One thing I have learned from people who travel is that you have to try and walk around. Skip the cabs and walk. Explore. Travel. It gives you a better understanding of the place and how you can get around. This is especially helpful when you are commuting. You'll see where the nearest stations are, what the nearest food places are, and even what the locals do on a normal day.

That's exactly how J and I started our second day in Taiwan--we walked. And weather that day was very permitting because it would play around 19-21°C, which meant that I could wear this romper over a turtleneck and swing on a jacket when needed.

As we walked around, we stumbled upon an alley that was lined up with a lot of local shops. Most of them were closed. As it turns out, business doesn't start until 12 noon. So we walked around, found a few cute spaces to shoot in, tried different food from shops that were already opened, and nearing 12 noon, we started to see more elderly locals walking around with small shopping trolleys. I'm assuming it was market day.


At one of the shops, we got to try out some jerky and meat floss. The man selling it spoke little english but he was kind enough to let us try each variation to see which one we liked best. All we had to do was point at which one we liked and he prepped everything for us, and put it in a bag. We really appreciated the effort he put into trying to explain each one, whether it was spicy, how much it would be, etc.


We even ended up back at Shilin Market, which we had gone to the night before, but saw a huge difference! That morning, the Shilin Market was filled with fruits, vegetables, and other fresh produce. Palengke, as we call it in the Philippines. It was just as busy, with a different crowd. Then, we later on proceeded to visit cafes and do a mini cafe crawl, but more on that in a separate post.

Walking around when you're traveling to a new place really gives you a new perspective. You get to see places and hidden gems that you wouldn't normally see if you hopped on a cab and drove past everything. Of course, it helps if you also get recommendations from your hotel/hostel front desk, Airbnb host, or any local you know.