With a week to spend in Taipei, I wanted to explore as much of the city as I could and take day trips. I knew I wanted to go to Jiufen because I had heard so much about how beautiful this town was. I had also read about day trips to Keelung and to Shifen Waterfall. After researching around for a bit, I put together my itinerary to hit all three in one day!
As I was researching things to do during my solo trip to Taipei, endless blogs and websites mentioned Taroko National Park, a visually stunning national park named after its famous gorge. I wanted to avoid paying for and being in an organized tour so I decided to plan the trip on my own! Below is how I managed a solo day trip and some of the stunning views I was able to capture.
I’m a sucker these days for dressing up and nothing beats a gala! So when Ke noticed Artpoint had announced their annual gala to celebrate de Young’s Oscar de la Renta exhibit, we immediately bought tickets. The dress code for the night was either Black tie or Haute Punk so alongside Oscar de la Renta’s beautiful clothing, the guests themselves were marvelous.
For Ke’s birthday, I treated him to dinner at Keiko à Nob Hill, a Japanese influenced French restaurant a few friends had recommended. Keiko a Nob Hill is a really lovely, quaint restaurant with a small private dining area. I was more than impressed with the service and food and glad I chose it to treat Ke 😀
As a 10 year old kid growing up in South Florida, I religiously watched Rocket Power and wished I were a Rocket sibling. All I wanted to do was master the art of extreme sports. More specifically, I dreamed of shredding the slopes on a cool snowboard and doing back flips on halfpipes.
Last weekend I dragged Ke to accompany me to Vegas as I witnessed my hero in person for the first time, Mariah Carey. We’ve both been to Vegas many times before and wanted to find things to do off the strip.
We decided to go to the Valley of Fire State Park, just an hour drive away from the strip. What a great decision it was! The Valley of Fire is absolutely gorgeous.
My very last stop in China was Beijing. Along with sightseeing, shopping, and eating, we got to spend quality time with Ke’s grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
It was such a wonderful experience to meet his family as well as tour and eat our way through this city. I accomplished so many things on my bucket list and am counting down the days until I can return.
