but Robuchon is acclaimed by many local Taiwan reviews as one of the best French food in Taiwan and it is not hard to see why after this experience! Joël Robuchon is a French chef who operates a dozen restaurants in Hong Kong, Las Vegas, London, Monaco, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo, with a total of 28 Michelin Guide stars among them – the most of any chef in the world, so L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon is one of his restaurants in Taipei. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon’s décor is dark, red, modern with dim lighting. As we made a reservation pretty early on, they put us at the counter seats right in front of the open kitchen so we could see all the action. Highly recommend to ask for these counter seats if you reserve early! We tried …

Taiwan: Taipei – Wu Fen Pu 五分埔 Shopping and Rao He Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Published by Beatrice

Taiwan has joined Japan in our most loved Asian countries. We love Taiwan for the incredibly friendly local folks. We love that the Taiwanese respect queues, that our random masseur recommends the best location to view the 2014 countdown fireworks while avoiding the crowds, that our public bus driver helps us with our luggages without being asked, that random Taipei folks we meet in wintry He Huan Mountain takes a polaroid of us with their camera to give us as a souvenir without asking anything in return, that food vendors offer to throw the rubbish in our hands for us from previous stores because we look like we are carrying so many items, that their service is warm and sincere. The kind acts of many Taiwanese we met really warm our hearts and make us want to return to Taiwan more often! We spent ~7 days in Taiwan including travel time: Day 1-2: Taipei Day 3-4: Alishan Day 5: Sun Moon Lake, Cing Jing, He Huan Mountain, Taroko National Park Day 6: Taroko National Park …