- The view from Taipei 101. This was not my first time there but my first time getting to go up to the viewing deck and it being clear enough to see the entire city! Taipei 101 is one of the world's tallest buildings but the fun part is that there is a ton of shopping in there! Almost all the high end designers have shops there so it's fun to go and shop around and then go see the view.
- We went to quite a few Buddhist Temples which are always so interesting to see. This one was a newly built modern temple (all the other ones we went to see were well over 100 years old). I love all the statues that are carved by hand and so beautifully detailed. It's much more amazing to see in person than in photos.
- You can't go to Taiwan and not go to a night market! It's the best part about going to Taiwan! This one had a fancy entrance but most don't. It's craziness and a lot of fun, all you do is shop and eat!
- These buns were the latest craze at the night market so we stood in line to try them. They were good but not blow me away good. I still prefer all the traditional night market food.
- Taiwanese street food at it's best! I love these kinds of dishes, delicious meats over rice and veggies.
- We have a Beard Papa here in Seattle but they only serve the boring little cream puffs. The one in Taiwan had several kinds and I gobbled this fancy little one right up! For some reason, it tasted a lot better than the regular cream puff.
- Gotta love Asian candy! I went to 7-11 to stock up on the candy. I love buying the different flavors of Hi-Chew that we don't get here.
- Taiwanese department stores are awesome because the bottom floors are just one gigantic food court with so much yumminess that it takes forever to decide what to eat! They had one floor of just desserts food court and we stumbled upon Mister Donut! I love the shape of the donuts. You pull them apart and it's like you get a little donut hole in every bite.
- You can't go to Taiwan and not get Xiao Long Bao! These little dumplings are one of my favorite foods in the whole wide world.
- Green Onion Pancake! The name sounds gross but it's delicious. I introduced it to my husband here in Seattle and whenever I pointed it out to him on the menu he always said "that sounds disgusting" but I ordered it and now he loves it!
- Chinese magazines and much needed iced coffee. We had to take breaks from being out in the hot and humid weather Taipei is having. It is SO hot there. I love that they have tons of magazines to read while you are sipping your coffee.
- I love the packaging of Asian cosmetics. I tried to find these polishes but couldn't find them anywhere. Too bad though, I love the design!
- I did get my hands on Asia exclusive makeup like this Bobbi Brown BB Cream. Why they don't bring BB Cream to America is beyond me. I think people would buy it here. If you don't know what BB Cream is, check out this link.
- The hotel we stayed at in my grandpa's city had 3 of the cutest dogs! I fell in love with the littlest one, how can you resist that face?
- You can't avoid the cuteness in Asia, especially the Hello Kitty love! I saw this bag in the window of a shop (obviously a fake Hermes) but gotta appreciate the rhinestones and how long it must have taken to do that!
- The Taipei airport has a whole gate dedicated to Hello Kitty, which I wrote about before (click here to see more pictures of the gate!) but I hadn't noticed these cute pay phone booths before! I never thought you could make a pay phone so cute!
- Me and Hello Kitty before getting on the flight for the long 12 hour trip back. This was already after I had flown from Shanghai to Taipei and then had a 5 hour layover so I was a bit of a hot mess. Excuse the weird outfit, I suddenly got cold and threw on everything I had to keep me warm!
too! The color of this
