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  • It was no ordinary Tuesday morning in Taipei.

  • Today was Valentine’s day!

  • Luckily, I had my good friend Natalie to keep me company.

  • She first joined me in day 8 of my Taiwan Cycling Trip series where we hiked Elephant Mountain together

  • and she's also the one who made the awesome logo you saw at the intro for this video.

  • Thanks again Natalie!

  • Today’s agenda was to do typical touristy things and walk around the must-see spots

  • in Taipei.

  • Our hostel was located in the popular area of Ximen, so there were many great things

  • within walking distance.

  • We started with Longshan Temple, a popular Buddhist temple in Taipei.

  • The original temple was actually destroyed in World War II, but rebuilt shortly after.

  • Thousands of people, both locals and tourists, come to this temple everyday, and it truly

  • is a beautiful sight to see.

  • It is a wonderful example of Taiwanese classical architecture, which is quite distinct from

  • other Asian architecture.

  • Many people come to the temple to pray, which comes in various forms.

  • Some common ones that you will see are food offerings to the gods.

  • The smoke of incense is believed to gain the attention from those in the spirit realm,

  • thus allowing one’s prayers to be heard.

  • Before praying to the gods, you must introduce yourself.

  • It is also important to not wear too minimal of clothing as well, as a sign of respect.

  • The entire temple area very intricate with many other lively decorations.

  • We recently missed the Chinese New Year celebrations, but I’m sure was even more lively.

  • After getting our fill of the temple, we decided to move on to our next destination.

  • Our next stop was Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which was only about a 20 minute walk from Longshan temple.

  • We found interesting ways to keep ourselves entertained on the walk..

  • [singing] "there she was.. just a walkin' down the street, singing.."

  • Noooo Cruise, don't....

  • Sorry for uploading that Natalie (not sorry)

  • This first building that you see now is the National Theater, which is part of

  • the Memorial Hall Square, which is this huge open area, surrounded by some pretty massive

  • and impressive buildings.

  • At the end of square, there’s the memorial itself.

  • The memorial hall is a national monument of Taiwan, and was built in memory of Chiang Kai-shek

  • the former president of the Republic of China.

  • The roof, as you may notice, is blue and octagonal.

  • The number 8 in Asia is often associated with abundance and good fortune.

  • In addition, there are two sets of stairs, each with 89 steps, which represent former-president

  • Chiang’s age at the time of his death.

  • Since its creation, this square has been a popular choice for mass gatherings and was

  • a was central hub in the recent decades leading up to Taiwan’s modern democracy.

  • Every hour, there is a changing of the guard ceremony, which is a popular site among tourists,

  • and front row spots fill up fast.

  • Make sure you have a selfie stick ready, like I did.

  • Having walked around outside for the last few hours, we we were starting to get pretty

  • hungry, and decided to search for something to eat.

  • Although I had already been in Taiwan for over a week now, there were still many places

  • I wanted to try.

  • At the top of that list was Din Tai Fung, which is probably one of the most popular

  • restaurants here in Taiwan.

  • They actually have branches all over the world now, but nothing is quite as good as the original.

  • Luckily, there was a branch not too far away from the memorial, by Dongmen station.

  • We were also lucky to arrive before the dinner rush, and we only had to wait about 15 minutes for a table.

  • Despite there being multiple floors of dining areas, the wait for a table is usually over

  • an hour on most days.

  • Din Tai Fung is famous for its steamed dumplings and noodles, but has a wide selection of other

  • items on the menu as well.

  • This spicy cucumber was especially tasty and is a must-try!

  • Sesame is a very popular flavor in Taiwan, so I of course went with the sesame noodles!

  • Natalie’s food of choice was some vegetable steamed dumplings!

  • We also got a pair of steamed buns each, which Natalie was quite excited about.

  • My first flavor was the taro-potato, which is a popular sweets flavor in Taiwan.

  • with a purple kind of color

  • Unfortunately not so popular in Japan.

  • [Natalie] Oh my gosh, it's so good!

  • Indeed Natalie, indeed!

  • What are you doing!?

  • I liked the Taro one, it was really good, but I think I like the black sesame one even better.

  • That makes me really happy, because I'm finishing with the black sesame.

  • My last bun was filled with very subtly sweetened black sesame, which was to die for.

  • Saving this for last was definitely the right choice.

  • Let’s hear what Natalie has to say about the food here.

  • It was delicious!

  • We had veggie dumplings with mushrooms and leeks.

  • and then we also shared.. buns together (haha)

  • Sesame...... sesame buns...

  • and taro buns......

  • can we cut that? (no)

  • alright, one more time

  • It was good

  • After dinner, we had one final stop at a nearby tea shop called Shing hua, which was recommended

  • to me by a new friend I made while cycling here in Taipei.

  • Taiwan is famous for its oolong tea, so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to stock

  • up on some nice teas for my collection.

  • I love the ritual of sampling different teas at tea shops and talking to the staff.

  • Although, no matter how hard I try, I am never able to prepare my tea as well as they do here in the shops.

  • So definitely enjoyed this sample we received.

  • The person who served us was very kind. She also spoke Japanese since they have many customers

  • from Japan.

  • And we were talking in both English and Japanese, which was quite fun.

  • Natalie and I both stocked on on some different Oolong teas.

  • Some for ourselves, and some as gifts for some lucky people.

  • Actually, a few years back, I gifted Natalie some high quality loose leaf teas as a gift

  • from when I was traveling in China.

  • which started her interest in loose leaf teas

  • You're welcome Natalie (sarcasm)

  • After exciting the tea shop, we came across an interactive public photo booth, and started

  • to have some fun with it.

  • This especially peaked Natalie's interest, since she actually works for a company that creates portable

  • photo booths.

  • So similar to this, but a bit more portable.

  • and it was important for her to scope out the competition

  • The photo booth ended up being pretty fun to play with and was a nice end to our non-romantic

  • Valentine’s Day here in Taipei.

  • At the end of the day, Natalie and I realized that this was actually our second Valentine’s

  • Day in a row that we had spent together traveling around Asia.

  • This time last year, we were traveling together in Thailand

  • Unfortunately, I don't have any videos from that trip, but you can read it at Natalie’s blog if you want

  • which is linked in the description.

  • Oh.. I wonder what this button does?? I think there's like different settings..

  • Boom! What that !@#%

  • Anyway, I hope you enjoyed watching day 9 from my Taiwan Cycling Trip, which actually

  • didn’t have any cycling in it, but

  • If you haven’t seen the rest of my trip, you can check out the entire playlist here.

  • Also, if you want to continue watching this series, be sure to click the logo to subscribe!

  • Thanks for watching, and see you next time here on Two Wheel Cruise!

It was no ordinary Tuesday morning in Taipei.

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