#4 Taipei, Taiwan

I don’t know if I am saying this because it’s my first stop on this journey but Taipei is a beautiful place. Beautiful and very friendly people, the scenery is just breathtaking. Everywhere you look you see green mountains. In most places when you want to be in the outdoors you have to drive few kilometers but in Taipei you just have to step outside your front door. Taiwan’s old name is Formosa, which means beautiful island, that’s the best way to describe this place. I am staying in Nei-hu district (which means the inner-lake, it’s located just outside downtown Taipei.
I was a bit concern about finding vegetarian meals but I noticed there are plenty of vegetarian restaurants. Some Buddhists are strictly vegetarians. I’ve been here for few days now and I enjoyed everything I ate. The cost of food is very reasonable; you can very easily have lunch or dinner for less than $5 in good restaurants not the fast-food type.

While in North-America we have playgrounds in every neighborhood. Here in Taipei, you’ll find many playgrounds with temples next to them. And just like in every other Asian country, you will see people especially elderly practicing some type of sport activity such as tai-chi.

This morning I went up hiking a mountain called Mt. Bishan also in Nei-hu district. It was a good exercise and the view was indescribable, I posted some pictures. On top of the mountain there’s Bishan temple and a little suspended bridge.
Something about Taipei I realized soon after arriving; are the numbers of scooters. They are everywhere. The scooter is driven like a bike, like a car or like pickup truck. What I mean by that is it’s driven like a bike so people do not follow the rules like cars. You will see some people driving on the side walks or in opposite direction. Some people I saw riding the scooter with the wife and the kid. And some scooters are loaded with boxes or big items to be transported. It’s just crazy and predictable.