I give up. I have been trying to post my pictures for 3 days, and all failed. I am ready to pull my head by my hair, drag it a distance, charge at the wall, and go BANG!
Let me just describe here la. Use a little bit of imagination, and try to visualize Taipei in your mind, ok? If I am lucky, and you are lucky, I can post at least some pictures today…
Day 1 (31 January)
YL and I had been very OE about the trip. We had been talking about it for the past 2 months, planning where to go, what to eat etc etc etc. LA was also looking forward to us being there, because she loves company, although she has had no lack of it throughout the 8 – 9 months she was there.
When the day finally arrived, YL and I, being the kiasu me and OE her, decided to meet at 10.30am at the airport. We wanted to be able to choose the seats we wanted. And we got it! Of course la, we were within the first 10 passengers to check in, I think.
Ok, I shall spare you guys the details of what we did at the airport kekeke (which was nothing much anyway ;p).
When we arrived at the Chiang Kai Shek Airport, it was about 5.40pm. And the sky was already starting to get dark. By the time we got our luggage, and stepped out of the airport, the sky was totally dark already.
As per LA’s instructions, we took a bus that will take us to the Grand Hyatt Hotel (The rumoured haunted hotel) in Taipei, and from there, she will meet us, and we will take a cab to her house.
It is quite expensive to take a taxi from the airport to Taipei. I think it will cost around S$50 – 60. Which was quite alright in my opinion. But for the experience, we took the bus. There are different buses, which will take you to different parts of Taipei. Freego (飞狗), Guo Guang (国光), and the one we took, Da You (大有), and a few more I can’t remember.
The ticketing counters for all the buses are located on the left hand side when you come out from the arrival hall. You can find the schedules of the buses there as well. YL and I lugged our luggage to the ticketing counter, and saw that our bus is leaving, like now NOW. We hurriedly bought our tickets and dragged our luggage to find the bus. I tried to confirm with the driver if it was the correct bus.
‘请问是去凯悦的吗?’
‘凯悦？是是是.’
So up the bus we went. Usually the bus drivers would announce whenever he stopped at certain drop off points. But this particular one was quite bad tempered, and he only announced when he felt like it, which I thought was not very convenient for tourists like us, who did not know the place well. YL and I had to keep our eyes and ears open wide to make sure that we did not miss our stop. When finally I thought of asking th driver at one of the stops, if we had missed it, he shouted and said ‘凯悦还没到啦!’.
Then, a few stops later, I finally saw the hotel. And I realized, it is not called 凯悦, but 君悦. Why the driver followed me to say its 凯悦, I don’t know.
Anyway, we alighted and happily waited for LA at the road of the hotel. Then from far far away, LA saw us, and waved. We were finally there! After talking so much about it, and planning for so long!
We quickly boarded a cab, and dropped our luggage at LA’s house, and went for our first dinner in Taipei.
LA took us to this place called Yong Kang Street 永康街, which is a little like our Holland Village. There are lots of restaurants there to choose from. We went to this place that serves Taiwanese food (Of course la! First meal in Taiwan must eat Taiwanese food!). Sorry, I did not take any photo of that, because we were too hungry, and when the food came, we just gobbled down everything.
When we finally cured our hunger, LA asked if we wanted dessert. Being a very dessert person, of course I said yes! The famous shaved ice! How can I miss that when I am right here in Taipei, right?
Its damn nice I tell you! The strawberries are sweet, and the icve just melts in your mouth. Not like the ones in Singapore, so hard! There is condensed milk in it. Although I hate condensed milk stuff, but I simply love this! The combination is puuurrrrfect!
Then as we strolled down the street, we saw…… Mr Donut! I have heard so much about this, of course must try la. We went in to queue for our breakfast. LA also know we excited, and also our promise to Mich to take pictures of everything we eat, so she whipped out a camera and started taking pictures of the donuts, and of us buying.
When we stepped out of the store, this guy came to us, and started talking in English. He asked us if we were from Singapore, and claimed that he is Japanese, and will be traveling to Singapore next month, and hoped that he can have our contact so he can email us or something, when he is here. Please lor, first, he is not handsome like the guys in Japanese series, and second, he spilled out some Chinese when he was talking. I am sure he is some Taiwanese trying to be funny. All 3 of us claimed that we did not have email addresses or anything, and that we could not help him. And we walked away muahahahaha. LA then told us that she had noticed him acting weird in the donut shop. YL and I exchanged the Oh-I-see look. So it was LA that attracted him (Remember I was saying LA is a pretty gal?).
We went to the bus stop and took a bus back to LA’s apartment. The buses in Taipei works a different system from in Singapore. You go up the bus, and only pay when alighting. And wherever you go, it’s a standard fare. YL and I bought a farecard, like our EZLink, and we used it for our traveling for the one week in Taipei.
Oh, this is how LA’s apartment looks like (If you are lucky, you will see the images. If not, I will try to insert them in slowly).
The room YL and I slept in.
LA's bedroom
The living room. yeah, she still can't bear to take out the Xmas decor... Because 'it looks nice mah'
LA 'accidentally' saw the pics I took of her apartment, and she screamed 'Oh no! Now everyone knows I don't make my bed every morning!' kekeke.
This card, is from JNC to LA. See what she wrote in the card? That is why I specifically left the message that ‘we did not overeat’for JNC here kekeke.
Day 2 (1 Feb)
The view of Taipei 101 from LA’s apartment. Yes, she stays like 10 minutes walk away from the famous structure. We pass by the building practically everyday, because we would usually take a bus to the MTR, which is near to the building.
Our breakfast.
Our itinerary for the day is to go to the underground mall at Taipei Station, Xi Men Ding 西门町, and Wu Fen Pu 五分浦. These 3 are the most popular shopping places in Taipei, other than ShiLin night market 士林夜市.
In my opinion, Taipei underground mall is nothing to rave about. Maybe it’s the wrong season, so I find there is nothing much to buy. We were mainly looking for a jacket for YL, because the ones she brought were not warm enough for the weather. I tried a pink one on. Oh yes I loved it! But then, I was not prepared to pay over a hundred bucks for winter wear in Taipei.
Oh yes, I have to say this. If you have big feet, you can forget about buying shoes in Taipei. Their shoes sizes are friggy small lor! The biggest size they have in most shops are like size 5 or at most 5½. I was utterly disappointed…
After streaming through most of the shops, I looked at the directions and saw that we were near to this place that YL wanted to go for ear rings. So we side tracked from the mall and ventured out onto the streets. The shop that YL wanted to go we thought was on ChongQing Street Section 5 重庆路五段. We were at Section 1. So naturally we thought if we walked straight, we will reach Section 5. So we walked and we walked. Of course, we stopped by some shops we thought was interesting. Like this pet shop. Both YL and I are doglovers, so definitely, we would want to stop and check out their pet shops.
This pet shop got 3 levels lor: Pet supplies, clinic, spa, grooming, all in one place. Mr A., for your reference (Sorry I didn't take more pictures, because the sales assistant like looking at me with my camera lor)
You can lots of motorbikes in Taipei city
We continued looking for section 5. On and on we walked. And about 20minutes later, we were at Section 2. We were happy that we were making progress. And on and on we walked. Another 25minutes later, we reached Section 3. And we carried on walking. Somehow we felt that Section 3 was very long. And we hoped to see Section 4 emerge anytime soon. Then we saw – the expressway! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It can’t be the end of ChongQing Street! Where is our Section 5????? I checked my watch and saw that we had walked for almost 1½ hours. We can’t give up after walking so much! Determined, we started to ask around where the place we were looking for was. And the answer we got was ‘重庆路没有五段的.’ -_-'''
We checked the card again. Indeed, it did not say Section 5. Why we kept thinking it was Section 5, I don’t know. But both of us were just so engrossed in looking for Section 5, we just kept thinking it was Section 5. Anyway, with some help, we finally got to the shop, and having wasted so much time and energy to find the place, YL and I were bent on buying something before leaving for Xi Men Ding. Not too bad, both of us bought ear rings, and some magnetic soft toys thingy.
By the time we reached Xi Men Ding, we were already hungry like mad. I bet if you put a cow on the table, we would have no problems finishing it down to its last bone.
We walked out from the MTR, and the first thing I saw was Tamago-Ya, a restaurant I have heard a lot about too. Its an egg theme restaurant – everything has an egg in it. The most popular dish was rice wrapped in egg. YL loved it!
Tomaga-Yo!
Xi Men Ding is a bustling shopping area, very popular with youngsters. They have all sorts of things there, from food to clothes to shoes to tattoo places to arcades to cinemas. It’s a little like our Far East Plaza. The things they sell there are more Jappy and Korean. Its not unusual to see human signboards, and walking advertisements here. I think Taiwanese are more daring, and ‘thick-skinned’ in that sense that they dare to do funny things that Singaporeans will not usually dare to do, like shouting loudly that they are lelonging (although now you do hear some doing that in Singapore, but it is still not a common sight). Maybe it’s the tough competition they have there, maybe its just their culture.
We went to meet LA at WuFenPu, a wholesale market, very popular amongst locals and tourists. The best time to go is around 4pm, because the shops will only open at about 1pm 0r 2pm. If you do happen to be in Taipei, you can’t give this a miss, because this place is the cheapest you can find all the clothes and shoes, XimneDing and Shilin both get their supply from here. And, please avoid Fridays, because that is when the shops will replenish their stocks, and the shops in WuFenPu will not give any attention to you small buyers.
The shops are small, compared to those in XiMenDing, and sometimes, the goods are just places in big bags on the floors and that is where you have to dig for the ‘good stuff’. The whole place is divided into sections like Korean, Japanese, local etc. The streets in between are very narrow, but the cars and motorbikes still come in. Some motorbikes will have trolleys attached to them and LA said that they are the ‘courier’ within WuFenPu.
Oh, And I have to announce – I found this shop where they carry shoes of my giant feet! I was so happy, that I went mad in this shop, and bought – only 3 pairs lah. 1 pair of boots, which I think I would probably wear it only in Taipei, and 2 pairs of working shoes. LA also bought boots there, and she changed into them immediately.
We spent a good 4 hours just in WuFenPu, and I think we still have not explored the entire plot of land. By The time we did take note of the time, it was already almost 12am. We headed for RaoHe Night Market饶河夜市 for our ‘dinner’.
There are many night markets in taipei, but the more popular ones are Shilin, RaoHe, MiaoKou庙口. The foodstuff are more or less the same in most markets, but some are famous for different things. Like in RaoHe, you can find the best Pepper Biscuit (Ok, this is direct translation la) 胡椒饼.
I think we were tired from walking, so we just went into this place that sells Mee Sua thingy, and sat down with our food (grilled sotong with spicy flavouring, pepper biscuit, and the mee sua thingy with vegetables, and juices from the stalls outside) and pig out. Then we headed back home at about 1+.
Our loot for the night
Day 3 (2 Feb)
This is an activity packed day. We were going to JiuFen九份! JiuFen is a small town on top of a hill. It’s a place that is a little commercialized by now, while still maintaining its laid back style. It gives you the feeling that you are back in the times of the 60s – 70s, as you walk along the streets. Everything is so serene, so calm, so relaxed.
We took the MTR to Taipei Main Station, and changed to the railway towards RuiFang瑞芳. The railway system is a little confusing, because there can be different trains going to different places at the same platform. You have to open your eyes and ears wide to pay attention to what is written and announced. We had to ask around to make sure that we got on the right train. Maybe we are too pampered back home, or maybe Singapore is too small to be confusing haha.
On the train to Ruifang. There is no one in our cabin. We did not know that there are seats assigned. Lucky it was a weekday and not much people! If not we sure malu...
At Ruifang, we had to change into another bus that will take us up to JiuFen. Again, there are different buses at the same place, so we had to check properly if we were on the right bus. Because we slept late the night before, and because we woke up late, we skipped breakfast, and by this time, we were hungry. YL and I could not resist a stall that was selling some sausage look-alike thingy. As we were enjoying our food, I suddenly saw a sign that said ‘请勿在车上饮食’, meaning ‘Please do not eat or drink on the bus’. No wonder nobody else was eating. We quickly finished our food and tried to hide evidences that we ever brought food up the bus.
One thing about Taiwanese – they will usually obey the ‘rules’. Like on the escalator of the MTR, people will automatically stand on the right side, to let people who wants to climb up or down use the left lane. And if there is a sign that said ‘Please recycle’, they will throw whatever rubbish they are holding into the respective bins. In Singapore, only those true environmental freaks will do so. Everyone else will just dump into whatever bin they see. They also queue up for the MTR, which is a rare sight in Singapore. If you do not queue in Taipei, you stick out like a sore thumb.
First thing we did when we alighted, was to look for food. The first stall that we came to was a beef noodle stall, which I have heard was good.
I have nothing more to say about JiuFen, except that both YL and I love the place. YL even said that if she ever had that 500 million, she will buy a building in JiuFen so she can came and stay in it whenever she likes!
(I hope I can post more pictures here because a picture speaks a thousand words, right)
On the way up
View from the top of JiuFen
Yes, thats a Seven-11 you see there. There are lots of it in Taipei. Not only Seven-11, there are other chains of convenient stores, so every few steps you take, you can see one.
There are lots of stairs in JiuFen. YL and I climbed like mad!
This funny shop assistant posed for me when he saw me trying to take a picture. He was quite helpful too and answered all our bo liao questions about the Muah Chee he was selling.
Funny window display we saw
Taiwanese always have nice names for their shops. Life is just like a movie/play?
Not that I want to show you gross stuff, but I wanna tell you that in Taipei, they don't throwthe toilet paper into the toilet bowls, but in the bin next to it. So no matter whether you do big or small business, after you clean yourself, yiou throw the dirty paper in the bin, and not in the bowl.
At the bottom of the hill, is the KeeLung基隆 port. Miaokou night market can be found there, where there are lots of yummy and cheap seafood. But we did not go, as we were meeting LA for our long-awaited (by me la) MaLa Steamboat 麻辣火锅.
LA did not managed to make a reservation, as they were fully booked till 11pm! Gosh, what hours do Taiwanese eat? We left our names there and were told to go back at 9.30pm.
We went to shop around the area. There is a mini night market selling mainly foodstuff called ShiDa 师大, mainly for the students that are studying in the University nearby. La recommended us this drink call Frog-Knock-Milk (Also direct translation la) 青蛙撞奶. Nice… *Trying to relive the yummy taste*
When we were tired of walking we went back to the restaurant to wait outside. We saw this cute Retriever also waiting outside. Taiwanese are very dog friendly. Everywhere we go, we will surely see dogs on leash with their proud owners walking behind them. Most restaurants allow dogs in their alfresco seats. How I wish Singapore is like that… Well, I guess that’s the thing living in a multi-racial country – you have to respect the religion and habits of the other races.
When we finally went into the restaurant, we were again, damn hungry already. So whilst I went to the washroom, LA and YL ordered. It’s a buffet, so we can order anything we want, unlimited. They even serve unlimited Hagan Daaz ice cream and best of all – Coke! Its totally heaven for ice cream and Coke lovers like me!
Our steamboat. One side is Mala麻辣, the other is Suan Cai酸菜
I must say Taipei is very generous in their food servings. Everything comes in a very big portion!
After that (I told you it was an activity packed day!), we adjourned to KTV, another of my favorite activity! I have heard so much about KTVs in Taipei, and LA said we should go, so we did! We went to the one in Xi Men Ding. We reached there at about close to 12.30am.
When we went into our room, LA wanted to use the toilet. After like 3 seconds, she came out and told me'If you wanna take a picture of the toilet, better do it before I use it.' I went to take a look. The toilet bowl was sealed closed with a piece of paper to show that it has been cleaned and unused before we came. I am impressed!
The walkway outside our room
I must mention their sound system. Damn good man! And hor, those who go ktv will know there is something called analog, then the original singer will sing right? This KTV hor, if you analog the song, but you come to the part you know how to sing, and you pick up the mic to sing, the analog will automatically go off one leh! And when you come to a part you don't know, it will come on again. Good right?
Impressive, isn’t it? A whole 7-storey high building, all KTV rooms! Its so grand, it looks like a hotel! Me and YL went ‘WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH’ all the way from the entrance to the room.
The service is quite good. And the thing I like is, the door is totally wooden, not like the ones in Singapore, part of it is glass so everyone walking pass can look inside. And the waiters/waitresses will not come in as and when they like to disturb you. They only came in to take orders, and when the bill is called for. No one will disturb you and you can do anything you want inside. Shiok! The best thing is, there is a toilet attached in every room, so you don’t have to walk out of the room at all!
We booked the room for 2 hours, but decided to extend for another hour, simply because it was too shiok (Or was it because I look too shiok to leave? Kekeke). Byt the time we left, it was close to 4am. And when we got back to the apartment, as we did all other nights, we watched TV and chatted awhile, before we finally decided to sleep at 6am…
Day 4 (3 Feb)
Its hotspring day! Because we slept late, we woke up relatively late too. By the time we set off, it was close to lunch time, so we had lunch at this little outlet near LA’s apartment.
LA said we could take the MTR to Beitou北投, where the hotspring is, but there is also a bus that will bring us directly to the place. But because she has not tried taking the bus, she did not know how long the journey would be. I told her we could try the bus, since we were not rushing for time. BIG mistake. The bus journey took us almost an hour, or was it more??? The MTR would have gotten us there in… 45minutes?
We alighted near to the Beitou MTR station, and took a slow walk to the hot spring we wanted to go. Beitou is the area where hotsprings are closest to Taipei city. Here you can see hotspring, hotspring, and hotspring. Along the streets, there are some artistics carvings. The wall on my side was very pretty too, but I did not take any picture of that (How come huh?). We passed by the new library, which is a nice structure on its own.
The one that we went to is called Spring Resort春天. It has 7 public pools, and you can stay there for the whole day for NT$800. They even sell eggs for you to cook above the hotspring. I had hear horror stories about how hot the water can be, but it is only through my own experience that I can truly tell you – some of the pool is really damn HOT! We made a mistake by trying to go into the pool with the least people, or should I say, no people at all. We soon found out why. It was so hot lor! I could only splash the water on my feet, that’s it! Which human can sit inside for 30 seconds????
One of the reaons I came to taipei was hot spring, and I was looking forward to it. And I forgot the most iportant thing - my swiminsuit! So i had to buy one on the spot.
The female changing room
LA, getting ready for hot spring. This is the standard outfit here. Swimming cap is a must, for hygiene purposes. But I can assure you, I look damn ugly with the cap on me...
The super duper hot pool!
Me taking myself after shower
We found one that we could submerge our whole body in – 40degrees. Comfortable. Minutes later, we saw some men walking to the no-human-can-sit-inside-for-30seconds pool, and they too, were not able to go in at all. And one of them exclaimed ‘118度！不是人能进去的！’ Kekeke, how right he is!
After a nice hot bath post the hot spring, we headed for ShiLin night market士林夜市. It was just a few stops away from Beitou. Here we pigged out again. We left for home early this night, because we were all worn out. But then, ironically, we did not sleep early, but chatted the night away, yet again.
Ear waxing (or is it ear candling?) at ShiLin
The famous chicken chop
Yummy sausages
******
Ok I shall stop here for now. I know there isn't alot of pictures here, but I am really exhausted from the many trying to post pictures and failing procedure. Kudos to those bloggers that always put alot of photos up in their blog. 佩服佩服!
If you see the pictures, thats good! If you don't, well, stay tuned, and hope that one day blogger allows me to posts them up ba.
