Taiwan: Raohe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 in Taipei

Taipei has several popular night markets. In fact, visiting night markets is a popular pasttime, a subculture even, in Taiwan. For our first night, we visited the Raohe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市, one of the oldest night markets. The market is located on a 600-meter stretch of Raohe Street, in Taipei's Songshan District.


At the entrance I noticed an unusual stress treatment where you get hit constantly on the head, neck, back and arms by a bundle of plastic sticks. I tried it out since I was quite tired. And it felt quite good. There are also a lot of foot massage services inside the market to relieve your tired feet after hours of shopping.



But more than the shopping, it's the street food which makes the night market very exciting. What I like about Asia is the hawker culture where every stall or restaurant has its own specialty. Our guide was adamant to let me try out her favorite snack, dried pigs blood dipped in peanuts and what seemed to be chopped kinchay. It was quite chewy and not bad for a snack.


I tried out different kinds of street food from local sausages to baked pepper buns. If only we weren't full from dinner, I would have wanted to try a lot more. But our time was limited and we had to rush back to the Howard Plaza Hotel. We were leaving quite early to visit more of Taipei's sights. More photos of day 1 in Ivan About Town FB page.

Note: This familiarization tour of Taipei, Taiwan was organized by China Airlines. Book online at the China Airlines website.

Taiwan: 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo

Taiwan hosted to the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo from November 6, 2010 to April 25, 2011. The 2010 Flora Expo is a garden festival recognized by the International Association of Horticultural Producers. We didn't have time to explore the entire site. So we were brought to the Expo Dome where an orchid exhibition was being held.


Orchids are among the most fascinating flowers in the world, and is said to be the second largest family of flowering plants. And the wide range of species and hybrids were very much evident in the massive orchid exhibition at the expo.



We also got to see the Pavilion of New Fashion - FE EcoARK, a structure made of 1.52 million used PET bottles and bamboo as the main structural material supplemented by recycled steel beams. It was in fact featured in National Geographic Channel's Megastructures and is a perfect example of how one can make an energy self-sufficient structure by utilizing the sun, air and water.

Hopefully, this would be the future of construction. In Taiwan alone, several billions of plastic bottles are discarded every year. Given that most of them are non-biodegradable, the accumulation of garbage is a very serious issue and one that was addressed by the FE EcoARK.


After taking photos at some of the outdoor floral exhibits, we proceeded to Taiwan's electronics market to get some great deals. More photos of day 2 in Ivan About Town FB page.

Note: This familiarization tour of Taipei, Taiwan was organized by China Airlines. Book online at the China Airlines website.

Taiwan: Taipei 101 Observatory

Taipei 101 was the world's tallest building from 2004 to 2010. When it was completed in 2004, it was the world's tallest structure at 508 meters, had the tallest roof at 448 meters and had the tallest occupied floor at 438 meters. And like many of these tall skyscrapers and structures, Taipei 101 has an observatory which visitors can go up to for a spectacular view of the city.


After our dinner at Din Tai Fung, the group proceeded to the Taipei 101 Observatory on the 89th floor, which is 382 meters above the ground. The good thing about the visit to the observatory is that you can borrow pre-recorded multi-media guides in eight languages that annotate your view as you walk around the observatory. Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy that night so we weren't able to see much. If I had the chance, I would have wanted to visit the Taipei 101 Observatory during the day.

Don't forget to visit the 91st floor which is the Outdoor Observatory. There are steps from the 89th floor to get you there. But as we were about to reach the entrance, an announcement was made that the access to the 91st floor was going to be closed due to the weather situation.


As you exit the observatory, you'll get to see the world's largest and heaviest wind damper on the 88th floor. The Taipei 101 wind damper has a diameter of 5.5 meters and weighs 660 metric tons.

To get up and down the observatory, you naturally have to take an elevator. But note that the elevators of Taipei holds the Guiness Record for world's fastest elevator with top speeds of 1,010 meters per minute.

Admission fee to the Taipei 101 Observatory is NT$400 for adults and NT$370 for children under 12. While kids under 110 cm (3 feet 8 inches) enter for free. It's open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. But they only allow guests in until 9:15 p.m. Note also that there is a dress code and that slippers are not allowed. More photos of day 1 in Ivan About Town FB page.

Note: This familiarization tour of Taipei, Taiwan was organized by China Airlines. Book online at the China Airlines website.