Holidays are one of the few ways I connect with my mother and family. Living overseas meant I was unable to spend enough time in Singapore with them; thus, I needed to prioritize quality time.
I’m probably one of the rare few Singaporeans who have never been to Taiwan on holiday. It’s a popular destination for many, where our dollar stretches further when converted to Taiwanese currency.
1 USD is approximately 31 TWD.
1 SGD is approximately 24 TWD.
An inexpensive meal, such as braised pork over rice (卤肉饭), could cost around NT$100. It’s really a great place to shop and feast if you’re coming from the United States or Singapore.
Coincidentally, my mother had never been to Taiwan either.
There’s a lot of sightseeing and shopping in Taiwan, but since I have a two-year-old toddler, I needed a way to help him burn off energy so he could sleep at night.
Thus, we settled into a suite with a playroom for my son at The Howard Plaza Hotel Taipei.
The Howard Plaza Hotel Taipei
With a couple of kitchen sets, toys, and a whiteboard to play with, my son often asked when we could return to the hotel room during our outings. It was something he looked forward to every day.
However, not everything is perfect in this room. My wife mentioned that there was wear and tear on the toys, and some of them were dusty. Do bring some wipes to clean the toys before your children play with them.
It’s a big suite and the bedroom is separate from the playroom. Unfortunately, my mother had to stay in a room beside ours because it accommodated only two adults and two children. Definitely an extra cost on my wallet with an additional room, but I wanted the trip to be as restful as possible.
I included a breakfast buffet for both rooms every day because I was concerned it would be difficult to find food for my two-year-old. In hindsight, I’m not sure it was a good decision, since we didn't try any street food because we were too full most of the time.
For two rooms with breakfast, the total charges were TWD 112,000, approximately USD 3,557 or SGD 4,551. The suite with a playroom is around TWD 10,100 per night, approximately USD 320 or SGD 410.
Moving Around In Taipei
We didn’t travel from place to place during this trip because it wasn’t easy traveling with a stroller. Some parts of Taiwan, such as Jiufen (九分), have many stairs and slopes, so we avoided places where we couldn’t travel well with a stroller.
I’m glad that Uber with a car seat works well in Taipei. For night markets, it was convenient to use an app to move around.
It was through these Uber rides that I found Taiwanese people are generally very warm and welcoming. Once they knew we were tourists, they would go out of their way to share with us noteworthy places to explore or local eateries to visit.
Taxis, on the other hand, can be a strange experience. There were moments when taxis were reluctant to take us to our destination because we had a stroller. They wouldn’t refuse service outright, but they would call on their walkie-talkies to see if any of their peers would take a ride with a stroller.
I’m not so sure what the hassle with a stroller is, to be honest. My stroller is made for travel, the BabyZen Yoyo2. Very lightweight, compatible for flights and storage, and cabin-ready.
Regardless, I find myself preferring Uber to taxis because our intent to travel with a toddler is made clear in the app.
Taiwan’s public transport is great as well, unless it’s peak hours. Subways can be as packed as sardines during rush hour, and I would prefer Uber in that situation. However, the subway station takes us to almost everywhere we want to visit on this trip, and it is convenient.
I was pretty intrigued by the single travel token we used to travel from point to point on the subway.
In many cities in the world, we use cards, but in Taipei, it’s like a coin. It works the same way as cards do, though.
Sightseeing in Taipei 101
We ventured to the common tourist area, such as Taipei 101, where we paid a fee to explore the tallest building in Taiwan. It was the tallest building in the world on 31st December 2004, but taller buildings have since taken its title.
There were Christmas decorations at the top of the building, and there were exhibits everywhere to take photos.
Lin Jiang Night Market (临江夜市)
Night markets are a must in Taiwan. It’s one of the highlights of the city's nightlife culture.Since we had a stroller with us, we ventured to less crowded night markets, such as Lin Jiang Street (临江街), so we could move around more easily. Shih Lin Night Market (士林夜市) is another famous night market, but we deliberately avoided it to avoid stressing ourselves out.
Since we had so much food beforehand, we didn’t snack during our exploration, except for braised pork over rice at the tail end of the street.
Maokong Gondola & Taipei Zoo
Maokong is famous for its tea houses and sightseeing. We took the gondola up the mountains for a spectacular view.
That is where I found out that my son was afraid of heights, and he was clinging to me for dear life.
It was a thirty-minute ride up the mountain, and my son grabbed onto me for as long as the ride. When the wind blew, and the gondola swayed, he would say, “Careful!”
Once we were at the last station, my son was back to normal.
There were many teahouses in the area, and I was especially curious to try one. However, we had a heavy breakfast buffet at the hotel, and we had no capacity for more food.
We then took the gondola down to Taipei Zoo to explore.
The place is extensive, and be prepared to walk a lot to see the animals. For some reason, my son wasn’t too interested in animals, and we didn’t stay very long at the zoo.
Xi Men Ding (西门町)
Another popular place to visit in the evening is Xi Men Ding. It’s a shopping district, and it’s usually crowded every day.
Shops are tightly packed and narrow, so it’s not advisable to explore the shops within with a stroller. Oftentimes, my son and I would wait outside while the ladies shopped.Xi Men Ding is also a place where people are more liberal minded. Some snacks were shaped inappropriately for adults, and there were adult-themed shops, so avoid those areas if you have children.
Shifen Old Street (十分老街)
Shifen is a relatively small village, but it is a popular tourist attraction where folks flock to release sky lanterns into the air.
There’s a railway track that runs through the village, and tourists would take photos on the tracks.
Sometimes the sky lanterns were floating, burning hazards. During my short time there, I have seen a couple of these lanterns catch fire or get trapped by the nearby buildings. The people were quick to put out the fire, but it dampened the atmosphere when a failed sky lantern turned into a smoking fireball.
We didn’t release any sky lanterns or visit the nearby waterfall, but we did cross a massive wooden bridge during our exploration.
Cooking class & Market Adventure in Historic Dadaocheng (大稻埕)
My wife had been to Taiwan a few times, and she thought a cooking class would be a nice touch to help the family immerse themselves in Taiwan culture.
No prizes for guessing what we would cook. It was braised pork over rice (卤肉饭).
It included a tour of the area, during which our host, Alex, would take us to explore the market and try some local food. He would describe some of the oldest shops and share the history of the area.
It was a bustling area on Di Hua Street (迪化街), and we learned that locals often frequent it for food and shopping.
Alex kindly bought us some snacks to try while we had our adventure.
After the market adventure, we would visit Alex’s place to start our cooking lesson.
Every ingredient has been carefully apportioned for us so that we would not mess up with the quantity. We did have to prep the ingredients for cooking during the class.
I was a little slow on prepping the ingredients, but it wasn’t easy to mess it up since Alex gave us a lot of guidance. I was pretty happy with the outcome at the end.
After our cooking class, we shopped at Di Hua Street and bought a lot of goodies to bring home to Singapore and the United States.
Taiwan is a bang-for-your-buck destination.
Outside of accommodation, because I booked a suite and an additional room, Taiwan offers excellent value for money in terms of shopping and experience. I didn’t spend much on anything other than flight tickets and our hotel stay.
There were certainly other places that we visited that we didn’t cover, and experienced travelers often stay at different locations to experience various aspects of Taiwan. However, I intended to provide a restful experience for the family, and I wasn’t keen on maximizing every hour we spent on vacation.
