Throwback Thursday ☆ Taipei In Instagram & 6 Impressions of Taiwan

These photos pretty much summarize our trip to Taiwan during this past winter break in 2014 and New Year’s of 2015. I have posted those same images of our family trip in Taiwan on my Instagram account as well as my blog’s Facebook Fan Page. I have taken some other photos with my DSLR in order to write our travel recommendations of Taipei, Yilan, a town an hour-train ride from Taipei and Pingxi, an hour-drive or two-and-a-half-hour train ride from Taipei in the near future. If you plan on going to Taipei, I hope you will come back to my blog to get some of the recommendations. I can’t take credit for them, though. They were researched by our friends, Kara and Josh, who have lived there as expats and they know the best places to visit for visitors.

Six Impressions of Taipei

1. Clean
The city looked super clean to me.

2. Biker Friendly
The newly developed area of Taipei had bike lanes next to the pavement which create a very safe place for bikers. I also read that there are bicycle trails all over the city. There were bicycle rental places everywhere.

3. Great Chinese Food
If you love Chinese food, Taipei is the city for you. I have been to Singapore and they also have amazing Chinese food, but they tend to be expensive unless you go to Hawkers markets. I hear Hong Kong has great food, too. If you want some top class Chinese food, though, Taipei is the place to be for its quality and taste without breaking your bank account, which is a key.

4. Safe
It felt very safe. It is a very safe city for women even after the dark. When traveling with kids, there is nothing better than going to some places that are safe.

5. Friendly
Taiwanese people are very friendly to foreigners. As a Japanese individual, I felt very welcomed. I find Taiwanese people are warm towards Japanese people and they are interested in the Japanese culture.

6. Convenient, Safe and Inexpensive Public Transportation
Safe and reliable public transportation made the sightseeing easy and pleasant. Taxis are also inexpensive, so in case of rain or going to some place far, it was worth hiring a taxi.

Taipei definitely made our New Year’s of 2015 special. The best of all, we were able to spend it with some of our great friends we’ve made and our kids got along and played very well. What makes us happy during the trip once kids come into a picture is different from what used to make us happy in the pre-kids time. Simplest things such as spending time with friends indulging in the food and company and seeing kids smile on our side are some of the best moments of our vacation these days.

I hope you will come back to read the recommendations for Taipei and other towns in the future!

All of the photos on this post were taken on my iPod Touch with VSCO Cam application.