Taiwan Experience!
For the lunar new year, Kim and I decided on going to Taipei, Taiwan. We chose it as a destination that still celebrates Chinese New Year in style, as well as it's proximity to Korea due to the limited time frame. Taipei was definitely worth the visit. I didn't really know what to expect when traveling to the small island off the coast of China. It was supposed to be beautiful, and it was. The weather was nicer than that of Korea and the entire trip was excellent.
We called the Taipei Grand Hyatt our home for four days and enjoyed the luxury of the stay. We were conveniently in the heart of Taipei and located across the street from the world's tallest building: Taipei 101. The building was beautiful and was an excellent example of modern architecture and engineering. The building has also been given the award of one of the 'Seven Wonders of Engineering.' More on the building later.
After landing early in the morning, we took the bus into the middle of the city to check into the hotel. The hotel was gorgeous and the next plan was to head to the concierge desk and plan our weekend. Little did Jessica, the concierge, know that she was going to be bombarded by us for the next 4 days! Jessica helped us plan out and create an itinerary for our entire trip. We got to fit in everything (almost) that we wanted to see in the city. Our first stop, the National Palace Museum, where many artifacts were stolen from China - directly from the Forbidden Palace. The centerpiece of the collection, a disappointing Jade sculpture of a Buck choy Cabbage. The hype of the carved cabbage was so much, that it was a huge disappointment. I left the museum crushed. But there were good pictures taken on the outside and it was also really cool and interesting to see the museum that has the most Chinese art and artifacts in the world. Approximately 60,000 of the 650,000 artifacts are on display on a rotational basis (3 months), which means that to see everything in the museum's collection it would take about 12 years constantly going at least once every three months!!!
We then proceeded to go to the Jade and Flower Market that was in the city centre. There were many interesting types of flowers, including hundreds of Orchids, which are apparently difficult to grow, that were extremely inexpensive. The Jade and Pearls were really cool as well, since we were celebrating the Lunar New Year (Zodiac Calendar) and I am an Ox, and we were ringing in the year of the Ox, Kim purchased me a little Jade Ox. It is interesting and a great keepsake.
The next adventure on our first day was to figure out the Taipei Subway system and make our way to Longshan Temple. The gorgeous temple was all decked out to welcome the Ox in an extravagant manner (see pictures). There were decorations everywhere and the temple was packed. We didn't stay there TOO long as we also had to make our way to Taipei Tourist Alley, aka 'Snake Alley.'
Here at the Taipei Tourist Alley, there were many different things to experience, including snake blood mixed with grain alcohol and prepared in a shot glass. Kim and I were too tired at this point (and a little disgusted) to try the shot, and unfortunately we missed the snake show because we ducked into a massage parlor to have shoulder and foot massages. Upon leaving the massages, we stopped and Kim had a serving of, what she explained to be, delicious raw tuna. It was a very interesting place to visit and I did manage to get one picture of a live snake, but none that were tied up by their necks and guts hanging out.......
To finish the night off, we retreated to "Cheers" the hotel 'Sports Bar' which was actually an upscale lounge with live entertainment. The singer was excellent and she came and sat with us after the show. We planned the next day at the table and had a great evening.
The next morning we woke up early to go to the Hotsprings in the mountainous area of Taipei. The area was great and we got to enjoy the local hotsprings. We had time to relax and enjoy the vacation alone. The area where the hotsprings were located was really cool and the hot water actually bubbled up from the ground and flowed through the city! We then went to a little seaside town and got to experience the local market with thousands of people around buying things that they needed to prepare for the New Year! There were live chickens, tons of produce, and things that I have never seen in my life. After returning to the city centre of Taipei, we went to explore some famous Taiwanese cuisine - Dumplings! I also got to try Taiwan Beer, which is actually better than Korean beer. We went to a Tea House that was recommended by the New York Times, but it was closed, as was Monster Ice, the Shaved Ice restaurant. We didn't eat too much food, as we had reservations at the Swanky hotel restaurant. There was a set menu with Lobster and other seafood dishes, but the kitchen made me a special dinner with Lamb, Steak, Foi Gras, and more. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and had a lovely meal. We went back to the room early as the following day was a big celebration! NEW YEAR!
When we awoke, we were officially in the Year of the Ox. The hotel had a lot of celebration things set up and we went downstairs to join in on the festivities. They included Chinese calligraphy, Paper folding, Print pressing, and best of all, FIRECRACKERS and a Chinese Dragon Parade. They also had an elaborate ceremony to introduce the Ox, because it is the Zodiac character for the year! It was great, the costumes, dancing, drumming, and thousands of firecrackers went off! The day was great, and afterwards, we went to Taipei 101 to enjoy the afternoon. There is a giant mall, and the tallest skyscraper in the world.
The construction and everything about the building is extremely impressive. It is able to withstand earthquake tremors and typhoon winds because of a giant Damper that was built into the top of the building (at a cost of $4 US million). It is the largest damper sphere in the world, it prevents damage to the structure during strong wind loads.
The view from the top was excellent and it was very interesting. They are very proud of the damper and even have little cartoon characters called "damper babies." There are four damper babies in total and Kim and I got out picture with all four! When in the observation tower we are able to view the damper from the levels. It was really big and pretty impressive, as dampers go.......best one I've seen. I was really interested in the construction of the building as well as the architecture. It is designed to resemble a bamboo stalk. The repeated segments are made to look like Asian pagodas, and there are curled Ruyi figures throughout the structure. This symbol is associated with heavenly clouds.
The building also has the worlds fastest elevator, going at a speed of 60.6 km/h. It doesn't even feel like you are moving when inside, except noticing your ears pop. We traveled from the 5th floor to the 91st in 37 seconds!
After seeing the observation deck and spending time in Taipei 101, we returned to the hotel to get ready for dinner.......only to return to Taipei 101 to go to the 89th floor for dinner! Again, Taipei is known as the best cuisine in Asia, and it didn't disappoint! My meal consisted of White nest soup (soup made of a nest from a bird the builds it by regurgitating - it's considered a delicacy), caesar salad, pork spine, lamb, and desert. The meal was excellent and I highly recommend.
This concludes the excellent four days that was in Taipei, the next morning we just packed up and returned to the airport to head back to Seoul!
We called the Taipei Grand Hyatt our home for four days and enjoyed the luxury of the stay. We were conveniently in the heart of Taipei and located across the street from the world's tallest building: Taipei 101. The building was beautiful and was an excellent example of modern architecture and engineering. The building has also been given the award of one of the 'Seven Wonders of Engineering.' More on the building later.
After landing early in the morning, we took the bus into the middle of the city to check into the hotel. The hotel was gorgeous and the next plan was to head to the concierge desk and plan our weekend. Little did Jessica, the concierge, know that she was going to be bombarded by us for the next 4 days! Jessica helped us plan out and create an itinerary for our entire trip. We got to fit in everything (almost) that we wanted to see in the city. Our first stop, the National Palace Museum, where many artifacts were stolen from China - directly from the Forbidden Palace. The centerpiece of the collection, a disappointing Jade sculpture of a Buck choy Cabbage. The hype of the carved cabbage was so much, that it was a huge disappointment. I left the museum crushed. But there were good pictures taken on the outside and it was also really cool and interesting to see the museum that has the most Chinese art and artifacts in the world. Approximately 60,000 of the 650,000 artifacts are on display on a rotational basis (3 months), which means that to see everything in the museum's collection it would take about 12 years constantly going at least once every three months!!!
We then proceeded to go to the Jade and Flower Market that was in the city centre. There were many interesting types of flowers, including hundreds of Orchids, which are apparently difficult to grow, that were extremely inexpensive. The Jade and Pearls were really cool as well, since we were celebrating the Lunar New Year (Zodiac Calendar) and I am an Ox, and we were ringing in the year of the Ox, Kim purchased me a little Jade Ox. It is interesting and a great keepsake.
The next adventure on our first day was to figure out the Taipei Subway system and make our way to Longshan Temple. The gorgeous temple was all decked out to welcome the Ox in an extravagant manner (see pictures). There were decorations everywhere and the temple was packed. We didn't stay there TOO long as we also had to make our way to Taipei Tourist Alley, aka 'Snake Alley.'
Here at the Taipei Tourist Alley, there were many different things to experience, including snake blood mixed with grain alcohol and prepared in a shot glass. Kim and I were too tired at this point (and a little disgusted) to try the shot, and unfortunately we missed the snake show because we ducked into a massage parlor to have shoulder and foot massages. Upon leaving the massages, we stopped and Kim had a serving of, what she explained to be, delicious raw tuna. It was a very interesting place to visit and I did manage to get one picture of a live snake, but none that were tied up by their necks and guts hanging out.......
To finish the night off, we retreated to "Cheers" the hotel 'Sports Bar' which was actually an upscale lounge with live entertainment. The singer was excellent and she came and sat with us after the show. We planned the next day at the table and had a great evening.
The next morning we woke up early to go to the Hotsprings in the mountainous area of Taipei. The area was great and we got to enjoy the local hotsprings. We had time to relax and enjoy the vacation alone. The area where the hotsprings were located was really cool and the hot water actually bubbled up from the ground and flowed through the city! We then went to a little seaside town and got to experience the local market with thousands of people around buying things that they needed to prepare for the New Year! There were live chickens, tons of produce, and things that I have never seen in my life. After returning to the city centre of Taipei, we went to explore some famous Taiwanese cuisine - Dumplings! I also got to try Taiwan Beer, which is actually better than Korean beer. We went to a Tea House that was recommended by the New York Times, but it was closed, as was Monster Ice, the Shaved Ice restaurant. We didn't eat too much food, as we had reservations at the Swanky hotel restaurant. There was a set menu with Lobster and other seafood dishes, but the kitchen made me a special dinner with Lamb, Steak, Foi Gras, and more. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and had a lovely meal. We went back to the room early as the following day was a big celebration! NEW YEAR!
When we awoke, we were officially in the Year of the Ox. The hotel had a lot of celebration things set up and we went downstairs to join in on the festivities. They included Chinese calligraphy, Paper folding, Print pressing, and best of all, FIRECRACKERS and a Chinese Dragon Parade. They also had an elaborate ceremony to introduce the Ox, because it is the Zodiac character for the year! It was great, the costumes, dancing, drumming, and thousands of firecrackers went off! The day was great, and afterwards, we went to Taipei 101 to enjoy the afternoon. There is a giant mall, and the tallest skyscraper in the world.
The construction and everything about the building is extremely impressive. It is able to withstand earthquake tremors and typhoon winds because of a giant Damper that was built into the top of the building (at a cost of $4 US million). It is the largest damper sphere in the world, it prevents damage to the structure during strong wind loads.
The view from the top was excellent and it was very interesting. They are very proud of the damper and even have little cartoon characters called "damper babies." There are four damper babies in total and Kim and I got out picture with all four! When in the observation tower we are able to view the damper from the levels. It was really big and pretty impressive, as dampers go.......best one I've seen. I was really interested in the construction of the building as well as the architecture. It is designed to resemble a bamboo stalk. The repeated segments are made to look like Asian pagodas, and there are curled Ruyi figures throughout the structure. This symbol is associated with heavenly clouds.
The building also has the worlds fastest elevator, going at a speed of 60.6 km/h. It doesn't even feel like you are moving when inside, except noticing your ears pop. We traveled from the 5th floor to the 91st in 37 seconds!
After seeing the observation deck and spending time in Taipei 101, we returned to the hotel to get ready for dinner.......only to return to Taipei 101 to go to the 89th floor for dinner! Again, Taipei is known as the best cuisine in Asia, and it didn't disappoint! My meal consisted of White nest soup (soup made of a nest from a bird the builds it by regurgitating - it's considered a delicacy), caesar salad, pork spine, lamb, and desert. The meal was excellent and I highly recommend.
This concludes the excellent four days that was in Taipei, the next morning we just packed up and returned to the airport to head back to Seoul!
posted by Graeme at 4:42 AM
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