My second visit to Taipei was just before the Chinese New Year, when accommodation options were limited and more expensive. A lot of businesses close for at least some of the two week period over the new year as people tend to go home to spend the time with their families. For a change of scenery I stayed at one of the top rated hostels in the city, the ‘Meander’ in the Ximen district. Welcome to spacious pod-style beds, fluffy white towels changed daily, clean bathrooms, hairdryers, free proper coffee, breakfast vouchers, a huge common area and a rooftop. Goodbye to being the only Westerner in town. As I checked in around 22.00, a group of 20 somethings were getting dressed up ready to hit the town. Who brings high heels to a hostel?

Checking in, I joined the WhatsApp group which has evolved into a life of its own. At this place there is always someone to hang out with. In fact it’s impossible not to be sociable despite most of the crowd being 18-25 on their first trip – it’s almost an enforced level of fun. The WIFI password is ‘havefunhere’. One minute I’m quietly drinking a cup of tea and planning tomorrow’s trip to some temples. The next I’m in the 7-11 convenience store with a group of 21 year olds buying beer and screaming ‘F*ck The President!!!’ at the top of my voice when it’s my turn in aforenamed drinking game. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I got so into winning a version of ‘Spoons’ played with chopsticks (when you have a full hand you have to grab a spoon/chopstick from the pile in the middle and whoever fails to get one is out, there being one less chopstick in the pile than there are players) that I got an actual injury.

I had a few relaxed days in Taipei, hanging around the hostel drinking coffee and chatting to other travellers, sampling different bubble teas and eating my weight in tofu pudding. Every day I saw the same guy who said he was leaving that day but never made an actual plan to go anywhere so he was still there.

On the first day I visited the Taipei National Museum and the Daan Forest Park. The museum is really interesting. The main fact that has been drilled into me from visiting Taiwanese museums is that the island was once underwater hence as the mountains rose up from the sea they feature some amazing marine fossils. The ticket includes entry to the nearby National History Museum which itself has a floor dedicated to the old bank vaults. I can’t take in that many museums in one day so missed out a lot of it.

For an antidote to the museums I went for a stroll in the Daan Forest Park, a beautiful, peaceful green space in the student area of the city. At lunchtime it’s full of local people enjoying the wildlife, which includes squirrels hoping to steal your food, turtles swimming around the ponds and herons perched up high in the trees. It’s also a really nice, cool district to wander around with little boutique shops and of course tofu pudding cafes to enjoy.

One day trip I wanted to do was a visit to the mountain town of Jiufen and the nearby former goldmine of Jinguashi. Jiufen is an hour’s bus ride away from Taipei and best done on a good weather day for the spectacular views. The hostel 20 somethings couldn’t understand why I didn’t invite anyone to join me via the WhatsApp group.

The highlight of Jiufen is the Old Street, an extremely busy and extremely hilly collection of narrow streets filled with food vendors and shops. My Converse were by now literally falling to bits so I swapped them for a new pair of Taiwanese trainers for £11.

Jiufen is an opportunity to try different snacks including the delicious apricot kernel tofu dessert but be prepared to climb a lot of steps to explore the area. I suppose it is fairly ‘touristy’ but I enjoyed it.

A short bus ride from Jiufen is the old goldmining village of Jinguashi. This actually turned out to be the highlight of the day for me. The visit is centered around the ‘eco’ Gold Mine Museum, which is like a living museum comprising several buildings over the entire 1890s gold and copper mining site.

It includes a Japanese house, the actual mines where you can see the original machinery and take a trip inside one of the tunnels either on foot or a little train, and various other little museums, all connected to the village via a footpath over the river. The wealth of the gold rush is clear from the artefacts on display and the chance to touch which was previously the world’s largest gold brick weighing in at 220kg with a market value of over $33 million US dollars at the time of writing. There was a staff member waiting to take my photo with the gold so it would have been rude to refuse.

I couldn’t get the ticket machine for the tunnel entry to work with my card, and the queue was building up behind me. Instead of getting annoyed at the tourist, a family behind me stepped in and bought my ticket for me, refusing to take any cash. It turned out not to be a ticket for the little train, but a ticket for an experience where you don a hard hat and walk into the tunnels. I couldn’t really complain seeing as I got the ticket for free.

After exploring the mine I wandered down to the village as it approached sunset. This gave it a slight eerie feel as it was totally deserted, just empty narrow streets between some fairly dilapidated buildings. There are some hiking trails around including Teapot Mountain but I’d arrived too late in the day to cover them too.

I didn’t want to miss the last bus back, so not knowing exactly when that would be, I headed back to the bus station and joined a queue of people waiting for presumably the same bus.

On the eve of the Chinese New Year a lot of smaller shops and restaurants were indeed shut but the malls remained open as did the coffee shop that accepted the hostel’s breakfast vouchers (easy to find, just follow a steady stream of half asleep looking Americans heading to get their coffee). I managed a quick look at the nearby Lungshan Temple but the crowds were getting a bit much.

And that concludes Taiwan Part 1, to be continued after seeing in the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong!