We arrived back in Taiwan late on March 18 for the final leg of the trip. I woke up with a headache and a kind of exhaustion I haven’t felt in a long time. It’s almost like my body is punishing me for the last 2 weeks. My body’s not only tired but I’m also in pain from the soles of my feet to my shoulder. It’s like my body is screaming at me to stop doing this.

We were supposed to be taking it easy. After all, we were both tired. Instead, we spent the day walking. According to my watch, we walked 11.51 miles that day but I didn’t feel like a lot of accomplished.

We went to Dihua shopping district. It’s a well-known place in Taiwan apparently. Neither of us knew what we would find. The moment we emerged from the alley that led us to the start of this shopping street, we saw people wheeling suitcases down the street. “If you want to know the good places to shop, follow the people with the suitcases.” My mom said.

It turned out this shopping district sells most dried fruit, spices, and other dried goods. I ended up buying some dried kumquat. It was as good as candy.

The more we meandered down the streets, the more the streets reminded me of my hometown of Zhongshan in China in the 90s. It also made me feel envy about that greenery. I’ve seen a lot of container plants in Taiwan and I’ve always been envious of those that can grow successfully in containers.

We decided to return to the hotel after to rest a bit. It felt so nice to just lie on the bed instead of being on my feet all day.

A few hours later, we decided to head out for a bit of lunch. During lunch, I decided to do a research of places we could visit nearby. I discovered we could visit Sun Yat-sen Memorial House, about a 15-minute walk from the Taipei Station.

My mom and I share a hometown with Sun Yat-sen, so it was a place that’s worth a visit for us.

Our final agenda for the day was the Ningxia Night market. Being from a place where there’s no night life, going to a night market did not sound appealing to me. Still, I would like to experience the atmosphere of a night market.

It was not a bad experience. It’s just not my thing. I prefer to rest at night as opposed to venturing outside.