Taipei 12-16 Nov

Thurs 12 Nov 09
"Bo han xi gan"



Seems like the most hassle-free way to get to any hotel is to buy a return trip ticket on the Free-go bus "Fei-gou" in mandarin. The mascot is a white dalmatian in a leaping motion, kinda like those greyhound buses in UK. The counter saleslady kept ending her shout-outs to prospective customers with bo han xi gan like it was the desu in the japanese language and if like us, you didn't understand what it means, it can get kinda frustrating in a comical way. We decided it just meant don't waste more time until we finally gave up and asked her what it meant haha. Bo han xi gan means no time limit...



Braised duck noodle at Ximending after checking into our hotel at around 11pm on our first night in Taipei.

Fri 13 Nov 09
It rained the entire day today.



Rich Garden Hotel lobby decked in oriental rose-wood furnishing.



We figured we'd be taking the mrt, or the jieyun as it is known here, several times today so we got the day pass which allows unlimited rides, including bus fares for 180NT$ (S$7) each.


Very impressed with taipei's well-connected and efficient public transport. and the people in taipei were generally very friendly, extremely patient and rather helpful too.



First stop to the XinBeitou Hot Springs. From Ximen, take one stop towards Nangang (blue line) to Taipei Main Station, then switch to the Danshui line (red). Switch again at Beitou one stop to XinBeitou Station.



Perfect weather for soaking in the hot springs cos it was raining and raining the entire morning. Walked uphill and passed on the public hot spring after checking it out a bit cos it was crowded like a public swimming pool with several, um, semi-naked elderly uncles and aunties in assortments of shapes and sizes.





Met up with a fellow singaporean mother and daughter and checked ourselves at a hot spring in a decent looking hotel further uphill for an hour and at 1000NT$ split among the 5 of us. Pretty good deal we thought. The hot dip on this dreary cold morning worked out to be about S$8 an hour for each of us.



First in the 40 deg celsius pool (above) and next in this super scalding hot pool (was it 90 deg?) where each body movement under water resulted in several stinging pin-prick sensations. Actually i'm kinda missing that sensation already.





Rejuvenated!



XinBeitou Station in the background. Next stop, further up north to Danshui which is a sea-side town, and hence the weather just got that bit more chilly.





Lunch at a home-made noodle place in Danshui which wasn't very yummy.



Shop named after Lai Yeow's and Ivan's dog. Shops in Danshui unexpectedly had really nice and trendy decor.







Bubble tea!













Spent the afternoon shopping and picking up some serious taiwanese manja slangs from the pretty salegirls promoting their garments. "xi huan ke yi shi shi kan wor!"



Mister Donut at Danshui Station while waiting to board Bus No. 26 to Fisherman's Wharf "Yu Ren Ma Tou". I seriously need to find out if i can insert chinese text. Then again, i'd need to google the characters. Hmmm, maybe the hanyu pinyin will suffice.



Brrrrr.... Walking across Lovers' Bridge and back, we each had our own version of imagining being blown off the bridge into the deep dark waters or a tsunami, in Cheryl's case.









Dishevelled mess after being defeated by the wind and rain. Bus and mrt back to Jiantan Station to check out the popular Shilin Night Market.









Oyster omelette.



This one is for Chinli. Heh.









XXXL chicken and EXXXL queue. Didn't bother.



Queue never quite shortened so we settled for an imitation crispy chicken stall further in.







Mm-mmm.







Sat 14 Nov 09
"jumping janes"


My shoes were soaked hence the bedroom slippers to breakfast.



Figuring out the railway line to Jiufen, which was previously a gold-mining town and apparently still retains its old-town flavour, with its streets littered with teahouses overlooking the pacific ocean.







Some guides recommend taking the railway from Taipei Main Station to Rueifang Railway Station and boarding a bus up to Jiufen. Our hotel recept told us an easier way was to take the mrt to Zhong Xiao Fu Xing Station and take a bus opposite Sogo heading to Jiufen.





Long and winding bus ride up to Jiufen.















We tried this interesting snack which is shaved peanut candy wrapped in pohpiah skin and this particular stall tops it up with 2 scoops of ice-cream.





Humungous grilled mushrooms chopped up into bite-sized chunks in a cup.



Roasted snails







Fishballs seem to be a specialty here so we settled for lunch at this eatery with every inch of wall space plastered with the gutsy laobaniang's favourite travel pictures. She likes red and pink.









Taiwan xiang chang









Sipping chinese tea while overlooking the mountain and ocean view. Somehow it wasn't very spectacular.













Next on our itinerary was to take the bus down to Keelung Railway Station and head to Miao Kou Night Market.













Thought the urban installations against the Keelung Pier were pretty successful, can tell from the amount of interactions we had with it heh. We later realised the installations spelt K E E L U N G.







Miao Kou Night Market was just a small stretch and got a bit repetitive after a while. I tripped and fell while we were making our way back from Miao Kou to Keelung Station along this rather dark sidewalk, and i've got a bruised knee to show for it.







Railway train ride back to Taipei where Chin Li got accosted for misplacing her rail ticket.





Trying out cutesy taiwanese poses back in familiar teritory, Ximending.











Ximending is really quite like Tokyo's Shibuya or Shinjuku, with neon lights and LCD displays and streets packed with people until late.











Finally found the famous Ah Zhong mian xian, where as expected there was a long line for it.





Jumping Janes on route back to the hotel close to midnight.

Sun 15 Nov 09
"Nobody nobody but chu"









Traffic junction at Zhong Xiao Fu Xing E. Road, flagged by 2 Sogo malls diagonally across the traffic intersection.







Stopped by Jianguo Flower Market enroute to Yong Kang St for lunch.



A large crowd greeted us as we got off our cab at Din Tai Fung, intersection of Xinyi Road Section 2 and Yong Kang St. Took a number and was told to come back in 70 minutes. Went off to find Ice Monster at No. 15 Yong Kang St.







My favourite mango was out of season sob sob. In any case, whatever we had was rather yummy too.











Walked along Yong Kang Street and passed time at Yong Kang Park which was a small fitness park for children and the elderly. I wondered if Yong Kang meant forever healthy.







Finally our table was ready back at Din Tai Fung. The dark green seaweed thingy in the xiaocai is a lot thicker and springier. I love eating the xiaolongbaos the recommended way of biting of the top bit and sucking the xiaolongbao juice before devouring the xiaolongbao.



Souvenior stall along the way to the bus stop outside Din Tai Fung to Taipei 101.















We enjoyed the installations outside Taipei 101 more than the shops inside. Gave the view at the top of Taipei 101 a miss too.



You can either get to Wu Fen Pu wholesale garment market by railway to Songshan Station or mrt to Houshanpi, which we did since we'd already bought the taipei mrt stored value card.







You may find it unbelievable but we bought nothing here after some 2 hours of shopping. Other than that korean song "nobody nobody but you" ringing in our ears.









More bubble tea at a cosy little cafe tucked away inside Wu Fen Pu.



Walked over to the Rao He Night Market for dinner.







Chin Li decides she wants to pay to be caned from head to toe at 100NT$ for 5 minutes. We couldn't stop laughing as we watched the others.

Mon 16 Nov 09
morning exercise











Cheryl & Chin Li giving out yoga lessons at the wide sidewalk outside our hotel.





turn left, turn right



Crispy chicken









Plane got delayed some 5 hours which we were informed while checking in at Taipei Taoyuan Airport. The things we did to pass time. Too embarrassing to post.



Featuring travel buddies: Cheryl & Chin Li