My cat was sitting on top of my other kitty 
!! 
Iphone x
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I feel like I get great battery life, but the camera is not for me. But then again, I don’t buy phones for the camera. It’s just a matter of frustration for me.
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In your opinion, what is the bare minimum number of days in Taipei itself to hit the high spots?
I have four AA SWUs burning a hole in my pocket (with 4 more on the way) and we’re looking for a place to spend a long weekend.
Taiwan currently has no covid travel restrictions, and yes, I’m aware of how far away it is. 
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Ofc “trendy” 19yr olds now pay $700 for the same sneaker with a designer label
Like Nike? Haha
Certain Nikes are very collectible and can increase in value immensely over time
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I have no clue what’s open right now, I can ask around.
My opinion is you got to hit some tourist spots, eat a ton of food, hit some night markets, and see some nature off the beaten path.
There are entry requirements though, and you’d need an entry permit from the TECRO assuming you’re a US citizen, not even sure they’re letting tourists in right now.
What you do really depends on where you stay in the city, if you stay in.the touristy parts vs somewhere a little more off the normal path. My family has a spare house on North Zhongshan and so I can’t speak for hotels, clubs, etc.
- Two week quarantine at home/hotel
- Taipei 101 and surrounding activities, their is a museum close by dedicated to the military housing (great place to get Goliath style Taipei 101 shots).
- IMO, budget some weight gain, their is a lot of delicious food, pastries, sweets/drinks, and food. You’ll want to go out every night to Night Markets, the stuff there is amazing.
- Taipei Zoo is awesome, so many pandas and cute baby animals!
- Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hall (part of day trip, can be done after lunch before dinner, and iirc there is some awesome shopping nearby). Also a great place for Taipei 101 shots on the outside balcony area.
- If you fly in through TPE rather than Taipei City airport, you’ll need to take the train, bus, etc. to get into New Taipei City or Taipei.
- I recommend getting an MRT contactless card if you’re they’re longer for a few days. It’s reloadable in I believe convenience stores and mrt stations (best method of transit in Taipei, cheap, fast, clean, and massive underground malls), contactless, and taxis/busses/convenience stores/certain hotels, and a few brick and mortar places take them.
- Kenting national park is beautiful.
- if you can get there, Waiao Beach is a gorgeous volcanic black sand beach. Absolutely amazing and the sand is so fine too! I have a video and family pictures but prefer not to share.
- Wenshan District Tea Plantations, such high quality tea, and there’s this amazing little restaurant with deep fried sweet potatoes with sweet and sour plum salt. I’ve been trying to replicate it with no avail for 2 years. Go back every time I’m in the country. English name is Redwood Tea House, Wenshan District, Taipei.
- National Palace Museum, you can spend a lot of time here. We ate at the Silk Palace restaurant, I remember everyone liked it, but haven’t been specifically in 2 years.
I can name a lot more restaurants, but some presumably are not open / have closed. Just found out my favorite braised pork over rice place shut down, my dad has been a customer there since he was born. Their soup with pork spare ribs and bamboo was so good. 
To truly answer your question, to stay in Taipei city, I’d budget at least 3-4 days, a day for arriving, settling and time adjustment at least, hit the night markets, next day do tourist stuff like Taipei 101, the museum I talked about, then hit sun yet sen memorial hall (close by). There’s a Nike sponsored basketball court right outside Taipei 101, and I’ve seen people taking photos there.
If you’re not saying long, I’d want another day to go to tea plantations and another for shopping for gifts/food/trinkets, and another chill day to just do what you want and pack.
Id also assume you fly in with ONEWorld with JAL, Cathay, or KAL (I’d personally avoid Hainan but that’s me).
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It looks like I misread that travel was open again.
I thought this statement was pretty clear: " Taiwan is no longer impacted by restrictions due to COVID-19." From:
I also read this somewhere else.
Now looking at other sources, there is more to the story. I’ll have to go another time.
Regardless, I’ve bookmarked your comments and will save them for later. I really appreciate the detailed answers, when all I’d hoped to get was a recommendation for a duration in Taipei itself.
Thank you a million times. 
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You can enter USA from Taiwan (COVID free), but non-citizen residents/students can enter Taiwan currently without an official reason (business, diplomacy, or special entry permit).
I barely scratched the surface, Taiwan is like China with so much more food culture, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese influence. You can even find amazing Thai food, Japanese and Korean Chains, even French stuff like carrefour I’d have to dig through my gallery to find some of the stuff.
You’ll definitely enjoy your time there, Taiwan is generally a safe country as long as you don’t go looking for trouble with any triads or gangs or attract their attention with them messing with you.
One last thing, you need to get mochi, bing su (shaved ice), and eat as much fruit as you can. During the hot summer it’s sooooo sweet, custard apples, lychees, longan, pineapple, mangos, dragon fruit, rambutan and more are awesome.
They grow so many pineapples the government paid farmers to turn them into compost to keep prices at profitable levels.
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Seconding pretty much everything you said. I’m just going to add fresh soy milk. I’d eat my weight in lychees, too.
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Now I’ve moved Taiwan to near the top of the list of places I want to go…
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And EVA Air pours Krug vintage in business!
Jason is that you? Cause I am just sure those are my FILs shoes.
Different airline alliance. @trism is with AA & one world, my favorite airlines EVA and ANA are in Star Alliance, but my uncle is a cargo dept. manager at China airlines so that’s usually what we fly.
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Bingsu is mine
