The last leg of our Spring 2024 trip to Asia was a stint in one of my favorite countries, Taiwan. While the original plan wound up getting derailed by an earthquake (more on that later), we still spent four days in Taipei and an unexpected three in Naha, Okinawa.
It was my wife's first time in Taiwan, so I was excited to show her one of my favorite cities, Taipei. Taipei is wholly unique but I often think of it as a grittier (in a good way) Japanese city – think Osaka with motorbikes. While the city and country are near Japanese-level clean in most parts, Taiwan has a little more dust and dirt and a bit less of an emphasis on being perceivably perfect.
The Ubike bike rental system in Taipei is excellent – both times in Taipei I've rented one and rode around the city for hours. The city's biking infrastructure is quite extensive with plenty of routes to choose from. I rode from our hotel (Grand Hyatt Taipei) up around Sogshan Airport (TSA) and back. This particular path traces the Keelong river and I found it to be fantastic, despite the late April heat and humidity.
During my first time in Taiwan I discovered beef noodle soup, and it instantly became one of my new favorite dishes. I had to make sure I made it a priority on this trip as well – the above is from Xi Shu Zhuan and was phenomenal.
My friend and I visited Raohe Night Market on my first trip and I found it to be one of the best markets I visited in Taiwan. Being my wife's first time in the city it only felt right to make Raohe a priority.
Pepper buns are a popular Taiwanese snack and the ones at Fuzhou Pepper Buns in Raohe Night Market are excellent. The line is always long but moves quick!
While Raohe has been my favorite night market, another one near where I was staying was Linjian Night Market. This was is much smaller than Raohe, but much more spacious and still had fantastic street food. Had some great xialongbao here.
I don't know why, but I remember the noodles/guts at Ay-Chung tasting better back when I first visited Taipei in early 2022. I did score a jar of their hot sauce again, though. It's fantastic. The line here is always longe, but moves super fast. I think the small portion is plenty.
Our initial plans for this trip were to spend 4 nights in Taipei and 3 nights in Hualien County, but just a handful of days before our flight to Taiwan a massive earthquake hit Hualien. If it had happened a week later we would have potentially been in the middle of the destruction within Toroko Gorge National Park. We consider ourselves very lucky.
In a flash, I found tickets to Naha, Okinawa on Peach Air and the Hyatt Regency Naha was bookable on points. We had been to Okinawa Prefecture via Taketomi Island the year before, but had yet to visit the prefecture's main island.
Just outside of the Hyatt is Tsuboya Pottery Street, a fun street filled with tons of handmade pottery and ceramics. Most notably, lots of Okinawan Shisa, which are placed in front of the home to ward off evil spirits.
It was nice to visit Taipei again, and Naha for the first time. I feel like I've done all of Taipei now, having been there 2 (well, technically 3 now I guess) times, but would love to see the many other spots I've yet to step foot in.
We enjoyed Naha as well but feel like there's many more unique things to see on the Okinawan archipelago (like the Yaeyama's!).
Regardless, this part of Asia is still one of the best in my opinion, and should be in the forefront of every traveler's mind when thinking about Asia.