Next stop was Taiwan. We were surprised at the lush green trees covering the hills on the way into Taipei on the fast train from the airport. We stayed in an excellent airbnb in the popular Wanhua district which was very quiet by day but buzzing at night with tourists and locals alike. There seemed to be a lot of Chinese, whether from the mainland or locals enjoying the many street vendors in the area. We decided on the hop on hop off to get our bearings although the commentary was very hit and miss and did not pause at stops long enough but if you stayed on it was a good way of seeing the whole city and surrounds.
It departed from exit D outside the main station and just opposite the station in the other direction was the bus station with four floors underground and one enormous floor for food only. It was very clean and neat and the variety of food available was endless.
It was not far 20minutes walk to go to Chiang Kai Cheks memorial Hall where we just made the on the hour changing of the guard which was very impressive. Only when we had walked up the many steps with difficulty did we find out there was a lift so took that down to the ground floor where there was a beautiful display of art and orchids.
The series of Blue and white and traditional buildings were very impressive.
After going to the Haidilao 1000 seat restaurant in Beijing I decided we should try the one in Taipei which was also a short walk away. It was not as big a restaurant but the service,10min show by one man and the food was well worth the trip. The hotpot was mild on one side for Maurice and hot and spicy for me. The robots delivered some of the vegetables to go into the hotpot and the noodle thrower comes to the table and throws and throws the noodles until they are quite small to put into the hotpot. It is a fun experience. Free biscuits sand Haagen Das Ice cream completes the meal. We waddled out of there to waves by the staff. One early morning I got a bus (wonderful service with wifi and toilets an air conditioning) from Ximen station to go to the Jiufen Qingyun temple about 2hours from Taipei. a stunning work of art and I could even get a good coffee in a hotel up the road. It was a lovely trip up into the mountains and I could see the sea in the distance. From there I backtracked a bit by bus and train to the Houtong Cat Village which the locals have cleverly repurposed as a place to photograph and be photographed with cats and buy a myriad of cat designed products. The cats have all been neutered and are fed by the locals. It was an old coal town and they have a very good museum about the old coal production on the other side of the train tracks. It was hot in May but pleasant enough to walk around. Unlike what China used to be when alighting the bus or train everyone lined up and it was very orderly getting on and off transport and Maurice was offered a seat everywhere we went.One night we felt an earth tremor and were glad it didn’t result in anything worse.
It was a ten minute ride in a taxi back to the main station gate A to get the high speed train back to the airport a few days later to fly to Singapore for a few days.
Booking dot com mucked up our airport to city transfer. In future we would get Uber or normal taxi We stayed at the very convenient Quay hotel around the corner from Boat Quay. It also had a 711 store next door and a wonderful Michelin starred Thai restaurant on the other side. It was also only a ten minute walk to Chinatown Mrt station. We opted for a Michelin recommended Monster food tour which started outside the MRT station and Starbucks. We braved the rain and visited three hawker food complexes and sampled plenty of delicious tours. William our older guide was a fountain of information and did the tour with aplomb. In the few years that we have not been to Sinapore it has really been greened with lots of plants in and around the large hotels and government buildings. We caught an early morning taxi booked by the hotel for our next flight to Istanbul.
We got a taxi from the airport which proved a bit problematic as the road to our hotel was blocked off for good as a large stone wall was starting to lean. Luckily our lovely man from the Obahan hotel which we had used on a previous visit galloped down and Carried both suitcases into the hotel. This hotel offers the most comprehensive breakfast we have ever experienced and is in a quiet area below a mosque and a ten minute walk from the main square outside the Blue Mosque. We had done all the major tourist sites like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, the Topkapi Palace and the amazing Cistern. We instead took the tram to a wonderful viewpoint on a new tram line at Eminomou station right near the Galati Bridge. Unfortunately it was a Saturday so when we got to the cable car to take us up the the high point we were queued up for about an hour and a half but it was well worth the wait. It went up over and just above an old cemetery. There was a large cafe overlooking Istanbul and part of the harbour so we enjoyed some lunch and had a wander around the suburb at the back of the cafe.
Another day we took the tram from Eminonou over the bridge to the Galati Tower which was closed for renovation. We wandered around the area and ended near the port at a little hole in the wall selling the most delicious fish wraps. They had been recommended and didn’t disappoint. One evening we met Gavin who also happened to be in Istanbul at the same time and who was going to Jenny’s 60th bash in Slovenia at Lake Bled.
Another day and another tram took us over to Taksim square and up in the lift to the square. Here we caught the very old tram (soon to be replaced and put into a museum) to the end of the line and we caught another tram half way back and walked back to Taksim square and caught the tram back to. The weather in May was pleasantly warm with nights to sit outside comfortably.
Another interesting time in Istanbul and off to the airport for our Turkish airlines flight to Ljubljana.

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