From Liuqiu Back to Taipei

Saturday morning, I headed out early for another run. I saw one other runner and she was dressed in a jacket and pants. I about died for her.

I mean, I just can't... It's seriously a bajillion degrees out.

Our B&B hostess did not cook breakfast, so we scootered to the nearest 7-Eleven to grab some grub. I am slightly obsessed with the 7-Elevens in Taiwan. A quick Google search just informed me that there are more than 7,000 stores in this country, and they've been here since 1979. If you ever visit Taiwan, definitely dip into some 7-Elevens. Some are even themed!

Breakfast of champions.

Checking out one more temple...

At the Oceanic Pearl, we packed up once again and said goodbye to our wonderful hostess. She gifted us some little stuffed sea turtle keychains -- the sea turtles were wearing scooter helmets. My sea turtle's helmet said 'Merry Christmas.' Oddly, there were lots of Christmas decorations still up in Liuqiu (lights, reindeer, Christmas trees...).

With our backpacks in tow, we hopped on our scooters for one more ride; this time to return them near the port. From there, it was a super short walk to the dock to pick up our ferry. One 25-minute ferry ride later, and we were back at the Donggang Ferry Terminal. 

Shortly after that, we jumped in a taxi to head back to Kaohsiung -- straight to the train station. Tim had booked us tickets on a high-speed train to Taipei. We arrived at the station much earlier than we anticipated, and Tim easily changed our train tickets to an earlier time (high-speed trains run pretty frequently between Kaohsiung and Taipei). But the ticket change meant we no longer had reserved seats. In a 12-car train, three cars had non-reserved seats. And let me tell you, they were packed! We managed to all get a seat (except for Tim), but Taylor and I were in one car and separated from each other, and Tim and Wyatt were in another car. When that train took off, we flew. The speed reached nearly 200km/hour (fast!!). Thirty minutes into our trip, the train made a stop and several people got off; Taylor joined me in my row, and Tim was able to grab a seat next to Wyatt.

Just a couple of girls on a high-speed train. This time without snacks.

It took us just 90 minutes to get from Kaohsiung to Taipei (!). Our high-speed train dropped us at Taipei Main Station; this time around, we knew exactly what to do and where to go. We took the metro to the station nearest our hotel (a different hotel from our first stay in Taipei, in a different neighborhood), checked in, and left immediately to find lunch.

We landed at a place called Peter Better Cafe; it seems to be a chain in Taiwan. We all ordered ham and cheese paninis, which tasted SO good. Clearly, we were hungry for some familiar sandwiches!

Not much later, we got back on the metro and then the Taoyuan Airport MRT Express for the long-ish ride out to Taoyuan...to see a baseball game! Baseball is huge in Taiwan; it's a really popular sport. And we couldn't pass up a chance to visit a local stadium and see a game.

Bring on the Monkeys!

Thanks to the help of some very friendly Taiwanese, we navigated the stadium and found our seats.

Friday night baseball. (The uniforms were on point.)

The local Taipei team is the Rakuten Monkeys, and they're recognized as one of Taiwan's premier baseball teams. The Monkeys played the CTBC Brothers, and the game had so much energy -- thanks to the incredible fans. 

The Monkeys have their own cheerleaders, who seem just as popular as the baseball players themselves. They danced on a special stage above the dugout practically the whole night and hyped up the crowd throughout the game. The Brothers' fans were in a particular section of the stadium...and they brought their own brass band (I kid you not...it was wild). Our night at the stadium was really fun; 10 out of 10 recommend going to a Taiwanese baseball game.

So, all told on Friday, we got around on/in: scooters, ferry, taxi, train, and metro. Transportation in Taiwan is fantastic. 🎉

p.s. -- The mattresses at our hotel feel sooooo good. ;)