Taipei, Tainan & Kaohsiung

Since getting married 3.5 years ago, Steven and I have gotten to visit Taiwan a whopping three times! Steven spent his childhood in Taiwan until the age of 8 when he moved to America. The scents of the street market, the rush of motorcycles on the street, and delicious eats around every corner will always feel like (a second) home to us.

This trip felt extra special to us because Noah joined us for the very first time! We rode Eva Airlines, which has a direct flight from Chicago to Taipei. The flight attendants loved Noah and provided a supply of diapers, baby snacks, and tiny toys to help keep him occupied. A bassinet that folded into the wall in front of our seats served as a little bed for him. So perfect and we couldn’t have been more grateful! On the flight there, we rode the fabled Hello Kitty themed flight. The livery features Hello Kitty on the menu, silverware, and every plane product.

During our time in Taipei, we stayed at the lovely Just Sleep Hotel in the heart of Taipei. It provided free breakfasts that were some of my favorite meals in Taiwan! They had a little baby hammock that Noah loved to swing on :) While we waited for our room to be ready, we wandered around the beautiful Peace Park and National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

We started off the trip with a fantastic meal at the Regent Hotel, courtesy of Steven’s aunt who is a manager at one of the restaurants. It was amazing, as always. Afterwards, we had coffee in the hotel accompanied by adorable little desserts.

The jetlag was real for poor Noah.

Steven, Noah and I went on an adventure one morning in a quest to find bubble tea! Noah held the cup and fed it to me. <3

We visited the city of Tainan for the first time via train, touring the Chikhan Tower and the brilliant white Chimei Museum, surrounded by gorgeous gardens and statues. The sun sweltered overhead, so we prepared ourselves with umbrellas like true Asians.

By a miracle, we happened to be visiting Taiwan the exact same time as my dear friends, Katie & Sinsar from Ann Arbor! We magically got to meet up in Tainan alongside our friend, Ginny, who recently got engaged :) It was SO sweet getting to catch up over delectable and super fresh sashimi together.

The Anping Tree House had endlessly long Banyan tree roots covering the warehouse and featured a photo slideshow of frogs that was actually really beautiful.

Beimen Crystal Palace is a popular venue for weddings and we stopped by purely for the photo opp ;)

Lastly in Taiwan, we visited the Jingzijiao Salt Fields. As you may have guessed, this is where they harvest salt! You can normally witness jaw dropping sunsets here, but alas we came on a cloudy day. It was super fun still!

After Tainan, we drove to another new city for us: Kaohsiung to explore more of Taiwan.

One place that I surprisingly really enjoyed visiting was Fo Guang Shan Temple. On its walls, it shared the history of Buddhism and many dedicated monks roamed the peaceful roads. Everyone lives there, cares for the land, and lovely gardens are there for enjoyment as you pray.

We stopped by the seaside port.

We finished up our time in Kaohsiung at the Dragon & Tiger Pagodas, which were swamped with tourists but still had very cool views.

That’s all for this year, Taiwan! Of course, it wouldn’t be right to visit Taiwan and not share about the amazing food. My favorite foods are from the night market and unfortunately I was too busy devouring food to take photos.

Otherwise, enjoy these other food pics! We can’t wait to be back again :)