Days 1-3: Taipei in 48 hours

This is my series on our 2018 Round the Island World Schooling Trip.  For more posts, you can check out the index page or subscribe to my Facebook page.  You can also subscribe to my Instagram for pics.  

Click on little arrow on top left icon to expand place names.

Itinerary: (Main itinerary bolded)

• Day 1: Arrive at 7:30pm, sleep by 11pm
• Day 2: 四海豆漿大王 Chinese bf, Bookstar, 彌味壽司 Yummy Sushi, Drop off vitamins, park, 同心圓 Crystal Pancake, Pingxi Lantern Festival, Coco Curry
• Day 3: 西門町芒果冰 chinese bf, cell phone, 50嵐 Bubble Tea, QB House haircut, 林東芳牛肉麵 Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle Soup, local park, yummy guava, 于記杏仁 Yustofu, Ximending lantern festival

I’m not one for forcing the kids to stay up to get over jetlag, mostly because I can’t stay up at my advance age.  So we planned our 3 nights 2 days in Taipei to be easy, just run errands and eat delicious food.

However, we hit the ground running from Day 2 and really pooped all the kids out because I learned, 3 days before our trip about the big 2018 Pingxi Latern Festival, which only happens twice a year, during Lantern Festival (1/15) and Autumn Festival (8/15).  We couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  It does mean we took it way too easy in Taichung 台中 instead.

Above, I’ve highlighted the main itinerary for the day.  We tried to keep to just one main itinerary each day as my energy level gets sapped quickly and the children all walk very slowly.

Otherwise the first day or two of any Taipei trip is about getting your:

• Money
• Phone # and or data plan
• Easy Card 悠遊卡, or as I like to call it, Yoyo Card
• Eating your favorite foods (牛肉麵, Taiwanese breakfast)

For more detailed info on places mentioned, I link to reviews and other posts here.  Click on galleries for bigger pic if you want to see prices.

Day 1: Flight to Taipei

One major lesson learned this trip, Eva flights out of CA serve food 2 hours after take off and 2 hours before landing.  If you book a flight that leaves at 12:30pm, and you’re getting to airport at 9:30am, you’ll starve for the rest of the trip.  So bring lots of snacks.  Our flight was delayed an hour, so we ate at 3:30pm after eating a light breakfast at 7am.  Then we waited till 11pm PST for dinner, which was too long for my kids.  We were all starving in between these meals and the airline provided snacks weren’t enough.

Upon arrival, we were out of customs in 30 minutes.  We picked up money at the airport B1 ATM, some food (onigiri) at the B1 7-11 and a pocket wifi at the airport, before getting picked up by a taxi for the 40 min ride to Taipei.  $1300 in a 9-seater.  You can get picked up for $800-$1000 if you’re just a family of 4.

I don’t recommend our AirBnB lodging.  Looked good on paper, but had a horrible musky smell.  I really liked Fleur’s Booking.com‘s hotel room (which was setup exactly like my AirBnB, with tiny kitchenette, better bathroom, and usable washer), especially for its price of $40 USD a night.   Other than the strange open window out of the balcony washing area, which caused a million bites in 3 nights.  (I know, ringing endorsement, but I’m sure that’s easily remedied somehow.)  There’s no need for a real kitchen when you’re in Taipei for 48 hours and all the food beckens.

Day 2: 平溪燈節 Pingxi Lantern Festival

Perfect opportunity for 阜杭豆漿 when you wake up at 4am but it was closed for CNY.  So back to 大安區’s 四海豆漿大王 for your neighborhood breakfast.  Nothing special, just a default fall back.  Food’s not bad when warm and it has an English menu.  (There’s another one down the street that’s got more tourists, but not going there again after seeing all the roaches crawling around while waiting in line during GYA16.)

I’m definitely a creature of habit. I find the few places I like and I kind of stick to them.

Fleur‘s lodging is very close to yummy food.   So after laundry and some homeschooling, we headed back out to Bookstar to pick up a set of 時間的皺摺 Wrinkle In Time for on the road reading for Thumper and Bebe. For Astroboy, I picked up Dahl’s 小比利和迷針族 Billy and the Minpins, newly translated into Chinese. My plan is to pick up books along the way for him to read, or borrow ebooks from Taipei Library.  (Sadly, I underestimated his reading level and he finished this book during one train ride, then we had to lug it most of the trip!)

By now cranky kids demanded to be fed 彌味壽司 Yummy Sushi next door to hotel.  The conveyor belt trains carrying the sushi kept them happy. Though I thought price and quality wise it did not compare with the Zen Sen Sushi Express we often ate at in Xindian.

No trip to Taiwan is complete without dropping vitamins off to relatives.

Then time to go to the festival before it gets dark.  But traveling with 5 children means a side trip to the local park to play for 15 minutes plus stopping for my favorite 紅豆餅 place called 同心圓 Crystal Pancake on the way to the 忠孝復興 MRT.  Make sure to try the curry flavor and the ones with mochi (called 水晶).   A warning that the sesame one may contain peanuts.

To get to Pingxi Lantern Festival, you catch the MRT to Taipei Zoo station.  Once there, there are tons of English & Chinese signs directing you to the event shuttle bus.  Buses were pulling up one after another as we arrived and we only waited 15 minutes for the hour ride.

By the time we arrived it was 5:30pm and the crowd was starting to show up.   (Schedule here.)   You can go earlier to walk around and release your own lanterns.  But we were there just to look because these lanterns aren’t so great for the environment.  The spent lantern are only collected by volunteers, often get stuck on trees and creates a lot of trash.

Lanterns are released every 15 minutes for a total of 8 releases, starting from ~6pm.  We found a place to sit and watch the release en route to the main performance stage.  That was a very good decision as by the time we left around 6:30, we could only shuffle slowly through the crowd.

The lantern festival was definitely worth the trek.  Catching the first release at dusk allowed us to take some good photos.   There’s a collective silence and awe when the lanterns first slowly float up to the sky.  And then scared exclamations when they start falling, some bursting into flame upon tree tops, one burning itself out a foot over our neighbor’s heads!

Astroboy was quite scared by the lanterns falling so close to us and begged for me to leave.  So just a warning.

Another hour bus ride with grumbly tummies and we finally made it to Coco Curry, one of the kids’ favorite restaurants because of its kids’ meal and gift at the end.   The menu is highly customizable, great for picky children.  There are vegetarian options and you can even ask them to hold the curry.  They don’t have peanut allergy option like in Japan.

Dinner was a rushed affair as all the children were going crazy by now and had only a 5 second attention span, due to the long day and long walks.  When we got back to our room, the kids zonked out in 5 minutes once they hit the bed.

Day 3: 林東芳牛肉麵 & Errands

Our last day to run errands!  After laundry and some homeschooling, we started the day with some breakfast at a random touristy Chinese breakfast place which shares a space with 西門町芒果冰 in Ximending, because the one we wanted to go to across the street (西門町豆漿) was closed.  Verdict?  Don’t bother.

First some delicious 50嵐 lemon+yakult bubble tea, then off to get a cell plan at Taiwan Mobile.  Make sure to bring your Taiwanese ID or U.S. passport.  I got the cheapest plan that included both data and cell, as Fleur had her iVideo pocket wifi.

With hungry kids in tow, we went off to QBHouse for everyone’s haircut, a $300 hair cut place right in 忠孝復興 MRT station.  It’s now a tradition for us to get a haircut when we get there.  The children love the novelty of putting money into a vending machine to get a card, put your name down, and wait to be called.  I like it because short hair makes for easy traveling.   FYI, by the end of our trip, we found a cheaper option with JIT.

Then it’s off to meet up with a friend for 林東芳牛肉麵 Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle Soup.

Didn’t we just eat breakfast 2 hours ago?  No matter.  When it’s my favorite beef noodle soup joint, I will stuff myself!   We had beef noodle soup in many other places in Taiwan and Taipei, including that famous 永康牛肉麵, but this one has me dreaming about it in the US.  And when we only have only 48 hours in Taipei, this is the only restaurant I really want to hit other than 阜杭豆漿.  I don’t even know what it really means when one says there are layers to a soup, but that’s exactly how I want to describe the soup base here.

Two large bowls was enough for an adult and 2 kids.  Oh, be sure to try that spicy paste that’s on every table.  Is it made of beef tallow I think.

Then it’s more playing at playgrounds ensroute to check out the lantern festival displays in Taipei.  We always make sure to balance sightseeing with play time so the kids aren’t complaining about how “bored” they are.

By this time it’s 7pm and everyone is tired.  We got out of Ximending MRT station and straight into the edge of the lantern festival.  Serendipitous planning on my part to see lantern displays on a weekend, when crowds are guaranteed to be huge and the government wants to throw one last big lantern festival party.  When you visit Taiwan during Chinese New Year, there is probably a lantern display of some sort at every city you visit.

First a quick dessert, which turned into our dinner, oops.  Thank goodness for granola bars.  Their almond pudding shaved ice is famous.  But it was too cold so we tried their hot drinks instead, which I regretted.

Then we watched the parade and celebration on the huge TV in central Ximending.

Because it was truly People Mountain People Sea (人山人海）

Tried to walk through some lantern displays.  I was honestly not too impressed with the displays and since the children were complaining about how tired they were, we cut everything short and went home.

All in all not what I expected of our first 2 full days!  We really ran the kids ragged!  48 hours is just not enough in Taipei when you do one major itinerary a day and stop for play and snacks.  As Fleur’s mom remarked, our trip is not really World Schooling Adventure, but World Food Adventure,  and it will definitely feel like it as we circle the island.

Costs

Here’s what we spent for 3 nights 2 days in Taipei

I’m dividing costs here into individual costs to give you an idea of how expensive certain activities are, and also total costs so you have an idea of averages.  I didn’t pay for all of this.  Fleur paid for the pocket wifi while I paid for the Taiwan Mobile cards.

Individual Expenses

• Transportation: Taxi to hotel ($45/2 families/9 seater), Bus to Pingxi ($1.72) going to, free return), MRT
• Lodging: Ximending AirBnB ($61/night)
• Food: Breakfasts (~$5/day), Yummy Sushi ($40), 林東芳牛肉麵 ($19 for 2 large soups to share), Coco Curry ($23), Yustofu ($4)
• Misc: Taiwan Mobile ($10 for 300 minutes and 1.2GB), iVideo pocket wifi ($45 for 2 months, unlimited), haircut ($10/person)

By Category

Tips and What I Learned:

• Pack lots of snacks for hungry children on the airplane if the meal times don’t sync with your normal meal time.
• No major stores are open till 10 or 11am, cell phone places often not till 12pm.
• Ximending is a good lodging area for short stays as it’s a cheap location and also convenient.  Just know that buildings here are very old and sometimes tiny.
• Instead of buying books for the road, better to just borrow eBooks from Taipei library for free.
• Next time I may opt to go just a little earlier and walk around Pingxi to see what it’s about.
• Don’t squeeze in so many activities the first few days in Taipei.  It takes awhile for both kids and adults to build up the stamina to walk 7k-10k steps a day.  Though transportation is convenient, there is a lot of walking.
• Ordering a pocket wifi before you arrive in Taipei is really the best option.  You get data from the moment you land, and you don’t have to waste time the next day getting to a mobile store.

Links and Resources:

• 2018 Pingxi Lantern Festival Website (multi-language)
• Fleur’s Ximending Lodging 台北市萬華區成都路81號
• 四海豆漿  台北市復興南路二段140號
• Bookstar 台北市中正區南昌路一段59巷7號
• 彌味壽司 Yummy Sushi 台北市萬華區成都路69號
• 同心圓 Crystal Pancake 台北市大安區復興南路一段133號
• QB House 台北市大安區復興南路一段180號號
• 林東芳牛肉麵 Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle Soup 台北市中山區安東街4-3號
• Coco Curry
• 于記杏仁 Yustofu 台北市中正區衡陽路101號
• iVideo Pocket Wifi
• Map of Itinerary