Taipei, Taiwan

When I was booking flights home from Vietnam, the cheapest option by far included an 18-hour layover in Taipei, Taiwan.  Although not ideal, we decided that a quick visit to Taipei could be fun, and booked the flights.  EVA Air is a Taiwanese airline and we were impressed with them.  The food was very good, and Derek was given some toys for the flight to Taiwan: an egg that transforms to a dinosaur, and a 3-D dinosaur skeleton puzzle. 

What most struck me about Taiwan was how organized and clean it was.  For example, instead of crowding around an escalator to go upstairs and having everyone mesh into the bottleneck, there was a very long single file line, with no one cutting.  In the streets, surrounded by skyscrapers, locals do not cross streets until the green walk signal lights up, even if there are no cars on the road (a dramatic difference from the chaos of streets in large Vietnamese cities).  To get on the metro, everyone lined up neatly too instead of crowding the entrance doors. 

Another interesting tidbit was that the city of Taipei appeared to be completely planned out with massive skyscrapers and wide sidewalks for the many pedestrians and underground metro stops everywhere.  Everything about the layout was planned with care.  I read later on that Taipei's population in the early 1900's was less than 100,000 compared to nearly 3,000,000 today.  The sudden growth allowed for a well-designed city.  Contrast that to Hanoi, where the city was full of historic buildings from the 1800's with narrow streets and narrow sidewalks.  It was clear the French designed the city of Hanoi in the 1800's, and that transitioning to the needs of a large city in the 21st century didn't align with how the city was built with no way to fix it without tearing down historical buildings.  Taipei seemed to be designed to be a massive city with nothing historic remaining. 

With some difficulty, we found the apartment we were staying in.  It was very central, though trying to navigate from our metro stop was difficult because there were so many streets to exit onto and it felt like walking around a huge underground city. 

Luckily our suitcases were checked straight through to Washington DC, so we only had backpacks/carry-on bags.  We dropped those off and then headed to Taipei 101.  It was the tallest building in the world from 2004 until 2010 when the Burj Khalifa was built in Dubai (the Burj Khalifa is still the tallest building in the world as of 2025).  Lydia had just read a book for school that was about a Taiwanese American girl who visits Taipei 101, so that was the main attraction we decided to prioritize.

The observation floor of Taipei 101 was filled with photo props everywhere.  It was all so cute and well thought out.  I think if I ever went to something like the Empire State Building now, I would be disappointed.  Below are a couple of the corners set up for photos with a particular theme.  There were so many more though, each cuter than the last.  

I liked the mirror effect here:

We had tried to eat dinner beforehand, but didn't find anything the kids were willing to eat.  We eventually found a food court in Taipei 101 and there were western choices there. 

There were other places I was interested in seeing in Taipei, e.g. a night market - but the kids were tired and we felt like we had already gotten a good impression of the city walking around so much and taking public transportation.  I was also surprised how much taller and heavier the local population was compared to Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam.  I was expecting more short and thin, but in Taipei, a large percentage of the people we saw were tall and chubby - very different from Southeast Asia. 

Traveling back to the US, the kids were tired and slept and slept both at the airports and on the planes.  

The kids and I circumnavigated the globe this summer.  We traveled east from Maryland to Norway (via Frankfurt) to Thailand to Cambodia to Vietnam to Taiwan to a layover in San Francisco and finally to Washington DC.  

Nate traveled to and from Asia the same way each time (via Vancouver one way and via San Francisco the other time).

When I asked the kids which place in Asia was their favorite, I got three of the same answer: THAILAND.  Thailand was definitely the most touristy, and it did not feel authentic, but it was set up so nicely for tourists, everything was lots of fun, and the food was delicious.  I am not surprised it is the country in Asia with the most repeat visitors.  Overall, it was a long trip but a great adventure.