If you haven’t read part one of our Taipei adventure, head here to read it first.

Can I just tell you how awesome it is to have a friend or know someone in a foreign country? If you haven’t traveled abroad, do it, and make sure you meet some people along the way. Your horizons will be broadened, your life will be more full, and you’ll learn new things and new culture. We are both so grateful that we could arrange our travel to be in Taiwan at the same time as Stephanie, and even more grateful that her family welcomed us in with open arms. Taiwan and especially Taipei has been incredible because we got an insider’s view. It really has been amazing.

On Wednesday, Stephanie took us out to see some of her favorite places. After meeting her other Ama and a delicious noodle lunch, we headed to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial to learn a bit more about Taiwanese history. What a beautiful place! The history of CKS is a bit controversial, but it was good to visit and learn more.

After CKS memorial, we went to Longshan Temple, which is one of the most popular in Taipei and Stephanie’s family’s main temple. It was beautiful! And so great to learn more about religion in Taiwan.

We then went to some older areas of Taipei to check out the scenes. It was really cool looking!

After an afternoon nap, we got ready for dinner with our Taiwanese family. We headed to a local spot for a fancy tasting menu. We didn’t get photos of everything, but here are a few samplings. There was so much delicious food!!

It was so great to be hosted by our Taiwanese family. We had so much fun discussing culture and Taiwan and differences in culture. Plus, the food was so delicious! We are so grateful to this family for welcoming us in with open arms!

The following day, Steph picked us up and we headed out on a road trip! Our first stop was Jiufen to see Old Jiufen Street, eat some yummy food, and see the shops. This is an older town with streets full of food stalls and various medicine shops, toy shops, and other tchotchkes. We ate some good food, but didn’t get photos of everything.

Then we headed to the coast to visit the temple that is the resting place of Steph’s late grandfather. This drive went along the coast and it was very beautiful, so we stopped for photos.

The temple was very beautiful. We didn’t take many photos out of respect, but we got a tour and a learned a bit about burial/enshrinement rituals for Taoism and Buddhism.

On the way back to Taipei, we stopped in Pingxi, which is a cute town with streets similar to Jiufen, just smaller. They are known for the paper lanterns. People will make wishes and paint them on the lantern, then send them up into the sky. We didn’t make one, but we watched a lot of people sending them off.

That evening, we had a lovely stir-fry dinner with some of Stephanie’s friends. It was a great way to end our time in Taipei, because the following day we headed to the high speed rail to go to Tainan.

Shawn will be posting soon with an update on some of the delicious eats and awesome sites in Tainan!