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A December 2023 Taipei trip: Yehliu's Queen's Head rock, Jiufen's lantern-lined steps, a sky lantern at Shifen, Taipei 101 and the zoo's giant panda.

Taipei over Christmas 2023 turned into a greatest-hits tour of northern Taiwan: wave-carved rocks on the coast, lantern-lined stairways in the hills, a wish sent up on a paper lantern, and a panda to finish. Three days, one very full camera roll.

The coast and the hills

Inga and Dileep beside the mushroom-shaped Queen's Head rock at Yehliu Geopark, the sea glowing behind at sunset
Christmas Eve at Yehliu Geopark with the Queen's Head, the rock star of the Taiwanese coast. Erosion made her, erosion will one day take her.
Inga on the narrow stone steps of Jiufen Old Street, strings of red lanterns hanging overhead
The stone steps of Jiufen, all red lanterns and teahouse signs. It drizzles here constantly; nobody minds.
Inga and Dileep releasing a red sky lantern with Health and Happiness written on it, on the railway tracks at Shifen
Our sky lantern going up from the tracks at Shifen: health and happiness, in our best brush handwriting.

Back in the city

Inga and Dileep beside a neon outline of Taipei 101 at the tower's observatory, hazy mountains through the windows
Up the real Taipei 101 on Christmas Day, posing with the neon one.
A giant panda strolling across its enclosure at Taipei Zoo, bamboo piled by a painted mountain mural
Taipei Zoo's resident giant panda, out for a Boxing Day stroll.

Coast, hills, tower, panda: Taipei made winter travel feel easy, and we left already planning the rematch.