Lonely Planet calls it a secret foodie wonderland.

With one of the finest night market scenes in the world, some of the best food is found in small local restaurants.

There are also lots and lots and lots and lots of dogs and cats and of course beautiful people.

So this is Taiwan.

I prefer staying at Airbnbs, because it allows you to experience living in a proper local neighborhood.

And without room service, a concierge or a guide, staying in an apartment gives you the independence and insight you gain if you are actually a resident of the country you are visiting.

I don't know what this is.

I wasn't expecting this place to be nicer than my apartment in Japan but it totally was.

And if you look out here.... We have a balcony!

We're on the eighth floor so the wind is blowing, and it feels so nice because it's actually so hot and humid right now.

It's gonna rain, um... probably for the rest of the trip?

So it's like the only non-rainy day we have?

Might as well enjoy it. Enjoy it!

You enjoying it?

Yeah.

My travel partner for this trip is my best friend and photography buddy, Tatsu.

Although our styles are completely different, we often hang out and take photos and videos together, even in Japan.

This is Ximen. Ximen!

I don't know how to pronounce... Ximen?

No, Ximen, Xi, Ximen.

So Ximen is really fun because it's like a really really energetic and young area of Taiwan, and there is so much going on here on the streets.

And you could really feel that Taiwan has like this affinity for Japan.

You see so many Japanese brands, so many Japanese restaurants, um, establishments.

And yet I guess because of the humidity and because of like, the heat, like the fact that it's like 30°, it's really, really hot.

It— It's not Japan. It's not Japan, it's not like any other place that I've been to.

One thing that really impressed me about Taipei was how cheap the taxi rides were.

This makes touring the city so incredibly easy and fun.

Our next stop was the famous Shilin night market.

Although it's extremely touristy and can get really crowded, it's still exciting and an easy gateway into the night market culture here in Taiwan.

Tatsu seemed pretty preoccupied with capturing the night market scene, so I decided to grab a bubble tea and walk around by myself.

Bubble tea actually originated in Taiwan, so if you're visiting you should definitely try it.

Part of what makes the night market so much fun is encountering things you've never seen before.

Things like fruits and foods and...

Free? Really? Why?

Because you are very cute!

Thank you— stop it, stop it, stop it!

The stick is like not even very long though, like how I supposed to hold it!?

You have to like, suck it!

Oh my God!

And although small local restaurants and night markets are said to have some of the best food, even more established restaurants seem to serve their food with pride and style.

This is like, "Push.", and this is like, "Don't push thanks."

We were lucky to find Sanhoyan, a trendy restaurant that was located within walking distance to our Airbnb apartment.

A lot of the foods I had never seen or heard of before, and since I can't speak Chinese, it was so helpful to have photos and English descriptions on the menu.

The seafood rice was served in a pyramid shape, topped with Kazunoko, a type of fish egg.

You almost feel bad when you destroy the shape of the pyramid just to eat it.

Next, we ordered the specialty tiger-striped steamed bread, and some super juicy pork belly blocks to eat with them.

The pork is really sweet, and then the big layer of fat on the top... and I thought it would be weird, but the texture is really nice and the bread kind of helps like, to absorb the oils, so it makes a really nice combination.

And finally we got Sanhoyan's most famous and probably most adorable item, the porcupine shaped pork buns.

Honestly, these were almost too cute to eat, and I kind of felt bad biting their heads off!

Oh my god. So amazing!

I don't know if you heard how crunchy that was, but because they have spikes, these brown spikes, they're like thin slices of the bread, and when you bite down they're quite crunchy, and then in the middle is like sweet pork. It's so good!

There's still so much more I want to show you from Taiwan.

So if you're interested, please check out part two, which should be coming out pretty shortly.

It is not just the sounds you hear from everyday life.

Excitement, vibrations and people.