Reading week travelling

[11.03.2013]

Taipei!

Remember this game? It's an old game on Windows computer and I liked to play it when I was younger (and actually I still like it). My sister didn't like this game or me playing it because we took turns playing games on the computer and this usually took longer than the Rattle Race she liked to play. [Sorry, I just couldn't not include the picture... :D]

Anyway, I think you have already guessed where I travelled during the reading week? :)

I flew to Taipei on Monday 11th of March and my friends, two Korean girls Monica and Keun Hee, came a day later. We booked the the flights and hostel quite late, maybe a week before going, but we still managed to get a really nice hostel with superb location right next to the Taipei Main Railway Station. One night was 17 euros for a 6-person dorm room bed and we got the 3 last places left. The hostel was NiHao Hostel, in the case someone is going to Taipei. :)

Finding my way to the hostel was easy as they gave a really good directions and the bus from the airport came straight to the Main Railway Station. The check-in time was at 4pm, so I had some time to wander around before that.

The street of the hostel. Much more wider streets than in HK.

And way more spacious junctions.

Taipei Main Railway Station

Only 2 metro stops or a short walk away was the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and it's surroundings which included National Theater and Concert Halls, a park areas and a large white gate. The Memorial Hall itself wasn't as white as in pictures I've seen + it was being renovated at the moment or something.

National Theater (or Concert) Hall.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

View from the garden.

Just a random shot, because I find it interesting that there's a temple like thing in the middle of a roundabout.

In the evening I visited the Longshan Temple which was quite nice and had nice atmosphere during the evening. Maybe it's because it wasn't filled with tourists. I actually tried the whishing thing.

How to toss the Jiao. Notice that beside English there's Japanese and not only in this one but everywhere in Taipei.

"Lots" are the brown sticks at the front and jiaos are in the metal box.

Longshan Temple area entrance.

Inside the temple area

Lanterns at the temple.

After visiting the temple I decided to go to check out the Wufenpu shopping discrict. The discrict was full of small clothing stores open at late at night. The clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. were cheap, but also the Asian one-size style and you could not try them on. So a tall westener like me could only consider buying some loosely fitting clothes with short sleeves if one wants to make sure one can actually wear them.

Wufenpu shopping discrict with it's narrow streets and cheap clothes.

And these kind of scooters drove through the narrow allies in the previous picture.