You had to have been there.

Most notably about the north of Taiwan vs the south is that they obviously allocate more money to the north. The buildings are nicer, bigger, and newer. The streets are in better condition and the sidewalks cleaner. It is also huuuuuge! The biggest city I’ve stayed in by far. But the subway was easy to figure out and super cheap! The first day we went to one of the most popular restaurant in all of Taiwan: Din Tai Fung. They specialize in a small dumpling called xiaolongbao. It’s famous because it becomes almost like a soup inside and every dumpling is hand rolled and weighed to be exactly the same. Ryan and I then hiked up Elephant Mountain to get a clear view of Taipei 101 which is where the picture was taken. We went up to the top floor in Taipei 101 but it wasn’t clear enough to see very far. The best part was seeing the only view able damper in the world! Spent the evening in Ximending; a popular shopping district. On the second day we went to the Taipei zoo. The enclosures are some of the biggest I’ve seen so I was pretty happy with the visit. Best part was it only cost $2.00USD to get in! From the zoo we took the Maokong Gondola to the top of the mountain. At the top is a little town mostly filled with tea houses and food. Lastly, we went to Shi Ling night market for dinner. I had a dragon fruit water, a cake inside a cake, shaved ice cream with mango, and candied strawberries. I basically had dessert for dinner. I am an adult! For the last day we went to Daan park which is what I imagine Central park might be like but smaller, Chiang Kai-Shek memorial, and a Buddhist temple. I think we hit most of the top rated things to do in the city so we probably won’t go back this trip. Anyhow, I much prefer smaller towns and nature but it was good to see the capital! There is a lantern festival that happens just outside Taipei in a few weeks that is on my top list of the things to do but I’m not sure if I want to spend the money on another high speed train ticket. Choices choices… All in all I would suggest visiting Taipei! It is a nice city with a lot of different things to do.