Wanted to take jetstar but it was so expensive! Round trip tix for 2 costs about $1700+!! For budget airline? For the same price, I would rather take other airlines that still offer food and on board entertainment! We found Cathay Pacific that costs only $660 for each but need to transit 1hr at HK. We are totally fine with it. It is cheaper and at least there is food and entertainment for me.
14 Nov 2010 : Day 1
SG - HK - Taoyuan - Taipei (西门丁)
Being kiasu, we had booked the earliest available flight there and the latest available flight back (haha, to fully utilise our leave). So our flight was at 815am. Had to leave our house at 630am. Actually it was not that early too. Flight to HK took about 3+hrs, 1hr transit, 1hr from HK to Taipei. Finally we reached Taoyuan International Airport at 4pm. From there, we took the airport express bus into Taipei city which took another 1hr.
And finally, we reached our 民宿 at around 530pm. As it was autumn, the sun has already set at 530pm and it was already dark. Waited for quite some time for the tenant to meet us outside the apartment to get our keys. He arrived finally on a scooter and our room was at 4th level. Poor hubby gotta carry both luggages all the way up 4 floors.
We quickly dumped our barang and headed straight to 西门丁! As it is a must-try, we went directly to queue for 阿宗面缐! Hubby loves it. To me, not fantastic, but worth a try. Everyone just stand around and eat, and I must say it is good to have it during winter coz it is hot and spicy and really warms your tummy.
Next, we bought a sucky hotdog deep fried in flour. Both of us took a bite and threw it away. Don't buy it!
Bittergourd juice!! Shiok, I like! Although the weather is already quite cooling, but it was really refreshing to drink it. I will come back for another one before we leave Taiwan!
Kept walking past people selling 地瓜球, I wanted to try it but hubby didn't want. But finally, he succumbed and we bought from an old couple. It was yummylicious! haha..throughout this trip, we had this the most number of times.
We decided to try their 大排档, which is just like a shop selling cooked food. We ordered fried oyster, 卤肉饭 and 貢丸汤, which is just like meatball soup but their meatball is nice and big. All 3 were good!
Wow, I was actually quite surprised. Had heard many conflicting reviews on Taiwan, but just after 2 hours spent here in Taipei, I am very satisfied with the food. It was actually only 7plus but as we were really tired and it had started drizzling, we decided to go back and have a rest.
p.s. check out the mineral water that we bought. call me "sua gu" but I think it is very cool.
15 Nov 2010 : Day 2
Taipei: Taipei 101 - 中正纪念堂 - 五分埔 - 饶河街夜市
Left our 民宿 at 9am to search for breakfast nearby. As we are staying near 市政府 MRT station, it is quite bustling with people going to work in the morning. There were many small stalls around especially along those 小巷. Finally decided on 1 shop that sells only 小笼包 and soya bean milk. 现做现卖. 1 小笼包 cost nt6 (which is ~25cents). We ordered 8 to try. The skin was a bit chewy but it was totally filled with meat. It was really a very small shop with about 7 seats. Should have taken a pic of the shop.
We decided to walk to Taipei 101 since it was quite cooling. In any case, there was no near MRT near Taipei 101. It was about 30mins stroll from our MRT station. As the weather was not good with light showers, the 91st floor was closed. We could only go up to 89th floor, which was the observatory deck. Couldn't really see much as the visibility was not good, which the counter staff did warned us before we got our tickets, but it was ok for us. BY the way, the big round thing shown in the pic below is the damper. It is located at 88th floor. The purpose of the damper is to absorb all the swaying/vibrations during earthquake. All tall buildings do have their own dampers.
After Taipei 101, we wanted to take a bus back to our MRT station but got up at the wrong direction instead. But nevermind, we just wait and see where it takes us and planned to get off at the next MRT station. There are many elderly people in Taiwan actually, or maybe they are more active that Singaporeans coz I see them everywhere. This bus that we took was a small bus (like those shuttle bus from eg. novena MRT to KKH), and the ride was quite jerky. There was this old lady who got up and I let her have my seat. She was swaying from left to right, and nearly fell, I just put out my hand to support her. She thanked me profusely. After I sat down behind her, she still turned around and nodded a few more times. She couldn't stop thanking me. Even when she got up to alight, she again turned to me and thanked me again. I was overwhelmed.
Finally got to Taipei rail station. We went to KMall where there is this place called 台湾故事馆 where the whole place was decorated/built reflecting the old days, selling the stuffs that we play/eat when we (means the 70s,80s kids) were young. The entrance fee was nt280 where they gave you nt150 coupons which you can use inside. Walking down the old streets, there were some items that we really could relate to. It was quite interesting.
We had lunch here, not fantastic but ok since we used up the coupons. It was actually very filling considering it costs only nt150.
After lunch, we went to 中正纪念堂. It was super windy and there were soldiers practising their marching there. We quickly took some pictures and left as it was quite cooling. The entrance to 中正纪念堂 was closed anyway.
Next, we went to 五分埔, a wholesale market selling clothes/accessories/shoes. I was expecting something like Platinum mall in BKK, but it was more like Chak tuk Chak in BKK instead. The stocks were all placed in big plastic bafs on the floor in front of each shops. Can you imagine the narrow walkway/aisle between shops like in Chak tuk Chak but with many people pushing/pulling their trolley full of clothes rushing here and there, not forgetting that every 3-5mins, there will be 1 motorbike passing through??!! It was that crowded and busy. But at least it was not hot like at Chak tuk Chak coz of the cooling weather. No pics taken though. I had hoped that I would be able to do some shopping here but sad to say, nothing caught my eye and anyway, most of them are selling autumn/winter clothes which are definitely not suitable for sg weather. So disappointed! I think we spent only about 20mins there and decided to leave for 饶河街夜市.
On our way there, we passed by a massage shop and decided to go in for massage. It was done by those blind/nearly blind people. It costs only nt200 for 20mins! Head & Shoulder massage for hubby and Waist/Butt massage for me. Shiok shiok already then we went to the night market.
Food again! First up, 胡椒饼. It was recommended in the guidebook. This was the pioneer shop and there was a queue for it. The crust is like pong piah but filled with meat inside. We were happily munching away until I remembered I need to take photo of it. This is about 20% left of the 胡椒饼.
Then we walked past 十全药炖排骨 (which translated into Bak Kut Teh for hubby). This was also recommended in the guidebook. 1 bowl costs nt60. It was not bad but the soup was not rich enough.
Walked on and saw a lot of people queuing for 鱿鱼大王 and we decided to give it a try. It was actually kangkong with cuttlefish but I think it is special becoz of its sauce. There were still seats for us to sit and have our kangkong on the 2nd level.
Oh yah, I forgot to mention that there was NO mirror in our room! So when we walked past a shop (something like those $1.99 shops in the past in sg), we bought a small pocket mirror. And we saw a stall selling 6 pairs of socks for nt100!!! Super cheap, it was only $4! Chose 3 pairs for baby zq, 2 pairs for hubby and 1 pair for myself.
Last but not least, we had beef noodles. This stall named 齿牛香 looks famous as there were many photos taken with many different artistes. We decided to give it a try and yes it was good! We ordered a bowl of 贡丸汤 and 红烧牛肉面 to share. Yums! This stall was not mentioned in our guidebook, we think it should be!
As the walk back to the MRT is very long and it was cold and wet, we decided to take a cab back. The starting fare was nt70 and when we reached home, it was only nt85. Although our 民宿 is quite near, I think it is not expensive at all. Reached home at only 815pm but it feels like it is already 10pm in the night as the sky had already turned dark at 5pm. We just nua around and prepared for the next day! p.s. oh gosh!! pls kill me! this is the first time I did a post with so many photos. just uploading the photos and adjusting them to the correct paragraphs makes me wanna die! am I doing it the stupid way or is there a easier way to upload and position them? pls tell me..~~
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