This ain’t a spur of the moment thing, this trip took years of wishing and hoping that they’d lift the visa policy for Filipinos. And when they did, it took another year of dreaming before the trip actually came to life. So we basically decided to schedule the trip during their National Day, also known as Double Ten which happens every October 10. We thought it’d be the best time coz it would mean we’ll get to see their military parade and some fireworks.
Here’s the suggested best time to travel considering the weather, the temperature and rainfall to be specific.
So before we left, we had everything planned out including a “five days” itinerary. We figured it will come in handy when we go through immigration. We booked several activities in Klook which was very helpful, I’d highly recommend the ads I posted on this page coz we actually tried them out. We grabbed the wifi from their kiosk at the airport and then headed to our hostel.
We stayed at Mono’tel Shilin Hostel which was just a few steps from the Shilin Night Market. The place is very clean and the staff actually speak English and were very friendly. It’s also a very close walk to the Jiantan MRT stop. And there’s a 7/11 store and a cafe right outside the hostel. If you want something familiar to the taste buds, KFC is a 2-minute walk.
So for our first day, it was pretty late when we settled at the hostel so we just went around the Shilin Night Market and grabbed dinner. Taiwan is all about night markets and Shilin is one of the largest night market. Actually nakakatuwa yung area coz it’s alive at night until dawn but during mornings until around mga 4pm, halos lahat ng stores closed! We tried their infamous stinky tofu, my God! Don’t every try it unless adventurous yung ilong and tyan mo. The smell will stick on your nostrils for hours, it’s not funny at all.
Their night markets are amazing. Just try new things and you might be surprised that you actually like them. The next day was packed with activities. We headed to the Maokong Gondola, some temples and the Taipei zoo.
The Gondola is right where the zoo is so if you want to do both, we’d suggest you start early. Their zoo is huge, divided into animal categories. This was a day of walking for us, if you want to do the same thing, please wear comfy shoes and bring water. There are drinking fountains all over the zoo you can refill your water bottle. We started off with the gondola, we had the one with the glass floor. It was amazing to see the forest right below your feet! If you’re scared of heights, choose the non-glass floor one. We also visited the temples around the area. Then we explored their huge zoo, we couldn’t check out everything so we only stopped at the animals we were interested in such as the panda.
It was a long day, the next day we were all looking forward to the festivities of Double Ten.
Until next post.
Xavy & Mom 