Thoughts on Taipei

Taipei isn’t on the list of backpacker circuits. With all my research of travel, I didn’t have a single person tell me to come here. I didn’t see a picture that took my breath away, read about the food, people or culture. I just had a friend say “let’s meet up in Taipei” and I was on my way.

Taipei is city as city can be. It is like NYC. Same feel, fewer skyscrapers but the street experience is nearly the same. Subway, busses, cabs… you get the idea. What is different, in that ‘big elephant in the room’ type of way, is I can’t read anything here. It is walking around a major metropolis as an illiterate giant.

Add in a love of audio advertising, as seen here (“Come in to our restaurant, it is tasty” or something) on repeat.

I came in, it was tasty. They don’t lie.

For someone with a gluten allergy, it is a hard place to be. Very hard place to be. Lucky for me 7-11 has about 10 types of custard, a safe food, so I’m on a dairy diet until we leave for Tokyo in the morning.

I’m finding cities to not be my thing. Don’t get my wrong, I love exploring them, spending hours upon hours walking around, but they don’t make me happy in a deep way.

Give me the mountains.