One of the main selling points every always talked about in Hong Kong is the ability to travel around Asia on weekends. In fact, the main airline of Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific, makes it incredibly easy by providing affordable travel packages to almost all major Asian destinations together with round trip plane tickets and hotel accommodations. Last weekend, I finally took that opportunity and took a weekend trip to Taipei.
My friend and I took advantage of a Cathay Pacific Taiwan package for less than HK$3,000 (Less than US$400) and jetted off. First thing we noticed about Taipei is the air is significantly better than Hong Kong. The sky is actually blue. The transport into the city was surprisingly easy, with buses that dropped us off right in front of our hotel (San Want Hotel – I think it’s actually owned by the famous Taiwanese snack company Wan Wan because it has its mascot everywhere and its snack in the room for its guests).
While one can navigate Taiwan with just English, it is much more Mandarin/Chinese focused than Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, many people will start the conversation in English. In Taipei, even though I was with a white girl, people still started the conversation in Chinese. I kind of liked the fact that everyone spoke Mandarin and not Cantonese.
Taipei is a great place for a weekend get away. There are enough to do for a two-day adventure (but not so much that you feel like you missed out on something important). As Culture vultures, we went to Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world and enjoyed a beer float on the deck. At CKS memorial, we say tributes to CKS (weirdly contributing random events to CKS but wasn’t really relevant) and almost got ran over by the changing of the guards. The National Palace Museum houses the greatest collection of Chinese art, given the KMT took everything they could with them during their escape.
Taipei is also a heaven for food. The night markets are amazing. Food stalls everywhere and everything you buy off the street is good. If I am from Taiwan, I would never want to live anywhere else given there’s nowhere else in the world that serves congealed blood, anything fried, oyster pancakes, stinky tofu, etc. Taipei really took the best of mainland and mastered it.
Partying in Taipei put Hong Kong to shame. First, the people are beautiful. Boys and girls are some of the best looking Asians around. Second, they are wild. There are more dancing on tables, free grinding and dance floor make-outs with strangers than I have seen anywhere else (including Meatpacking in NYC and Prive in HK). If you want to have a bachelor party or just a good time, Taipei is the place to be.
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