We keep exploring Asia together with our local travel guides. Last time we learned about things to do and travel tips about Goa, India and such great destinations in Thailand as Chiang Mai and Pattaya. Now we are moving on and traveling to Taipei with the help of our amazing local travel expert.

“My name is Mahantesh, I’m a Graduate PhD researcher in Biomedical science and apart from my research I’m more passionate about social media marketing, business development, photography and community engagement. In my free time I enjoy biking, hiking, photography and yoga.

I know how difficult or challenging it is to travel to a new place and find more details even in this digital era. That’s the reason I joined MeetnGreetMe, which provides a platform for travelers and local experts to interact so that the travels can have a great travel experience and locals can enjoy meeting new people in their cities.

I’m basically from the southern state of Karnataka, India and I’m currently based in Taipei, Taiwan. Taiwan is considered to be the heart of Asia which makes it a hub for having great connections between southeast Asia, China, Japan and United States. I love Taipei because people are friendly are and there is great transportation like metro, bus and also high speed trains between cities.

Traditional Taiwanese food to try in Taipei

Taipei is also famous for its traditional food and various night markets around the city. Taipei also got its iconic architecture called as Taipei 101 ~ a skyscraper which has 101 floors. There are many restaurants ranging from Mexican to Indian cuisine, so you will get a chance of to try lots of varieties of dishes.

Night markets are some of the great places to various traditional Taiwanese foods but there are also some prominent places like Din Tai Fung which serves great soup dumplings also known as “xiao long bao”.

Another awesome traditional dish is stinky tofu, this could be the world’s best love-it-or-hate-it food and Taiwan does it just right. The “aromatic” dice of bean curd is deep-fried and dressed with sweet and spicy sauce. It you clamp your nose, it appears and tastes just like a plain piece of fried tofu, with a crunchy covering and soft center like pudding. You can enjoy this food in major places of Taipei including Raohe night market.

Must-do things in Taipei

When you visit Taipei, you shouldn’t miss to do these three things

1. Visit night markets to enjoy the local/traditional food

2. Go hiking to Xiangshan mountain to enjoy the night view of Taipei

3. Go to the top of Taipei 101 ~ if you are excited to get a bird view of Taipei from the tallest sky scrapper in the city.

My favourite Taiwanese saying

Although there are many proverbs in Taiwanese culture, but one I liked very much is

“流汗才是真正做事的人，但是那些批評的人只用口水” which means

“It takes sweat to work on things, but it only takes saliva to criticize things.”

We thank Mahantesh for such an amazing article on things to do in Taipei. Feel free to comment here, if you have any questions about visiting Taipei!