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Taipei New Year’s Eve Fireworks 2023/2024
Happy New Year from Taipei! It’s 2024!
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New Year’s Eve in Taipei
One of the reasons we decided to stay at the Grand Hyatt Taipei was for easy access for the New Year’s fireworks at Taipei 101. After going out for lunch and snacks, we returned to rest a bit before going out to the Taipei Civic Plaza, in front of the hotel, to get a good spot to watch the fireworks. It ended up being surprisingly windy and cold but we did get great spot where we had a clear view of the fireworks and were able to sit without anyone directly in front of us!
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From Longshan Temple to Ximending, and the Raohe Night Market
After breakfast as usual at the Grand Hyatt, we ventured out to the Lungshan Temple. After visiting the temple, we walked to the northeast to Ximending, having lunch and some snacks on the way. Later, in the evening, we had dinner at the Raohe Night Market.
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Beitou Hot Springs
Beitou, in northern Taipei City, is known for its hot springs. We visited to take a look at the thermal area and to soak at the Radium Kagaya, a hot spring hotel. We also had some good food throughout the day and ate at Din Tai Fung, possibly Taiwan’s most famous restaurant.
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Sun Yat-Sen and Chiang Kai-Shek Memorials
After having breakfast at the Grand Hyatt, we visited the National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall again where we saw the change of guard twice and looked through the museum spaces inside. After an excellent beef noodle soup lunch, we visited the huge Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall before having Singaporean chilli crab for dinner at Jumbo Seafood in Xinyi. We ended the evening by walking back to the Grand Hyatt, enjoying the Christmas decorations and lights on the way.
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Tea and Temples at Maokong
The weather forecast looked good again today so we headed to Maokong, a mountainous area just at the edge of Taipei, after breakfast at the Grand Hyatt. We ended up checking out a few temples, enjoyed the scenery, and bought some local tea as Maokong is a historic tea producing area.
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Sandiaoling and Shifen
After waking up at the Grand Hyatt Taipei, we had a nice buffet breakfast downstairs. We decided to head out to Sandiaoling for a waterfall hike based on today’s favorable weather forecast. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon at Shifen where there is a much larger waterfall as well as an extremely busy old street area. We ended our day back in Taipei at Taipei 101.
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Christmas in Taipei
We arrived just after midnight on Christmas at Taoyuan in Taiwan. By the time we made it to the Grand Hyatt Taipei and checked in, it was almost 1:30am. After getting some sleep, we headed out in the morning for a small Taiwanese breakfast before making a quick visit to the National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall nearby. After, we went to have lunch with family. In the early evening, we headed out to Banqiao to see Christmasland at New Taipei City Hall.
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ANA First Class from ORD to NRT
We had the opportunity, thanks to United MileagePlus, to upgrade to First Class on ANA flight 11 from ORD to NRT while on our way to TPE. The flight was fantastic, both in terms of the seat and service provided. There were some pre-flight reservation issues that threatened to derail the flight, though luckily we had planned a long enough connection at ORD that it was not an issue.
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Tokyo Imperial Palace East Gardens
After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto one last time, we returned to Tokyo via Shinkansen. We had some time before our flight from Haneda so we visited the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, near Tokyo Station. After a nice lunch nearby and some more snacking at the ANA Lounge at Haneda, we end our fantastic 11 night trip to Japan!
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Here and there but not quite everywhere!