Playing Catch Up Part 1: Taipei Days 1 - 3

Preparing to write this post I reviewed my last entry and was shocked to see that it had been over a month since my last communication! Our sudden exit from Mangenguey sparked the beginning of a whirlwind journey filled with new cities, towns and experiences, goodbye celebrations, welcome home celebrations, a little Seafair shenanigans, an amazing wedding and some great climbing. At the risk of sounding too cliché, time really does fly when you’re having fun!! Now I will do my best to back track and catch up on the last month’s escapades and fill you in on the truth behind Mangenguey.

Taipei was amazing and the complete antithesis of The Philippines: clean, organized, only one person doing a job instead of 4, the ability to get an actual receipt, drivers obeying traffic laws…the list goes on. Needless to say it was nice to get to a big city again. We spent five days exploring the city and still didn’t get to see half of it! Taipei is packed with history, amazing architecture and lots of scooters. We arrived early on the first day and set off walking. We explored the neighborhood around our hotel and had our first tastes of Taiwan style shabu shabu and hot plate. Exhausted from our two day goodbye party in Coron, we called it an early night. (see pictures from the last post)


On the second day we got up early, enjoyed our complimentary hotel buffet breakfast and set off by 10 a.m. walking to the Taipei 101, the 2nd tallest building in the world. On the long walk we got to see the Taipei Arena, The Living Mall and The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Gardens. Hot and exhausted, we finally made it to the 101. We took the elevator to the viewing deck, enjoyed some beer floats (yes, light beer with a scoop of vanilla gelato) and took in the aerial view of the city. Unfortunately my camera died as we got to the top of the 101 but once we edit our flip videos for our entire trip I will post them!

Scooters Galore

The Taipei Arena

Outside The Living Mall

Outside The Living Mall

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

The Sun-Yat-sen Memorial Hall

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

Turtles in the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Gardens

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Gardens

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Garden

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

On the way to 101, Trevor needed a nap :)

He even found a cow to milk along the way!

Taipei 101

Taipei 101

Taipei 101

Beer Floats!!

Damper Babies!! A large damper is installed in the tower to help it maintain balance.

Leaving the 101


From the 101, we set off on a different path towards home and visited the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, Museum and Gardens. Tired from the days walk and craving some comfort food, we were drawn to Alleycats. Advertising “Stone-Oven-Baked Pizza and Hoegaarden”, Alleycats was exactly what we were looking for. We were a little early for dinner and had the place (and the actual alley cats) all to ourselves. Our waitress was very friendly and pointed us in the direction of the nearby Shida night market. She even introduced us to another American student dining alone. He was a graduate student studying Chinese at the local university. His wife was from Taiwan and they were staying in her uncle’s apartment while he was in school for the summer. He was picking up Chinese very quickly and was a great companion at the market. He gave us some advice on must see sites and helped us figure out the subway system. After a very long, fun filled day we were very happy to sit on our way home instead of walk! We got home by midnight and were asleep within minutes.

Chiang Kai-Skek Memorial Hall and Gardens

Chiang Kai-Skek Memorial Hall and Gardens

Chiang Kai-Skek Memorial Hall and Gardens

Chiang Kai-Skek Memorial Hall and Gardens

Chiang Kai-Skek Memorial Hall and Gardens

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Museum

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Museum

Chiang Kai-Skek Memorial Hall and Gardens

Chiang Kai-Skek Memorial Hall and Gardens

Chiang Kai-Skek Memorial Hall and Gardens

Alleycat's Dinner and our cat companions:

Shida Night Market:

Now that we were familiar with the subway, we decided to cut down the walking a bit and take advantage. On the third day we headed to the Lungshan Temple in the Wanhua District. We spent the afternoon exploring the area around the temple before heading back to nap and prepare for our visit to the Shinlin Night Market, the largest and most famous in Taipei.

MRT in Action

The Lungshan Temple:

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Lungshan Temple

Throughout the city we would stumble upon all kinds of small temples...here is another interesting one:

Ching Shui Yen Tsu Shih Temple

Ching Shui Yen Tsu Shih Temple

Ching Shui Yen Tsu Shih Temple

Ching Shui Yen Tsu Shih Temple

Some scenery from our afternoon walk:

Wanhua District Streets

Guarding the Streets

Live Shark

Dry Goods Booths: They sold everything from teas to mushrooms and many unidentifiable items as well.

Live Fish Stand Near Our Hotel


The night market’s are a main gathering point for the young people of Taipei. Packed with cheap shopping, amazing street food and bubble tea, we could see why! After enjoying some tasty eats, we cruised the market, soaking up the energy from the massive crowds.

Night Market Puppy

GIANT Watermelon

Packed Night Market Streets

Artistic Night Market Streets

Mmmmm...Night Market Tacos

Some of the Awesome Night Market Shopping

Night Market Street Scenes

More Night Market Street Scenes

The Shinlin Night Market Food Pavillion...delicious!!

Coming Soon:

Taipei Days 4 - 6

Interesting Taiwanese Signage

Wrapping Up Manila and Back in Sunny Seattle

Mangenguey: A Modern Day Dystopia
The sad truth behind the smoke and mirrors that create one "self-proclaimed demi-goddess'” vision of “utopian living” while destroying the local people and environment she promised to protect.