Christmas in Taiwan: Taipei

For our Christmas vacation this year we decided to check out Taiwan. We had 5 days so we needed to cram in as much as we possibly could.

We started off in Taipei where we spent the first day parusing through temples as well as paying a visit to Taipei 101. There is a bit of controversy surrounding it's rank among the highest buildings in the world, but accoring to our Lonely Planet guide, it is the tallest. It also claims to have the worlds fastest elevator that rises 1010m per minute as well as a massive damper that counteracts movements from strong winds and earthquakes. All in all it was a pretty amazing building.

Next we visited the Confucius Temple and the Bao-an Temple (Taoist). Both were beautiful and had incredible architecture. Once it got dark we headed for the Hua Xi St. Night Market, aka Snake Alley. Back in the day it wasn't uncommon to see snakes tormented then killed, but now there are only a few stores that still keep and serve snakes (and turtles). On these shops there were big signs that read "NO PHOTOGRAPHS". Probably because of all the animal activists that were peeved after watching a show. We had dinner at a shop that served North American friendly animals that were grilled in front of you. The chef's wife also showed us a magazine that the chef was featured in in China.

I also included photos from our last night and day in Taiwan since we spent it in Taipei. On our last night we went to Beitou, a small town in the outer limits of Taipei. This town is known for its sulfurous hot springs that spout from a geothermal valley known as Hell Valley. The waters in this area can reach 90 C, but as it travels down the hot spring river that flows through the town it cools down enough to enjoy. We went straight to the outdoor public bath which consisted of several levels of tubs that were fed by the hot spring. The tub at the top was so hot I could only put my feet in for a minute before jumping out (one should note that the tub was filled with Taiwanese men and women up to their necks). The other tubs were more bearable.

On our last day we explored Hell Valley then jumped on the subway to head back to downtown Taipei. Our last stop was the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. This massive monument was built to honour Chiang Kai- Shek (obviously) and everything about it was enormous. Inside the Memorial there was a museum set up dedicated to his life and work in Taiwan.

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