Ugly duckling of Asia becomes most desirable place
They say, if you truly want to make things happen, you have to do something about it and Taipei did so, the city was always rich, people living there had a good material life, but once you looked up to the buildings, it was ugly, there were no playgrounds for their kids to play, streets were full of racing dirty scooters and sidewalks were packed with rubbish, that’s how Taipei was just a while ago, back in 1980. Until the day when they decided to do something about it, it didn’t take long for citizens to realise how filthy the city was, so over the next decade city planners and architects washed the old Taipei away, building interesting looking places and playgrounds for kids on every corner. so today Tapeis has gone from Asia’s ugly duckling to one of the most liveable and desirable place to live in.It’s a city of business, but if you will spend a little while in this city, you will come to conclusion that it has managed to strike a great balance between business and pleasure, being one of the most iconic cities in Taiwan, and chaos has suddenly become a part of the city’s charm, balancing with convenience at the same time…even if you are an independent traveller, you will notice that Taipei could be also a lot of fun, with endless activities and sights.
Taiwan is a small island, but it doesn’t mean they have less culture or traditions than the other ones, its eating habits have been carefully shaped by a fascinating history of settlement, colonisation and immigration. Every city deserves a guided food tour, to be shown correctly to the tourists, and here are some tips for the best food in Taipei. You will see women frying up zhua bing on the streets, hot pastry studded with spring onion, little kids will stay in the line to get some mango avalanches and strawberry blizzards, which is a juicy syrup over shaved ice, letting you cool down in the heat…Taipei has become a hot spot of regional Chinese cuisine, famous for its Shanghai soup . Taiwan in general is well known by having excellent Chinese food, traditions are taken from all the parts of China and the prices will suit all kind of “packets”.
After a nice meal, you will definitely want to sit on wooden chairs and sip a honeyed oolong teas, and you will hear the glass kettle murmuring next to you, Taipei is fine also for those ones on tight budget, many things are free, such as national treasures like Chiang Kai-shek’s Memorial and the Presidential Office Building, if you are traveling with kids, they will love to see pandas at the Taipei Zoo, there is no such a thing than being bored in Taiwan, and if you are, make things happen.
