See you later Taiwan

I have tried to think of a witty way to put it but I just can't think of anything that comes close to; Taipei is ace!

I am generally a big fan of travelling in Asia anyway it is true, but Taipei has been a really great experience, while we were here it:

• Rained a lot
• Was cold
• Was grey
• Veggie food was hard to find
• Was busy
• We had to travel 30 mins on the train to get to Taipei city centre
• Did I mention it was cold

I did say that we loved it didn't I?

Because we were so far from the city centre and the weather was a bit dodgy, we haven't seen many of the big cultural attractions, in fact we haven't been to a single temple and have seen only 2 museums. We have spent our time walking the markets, small districts and the odd mall. We have jumped on so many different tube and local rail trains it is impossible to count. This is what has been so great about Taipei, around every corner there has been something to catch our eye, sometimes just an interesting sign, or maybe a piece of street art.

This shop seemed to have no Astro Boy stuff at all, just this loverly poster

A mad cow sculpture in one of the markets

Aimee always enjoys a nice cat on a sign

A game full of Stiches

We ate at some amazing food courts (there are so many food courts in Taipei it is actually hard to find your way out of them) and unusual resturants.

Yes in this restaurant you really do sit on the toilet to eat.

Us enjoying Christmas dinner, Taipei/Italian style

Our Christmas rissotto

The best way to sum up our time in Taipei was our Christmas day. The things we needed to work worked and we were thrown a few nice surprises. We were really hoping to be able to speak to people at home on Christmas day via Skype and we were not let down by Taiwan's internet, it was the best connection we have had on the whole trip. Later we went into Taipei to grab something to eat and checkout the Christmas vibe in the park. As always the train arrived on time and was quick and clean, although packed. We found the restaurant we were looking for in the student district using Taipei's ingenious (when you get the hang of it) road system. But the restaurant was closed for Christmas day, no problem there were loads more to choose in the area. We ended up in an Italian style place with very friendly staff and a small boy sat in the corner playing computer games.

After dinner we headed off towards the park like we had planned, we had heard there would be some Christmas type events there, we never made it to the park. 5 minutes from the restaurant a group of students were putting on a free battle of the bands type event in the street so we stopped and watched that for a few hours until our feet were num. The music was good but even better was the atmosphere of everyone gathered together.

Waiting to sound check

She really was singing "Purple Haze",

Red boots playing "Purple Haze"... really well.

The American guy was invited to gatecrash Jizz Trio's set (really their name)

Singing a balled to his girlfriend who was sat next to Aimee

Taipei (and Taiwan) were not on the plan for this trip, it was a late night, sleep deprived decision and it was inspired. We are hoping to get the opportunity to go back one day, there is a whole island to explore.