Finally doing the last post for my 2015 Taiwan trip…sorry to those who’ve been waiting…😔

Last full day in Taiwan for my first (semi) solo trip and while I was determined to make the best out of it, the struggle is real. So…I covered two museums/cultural parks, some food in Ximending and Shida night market, all at a leisurely pace.

Visiting Huashan 1914 Creative Park

First stop! A well-preserved but abandoned factory structure resurrected as a creative and cultural hub, the Huashan 1914 was a truly unique kind of museum. With its concrete walls and pillars aged by time and crawled by algae, I felt removed from the city as I stepped in even though this creative park is right in the heart of Taipei.

There were a couple of interesting exhibitions going on like the Beatles and Little Prince. I took a little more than an hour in the Little Prince exhibition which I thought was pretty rejuvenating and refreshing. Even without entering any exhibitions, I’d still recommend a trip down to take in the ambience.

Side note: While I was leaving the park, I spotted Yong He Dou Jiang (永和豆漿), which is another recommended name for soya milk in Taipei other than Fuhang. Deciding that it was the last day already and I should try a more local flavour, I decided to order their salty beancurd.

Let’s just say it’s an acquired taste.😂

Songshan Cultural and Creative Park

The next stop was Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, which coincidentally, is also refurbished from a factory space. With a more traditional museum exterior and architecture, Songshan Park is no less interesting. Other than well-known subjects such as Dragonball when I was there, I appreciated the fact that there were many local designer exhibits as well.

Don’t forget to take a mandatory photo with the huge colourful Taipei letters while you are there!

Eating at Ximending

After the two parks, I decided to take a break and head back to Ximending for some food. Fried chicken, Ah Zong Mee Sua and the sweet crepes opposite my hotel proved to be irresistible. After which, it was back to the hotel for some packing up.

Final rounds at the night markets

I was honestly going to sleep in my last full day away but got pulled out of slacking mode by my cousin and her partner in the evening. Our destination? Shida night market.

Other than the wide variety of food, the wider, more organized streets together with the clothes and products that are geared to a younger crowd, make Shida night market a worthy visit for trendy finds and good food. We did our usual rounds of eating and shopping before calling it a day heading to yet another night market, Gongguan.

To make up for the last wasted trip, we took a cab down to Gongguan night market right after our Shida trip (we visited on a Wednesday only to find out it was closed).

I must say that the night market wasn’t terribly interesting to me as most of the goods on sale were running shoes or sneakers. But the Liu Sha yam ball made everything worth it.

Molten custard in perfectly shaped yam balls; this is an absolute MUST-TRY!!! Also available at Raohe night market and Keelung temple market.

And with this…I finally concluded my full 11 days in Taiwan trip! I opted not to write about day 11 as I left for the airport before noon. If your flight timing is similar to mine, suggest you to keep your activities within your hotel area: you could grab some Taiwanese bites (like the one below), and do some last minute shopping which I sure did (Xinending has lots of Cosmetics shops). The more adventurous could do a morning hike.

If you have any questions regarding Taiwan (well, Taipei and Taichung at least), feel free to leave a comment below or drop me an email at hello@eunicet2.sg-host.com.