Danshui

Our last night in Taipei, Julia took us to Danshui. She explained it as basically the Coney Island of Taipei. It's a waterfront area out of the main city a bit. To get there, you take the red line north all the way to the end.




We arrived in Danshui and a couple of us grabbed coffee to go, and then we walked to a restaurant on the top of a hill that offered a great view of the water. We all did our usual confused tourist thing and accidentally ordered enough beer for about twelve people, even though there were only five of us. Luckily, this was explained to us and we adjusted our order. The local brew came is large bottles and we had assumed they were much smaller.



The food at the restaurant was good, but not great. I think the attraction is more the setting than the food. They had the satellite radio on a station that was playing American hits of the 80s and 90s. We had the feeling this was for our benefit. Unfortunately, a couple of us at the table are music snobs and after the third Celine Dion song, we couldn't take it anymore and asked for it to be changed (by this time, we were one of the last tables still eating).



Following dinner, we went for a walk down the waterfront, which was strikingly similar to waterfront areas of the northeast United States, only the signs were in Chinese. The girls found a photo booth, so Mike and I walked to a place further down that had a large neon sign of a beer glass, assuming that it was a bar. It turned out to be a restaurant. They walked us up a couple of floors, through a storage area, to the top floor deck outside. I think they were a touch put out when we only ordered beer, although I think they were a little happier when the girls showed up and we ordered a bigger round with some snack food.



After the drinks, we walked back to the station and took the Metro back to the city and walked back to the apartment from City Hall Station.



On the walk back, we passed a restaurant and bar that's open from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM. Liz and I had noticed it our second day in Taipei when we made the same walk. Tuesday is "foreigner night." Show your foreign ID and get 2 for 1 drinks. After much discussion, we decided to stop for a drink.