Taipei -a glimpse

My 3-month Japan visa was about to run out. I made a phone call to the Japanese Immigration Ministry and when asking for a visa extension they recommended simply to leave the country and come back again. Considering that this was not much appreciated last year, I was a little surprised. I told them that our countries have an agreement that we can stay up to 6 months, but in the end I decided that I kind of need a break from Tokyo life and booked a flight to Taiwan for a 2 week holiday.
Taiwan so far has been in my mind solely through the ongoing claims of mainland China of the country and for the ubiquitous "Made in Taiwan" label on products. But it seemed like an interesting place to see, especially since it is quite off the usual travel itineraries in Asia.
So after landing in Taipei I explored the city a little. It is a large bustling commercial city and features the tallest building in the world, the Taipei 101. The first few floors are occupied by an exclusive designer shopping mall. From it`s 5th floor we took the fastest elevator in the world to the top of the building, so another superlative. Not a cheap ride, but the view from up there is really nice. You get a very good idea of what Taipei looks like and how it`s beautifully situated in between lush green mountains.
Taipei of course features the usual international food, cheap fast food chains and upscale restaurants. But it`s major culinary attractions are the night markets. A very laid-back way of sampling Taiwanese (Chinese) food of all sorts. It`s a bit of a greasy spoon, very casual and would maybe not make the cut in terms of hygiene requirements back home. But lovely, lovely food - some a bit adventurous too. Next to the food market there is the shopping corner, outdoor stands with cheap clothes and accessories mostly.
As mentionned, Taipei is surrounded by mountains and there are some easy day trips from the capital. I went to Beitou. a hotspring town nearby and had a nice soak. Amazingly the MRT (subway/city train) system directly connects Beitou to Taipei`s main station. so it`s very convenient to go there.Taiwan`s transport system overall seems to be one of the most best-developed and efficient in the world. They use the Japanese Shinkansen (high speed train) system which links all major cities in the West coast. It`s just as good as Japan`s trains, the stations are futuristic looking and it`s considerably cheaper than a ride in Japan (depending on the time of the day a third to a forth of a Shinkansen ride of the same duration).

So Taipei was a positive surprise, much smaller and closer to nature than Tokyo and still big city buzz, good and cheap food, abundant shopping opportunities. It just seems that the way streets are labelled confusingly, even taxi drivers get lost here (had to change taxi twice to get a driver who was able to find the destination). So be careful not to get lost in Taiwan`s capital...