Travel Photo: Yellow Lanterns at Taipei’s Longshan Temple

This is possibly one of the oldest temples in Taipei. It is also a place where you will definitely find the spiritual vibe during the early morning and early evening hours. This is the famous (Mengja) Longshan temple in the Wanhua district of Taipei. This temple worships a mixture of Buddhist, Taoist and folk deities like most temples in Taiwan and showcases beautiful Taiwanese classical architecture with southern Chinese influences.


And after you have explored your spiritual self, you can listen to your growling stomach and sample one of the many night markets located close to the Longshan temple. Taipei has such a night eating culture that you can keep eating all the way to your bed. But, irrespective of the night markets, if you are in Taipei and have seen the view from the top of Taipei 101, you have to visit this temple to see the fervor with which the locals pray here every day. Personally, I love it here.

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Travel Photo: Cute Damper Baby of Taipei 101

For a structural engineer, it is one of the largest dampers in the world. For a marketing mind, it is his brand ambassador. For a regular tourist, it is a super cute damper baby. Whoever the spectator is, the damper baby never has paucity of admirers. Or may be, Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world have done a good job with it.


For those who are interested in this damper baby, it is one of the largest structural dampers of its kind in the world and it’s primary function is to absorb the stress that a high rise building like Taipei 101 gets due to heavy winds. So basically, it protects Taipei 101 and the people working in the building at all times. It is also Taipei 101’s brand ambassador and has been promoted as a cute being with 2 legs and 2 hands just like a human baby.


The idea was a huge success and lots of visitors not only like the damper baby, but are also curious about it in its true form. This damper baby can be seen in 5 vivid colors of red, yellow, green, grey and black. Each color has a noble theme and are fiercely popular both with domestic as well as international tourists. Damper baby memorabilia are one of the more sold gift items.

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Smiling Taiwan: Feel it! Love it!

Smiling Taiwan. That is how it Taiwan likes to refer to itself. And as a tourist, you will feel it and start loving its people immediately. It’s green mountains, its lovely smiling people, its efficient road system, its busy and workhorse like capital, its beaches, its corals and many more. Taiwan is a land that is very special and deserves a lot of time.


A lot of people visit Taiwan only for Taipei 101. While Taipei 101 is spectacular, the night markets, the really devout people, the bullet train, the stinky tofu, the ability to get all kinds of food, some fantastic green tea, some amazing landscapes and more is what you should go to Taiwan for. The central mountains and the east coast is more less populated, while the north and the west coast is the more well populated and busy. And if you are looking to buy some phones or laptop spare parts, then you are in the right country.

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The world’s fastest elevator

This elevator can climb more than one kilometer every minute. It climbs close to 85 floors in just a matter of some seconds. This elevator is in the Taipei 101 building in downtown Taipei in Taiwan. One can feel the rush of adrenaline, the jump in the heart and pop in the ears when you ascend from the 2nd floor to the 89th floor viewing deck in just a matter of some seconds.


This elevator has its place in the Guinness book of world records and one can climb it by buying a ticket to go to the viewing deck of Taipei 101. The ticket is fairly expensive and the wait is usually long, especially on weekends, but the experience, even though short-lived is an experience of a life time. The bonus is that this elevator is in the 2nd tallest building in the world.

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The Snake Alley of Taipei

Snake Alley! This is how the Taipei locals refer to the Hwahsi (Huaxei) tourist night market. Just the name was enough to take me to this place that is situated close to the famous Longshan Temple. I had heard a lot of stories about this place. It’s snake soups, the ability to taste all kinds of exotic meats and more. Personally, I am a vegetarian, but I was keen on saying how the place got its name.


And when I went there, I saw a typical tourist market that served all kinds of meats, had all kinds of reptiles on display, had many sex toy stores and sold Taiwan’s favorite stinky tofu that would make you cringe when you walked past those stalls. As a wildlife lover, it hurt me to see turtles, pythons, cobras, crocodiles and many other reptiles being served on dinner plates. But, since there is demand here, these poor reptiles get captured and eaten. This alley is also good for getting great deals on hardware accessories and shoes. Even though this place is technically a tourist night market, you will find more locals here than tourists.

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