So, after every holiday there comes that time when you have to return home, to life and reality. And that came for me quicker than I would have liked certainly just over a month ago now. BUT – there was still a quick stopover to enjoy before getting back to the daily grind, and this time around that stopover was Taipei.

The reason I went through Taiwan was, basically, because I was able to secure a Business Class flight with China Airlines to Melbourne using Qantas Frequent Flyer points. I found it very hard to find any Business Class flight using points this time around, but this one came up so I booked a flight with Korean Airlines to get to Taiwan. I could have flown through in a single day, but I figured it’s always better to break it up if you can. I want to return and see more of Taiwan in the future, but I thought a quick day in Taiwan would at least allow me to shoot a vlog. So I booked a morning flight to Taipei with my flight to Melbourne leaving at 2245 the next day.

Korean Airlines were pretty good except for the food. I was basically told not to eat anything because of peanuts, and the only choice (which isn’t one) on board was seafood, which I find odd as so many people have intolerance to seafood. All in all no complaints apart from that. Entering Taiwan they are very concerned about some sort of bird flu I think it was (or was it Swine Flu?) and had very strict entry requirements. As an Aussie I didn’t need a visa, and I wasn’t bringing in any food either which was the concern. I read about a person who was fined $9700AUD and deported at their own expense just last week from Taiwan for bringing in food. The immigration line was by far the longest of the trip, but once through I grabbed my bag and was on the airport train into town.

My hotel, which I’ve video reviewed (you can expect to see it near the end of the year BTW) was more spacious than the one in Seoul, the bathroom was tight, the ceiling was low but it was okay. Nice comfy large bed at least.

I set about seeing Taipei the next morning. There’s a decent metro system (subway) in Taipei, so I used that a number of times along with walking and a couple of Uber Taxis at the end of the day to reach parts not well served by public transportation.

My first stop was a walk from my hotel to the National Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, which was closed for refitting but the gardens were open. Just by looking up the places I was going to I learnt a bit about the history of Taiwan – or the Republic of China – and its history with mainland China. There still seems to be some willingness of Taiwan to rejoin China eventually, just not under communism. Dr Sun Yat-Sen is regarded as the father of the nation of the Republic of China and their first President. He also had a major role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty.

The hall and gardens are picturesque enough, and sit under the watchful gaze of Taipei 101, a skyscraper once the tallest in the world (and currently the 11^th tallest), just over 500 metres tall.

A bus and a walk took me to my next stop, Rongjin Gorgeous Time. Look, I don’t really understand the title either, but it’s this little group of shops which are basically Japanese buildings along the wall of the old jail, the rest of which has been pulled down. Japan occupied Taiwan or tried to in some way or other from the late 1800s to the end of the Second World War. You can still see Japanese influence here and there. It’s a picturesque spot of around 400 metres in length with some amazing trees on the road side of the buildings and a couple of cute little Japanese gardens thrown in for good measure. To be honest – I just stopped there because of the strange name!

A short walk through a small park and I find myself at the massive park that contains my next stop, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Yes, they have a thing about memorial halls it seems in Taipei. This was a massive one, like a temple in many ways. Inside there was a lot of space for exhibitions and an art gallery, as well as a small museum devoted to Chiang Kai-Shek, another former leader of Taiwan and a famous general too. Climb the steps to the top and you can see a statue of this historic feature.

Part of the park on the far side of the building from where I entered was the National Theatre and the National Concert Hall. Impressively-roofed buildings – in my opinion. From there it was the subway to get to a couple of temples which were situated pretty close to the smaller secondary airport. At least I presume it was every few minutes a jet flew overhead and you really felt like you could touch the plane they were that low.

I visited the Confucian Temple, which was similar to many other temples I had seen on the trip before and I wasn’t sure what set it apart. The Dalongdong Baoan Temple was certainly beautiful and is a temple devoted to ‘Chinese Folk Religions’, which was a curious call. But I spent a bit of time at it, there was a steady stream of locals coming in for a prayer.

From there I took an Uber Taxi to the last stop of the day, my only foray across the Keelung River to the National Revolutionary Martyr’s Shrine. It was the end of the day, and I only got a short visit because I thought it was open until 6pm but it shut at 5pm. It sits below a mountain – there are mountains all around Taipei, somewhat like Busan, and I made my way up to the main building and was just starting to read about just what the place was about when I was told it was closing time. However, there was a closing ceremony with a number of soldiers and, reminiscent of the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul, there was some serious gun twirling going on.

And then it was time to return to my hotel and make my way to the airport, very early it must be said for my China Airlines flight back to Australia. I got to use the lounge for that time which was great, relaxing and I wish I could before every flight. Before I knew it though, despite being so early, I was on my way home, another vacation finished too quickly.

I’ll be going into more detail late in the year with vlogs and more blogs after I share the details of my trip to the Philippines and Malaysia from late last year (yes I am behind I guess!). Thanks for dropping by today. Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!