[3D2N] July's Taipei Weekend Staycation - Day 02/03

Good morning from Taipei! We headed down to the café to have our breakfast as our room stay came with it. I loved the breakfast spread, as it was very good as it had a great selection!

We started our sightseeing day by visiting the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂). It is one of the best cultural places to visit in Taipei, and is an iconic landmark dedicated to Chiang Kai-shek, a key figure in Taiwan’s history.

As we entered the main entrance and walked towards the iconic blue-and-white architecture, I felt in awe of the grandeur of the blue-white roof, which really stood out against the white of the building.

The staircase gave it a majesty experience too.

Make sure to catch the iconic changing of the guard ceremony for an unforgettable sight, although we missed it. Argh!!! Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is definitely worth a visit, especially if you’re a history or cultural lover, or if it's your first time to Taiwan.

We went to Taipei 101, and I believe most folks would also head to the Din Tai Fung branch there, but the wait was way too horrendous that we decided to give it a miss and went for Plan B.

Before we left Taipei 101 , we visited Starbucks and picked up a LIMITED Starbucks Taiwan Exclusive Mesh Tote Bag.

We took a few mandatory photos of this magnificent building. 

We walked to Taipei 101 Rainbow Walk and the crowd was way more manageable than the Ximending area.

I personally feel that it looked better in the day than night for photo-taking, and this picturesque spot offered a stunning view of Taipei 101!

We headed down for lunch at the famous Braised Pork Rice (luroufan) place called Hu Xu Zhang Lu Rou Fan 胡须张卤肉饭. It is a Taiwanese fast food casual restaurant chain, and the outlet we went to was pretty near Linjiang Night Market.

We had the restaurant's signature dish - Braised Pork Rice. It was perfectly executed, as the gravy enhanced the overall taste!

We went for some desserts before heading back to the hotel!

No stay at the Mandarin Oriental Taipei is complete without having a dip at the beautiful pool. It was a good choice to relax and cool off under the scorching weather.

We washed up and dressed up well after our swimming session, and we headed down to a restaurant named 'Fujin Tree Restaurant' by foot. The walk was about 8-12 minutes from our hotel. This eatery place offers Taiwanese cuisine with a modern twist, and it has received a Michelin Star.

The restaurant serves top notch fine Chinese/Taiwanese cooking done in an unpretentious style. It was good to see a mix of locals and tourists which gave it a good vibe. Reservations are required as it is usually full as the accommodating capacity is rather small.

There is no obvious signboard, which made it kinda difficult to locate the place. We were expecting to pay more as it is a 1-Michelin star, but to our surprise, the damage was acceptable! This was hands down one of the best meals I had during our trip to Taiwan. Everything we ordered was absolutely delicious!

As this was Baby’s first visit to Taiwan, we went to Raohe Street Night Market (饒河街夜市), one of the popular night markets in Taipei. I personally feel that this is not the best night market for kids, especially those with strollers, as the two walking lanes were very narrow, and it got so crowded that it was a little unenjoyable to visit.

Once we entered from the entrance at the temple side, we were greeted by a long line waiting to buy the tasty 胡椒餅 (Pepper Bun). We joined in the line to get some for ourselves too!

This Michelin guide recommended snack goes for about 65NTD per bun, and was worth every bite. Thin, crispy buns were stuffed with generous filling such as pork, green onion, and black pepper.

Do give this a try if you are at Raohe!

We left around 11-ish as the train ran till midnight. What a fruitful day spent in Taipei!

Next morning, after we had our breakfast, we headed down to Huashan 1914 Creative Park by train. We used Google maps to find the directions as it is quite a distance to walk from the train station.

When we were there, there was a Doraemon / Miffy / Kapibarasan / Demon Slayer and even a Sanrio Themed Supermarket - HAPIDANBUI exhibition. It’s a good place to explore if you have plenty of time to spare with different events happening every weekly. We didn’t stay too long here as we had our home-bound flight waiting for us!

We headed back to have a simple lunch within walking distance from our hotel. As our flight was scheduled in the late afternoon at 5pm, we took a train back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and headed to the airport via private transfer which we purchased from Klook.

Spotted this before heading to our departure gate! 

After almost 5 hours flight and a few movies later, I was back in Singapore. It has been a few months since I came back from Taipei. See you again, Taiwan!