Taipei, Taiwan (Jan, 2017)

Taiwan is a charming country, free from intense large crowds and untouched in the most figurative sense; it's a natural beauty that has yet to be discovered by the masses.

It's hands-down my favourite country in the world for food. It just wins in every way, from traditional delicacies and flawless flavouring, to the incredible variety of food markets and fresh fruit availability (this is very important).

Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, is like a warped amalgamation of Myeongdong (South Korea), Osaka (Japan), and Central (Hong Kong). Rows and rows of indoor and outdoor eateries and carts line the streets from day to night in various spots throughout the city. The nightlife is banging.

Whilst based in Taipei, we visited the Ximending Markets (Taipei City), Shiling Night Markets (Taipei City), Shifen Waterfall (Pingxi), Pingxi Old Street (Pingxi), Jiufen Old Town (Ruifang), Keelung Night Markets (Ren'ai), the famous Modern Toilet restaurant (Taipei City), and the One Piece cafe (Taipei City).

The food = spot on. The service = superb. The vibes = 10/10.

Below are some captures of my time in Taiwan. Please note: this was my first trip with my Sony a6000 so my pictures are sometimes quite unfocused...

Ximending Market

Located smack bang in the city, Ximending Market is one of the easiest markets to access, perfect for when you land at an awkward hour in the night and just want to explore something nearby. Lots of food options in both restaurants and food stalls, small stores selling branded knock-offs of everything you can imagine (the dodginess didn't stop me from spending $20.00 on a new iPhone case though). There is also an arcade where you can play games and watch the local teens become fully immersed in their instrumental games. Very cool.

Such a lit place.

Local talents cooking up a storm.

Tony's heaven.

Can't go to Taiwan without getting some original Hot Star Fried Chicken

Pictured above is Taiwanese 'jianbing' - a traditional Chinese savoury crepe, generally eaten for breakfast. Holy mother of God. This was one of the BEST THINGS I have ever eaten, ever! Straight off the streets. Fresh and piping hot. Seriously so good. Get yourself one or two or ten. After I came back to Australia, I found out that there were some Taiwanese cafes in the CBD selling jianbing but it just wasn't the same.

Shilin Night Market

I actually don't mind rain when I'm travelling, but the weather was also slightly muggy which made it 100x worse.

Food options are plentiful. Diverse crowd.

One of my favourites: skewers of quail eggs cooked in fried egg

These doggos were regulars at this market

Shilin at night is beautiful.

Pingxi

Our day in Pingxi consisted of waking up to dumplings, going to catch a glimpse of the famous Shifen Waterfall, and then heading to Pingxi Old Town to light up lanterns in the sky. Both activities were overrun by tourists, but they were fun nonetheless.

Dumplings all day every day.

Perspective.

Beautiful Shifen. In the top left corner you can see a mere 1% of the tourists there. They were everywhere. But you can still manage to snap a good pic if you're patient.

Ice blocks on the way out of Shifen.

Crowds at Pingxi Old Street.

Made some amazing memories with these guys.

Jiufen Old Town

We explored Jiufen Old Town on the same day as Pingxi.

For those who don't know, Jiufen Old Town is an old decommissioned gold mining mountain town. It's also the town that inspired Hayao Miyazaki's famous Spirited Away anime movie, and is one of the most popular foodie destinations in Taiwan. The street is full of charm, delicious food, narrow alleys, and lanterns that will inspire you to whip out the camera and snap away at anything and everything.

An eerie snap I took when we arrived at the top of the mountain near the entrance of Jiufen. It was so foggy, so surreal.

Entrance to Jiufen Old Street.

When in Taiwan, beef brisket noodles is the way to go.

Pictured above: Fish balls galore. I'm drooling.

Pictured above: so, so, so many food options at Jiufen. Head there with your stomach empty and your wallet full - although it's not that expensive to begin with.

One of my favourites from Jiufen: glass noodles with fish tofu and fishballs soup. The small store was run by three Vietnamese ladies who we began to converse with in Vietnamese. They were so upbeat and friendly! And yeah, we ordered seconds after this. It was incredible.

These pooches were guarding the store. Omg. Too cute.

Keelung Night Market

Keelung was the last of the night market's visited in Taipei, and is located on Taiwan's north-east coast.

The entrance was LIT.

Mushroom sticky rice and seafood bamboo soup.

Candied strawberries! These were sooo delicious.

Can't tell you how much I appreciate fresh fruit. These were super fresh AND super cheap. I bought four bags and brought them home lol.

The star of the night. This entire meal costed us maybe $30.00AUD and it was fanntastic.

Modern Toilet Restaurant

Definitely one of the most bizarre restaurants I've ever eaten at. The entire restaurant was 'poop' themed, and almost every meal made reference to poop, whether it was in the way it was presented, or what it was presented in. If you have time, check it out. If not, then you probably won't be devastated to miss it...

I'm not sure whether this pasta is meant to look like runny poop or it just looks like that.

Thai mince pork and rice, served in a toilet lol. You can also see pictured our apple juice served in a portable urine potty haha.

How could we not get this? It was delicious though. Probably the best thing we ate there.

One Piece Restaurant

The highlight of Tony's trip was probably this cafe. It was pretty cool, even for someone who doesn't really know what One Piece is about.

The food was actually very, very, extraordinarily average. Maybe even a 3/10.

But those glasses.

And that latte.

So cool!

I can't wait to go back to Taipei. I really enjoyed my time and think I've barely scratched the surface in terms of foods to try (this is an important aspect of my travelling lol). A fond memory from this trip would be my friend Ting throwing up on our last day in Taipei when we literally trawled through the entire city trying to eat as much food as possible. We pretty much ate non-stop throughout the day from morning to night, and he couldn't handle it at one point and it all had to come back out. Can't wait to go back.