Taiwan

To Do in Taipei:

• Ximen pedestrian area: fun, Harajuku style youth hangout and shopping area.  Intense neon lights/Asian/sensory overload feel
• Longshan temple:  beautiful temple close to Ximen.  Make sure to check out the offerings to the Gods at the shrines (Pringles, Oreos,etc)
• Bopiliao road:  short road with old style buildings.  Worth a stroll through.  Check out the painting on one of the brick walls
• Night Markets: a must do (every night!) in Taiwan. So unique.
• Huaxi Street Night Market - Snake Alley: a covered night market known for some of its stalls offering snake meat (kinda sad).  It also has clothing and other more normal stalls.  There is also a market surrounding it that extends into the street. 
• Shilin Night Market: was my favorite market!  A bit north of the main area of city but worth going to.   So many clothing stalls, food stalls, arcade and carnival games, plus standard stores like Vans.  Also, a beautiful temple in the middle of all the chaos.
• Ningxia Night Market:  all food with some weird stuff. I ate, and am haunted by, the stinky tofu.  Also go the sweet potato balls which were great!
• Raohe St Night Market:  another solid night market with famous pepper pork bun stand at the start of it. Do yourself a favor and eat this.  Also lots of stalls selling goods.  Also try  out one of the vending machines with surprise boxes - you don't know what you'll get!
• Shida Night Market: I walked through this accidentally during the day (or maybe it was just a market close by that wasn't actually Shida), at which point it was a lot of fish, fruit, veggie vendors.  Seemed super authentic and enjoyable to stroll through and take pictures.
• Shopping/Stores:
• Beams: on Fujin street.  Cool Japanese clothing store I spent a million dollars at
• United Arrows/Beauty and Youth
• Niko and... 
• Da'an neighborhood (around Stussy store) has a ton of cute boutiques
• Little Garden Shoes:  long standing embroidered shoe store in Ximen.  I bought some beautiful wedges there
• Songshan creative park: not a must-do, but nice leafy area with cute shops
• Dihua street: awesome old street with storefronts selling weird dried foods and candies, definitely worth a walk from top to bottom
• Yongle fabric market: if you want to see an explosion of fabrics, go here
• Huashan 1914 Creative Park: I thought this was a waste of time, but it has some stores and exhibits and guidebooks seem to love it (it is like a Chelsea Market)
• Guang Hua electronic plaza:  electronics and toys store, fun to walk around in but not a must do
• Treasure hill: an 'artist village'.  Not a must do, but if you are in the Gongguan area, which is a cool area to see, you can tack it on.

Food/Drinks:

• Din Tai Fung: famous dumpling franchaise, they are all over the city and a must eat
• Lan Jia Gua Bao: famous pork bun.  Worth waiting for and the surrounding area is worth walking through!
• 7-11 and Family Mart: I go nuts for the Asian convenience store snacks.  Also the 7-11's usually have clean bathrooms :)
• Fujin Tree Cafe:  cute cafe open to the street on Fujin street.  Not really Taiwan feel, more hipster feel.
• Pineapple cakes: famous taiwan treat, go to Chia Te or Sunny Hill
• James Kitchen: nice little Taiwanese restaurant.  The area around it is great too.
• What Day Kitchen:  if you want a good western breakfast in the Ximen/Wanhua area, this is a good go-to.
• Good Morning cafe: delicious quick breakfast around Ximen/Wanhua
• Fong Da coffee: super old coffee shop, nice breakfast
• Le zinc: restaurant and wine bar if you need a western vibe

Day Trips:

• Pingxi Branch rail line:
• Old rail line that goes through a bunch of small towns.  You can buy the day pass and hop on and off.  
• I went to Shifen and Pingxi.  At Shifen you can set off sky lanterns, which looks beautiful.  
• I wanted to go to Houtang, the cat village, but did not have time.
• To get there, you take a train to Ruifang from Taipei Main Station.  There you buy the day pass and get on the Pingxi branch.
• Jiufen:
• Small mountain town with lovely, winding streets and tea houses.  Beware - it is full of (Asian) tourists, but still enjoyable.
• I had delicious noodles at a hole in the wall place and a huge beer at a tea house with a balcony and scenic view of the mountains.  Also find the vendor on the main street selling this ice cream pancake sandwich. Life changing. 
• Can also tack on Jinguashi, which is another stop further on the bus. It was monsooning when I went so I just kept it to Jiufen.
• To get there, take the train to Ruifang from Taipei Main Station.  Get off at Ruifang and take the bus to Jiufen.  I literally had no idea how to pay for this bus, so I got on and the driver just like, slapped me and had me get on without paying.  So, maybe do some research first!