New Year’s Eve brought a great omakase experience in both the food and the atmosphere. With so much competition in the realm of high end Japanese restaurants in Taipei, what I find rare are those places that add in a bit of character to their restaurant. That’s exactly what we were given at Yoinn Japanese Cuisine....

We were able to get last minute Friday reservations at Moe Yakiniku 3. It’s the third expansion of the restaurant. Known for it’s selection of wagyu and it’s service, we were more than excited to check it out. It’s located in the Da’an district along a street of other restaurants. Inside, the eating area were divided...

Whenever I’m in Taipei I look forward to having hot pot. Even more so when it’s winter and temperatures drop. So we were off to a place that specializes in crab hot pot, 12 Basket. It’s notoriety stems from it’s use of fresh mud crabs in your soup along with it’s changing soup base which ends...

It only took three years since I first read about Addiction Aquatic Development from hungryintaipei to pay it place a visit. In retrospect, if I had done so, I would be here all the time. Not good for my wallet. But wonders for my belly. There’s just so much this place has to offer. As a meticulously run...

My final outing in this wonderful city was omakase at 游壽司. Inside the restaurant you’ll find the seating is all around the sushi bar. Set up for an intimate session with your chef. However, unlike other places, it’s not small and stuffy. There’s plenty of room at the counter and a good number of chefs to...

Hot pot culture is huge in Taiwan so when you find one that stands out, you kinda want to tell the world. And that’s what I want to do with this very modest looking restaurant,宅涮涮鍋. Inside, however, the quaint little place was very nice. The decor was modern with single seating at the bar. More...

When you’re near the docks in Magong City, you’ll find plenty of restaurants displaying tanks of fresh local seafood. It’s a fun experience to shop and discover what each place can prepare. That is of course, if you spoke Chinese. Thankfully, the group I was with had no problem and knew specific places to go to....

The southern most island in Penghu rests the Qimei township. A place where you can find the Twin Heart Stone Weir. We took a tour which included the boat and bus ride tour of the island, including some other points of interests around the area. Unless you have your own transportation this would be the...

Out in Penghu, a small island chain west of Taiwan, there’s a local tourist activity of squid fishing. That’s right. Just when you thought shrimp fishing was challenging enough, here comes squid. I guess these things do get caught somehow. Now we, and a boat full of others, will find out how. I take that back,...

Here’s something different to do, shrimp fishing. And I don’t mean off the coasts of Taiwan. This is done within the city, in buildings made for long hours of fishing fun. I just so happened to tag along with a company outing and I have to say, thank goodness I did. This pastime requires it’s own...

A weekend activity for Taipei residents may include a trip to Tamsui, a river town north of the city. Out here you’re free of the city congestion and given a view of the river that cuts through the city. And during late evening, you’re presented with a beautiful view of the sunset. I figure that’s...

There doesn’t seem to be that much information about this place, in English that is. But this place boasts both a grocer and a hot pot restaurant. It’s niche organic offering expanded to Shanghai where they source ingredients from their local farm. As you can imagine, this place won’t be your global chain. They’ll focus on...

I had another long layover in Taiwan. This time it wasn’t overnight, it was from 5pm to 11:30pm. Yeah, you guessed it. I went into Taipei for dinner. Don’t worry, there was plenty of time even though I hit traffic. For those of you who don’t want to do the airport’s free tour of Taipei,...

I had an 8 hour layover in Taiwan. The dreadful thought of lying around in those uncomfortable seats anchored to a power source drew me to the internet. What did I find? Well, you can get a half day tour of Taipei, complete with transportation, for free (more details here). Awesome. But the problem was,...

It was the last day at Sun Moon Lake. The rain hadn’t let up, so probably good to leave since there was basically nothing to do but laze around the hotel room. Not a bad thing since I was leaving Taiwan altogether. On the way back to the train station we stopped by the Sun...

Almost got through this trip without a rainy day. I got by with some sprinkles in Hong Kong. Things eventually cleared up. However, today it was rain all day. There were periods of sprinkles or even no rain, but that was under the cover of heavy fog and blistering cold breezes. Nothing to do but...

One thing you don’t really expect, and for some reason not surprised, was the fact that there is an amusement park in Sun Moon Lake. Actually, not next to the lake, but you get to it form a gondola ride starting next to the lake. The amusement park is part of the Formosan Aboriginal Culture...

Our hotel lends out bikes for free, so of course we take advantage and make outlandish goals. We were going to ride all around the lake. Doable. They gave us two Giant 12 speed mountain bikes equipped with Shimano brakes. Did you know Giant was made in Taiwan and designed by German engineers? No? Well,...

We’re heading up to Sun Moon Lake today so we needed to prepare. The trip would take an hour on the High Speed Railway (HSR) and at least another hour by taxi before we reach the hotel. So first thing to do is check out of Li Yuan Hotel. I have to say, I liked...

I had to take it easy. Pass few days my shoulder blade up to my neck was in serious pain. I could hardly go jogging. That it! I haven’t been able to jog. That’s why I’m getting so fat. Not from all the eating. Not at all. All the stuff has been healthy and nutritious....

It’s so strange to be in a different country on Christmas. Limited number of friends, no family, and a bustling city that continues on. Yes, New Year’s is a bigger event. Not to mention Chinese New Year, which is where stores do actually close and that the even is celebrated a week long. One great...

Although the decorations are up for Christmas around town, it really doesn’t feel like Christmas. It’s missing that frantic sense of urgency. You know the need to buy gifts or ingredients to make dinner. No, here it’s another day for the majority. There’s no day off and not that many, if any, stores that are...

It was a longer than expected journey from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung. Mainly because you’d think I’d fly directly into Kaohsiung. No, that’s too sensible. I flew into Taoyuan airport and took the THSR (Taiwan High Speed Railway). So it was 2 hours by plane, 30 minutes by bus to the train terminal, and 2...

Taiwan has the largest number of night markets. These are places where road side boutiques and street food come together, a popular place for local friends to meet and eat. So expect large crowds on the weekends. If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m a fan of these places. Strange though, given how much...

I wish I could say I knew the city of Yilan, because that was where we wanted to go after Hualien. However, we ended up staying in Jaoxi, a town one stop north of Yilan. It was a hot spring town and we stayed at a hot spring hotel that had an outdoor unisex (bathing...

Although having a chance of rain was worse than it raining all day, it did make for a mystifying view of the Hualien mountains. The way the clouds move around the peaks makes me want to daydream all day. Sometime you couldn’t tell if clouds were swooping down from the skies or billowing up from...

Kenting was a small beach town. It’s made of three areas connected by one road. The main street was the surrounded by the other two areas, meant for people who wanted to stay away from the hectic main area. You won’t get lost here. And actually, you may run across the same people over and...

There was a miscalculation in our plans. We took the train to Pingtung City before we realized it was easier to take the bus from Kaohsiung. Instead of doubling back or even continuing south, gambling on catching a bus in Fangliao, we decided to stay a night in Pingtung. What we were looking for was...

We didn’t expect much from Kaohsiung. It was going to be another town on our expedited journey to Kenting. What a miscalculation on our part. I definitely wanted to see more of this city. For starters, the Liuhe Night Market 六合夜市 was good, filled with competing food stalls. That led to some good king prawn...

The first thing we did after arriving, renting a scooter, and checking in was to go check out the Hua Yuan (Flower Garden) Night Market 花園夜市. It’s only open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Being Thursday night, it was our lucky day. Unfortunately, it was lucky for everyone else who loved this market. I can see...

I love the train systems in Taiwan. The run regularly to every major city and this was just the normal railway. There’s the high speed railway which I haven’t tried out yet. Moving from place to place within one or two hours on the Tze-Chiang, limited express, trains were fine for us. I didn’t even...

We left a surprisingly dry and cold Taipei back to a rainy and even colder Hsinchu. A great start to our journey around the island of Taiwan. Thankfully, we didn’t bike or even rent a motorcycle. The cold wetness would send us back to Taipei in a hurry. On the other hand, arriving here in...

Today it poured. I take that back, early morning it poured. The rest of the day wasn’t as wet but with the wind, it made for one uncomfortable day to get around town. The only thing we could do was to stay inside something. And if that something, like a bus, taxi, metro, or even...