One Day Taipei Stop 3: Taipei 101

The third stop of this 1-day Taipei tour was Taipei 101. From Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, we took the Tamsui (red) line to Taipei Main station, then transferred to the Nangang-Banqiao-Tucheng (blue) line bound for Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, and finally got off at Taipei City Hall station. This route cost NT25 for a single journey ticket.

From exit 2, we went towards Hankyu Department store, then walked south as we tried to look for the skyscraper. When we saw it, the road to Taipei 101 was just straight ahead. But between the train station and the former world's tallest building, the Taipei City Hall and the park on the other side of the road were also quite something. It was Christmas time then, so maybe that's why there were a lot of "kid stuff" along the sidewalk.

Taipei City Hall

After arriving at the building's footsteps, we went directly to the 5th floor where the tickets to the observatory can be bought. Each ticket cost NT450. From there, a ride on the world's fastest elevator, the one that took the title from Japan's Landmark Tower, took us to the 89th floor - the indoor observatory. There's actually an outdoor observatory on the 91st floor, but the weather that time wasn't really good, so we just stayed inside.

Similar to other towers, Taipei 101 offers a 360-degree view of the city's skyline. Of course, there were souvenir shops, though I can't remember the average prices. After having a short break, we went down to the 88th floor for the ride back down, and on to our last stop: Ximending.

Taipei 101 official website

One Day Taipei Stop 2: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

After Longshan Temple, next stop was Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. We took the blue line from Longshan Temple station in the direction of Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, then transferred at Ximen station to the Xiaonanmen line. Ximen and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall stations are the termini of Xiaonanmen, so it's hard to get lost coming from Ximen. This route cost NT20.

Unfortunately, the memorial hall was under renovation at that time, so we weren't able to do much while we were there. Actually, it was only then that I learned that the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is just one of the halls within the Memorial Hall Square. Before that, I thought the entire Memorial Hall Square was the CKS Memorial Hall. After taking pictures of the structures around the memorial hall square, we went on to our next stop: Taipei 101.

National Theater

National Concert Hall

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall official website

One Day Taipei Stop 1: Longshan Temple

Longshan Temple is the first stop in the itinerary described in my One Day Taipei trip overview. From what I heard, the best time to visit this temple is early in the morning, so I scheduled it as such. But waking up late and enjoying the hotel breakfast made this first stop not that early. We were there at around 11:00, but there were still a lot of people praying at that time. We got off at Longshan Temple station and went out to what I thought was a night marketplace. I don't know if the statues serve as a preview of the temple, but they worked for me.

After getting through the main gate, we were greeted by a water fall to the right and a fountain to the left. The first picture in this post is the facade of the temple. I wasn't able to include them in the picture but there were two doors on the sides, one for entry and the other one for exit.

Though there were some tourists, most of the people were praying followers. Flower and food offerings were also on the tables all around the temple grounds. There were also some people who prayed around the perimeter of the temple, and I wasn't really sure about their purpose. Anyway, we just went around, observed what other tourists were doing (or not doing), took pictures of their temple with respect, and went out after an hour. We went back to the Longshan Temple station and moved on to our next stop: Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.