This trip was about the food almost as much as the sites! So I have two lists of highlights. First, our favourite eats, in order of eating:
- Ramen at Oreno Ramen in Seoul *
- Ise-ebi lobster lunch combo at Payao Fish Market in Okinawa
- Steamed buns on Dihua Street in Taipei
- Pineapple buns in Tonghua St Night Market in Taipei
- Bào bīng (shaved ice cream and fruit) in Tainan
- Dumplings at Hang Zhou Xiao Long Bao in Taipei
- Xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung in Taipei *
- Beef noodles at Tien Hsia San Chueh in Taipei *
- Twisted doughnuts in Gwangjang Market in Seoul
* Michellin rated
And our favourite sites, in no particular order:
- Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul (#84 on my Top 100)
- Castles in Okinawa *
- Tsuboya Pottery District in Naha
- National Palace Museum in Taipei
- Dalongdong Bao’an Temple in Taipei
- Taipei Confucius Temple in Taipei
- Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei (#83 on my Top 100)
- Mazu Temple in Lukang (#78 on my Top 100)
- Lukang old town at night
- Sanfong Temple at night in Kaohshiung
- Grand Matsu Temple in Tainan
- Tiantan Tian Gong Temple in Tainan
- Anping old town outside Tainan
- Gwangjang Market in Seoul
- Ikseondong hanok village in Seoul
- Tuned mass damper inside Taipei 101 in Taipei
- Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul *
* UNESCO World Heritage Sites
There were lots more temples and museums and markets that we liked, I've just noted the highlights above. There would likely have been more UNESCO sites on our list but Taiwan isn't recognized by the UN.
Google translate makes it much easier to travel where you don't speak or read the local language. Google Maps and Uber also make it easy to get around. We didn't use any of the Korean we had tried to learn through Duolingo, although we did recognize when someone asked us if we were students when buying a ticket to enter some museum. (Student (학생) is one of the first Korean words taught in Duolingo).
We planned out about the right amount of time in each place we stayed. There's much more to see in Seoul but it was more of an extended transit stop on this trip; when we have a trip focusing on Korea we'll get to see more of Seoul. We also just changed trains in Taichung (Taiwan) — it looked like a cool place to visit, and not on the tourist map even though it's the 2nd largest city in Taiwan. The eastern mountainous side of Taiwan also looked cool. It takes a bit of time and effort to travel through there, and generally anything less accessible we find more interesting.
We used masks quite a bit in Taiwan, especially on transportation and in museums. We also used masks whenever traveling through airports. In Seoul and Okinawa, mask usage wasn't that prevalent. In Taiwan about 75% or more folks wore masks, in particular almost all hotel and restaurant staff. (It was odd to us when we arrived back in Seoul after two weeks in Taiwan and the hotel staff weren't wearing masks!)
The subway system in Taipei was super easy to use, with very frequent subways (I think we waited at most three minutes). We just bought single-trip tokens which was pretty easy, except once in Taipei Main when we couldn't find the MRT ticket machine (in our defence, Taipei Main is a major transportation hub with subway, high-speed rail, regular rail, and an airport LRT). The train system in Taiwan was also very easy to use and very punctual. We didn't take the subway in Seoul because the tourist attractions are compact enough to walk. People were very orderly everywhere on this trip, making getting on/off the subway really efficient.
Apple Pay worked most places, except a few in spots in Seoul, where we just used a regular credit card. It was cash-only in the markets.
All the places we visited were really safe, probably the safest places we've visited. Hopefully we didn't develop any bad travel safety habits for our future trips :)
Overall it was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip!
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