Welcome Back to Taipei – Here are 5 things that changed!

On October 13th – Taiwan officially drops the quarantine policy that it has held for the last 2 years. Now all inbounding travelers just need to self-monitor body temperature and quarantine is no longer required. I remember very vividly Feb. 2020 when it was first announced that travelers needed to quarantine in an empty apartment with no contact to the outside world. I joked to my husband that I hope he likes being alone for 14 days because at the time, he was still working and based in Hong Kong. I thought it was going to happen for 3 months. Daddy’s visits home changed from every weekend to every quarter. This went on for 2 years! Looking back on the 2 years that our family was separated for a long period of time; I have a lot of learnings and regrets. Regrets are mostly about not patient with the kids or getting so angry and frustrated with them. Learnings are mostly about how to be a better partner, mother and daughter, or how to make our family bond stronger. I’m just excited to put COVID behind us and moving on.

In just a few days after we cancelled quarantine, I feel like I’m starting to see more foreigners around Taipei. I don’t know about others but I feel so excited whenever I do see them. Tourists!!! Oh how we have missed thee!!! The hospitality and F&B industry has really suffered in the last 2 years. So many restaurants, cafes, gym, studio, and camps closed down. Taiwan used to be a favorite destination of so many, and I hope that we are able to welcome back all these tourists we lost in the past 2 years. If you haven’t visited, here are 5 things different about Taipei since you last visited us –

• Kids Awesome Musuem, Chang Baba Kids Story House, water themed park – Road castle, the Toilet Restaurant, the Sherwood Hotel …etc are among some of the casualties from the pandemic. All closed down and gone. May them rest in peace.
• Core Pacific Mall – that giant sphere which housed a shopping mall, cinema, lots of children’s activities – including the once very popular kids’ destination Baby Boss has been demolished. It was a great option for rainy days because you could take your kids there and easily spend 3 hours with activities, games, playrooms…etc It was taken down Oct 2020 and to replace it – a fancy, huge office building (like we need more?!).
• Din Tai Fung has a new restaurant – right across from the original shop. The original store only do take outs and if you are dining in, go across streets to the new location. Address: No. 277, Section 2, Xinyi Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei.
• Almost all the restaurants you love are on either UberEats or Food Panda – Because of the pandemic, in order to survive, many restaurants got on both food delivery apps to stay afloat. Din Tai Fung is a great example of that. Even Japanese Yakiniku restaurants like KanPai offer Do-It-Yourself packages.
• A lot of new parks, and playgrounds have been built. The playground at Da’an Park has been revamped and includes several new equipment.

The Taiwanese hospitality remains the same and will always be here, no matter what’s happening in our crazy world. That – and oh the Taipei 101!