goingplacesmagazine.com
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37
| August 2019
SARAH GILLESPIE
Tips to make your travel
around Taipei easier:
n The official language of Taiwan is
Mandarin Chinese, but English is
widely spoken.n Visit in spring or autumn to
avoid the busy summer and
Lunar New Year, when mostbusinesses are closed.
n Taiwan’s metro system (MRT)
connects most major sights;
bicycle rental scheme YouBike
is also a convenient way toget around.
n The pre-paid Taipei Easycard can
be used on public transport and
at most convenience stores and
supermarkets.n Pick up a local SIM card to avoid
roaming charges – data here is
fast and cheap.About the writer
Sarah Gillespie is a freelance writer who travelled from
Taipei to Kaohsiung for over one month, drinking at least 50
bubble teas during that time. She is based in Fife, Scotland.gourmet “panda” tea is a sugary delight, but
whether it stands up against the thousands of
other tea vendors is a matter of great debate
among the Taiwanese.
A more rustic style of tea is available at Linjiang
Night Market, a gloriously messy anomaly in
polished Xinyi. A medley of delicious smells
- and some less so – Taipei’s night markets
have their own vernacular. There’s the familiar
bao buns and beef noodle soup, but also rice-
pork sausage – think of a garlicky hot dog, but
with a “bun” made from compacted sticky rice.
There’s stinky tofu, and oyster omelettes, and
ice-cream rolls comprising neat balls of taro,
coconut and pineapple ice cream, sprinkled
with peanut and coriander and wrapped up like
a gift. Watching the food being made is just
as delightful as tasting it, and vendors greet
visitors like long-lost friends.
Xinyi is a distillation of Taipei’s wonderful
contradictions. Under aloof, shimmering
skyscrapers, the Taiwanese soldier on –
extending their hospitality to all they meet,
making delicious food wrapped in layers of
colonial history, and risking themselves in
chaotic traffic to buy candles and sweets, to
make offerings to the gods. ■
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