Weekend in Taipei

I spent my weekend in Taipei when my course mates were out on a camp. Don’t worry about them, I’m sure they’re doing just fine with the typhoon passing by Taiwan bringing torrents of rain and some occasional strong wind.

My train trip there was basically sponsored for, to attend the 2011 Taiwan Scholarship Orientation, and since it was the weekends, I asked for an extended stay in Taipei. So on Saturday, I met up with some friends, dropped by one of the most beautiful places in Taiwan. It was YehLiu Geopark (野柳地質公園), located on the North-East side of Taipei, about 45 minutes bus ride away from Taipei Main Station.

Before entering the geopark, we passed by a little town. It’s basically a harbour for deep sea fishermen to dock their boats and sell their harvests to the middle person.

An easy going town indeed!

This dish below was a surprise! It’s known as the ‘sea vegetable’ (海菜) and it’s crunchy…

It’s a geopark because of the stone formations. It’s interesting… but still far away from the Grand Canyon though.

As aforementioned, typhoon was passing by Taiwan, bringing lots of rain and wind. Still, that did not deter anyone of us from going forward. Many put on their rain coats and brave through the strong wind.

Then in the evening, I met up with my UTAR friend who’s doing her masters in Taiwan.

On Sunday morning, I had a short walk to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂).

At 10am, I witness some interesting ceremony where the guardians of the door change shifts. They had to perform some gun-throwing-flipping-stabbing, salutations etc. before the official change of shift actually took place.

By the time the ceremony has ended, some ladies, such as the one pictured below, had fallen in love with the men in uniform… haha

Basically, it was a nice stay, cooling weather but a bit too much of rain due to the typhoon. Still the night stay at Taipei Hostel was quite comfy and it’s very much affordable too! Comes highly recommended the next time you intend to stay in Taipei.