I've been to Taipei twice, each time for a 2 week stay so I've been able to see quite a bit of the city and Taiwanese countryside and thought I'd share some pics.

 

Getting to Taiwan from Cincinnati is a bit of an ordeal. It can be done with just one layover, but it's via United and it's expensive, the layover is overnight, and their international flights are terrible. I took Delta the entire way, with short layovers in Detroit and Tokyo. The flight was pretty cheap given the fact that Taipei is about 8000 miles away but it took a good 21 hours of travel.

 

Taipei is an awesome city. It's also an incredibly cheap city to visit. Decent enough hotels only run about $40 a night. The best food is street food and the good stuff runs anywhere from 50 cents to $3 per serving. You can stuff your face all day with all the food you can eat for less than $10. There were days I spent less than half that. Travel is cheap, too. The subway fare is based on distance traveled and starts at around 50 cents for short trips. It maxes out at around $2. Commuter trains out to the burbs and adjacent cities are equally cheap. The bikeshare is even cheaper - it starts at 33 cents for a half hour rental.

 

Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures. Some are from February 2016 and some from May 2017.

 

1.

 

2.

 

3.

 

4.

 

5.

 

6.

 

7.

 

8.

 

9.

 

10.

 

11.

 

12.

 

13.

 

14.

 

15.

 

16.

 

17.

 

18.

 

19.

 

20.

 

21.

 

22.

 

23. The Wenhu Line (or Brown Line) is an interesting one. It's fully automated, and the trains are short, 4 car units with rubber wheels.

 

 

24.

 

25.

 

26.

 

27.

 

28.

 

29.

 

30.

 

31.

 

32.

 

33.

 

34.

 

35.

 

36.

 

37.

 

38.

 

39.

 

40.

 

41.

 

42.

 

43.

 

44. These are inside/from the Grand Hotel, which is where we had our wedding:

 

 

45.

 

46.

 

47.

 

48.

 

49.

 

50.

 

51.

 

52.

 

53.

 

54.

 

55. These gondolas get very, very high as they ascend into the mountains south of Taipei. I'm not a big fan of heights but it was worth the ride:

 

 

56.

 

57.

 

58.

 

59.

 

60.

 

61.

 

62. The last few pictures are from a quick train trip I took to the east coast of Taiwan. Trains are also very cheap, it was around $12 for the three hour ride to Hualien from Taipei.

 

 

63.

 

64.

 

65.

wow. very cool set. thank you for sharing!

Great photos

You need to go back to photograph that entire whale mural.  I suspect that the whale extends another 100-200 feet, but can't know for sure. 

Taiwan is the perfect blend of China and Japan/South Korea refinement.  Great photos.

I'm conflicted. Some of that street retail signage is hideous. But at the same time, I wish they were still prevalent in US cities.

 

I've seen all the skyline shots. Nice to see these posts and more of the inner city. 

Nice. Thanks for posting.

Fascinating!  One thing that always surprises me is how much some of those street scenes of the 4-8 story modern midrise apts remind me of Greece, or the poorer parts of Spain or Italy, or the Middle East, for that matter.  Really any of the "middle tier" countries.

very interesting. i was going to go when we went to singapore, but we had to change the flights. we flew right over though and i could see the taipei tower and everything - looks good from the air too. i would love to taiwan visit sometime.

You need to go back to photograph that entire whale mural.  I suspect that the whale extends another 100-200 feet, but can't know for sure. 

 

Yeah the whale extends about half a block - it's a big hostel and has one of the very few bars in Taipei on the ground floor. That picture is from the hotel I stayed at for a week, right across the street.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@25.0469005,121.5057137,3a,75y,227.76h,127.83t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sf9BMbpxFqr9Q2r0IkoqanA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

I'm conflicted. Some of that street retail signage is hideous. But at the same time, I wish they were still prevalent in US cities.

 

I think the signage covers up some rather ugly buildings. If you look at the residential areas you can tell that about 95% of the buildings are built with thick concrete walls with tiny windows, and the exterior is clad in tiny little tiles. It is really pretty dreary. On top of that they've got AC units, steel bars, and awnings poking out everywhere. The signage is an improvement over what is behind it, imo. What's interesting is despite the pretty ugly appearance, these are nice neighborhoods (and extremely safe)... real estate in Taipei is some of the most expensive in Asia.

 

very interesting. i was going to go when we went to singapore, but we had to change the flights. we flew right over though and i could see the taipei tower and everything - looks good from the air too. i would love to taiwan visit sometime.

 

I would recommend at least a quick stop in Taiwan to anyone who is visiting Asia for a couple of weeks. The food and hotels are so cheap that the overall cost is minimal if you're already nearby. There seems to be a lot of tourism from Mainland China and Japan, but in two weeks I think I saw fewer than 10 non-Asian people.

^ hmm, i am surprized by that, i would have thought taiwan is more visably popular with westerners.

 

if anybody is heading to the sea countries i noticed that taiwan is a common place to change flights, so it seems easy enough to visit and layover for awhile. i would definately angle harder to do that next time.

 

anyway, great pics -- its cool to see taiwan.

Great photos.  You really captured a good mix of street life, skyline and landscape.  It helped give me a real feel for the area.

I head there 2x a year as the company I work for has an office in New Taipei but don't have the photography skills you do.  Beautiful shots though, glad you got the building I thought of as the Death Star crashing into the side by the Shilin night market.

 

Feels very accessible for a city of it's size, this set got me excited for the next trip I have to do in July. :)