Traipsing About Taipei: Sister Edition

This fall, Priya and I took our first ever sister duo trip to a new city together! She's had her heart set on Taipei ever since hearing about Taiwan from Mr. Chang in high school (and figuring out it's the shortest and most reasonable flight from Hong Kong).

]We landed at Taoyuan International Airport and took the MRT to Taipei Main Station -- the signs were easy to navigate as pedestrian traffic flowed smoothly, and Priya navigated us onto the express (not commuter) line into the city.

We grabbed a 4pm lunch at the food court in the basement of Taipei 101 before settling in for a few meetings.

After delicious pho and a few hours of work, we were keen to explore Taipei by night! We headed to the iconic Raohe Street Night Market, framed on one side by the visually stunning Songshan Ciyou Temple. 

For the next few hours, we delighted in deep fried sweet potato balls (like little donettes made with sweet potato), delicious steamed dumplings, barbecue roasted corn, and Japanese mini-pancake sandwiches filled with chocolate and tiramisu-flavored filling?! We wish we could tell our mom we didn't go back for seconds, but that would be a lie.

The eats were next level and the energy was buzzing, complete with totally Gill-targeted souvenirs like doggy totes, cat socks, and cartoon owl-shaped wall hooks! Our first foray into Taiwanese snacks and shopping was an absolute win!

The next morning, we were determined to do a half-day trip into Jiufen, a seaside village an hour out of the city, thought to be the inspiration behind the setting of Miyazaki's Spirited Away. We were waylaid by an enthusiastic Uber driver who asked us en route, "Do you like cats?"

Who were we to say no? Next thing we knew, we were on our way to Houtong Cat Village, known for having 200x the feline residents as they do humans.

After Priya had made a bunch of new critter friends, we were back on the road for Jiufen! 

What awaited us was a beautiful oasis in the mountains, with steep staircases weaving between picturesque teahouses, adorned with bright red lanterns across the scenery.

We discovered many delights, the highlight being 石頭貓 Cafe that serves coffee amidst a store of hand-painted animal-themed art pieces. We got to try peanut ice cream rolls and taro ball soup in between sifting through suitable mementos in Jiufen's undulating lanes.

From there, we headed home and I ventured out in the evening to explore Dihua Street, a street constructed in the 1850s that has served as a commercial hub since. I started at Xia-Hai City God Temple and wound northward through stalls selling tea, Chinese herbs, and just enough beautiful woven baskets to make me crazy! I stopped for a solo snack at Du Hsiao Yueh before heading back to the Xinyi area.

We ended our evening back by Taipei 101, including at a "food cart" serving fizzy cocktails in the open air.

In the morning before departing, we headed up to Simple Kaffa, an award-winning coffee chain -- the branch we chose was on the 88th floor of Taipei 101's tower, and once we emerged from the labyrinth of elevators transferring to elevators, enjoyed delicious brown sugar lattes. 

Then it was onward to the airport for the sister squad, the sun peeking out to say goodbye as we go!