Grand Hotel and Fujhoushan Park, Taipei

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Lunar New Year Trip to Taiwan - January 7 ~ February 6, 2020

Chiayi to Taipei, January 30, 2020

It's time for us to be heading up north, to Taipei, before flying home. We generally like to spend a few days in Taipei whenever we visit families in southern Taiwan for a change of pace. I am a city girl and enjoy being able to get around the metropolitan areas once in a while just to be in the center of things. The sight and sound of big cities can be so exciting, as long as I don't have to live there long term. Taipei is one of my favorite cities with excellent public transit and safe environment. If I have to pick a city to live in, Taipei would be my choice. 

After saying goodbye to FIL and other family members, we were dropped off at the High Speed Rail station in Chiayi where we would take the train up to Taipei. But, before boarding the train, we just had to have another round of sushi at the Sushi Express. 

There seemed to be less people traveling on this day.

Train platform at the Chiayi station.

Our dear friend and hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Shih came to pick us up at the Taipei train station. We couldn't help but noticed all the things they had prepared for the pandemic. Spray bottle of disinfectant, sanitizing wipes, and face masks were all evident inside the vehicle which seemed to be the new norm early on in Taiwan. I must say that Taiwan really took the leading role in educating the citizens on how to effectively prevent the spread of this COVID-19 virus since the very beginning. And, of course, we had our masks on as much as possible throughout this period of time. 

After dropping our luggage off at the house where we would spend the week, they took us out for dinner at a restaurant up on the hill in the neighborhood.

This restaurant is called "Bruce's Kitchen".

We were there a little early, before the rush, so it was quite nice to have the whole place to ourselves.

This restaurant is famous for their Italian menu.

We each picked our set dinner that included soup and salad...

...fresh bread...

and choice of main.

This was what I had, pesto pasta. Delicious!

MOR had this, I think it was a garlic and bacon pasta.

After all the wonderful Taiwanese food we had in the past weeks, this was a nice change!

January 31, 2020

When we stay at our friends' vacant house in Xindian, they usually just let us enjoy our time there all by ourselves and giving us all the freedom to do what we want to do. In turn, we don't want to interfere with they lives either as we can go places on our own using the very convenient public transportation. Even though the house is located in a remote community up on the hill, we quickly learned how to get around using the local buses and subway. We felt totally relaxed and enjoyed every minute of our time there without having to adhere to any set schedule. Most days we stayed inside the house and had a simple breakfast before venturing out to avoid morning rush hour. Then going out for a day of adventure in the late morning, and coming back before the rush in the evening. 

On this last day of January, we decided to just go to Ximending and have a fried pork chop lunch at our favorite spot, Jin Yuan, and then go visit the Grand Hotel. 

Always good!

Fried pork chop.

Then we took the subway red line and got off at the Jiantan station.

Past the Jihe Park with beautiful murals.

And then up on the Jiantanshan Trail to the back of the Grand Hotel.

Yep, some stairs to climb.

Finally reaching Grand Hotel.

We haven't been here for years, so it was kind of nice to be coming back even for a short visit.

We did go inside the main lobby area for a few minutes, but then all of a sudden I saw a huge group of tourists from China gathering nearby. Just to maintain a safe distance, we immediately retreated and headed outside. I also vaguely remember that Grand Hotel was one of the highlighted spots that was visited by some passengers on the Diamond Princess a few days ago when she was passing through Keelung.

Even though the Lunar New Year decorations were very pretty inside, we quickly left the place.

Much better, and safer outside!

The iconic Grand Hotel.

We then took a different route down the hill. A small stairway on the left of the main gate.

At the bottom of the trail, it's the 823 Artillery Battle Memorial Park.

The 823 Artillery Bombardment Victory Monument.

We have never been here before and have never heard of such a place. It was definitely a nice find. 

The whole place was very quiet with a nice backdrop. There was only one other person there while we were visiting.

He was very much interested being a former military reserve.

Walking down the very busy Beian Road.

To the Taipei Fine Arts Museum on Zhongshan North Road.

Taipei Story House

Then we crossed the street and explored a bit of the Yuanshan Park (Flower Expo Park) before taking the subway back from the Yuanshan Station.

This photo of the subway doors was taken for my five-year-old grand-nephew Will, who is learning all these chemical elements from his chemistry professor mother. Such a genius! 

February 1, 2020

Taking the long stairs down to the bus station.

This morning we took the bus into Taipei, which was interesting and scenic.

We planned on hiking up the Fuzhoushan Park today so we picked the bus route that would take us to the Liuzhangli neighborhood. But, first, we wanted to have an early lunch and we ended up at the Yong He Soy Milk King on Fuxing South Road in Daan.

Savory soy milk and

Shiaobing and fried fritter (dough). Both very good. 

Except we had to sit by the sidewalk.

Then, we took the subway brown line to Liuzhangli station and walked towards the Fuzhoushan Park.

While walking along this neighborhood, I found a noodle restaurant that I wanted to have dinner at this afternoon. It would have been a perfect choice when we are done hiking. 

Reaching the entrance of the park.

Unlike Elephant Hill, this hiking path was nicely built.

With blooming flowers and plenty of shades. Much easier and pleasant walk than Elephant Hill.

Sign post along the path.

Rewarded with a beautiful view of Taipei 101.

More stairs to climb, but they were sturdy and even.

Time to rest and admire the gorgeous views.

I imagine this would be an excellent spot for the New Year Firework show.

A much bigger observation deck than Elephant Hill also.

Just can't get enough of this!

Well, unfortunately, when we got back down trying to have an early dinner at the noodle place that I found earlier, it was closed! Determined to have beef noodle for dinner, we headed over to Yongkang Street where we enjoyed another great beef noodle meal.

Another good day in Taipei!

"Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. "   -- Joshua 1:7