Dumplings Help Me Feel Complete

Up somewhat early to hit up a bank and grab some coffee for a big walking day! Part of my motivation was dumplings, more specifically xiaolongbao, from Din Tai Fung. My first tourist spot, however, was Taipei 101. It used to be the world’s tallest tower before the Burj Khalifa shot up over everything else! I decided to skip going to the top of the tower since admission was about 15USD. If it had been the world’s largest tower, I’m sure I would’ve gone up, funny how the mind works!

Since I love walking, I decided to hoof it to lunch while taking my time to stop and see anything else that caught my eye. Taipei is truly a lovely city, it’s laid out fairly well, with good public transportation, and of other importance, it has awesome parks with ponds scattered throughout the city. I stopped at more than one to relax and people watch. After zigzagging my way to lunch (on purpose, in case you were wondering), I finally arrived to Din Tai Fung. I planned for a late lunch/early dinner since this restaurant absolutely buzzes during the lunch rush. After reading my little instruction guide on the proper way to eat xiaolongbao, my food arrived and was absolutely wonderful.

If you ever have the chance to eat there (or a similar type place, as I’ve been told they are everywhere if you know where to look), I would definitely recommend it. On my walk, more like waddle, home, I decided that I was going to forego another night in Taipei and head to Hualien for a few days in search of a nature check. Ran to the hostel, grabbed my stuff, went to the train station, arrived in Hualien, where the hostel owner and a guest picked me up, had a very creatively named beer (called Taiwan Beer) at the hostel bar, and then called it a night!