TAIWAN!
After taking our first round of midterms, me and Vic thought it was time to take a vacation. I highly recommend traveling during your program, whether it be within the country you are staying in or overseas. After-all, it is a part of the study abroad experience! We only stayed in Taiwan for 3 days so we tried visit as much places as we possibly could. Taiwan has a similar bus and metro system to Korea so traveling around wasn't very difficult. You can easily pick up an EasyCard (Transportation Card) at the airport or convenience stores and you can download the Taipei metro app or use Google Maps to find your way around. Taiwan does not have much wifi hotspots in comparison to Korea so I recommend buying a SIM card at the airport for the days that you will be there. Taiwanese people are also very English friendly so we had no difficulties communicating with the people.
DAY 1: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taipei101, & Shilin Night Market
The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall is one of the most prominent landmarks in Taiwan. The Hall was opened in 1980 to commemorate Chiang Kai-Shek, the first leader of Taiwan. The Memorial Hall is white with four sides and has a blue roof and octagonal shape (the number eight is associated with good fortune). It also has two sets of white stairs with 89 steps each to represent Chiang’s age at the time of his death.
While at the Memorial Park something unexpected happened to me and Vic. Taiwan is known for its very hot and humid weather and for a second the ground started swaying and I thought I was about to faint from dehydration. Turns out there was a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that struck the East coast of Taiwan! I'm glad that we were both okay and that there was no damage caused in the area that we were in!
After the Memorial Park, we made our way to Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, which was formerly used as tobacco factory until is was transformed into an art space. It is similar to SALT that we have in Kaka'ako and is full of small shops and exhibition halls that you are able to freely look at.
Next, we decided to go to Taipei 101, another famously known tourist attraction. The building was formerly the tallest skyscraper in 2004 and now ranks #9 in the world. Even though I am terrified of heights, I thought the view was very enjoyable. Taipei 101 has a unique building structure that is supposed to resemble a bamboo reed. What I really enjoyed seeing was the building’s earthquake damper. On the 88th floor, there is a big metal ball in the middle of the building that is designed to counteract any sways from powerful winds or earthquakes to keep the building from collapsing.
Day 2: Jiufen, Rahoe Market, Rainbow Road
Jiufen is located in a mountain town East from Taipei and is primarily known for two things - Jiufen Old Street and Jiufen Waterfalls. This area is also a former mining town that saw its peak during the gold rush of the Japanese era. It maintains much of its architecture from that time period and has developed into a popular tourist destination. A-MEI Teahouse is the most recognizable building in Jiufen. If you do a search for “Jiufen” on Google Images, you’ll find that most of the pictures will be of this building. Jiufen became popular because of the hugely successful animated film Spirited Away. Nonetheless, people still come and associate Jiufen with the film so you’l find many stores here selling Spirited Away and Studio Ghibli merchandise.
After spending the day in Jiufen, we headed back to Taipei and went to Rahoe Night Market. In comparison to Shilin Night Market, Rahoe mostly sells street food and has very few souvenir shops along the street. In front of the entrance to the market is Songshan Ciyou Temple so we decided to visit before indulging into some street food. Behind the market there is Rahoe's Rainbow Bridge. In my personal opinion, it wasn't as vibrant as I thought it was going to be but it was still a fun site to see before we ended our night!
