Category: Taiwan

保安宮 Pao-an Temple
台北市大同區哈密街61號
886 (02) 2595-1676
admission: free

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保安宮 Pao-an Temple is by far the best temple I have visited in Taipei.  It had such beautiful design, painting & carvings in the building.  People do go there for a certain purpose & is one of the leading religious places.

Upon entering, you will be able to see a guide on how to go around ä¿å®‰å®® Pao-an Temple.  It will tell you where to visit first and which spirit to worship.

Construction of the taoist temple started in 1805 and took 25 long years to be built.  Emperor Pao-Shen is the focus of worship at 保安宮 Pao-an Temple.  He was a popular & highly skilled doctor when he was still alive.  People go to ä¿å®‰å®® Pao-an Temple to seek for good health.

Other notables are the ff.:

Open-mouthed lions as a sign of good governance & rule of law.  There were 2 of them by the way, a male & a female.

The goddess of birth that reside in the bell tower has 12 female aides that help assist childbirth during a given month.  This is very popular for pregnant women.

More pictures here.

公館 Gongguan is a popular shopping district in Taipei.

公館 Gongguan caters mostly to students as this place also houses the 國立臺灣大學 National Taiwan University.  When we visited, I think about 80% of the people walking & shopping around it were students.

I kinda liked the place!  Sadly, I was in a hurry as I was about to meet my colleagues at the hotel, so I was pressed for time.  I just wished I stayed longer though because I ended up staying at the hotel the whole night coz of miscommunication with regards to logistics hayyy.

Pictures here.

It is also in å…¬é¤¨ Gongguan where I bought Taipei’s famous Pearl Milk Tea 🙂  There was a promo that day wherein we just needed to pay 35NT for a cup of Pearl Milk Tea w/c was originally priced at 50NT.  Yummy!  As I write this post, I’m really craving for some Pearl Milk Tea… wahhhhhhhhhhhh!

More pictures from the 天仁茗茶 Tea store here.

This was one of my more memorable shopping & leisure place I’ve been to during my Taipei trip.  I’ll surely go back to this place once I get the chance to visit Taipei 🙂

寶藏巖 Treasure Hill
Lane 230, Sec. 3, Dingzhou Rd., Taipei
886 (02) 2364-8105

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Beside Taipei Water Park is the 寶藏巖 Treasure Hill.  I really wished we entered because I missed a whole lot!  Apparently, Treasure Hill was once a village full of unauthorized houses.  It then formally became a village featuring buildings as if it was in history.

I was only able to take pictures of the entrance.  Hayyy, I really feel bad.  If we only knew, we could have entered and seen at least a reflection of Taiwan history.

I really thought that it was just a place for bicycle riders as it has bicycle signs all over the entrance (even on the floor!).   I missed big time one of the must-see destinations in Taiwan. :'(

Treasure Hill photo album here.

自來水園區 Taipei Water Park
No. 1, Siyuan Street, Taipei Taiwan
886 (02) 8369-5104

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After lunch, we were walking around the area when we noticed the “Taipei Water Park”.

However, when we entered, it seemed like it was abandoned or closed.  The pool had no water.   There were no attendants by the ticket booth.  There were no people inside.

It seemed like a great place so we took pictures anyway, even without the flowing water around the park.

As I researched, Taipei Water Park was built to educate people about the history of Taiwan with regard to main water development.  I saw in their official website that we seemed to have dropped by Gongguan Tourist Service Center of the Park.

Even without the water, the pictures still look superb!

Rest of the pictures here.

After dinner, my mom and I went ahead and walked around the 中和市興南觀光夜市 (Zhong He night market).

The luggage that I brought with me to Taipei at the time wasn’t big enough to put the PS3 that I brought.  So I was set to buy an additional luggage for the machine.

As what other night markets in Taiwan have, 中和市興南觀光夜市 has shops, food stalls, even arcade! Bargains anywhere… the things are just cheap!  I bought pajamas at 100NT only (that’s a whole set composed of blouse & pants, mind you).

Of all the night markets in Taipei that we visited, I think this has the least number of people.  I guess because it wasn’t located at the city proper.  This is already at the farthest part of Taipei.  I just realized that shopping is far more comfortable with less people! hahahaha!

There was a shop that caught my eye.  I was looking at it with awe hehehe.  My mom explained that the shop where we could freely rent a squared space for a certain amount and we can sell anything in that space.  I bet the one who rented the squared-shaped spaces are all young people.  The things they sell were sooooo cute!

More pictures here.

Before I forget, I was able to buy a new luggage which looked like a Burberry bag & for only 480NT!!  It is really elegant looking 🙂