{"id":186,"date":"2017-02-06T09:28:20","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T09:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/?p=186"},"modified":"2017-03-16T09:00:56","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T09:00:56","slug":"taipei-for-beginners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/06\/taipei-for-beginners\/","title":{"rendered":"Taipei for Beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are staying in a VRBO apartment near All The Happenings. \u00a0Our apartment is on the fourth floor of an older apartment building. \u00a0The door to the building is found down a small street that happens to be slightly larger than an alley. While the apartment is older, it is what appears to be a stereotypical Taiwanese home: no frills, small patio for air drying clothes, a dishwasher that probably hasn’t worked in more than five or six years, and minimal furnishings which are in need of replacement. \u00a0That said, we have two small bathrooms and three bedrooms which have proven invaluable with the 14 hour time change. \u00a0About two blocks from our apartment is a day market. \u00a0While busy on weekdays, it is absolutely packed on the weekends with food, people, produce, meats, and more food.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We remain unsure of some of the things we have eaten as we moved from one street food vendor to another, but almost all of it has been incredible. \u00a0Even better is the price. \u00a0Most of the street food is about $1-$3 USD per serving.<\/p>\n

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\nWe decided to treat ourselves to a more formal Taiwanese dinner one night and went to Wulao Xinsheng. \u00a0The meal consisted of a giant pot with a divider down the middle so that it could hold two different broths with too many aromatics in each to list. \u00a0We ordered the various items we wanted to cook, and once the broths were boiling, we each cooked whatever we wanted to eat: the Taiwanese version of fondue. The kids of course loved it, but so did Scott and I. \u00a0It was a truly unique experience.<\/p>\n

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\nOf course if you go to Taipei, you have to go to the top of Taipei 101. \u00a0With 101 stories, the building boasts the fastest passenger elevator in the world. \u00a0It also has a huge tuned mass damper to make the building stable during typhoons and earthquakes. \u00a0It’s a must see for homeschoolers like us because the wind damper is open to the public. \u00a0It ended up \u00a0being a quick lesson that the kids didn’t even realize they were getting.<\/p>\n

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\nThe great news was after the long hike (and five days of only Chinese food) we stumbled across a restaurant called NoLa. \u00a0It was unbelievable good! \u00a0Fried chicken and waffles, a pork chop to die for, and even extremely spicy chicken wings followed by a beignet, we all left with full bellies and tired legs.<\/p>\n

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\nThe gondola, zoo and night markets are next on the to do list. \u00a0Tomorrow’s going to be busy.<\/p>\n

Honorable mention shots in video below :<\/p>\n