Destination Report: Taiwan – Life ‘Stuck’ in Taiwan during the pandemic (July edition)

What is life like ‘stuck’ in Taiwan during the coronavirus pandemic? Well, we are getting used to having the freedom to safely roam around and hang out with people when our friends and family (who live mostly in Europe and the USA) still need to practice social distancing and keep the virus in mind every day. We know that we are in a very fortunate position and have been making the most of our stay to enjoy this beautiful country.

After an eventful month of June spent exploring the island of Taiwan for our first time since we completed our 2 weeks self-quarantine in March 2020, we returned to Taiwan to spend the summer. To kick things off well, we found an amazing little apartment in the heart of Taiwan that makes for the perfect base and have been equipping ourselves to discover and practice river tracing as it is the perfect activity to stay cool when the weather can easily feel above 100º F (~38 ºC)!

If you missed our previous reports of our life “Stuck” in Taiwan, check out our past editions: 

• Life ‘Stuck’ in Taiwan during COVID19: April’s edition
• Life ‘Stuck’ in Taiwan during COVID19: May’s edition
• Life ‘Stuck’ in Taiwan during COVID19: June’s edition 

Are you ready to discover what Taipei has to offer, even during this pandemic?

Pro-tip: If you are interested to easily locate and access all the places we are mentioning in this article, fill out the form below and we will send you a copy of our own Google Maps we created during our stay in Taiwan. (We use this map on our phone when we explore, which makes it super handy to find places). 

Note: 

• Unless specified otherwise, prices in USD have been converted from the local currency (NT$ or New Taiwan Dollar) to USD using a 1:30 ratio. (so 1 NT$ = 0.033 USD).
• Since we share a lot of recommendations, we use this notation [⭐️⭐️⭐️] to indicate what is the best of the best (la creme de la creme as you would say in French). If you have a limited amount of time, try to focus on them first.

Where did we stay?

We found a lovely large studio apartment located in the heart of Taipei, in the Datong district, which is located minutes away from the Taipei Main Station. Our apartment checks all the boxes we had: good design, plenty of natural lights, views, great location, proper size and well-equipped kitchen, sparkling clean, strong wifi, proper bathroom (where the shower is separated from the toilet), comfortable bed, and living space comfortable to work from.

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Cost: 30,000 NTD for 4 weeks (or ~1,000 USD).
[Initial price: 60 USD / night or ~50,000 NTD for 4 wks before discount & additional negotiation].

As always, we applied some of our best Airbnb tips to obtain nearly a 50% discount! While we pay 100 USD extra than our previous Airbnb in Taipei, the value has increased by at least two folds!

Our favorite sights and activities

All the activities below are easily accessible from Taipei:

• [⭐️⭐️⭐️] Hiking Yunsen Waterfall (aka Cloud Heart/Forest Waterfall) – A very easy to access waterfall once you get to the start of the trail (which requires either a car or a taxi). Once you get to the waterfall, you can access the top and enjoy a nice natural pool with fewer crowds. We hiked there on a weekend and we were shocked by the number of people we encountered on the trail. A sign that the summer is getting started here in Taiwan and the locals are exploring!
  Cost (one way): No cost to access the waterfall. MRT to Dingpu: 40 NTD + 200 NTD per person for sharing a taxi round trip to the start of the trail.
  Distance: ~6.50 mi | Moving time: ~2hrs30mins

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• [⭐️⭐️⭐️] Sunset bike rides along the river banks of Taipei – Taipei provides practically free rental bikes to let you enjoy the beautiful and well-maintained bike path the city offers. For a ridiculously low cost, you get to enjoy a bike well built. With temperatures significantly rising in Taiwan during the summer season, we’ve been enjoying taking a bike late in the evening to enjoy the sunset along with some very well maintained bike paths. We tried and recommend the following routes: biking to/from Tamsui + biking to Raohe night market (download the free Taipei City Cycling map).
  Cost: No cost to use the bike path. UBikes rent for 5 NTD (or ~0.15 USD) for the first 30 minutes, 15 NTD (or ~0.50 USD) for the first 60 minutes, 35 NTD (or ~1.25 USD)  for two hours, 55 NTD (or ~1.90 USD)  for the first 3 hours.

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• [⭐️⭐️] Hiking Xinfeng Waterfall – An easy river trace from Toucheng that takes about 2 hours and ends in beautiful water with a nice pool to swim and also enjoy a well-deserved lunch.
  Cost (one way): Local Train from Taipei Main station to Toucheng: 117 NTD + Shared taxi to 40 NTD pp. Access to the site is FREE.

• [⭐️⭐️] Hiking Yuemeikeng Waterfall – Another day, another Waterfall of Taiwan. This is a pretty large waterfall accessible from Jiaoxi (we totally missed it when we went back in May to celebrate our 2 years wedding anniversary). You don’t get to see the waterfall until the very end which makes for a pretty nice surprise. You can also swim once there which is perfect during the summer.
  Cost (one way): Bus from Taipei city hall to Jiaoxi: 96 NTD. Access to the site is FREE.

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• [⭐️⭐️⭐️] Hiking Xinshan Dream Lake + Kezilin river swim – Xinshan Dream Lake (aka Xinshan Menghu) is a beautiful lake in Xizhi District of New Taipei. It is a popular place to stop for couples and Instagrammers due to its dream-like aura (see pics). We followed this stop by a steep climb up Xinshan mountain for some incredible views of east Taipei and Keelung. One of our top hikes for July!
  Cost (one way): Train from Taipei Main Station to Xizhi: 20 NTD + Bus F910 to start of hike: FREE
  Distance: ~5.35 mi | Moving time: ~2hrs30mins

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• [⭐️⭐️⭐️] River trace in Wulai (Red Bridge) with an awesome natural slide – This is where river tracing went to the next level for us with some good action as part of the trace, in the form of an awesome natural slide at the end of the trace.
  Cost: MRT to Xindian District Office: ~30 NTD + Bus 849 Xindian District Office to Chenggong: 22 NTD. Access to the site is FREE.
  Distance: ~8.70 mi | Moving time: ~3hrs00mins.

• [⭐] Hiking to Big Sharp Mountain (aka Dajianshan) – With the summer being pretty “dry” this year, this hike hasn’t been really exciting as the three waterfalls we encountered were pretty dry. The views at the top (overlooking Taipei) ended up saving this hike from being blah. This hike might have much better potential during the cooler months.
  Cost (one way): Train from Taipei Main Station to Xizhi: ~30 NTD
  Distance: ~9.00 mi | Moving time: ~3hrs30mins.

Outside of Taipei (requires a mode of transportation):

• [⭐⭐⭐] If you get a car, and are looking for a pretty unique itinerary with not well known (yet original and beautiful places) we recommend the following. First stop: Secret Heart Shape (竹子湖黑森林) you want to check out this little place in Yamingshan for a great photo opportunity (especially if you have a drone!). We love that sight so much that it has become the main picture on our blog home page). Next: go visit the Fufu Dingshan Shell and Coral Temple. Then as you head towards Keelung you can stop on the road for a lunch bike and enjoy the scenery. You can then check out the UFO Village before ending your day at the Keelung night market for a bite before heading back home.
  Cost: Cost for a rental car / scooter + gas. All the stops mentioned are free to access.  

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Our favorite places to eat

We mostly eat at home to regain control over our diet after the month of June which was pretty restaurant heavy. We did find a few noteworthy places to go out: 

• [⭐️⭐️] Pork rice @ 大稻埕魯肉飯 – A really local and simple place that specializes in braised pork rice. Simply, affordable, fast, and yummy. Nothing else to add. A good address if you are closed by.
  Cost: 65 NTD for a bowl of braised pork rice, 30 NTD for side veggies. 
• [⭐️⭐️] Ningxia Street Night Market – The closest night market from our Airbnb, which turns out to have become a pretty regular place we like to go to when we don’t feel like cooking. Not as touristy as some of the night markets in Taipei and it definitely has a local feeling to it. It also has some of our favorite food: watermelon juice, taro balls, chicken/pork rice bowls w/ veggies, scallion pancakes to name a few.  
  Cost: Anywhere between 30 to 200 NT$ based on the type of food/snacks you are looking for. It’s a pretty typical price range for a ‘local’ night market in Taipei.

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• [⭐️⭐️] Raohe Street Night Market – More touristy than the Ningxia Street night market, people would qualify Raohe Street as the best night market in Taipei and we tend to agree. It is huge which means they have pretty much everything you can find at night markets in Taipei. We biked here during sunset which made for a really pleasant bike ride that definitely added to the charm of the experience. 
  Cost: Anywhere between 30 to 200 NT$ based on the type of food/snacks you are looking for. It’s a pretty typical price range for a ‘local’ night market in Taipei.

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Our Favorite Sweet Spots

Here are the places we recommend in Taipei:

• 2D Cafe [⭐️⭐️⭐️] – If you haven’t heard about 2D cafes, then check out our video below. They started back in 2018 and made a good Instagram session! While we don’t call ourselves “Instagrammers” we came here with another couple and had a solid 2 hours of fun! This place runs as a coffee shop that provides free entrance in exchange for you to buy one of their overpriced menu items.
  Cost: The menu starts at 60 NTD (from some garlic bread) and can go as high as 150 (for some fancy drink). Make sure to bring your own cup to help the planet as they use plastic cups :-/

How much did we spend in July?

How much did we spend to check out all of these spots? Since we love numbers, we’ve got plenty of data to share with you! 

In total, we spent $2,410 in July over a period of 30 days (since we arrived in Taipei on July 2nd).

Here is the overall snapshot of our spending:

Here is the spending breakdown per category:

It is worth noting the following living expenses:

• Personal Development: this is Mrs. NN taking Chinese class at a rate of about 140 USD every month for 4 hours at a Mandarin center in Taipei. 
• Visa: this is myself applying for the Taiwan Gold Card (which we later got approved for – Read more about how we got a 3 years residency in Taiwan)
• Travel Gear: we equipped ourselves with some river tracing equipment, some upgrade to our zero waste kit (needed a boba straw :D), and a new pair of sunglasses for myself that I lost while river tracing!

Our bottom line

Those were our highlights for July in Taiwan! We are still making the most of our freedom here to enjoy all the amazing sites that are directly accessible from Taipei as day trips! We are so thankful that Taiwan has taken the appropriate measures to make the island safe from COVID-19 and allow visitors like us to stay in the country for the time being. As nature-lovers and foodies, we definitely won’t run out of things to do in Taiwan for months.

From a spending standpoint, this month was a bit higher than our average month in Taiwan that is mainly due to our Gold Card application fee. 

Next month (in August) we will keep exploring Taipei and stay cool as the summer temperatures here are quite high! Be sure to sign-up for our newsletter (link below) so you can get notified when we publish these upcoming posts.

Are you surprised by what life is like in Taiwan during the pandemic? Did you know there were so many activities to do? Would you be interested to come to visit Taiwan and any of the places we checked out in June? Feel free to share your experience and ask questions by leaving a comment below.