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Published: March 16th 2024
Year of the Dragon
2024 Lantern Festival TaipeiA quick look at a map reveals that Taiwan is located off the coast of China, sort of between Japan and the Philippines. When planning this six-week journey, Taiwan became one of those destinations that we refer to as, “while we’re in the neighborhood” stops. When you spend 15 hours in a plane from North America to reach this part of the world, you must consider how you can maximize your travel time. Additionally, we needed to consider if we would find ourselves in this part of the world again and what might become of Taiwan in the next decade or so, given that the Chinese still, and always will, consider Taiwan as part of the Peoples Republic of China. Things could get ugly in this part of the world someday… As with many countries around the world Taiwan has had a complex past and we hope we share the facts correctly with you at the end of the blog if you are interested in history.
But then again….we were in Taipei for far more festive reasons. We were meeting up with our friend Michael yet again to spend a few days together. We have traveled with Michael in California,
Washington, Florida, France, Italy, and Burma. Michael is in the process of selling his condo in Seattle but still has his small condo in Paris. Michael is happiest when traveling to Bali a few times a year, eating vegan, getting massages twice a day and practicing yoga throughout the day. Yet for some reason Michael still enjoys traveling with us from time to time and we attempt to tempt him to eat different proteins and an occasional glass of wine. He can be corrupted if plied enough…Michael has spent a fair amount of time in Taiwan in the past so he served as our personal guide as we explored Taipei. He has a friend who lives in Taipei, so they were frequently texting to assist us with ideas and directions.
Our first night in town we headed three storefronts down from our hotel to a mom-and-pop noodle shop. This turned out to be our favorite meal in Taiwan. The beef noodle soup was out of this world. From the noodle shop Michael took us to his favorite custard tart shop… magnificent…. and this is only the beginning.
Michael had been in Taipei a week before our arrival and
had showed us photos of the lantern festival and a big dragon in the square. Turns out, the Lantern Festival is at the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations in Taiwan and once again we found ourselves in the right place at the right time. Excitement filled the area as people wandered our quaint local neighborhood streets dotted with shop after shop and food stalls. It was one of those local backstreets that a traveler longs to wander.
The Lantern Festival First, we came upon the park where the lanterns were on display. It was impressive how many creations were for viewing, row after row filled the park. These were master pieces of color and design made by school students we are told. We spent a good bit of time wandering the park, taking photos, watching the children’s faces, and enjoying the evening getting caught up with Michael.
We made it to the large square downtown where the dragon was going to perform. We were surrounded by massive modern skyscrapers with large video screens advertising one thing or another. The city was jumping at us with lights and vibrating with all the excitement of a big
The Lantern Festival
So vibrant and colorful city shopping area as well as people waiting for the dragon to begin spewing smoke and the light show that would begin. Silence came over the crowd as the dragon began, thousands of smiling people, ooohs and aaahhs, and made sounds of appreciation. An event that captured the imagination and filled everyone with joy… even those 90-year-olds felt like a child again. These celebrations fill the heart with joy.
2024 is year of the Dragon and for those born in 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, and 2012 it is time to celebrate. People born in these years are charismatic, intelligent, confident, powerful and they are naturally lucky and gifted. In all that they do they tend to do it to the best of their ability with high standards. If you know anything about astrology, we are told many changes and opportunities may arise in 2024 as the Grand Duke Jupiter visits their sign. We’ll have to do additional research to understand.
We were pleased our next day offered a bright sunny day at least until late afternoon so we headed to the Maokong Gondola to enjoy the village at the top, the tea plantations, have lunch with
an incredible view and enjoy the city. We needed a sunny day as we’ve had a lot of rain and gloom on this trip. Probably the main reasons are that we are traveling in late winter and secondly, late winter weather is either good or not so good. We’ve experienced the latter , but It has not stopped us from having great fun but the weather today buoyed our spirits, as we were appreciating a few flowers and blossoms on the trees as well as eating some Tie Kuan Yin Tea Ice Cream ice cream. The gondola ride was longer than expected and took us over a beautiful terrain where we could glimpse the metro, Zhinan Temple Station and the park along the Jimgmei River.
Foot soak and massage Two evenings we stopped for a 10-minute foot soak with a 40-minute leg and foot massage. After a day of walking and sightseeing, you head to dinner and then on the way back to the hotel, you spot a place for a foot massage. This turns out to be the easiest decision of the day. You walk in and get on with it. The experience can only be described
The City Streets of Taipei
During the lantern festival. as divine and relaxing. When in Taipei you must indulge. These businesses are not hard to find, and most are very reasonably priced. Your feet do a lot of work when you travel, so you should indulge them from time to time.
A chocolate tasting A few years ago, when Michael was spending more time in Paris than he does now, he gave chocolate tours. Being known chocoholics Michael took us to Fu Wan Chocolate for a tasting. As you would expect we had six pieces of chocolate to sample as well as some lovely teas to select. High end chocolate is not what most people expect, but when the taste buds meet the high quality of these purveyors, the experience is quite nice! Additionally, Michael took us to several of his favorite neighborhoods in town, each with a different personality. It is lovely traveling with someone who knows a bit about the area…you just let them take you from place to place and enjoy the experience.
As with every large city around the world, each neighborhood has its own personality. Michael introduced us to several in Taipei and we liked Da’an district & Donfeng street areas
Creative Masterpieces
We are told these are made by students. the best, as well as the neighborhood where our hotel was located. We do recommend the area where we stayed. Taipei is well known for its food markets and night markets that are full of stinky tofu, chicken feet and other delicacies you may want to try. No, the stinky tofu held no promise for us, and we dismissed any possibility of tasting something that smelled that rank.
The weather turned on us again, so on a cool and drizzly day we headed to the National Museum to appreciate many fine artifacts and precious pieces from a multitude of time periods. A well-done museum offered an education as well as an appreciate of fine artistry. We hope you enjoy a few of the photos.
A trip to Jiufen The Taiwan countryside is lush and green, and we appreciated this on our bus ride to Jiufen which is an hour from the city. We felt the need to get out and see something other than the city. It is a rather touristy village in the mountains but well worth the visit. The food stalls, shops and brew pubs were welcome on this rainy afternoon. The funny thing is
when we left Taipei for this excursion it was sunny and was still sunny when we returned. The coast mountain town was wet and chilly. Oh well we had a grand time and highly recommend taking the bus to this village and wandering. There were a couple of good views of the coast and a lovely shrine at the top of the mountain. While there a small purchase was made of an instrument that sounds like a pan flute. We still have not determined what it is called but MJ is excited to get home and practice with her new instrument.
If we had more time in Taiwan, we would have headed further out of town to enjoy the national parks and hiking. Taiwan has a lot to offer to travelers. Our time here was limited, so we had to make choices to take in what we could while we were there.
Our last night in town we felt the pull of the lantern festival and had to return to the park as well as the busy square to watch the dragon lightshow. On the weekends, they block several of the neighborhood streets and set up stages where
they have performers singing throughout the evening. It is all very festive! A nice meal of dumplings from a local restaurant made for a very nice evening.
We had a really nice time in Taiwan. We came prepared for changing weather so it did not slow us down.
Please enjoy our photos—most of them are food and festival. We would love to receive a message from you.
A very brief history In the late 17
th century, China gained control of the island and ruled for two centuries. Following the Qing defeat in the
First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Taiwan, its associated islands, and the Penghu archipelago were ceded to Japan. After World War II, Taiwan (Formosa) returned to China Nationalist control in 1945, but a civil war ensued in mainland China and in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and his government were forced to flee to what is now Taiwan. Over the years, issues have continued, they have left the United Nations, treaties have developed and been cancelled, and conversations continue. Taiwan is in a precarious location and issues continue. Mainland China (The People’s Republic of China) claim Taiwan as part of their domain. Our opinion is that this most likely
Dragon Lightshow
Every night at 7pm will not end well, we are not sure just when, though.
Where we stayed: Via Hotel Taipei Station
No. 60, Sec. 1, Chongging S., Rd.
This hotel was in a very convenient location. The rooms are small but it is clean and comfortable. We recommend it.
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Michael Huffman
non-member comment
That was great to see Taiwan
You guys are so good at capturing key highlights from a trip. It was a lot of fun to travel together, I'm really grateful the stars aligned to catch up with you both in Taipei. Look forward to our next trip together.