Thankfully working in an American school means that we got Friday off to celebrate Thanksgiving and so Kevin and I made the most of the long weekend with a little jaunt over to Taiwan. It is only a two hour flight so this made a nice break.

What is Taipei like? Well, much like China in many respects but with subtle differences. They speak Mandarin here (but use traditional characters). There are many more foreign brand shops available and LGBTQ+ areas. You can also easily access the internet. Goodbye VPN – I can’t tell you how liberating that is! And uploading this blog is SO much faster.

After the gleaming skyscrapers of Shanghai, Taipei felt a little as though it hasn’t had much money spent on it. Maybe that was the district we were staying in. For some strange reason Kevin really struggled to get us a hotel and there was only one free room in the whole city this weekend. This was in a budget hotel which was good for the wallet but reminded us of a 1960s Blackpool guesthouse with wallpaper everywhere and cheap fittings. The bed was comfortable though which was the main thing.

The atmosphere in Taipei is more relaxed than in China with many more night markets touting delicious smelling. street food (except for the stinky tofu stalls – enough said). China closed many of theirs down worried about illegal trading but lost much of the ambiance which these night markets bring.

Perhaps Taipei should be compared more to a provincial city which doesn’t attract masses of funding than the Tier 1 cities of Beijing and Shanghai. China has a whole army of street sweepers who keep the streets at home extremely clean so that was a noticeable difference.

Unlike in mainland China, here in Taipei you see homeless living on the streets and walls with much graffiti. We are so used to seeing this in other countries that it made me realize that I haven’t seen ANY in Shanghai at all. One of the advantages of living in a communist country I guess.

Taipei has a new craze: Gachapons

These are Japanese style vending machines where you get a mystery toy. They are hugely popular and are on every street corner!

Also popular were these mini KTV booths in the metro stations. We saw several people using them. Karaoke is a staple entertainment in Asia but they are usually in big halls. These were the first micro booths I have seen

And finally we paid a visit to Taipei 101 which was sparkling very festively.