[TW; 2008] Free & Easy | 9 Days 9 Nights

Taiwan Trip! 11Dec-20Dec '08!

Day1
I met up with Kexin 11.45am at Changi Airport Terminal 1.
The flight took off at 1+pm.
We got to see the sun set on the plane.
It was a very memorable experience. (remember to book the left side of the plane if you want to get the view of sunset on jetstar flight.)

We reached Taoyuan Airport around 5.30pm.
We met a friendly Singaporean family at the money changer.
We applied Youth Card so that we can receive discounts at some place.

We hopped into a taxi and the taxi driver was also friendly.
Although he was also speaking in chinese, but sometimes i have no idea what is he talking about.
It's around 6pm, but the sky was dark and you are able to see the moon; totally different from Singapore.
The total taxi fare was NT$1150, after the discount from the taxi driver. I have no idea why he gave us discount but it is consider cheap?
Reached the hotel located at Danshui called 万熹酒店 Hotel Solar.
The Danshui MRT station is just right opposite from the hotel.
Check in and our room number was 703. (note: there’s no 4th floor as they consider the number unlucky)

After that we walked down the streets around the hotel. Bought our dinner; 蚵仔面线 (NT$35), 炸鸡块 (NT$40), 炸鸡 (NT$40), 鲁肉饭 (NT$25).
Back to Hotel for dinner! :D

Day2
Woke up at 7am. Went downstairs to have our free breakfast at MOS Burger.

After that walked down the street near Danshui River.
The view was (speechless).

We went back hotel and took their MRT!
Kinda similar to Singapore's MRT.

We trained down to 西门町 station and met Serene at 12.30pm.
Walked around 西门町 and both of them shopped for stuffs.
Oh, and we went to eat 阿宗面线 (NT$55) and also fries (NT$45). (the fries taste like sweet potatoes instead of potatoes.)

Around 3plus we trained down to 中正纪念堂 station and took some pictures.

I'm afraid of the birds!
Kexin and Serene were like bullying and laughing at me. ):

Flowers; Lavenders! 我最爱的薰衣草^^

After aparting with Serene, we trained to 士林 station as we mistaken that 士林夜市 was over there.
Nevertheless, there were many shops to walk around and shop.
We had dinner over there; 水饺 (NT$55), 柠檬绿茶 (NT$35), some包s.

Then we trained back to Danshui and walked around the 老街 and bought the 2nd round of our dinner; 鱼丸 (NT$40), 阿给 (NT$30), 肉丸 (NT$30).
Again, we brought back to the hotel to consume.

Day3
Woke up at 8.30am. Once again, we went downstairs to have our free breakfast at MOS Burger.
After that we trained to 台北车站 station to change train to 忠孝復兴 station to train to the 动物园 station. But then the train to 动物园 was not available that day, due to national exams, so we took the free shutter bus provided.

The Zoo was super huge, huge and HUGE!
Plus the entrance fee was only NT$60, super cheap price.

There was a little boy who wanted to take pictures with the bear too.
He was damn cute. Ha!

There are lots of different types of monkeys in the zoo.
Seriously, a lot. (never ask me the names all the animals)

There was a section where they display snakes and co.

We walked around the Zoo until 4plus, and then we decided to go back.
Although walking for 4 hours but we were unable to cover the whole Zoo.
Imagine how big it is!

As we did not want to take the shutter bus back to the station. So we took a risk by taking the bus to 信义区 by following a couple after overhearing them going to that area too. The bus we took was 台北客运1绿 and thankfully it brought us to 台北101.
We had lunch/dinner over there; I ate 咖哩炸鸡贩 (NT$150). Super delicious!
We intended to go to the 观景台 at the 89 level, but the queue taking the lift was ridiculous. So we decided to give it a skip and headed to 信义区 to walk about.

After that, we took a bus 212 to somewhere near 后山埤 station and walked to 五分埔, it was also very crowd but I manage to buy some clothes pricing NT$100 each.
It was pretty late, so we trained back to Danshui after walking in circles around 五分埔.

Day4
We trained to 台北车站 station and walked around the underground malls.
It was really interesting over there; you will get to see groups of students practicing their dance, doing projects and etc. Like it was something you will never get to see in Singapore.
We had our breakfast/lunch over there; 米粉 (NT$50), 甜不辣 (NT$40), 葱抓饼 (NT$30).
After that we walked around the 台北区 and guess what, we saw 黄靖伦 having his autograph session over there.
Before we trained back to Danshui, we bought Strawberry in MaJi (NT$40) and also Strawberry with rice (NT$42). Very nice!
At night we went Danshui 老街 to walk, and bought some stuffs for dinner; 炸小笼包 (NT$50), 炸鸡排 (NT$45) and I also ate 切仔面 (NT$45).

That day was Sunday; so pretty crowded. Plus that day was the coldest out of the 10days; it was so cold that we dont feel like going out.

Day5
Trained to 国父纪念馆 station.
We visited 国父纪念馆 and at that time we went they were having the changing shift ceremony. The whole ceremony was fascinating. Whenever they put down the guns and it hit on the floor, you could hear the echo. I will never forget this ceremony in my entire life.

It was beautiful and peaceful and of course BIG!

We visited Big Tom which is an ice-cream shop located inside the 纪念馆 but then I forgot why we did not tried the ice-cream.
After that we lunched at Mac, they do not have chili sauce; I am kinda use to have chili for my mac.
We wanted to watch 我猜 but we were too late, so we decided to give it a skip.
We walked around the area to search for the 豆花 shop; but i din manage to find it despite following the map. So we decided to try our luck at walking down some random street and haha we found the shop!
We ordered a Strawberry flavoured 豆花(NT$75). I really love the way the strawberries are covering the 豆花. Heehee!

After that we headed to 东区地下街, and shopped for some stuffs. Then we went Sogo. (note: there’s two Sogo department store there; one is more economic another is more high class). First, we went to the economic one, we walked till the highest level i suppose and we decided to take the lift down. We saw the legendary 电梯小姐! Her job is to press the floor you want and if that is not your floor she will be very polite and ask you wait for a moment. I am super amazed by this service.
Next, we went to the high class one, it was super high class. And at the second highest level there was a Japanese style houses built for visitors to admire.
You know what, the floors over there shine! I wonder how much money did they pay to ask people to wax them

Then we trained to 剑潭 for 士林夜市. The air there was kinda bad, I can’t breathe properly, but it got better eventually. We had 蚵仔煎 (NT$50), 棺材板 (NT$45) and 冰粉圆 (NT$35).

Then we took a free shutter bus to Miramar Shopping Centre, where 换换爱 Why Why Love was filmed. The first scene that came into my mind was KingOne threw the money on Rainie on the connecting bridge

We took the ferries wheel, WOO! On the ferries wheel, you can see 101 tower and also the night view of taipei. Very beautiful and one ride cost NT$120.

After that we walked around that place and went places like Carrefour and Gaent.

Day6
Breakfast at MOS Burger and then trained to 台北车站 and took 台铁 to Ilan.
The scenery on the way to Ilan was very pretty! But i fell asleep halfway. XP

Went to the Ilan visitor centre, and they showed us a few spots that we could visit over there. We walked over to Carrefour there's this big house made biscuits. We lunched over there. I ate 卤肉贩 (NT$40).
Then we walked over to a MaJi Shop to buy some.

We took 台铁 to 罗东 and went to their night market. But the air there was damn polluted; I could hardly breathe. So we just bought a honey chicken (NT$50) and took 台铁 back to 台北车站 and trained back to Danshui. Kinda wasted our money. ):

Day7
Went breakfast at MOS Burger again. Then we walked to 淡水码头 and took ferry to 八里 (NT$39; round about trip).

The air at 八里 was super fresh, much better than 罗东 a million billion times, and the scenery there was very beautiful.

After walking around for hours, we ferried back and back to the hotel to find my 六表姨.
Then we trained to 芝山 stop and took the free shutter bus to 天母. And I ate 虾米粉 (NT$40), Kexin ate 排骨饭 (NT$90?). We walked around 天母 and realise there was nothing much to see. So we took the free shutter bus back to 芝山 and walked Carrefour located over there.
When it was dinner time, we ate; 蚵仔煎 (NT$50), Chicken Cubes (NT$30) and 芋圆.

Day8
Went on Danshui streets for breakfast. Kexin ate 鸡蛋饼 with 豆花, while I ate 大肠面线.
Around 1plus we went out with my 六表姨 for lunch at some restaurant. There were crabs, prawns, fish, meat, vegetables, soup and some others and only 3 of us eating. Of course, it was impossible to finish them. So my 六表姨 brought those unfinished ones back.
Then we trained to 古亭 stop and walked over the 永康街. Kexin wanted to eat 龟苓膏 but the shop had already closed down. So we headed over to 冰馆 and ate mixed fruit with mango ice-cream (NT$150). The fruits combination was real good.
The special thing about the roads there were, they drew a line and that area is for people to walk. Like so cool.

After that we head to 台电大楼 stop to meet Serene and we walked to 师大夜市 and ate guanzhongzhu, kelibing– with chocolate and another was with mixed meat and both of them ate 臭豆腐.

Also walked around and bought some stuffs.

Day9
Trained to 北头 and changed train to 新北头. Searched for the noodle shop and ate 青春叉烧拉面 (NT$110).
We also visited an old temple, and uncle was super friendly.

Bused 230 to 阳明山 but we alight the wrong stop so had to wait half an hour for the next bus.
But we took many pictures at that stop as it had a very pretty scenery.

Upon reaching 阳明山 we climbed the mountain to some place for at least half an hour.
It's really tiring. This is the problem when you made the wrong choice of following the wrong person.

We realise the route we walked had nothing much interesting and if we want to see something interesting we had to walk further up but we are tired of walking. A bit disappointing, but the air there was pretty good, so worth it? So after taking some pictures, we took bus 小9 back to 新北头 and trained back to Danshui.

After that we took bus 红26 to 淡水渔人码头 to watch sunset. A must go place if you visit taiwan!

There's a lover bridge 情人桥 over there, but i guess it doesnt look like one now.
You can see family and friends crossing the bridge together.

Then we took the same bus back and walked the 老街, and bought some stuffs to eat; Sotong Ball (NT$15), Ice-cream (NT$10), Donuts, Wantan Soup (NT$60), BBQ Sotong (NT$40).
We bought some stuffs to bring back to Singapore like Pineapple Cakes.
On the way back to hotel there was a mini concert outside the mrt station. Don't you think is cool?

After that we brought our clothes for wash, thankfully there was a guy teaching us how to use the washing machine. The guy was actually heading back home, but he specially stopped his motorcycle just to teach us how to use without us even approaching. I think we really looked lost. And this is what I like about Taiwanese; they are really very friendly and helpful!
While waiting for our clothes, we walked around the neighborhood and I bought Strawberry coated with chocolate (NT$50)!

The total cost for the washing was only (NT$70), cheap hah!

Day10
Went MOS Burger for breakfast the last time. And walked around Danshui and bought some last minute items. Slacked a bit and did some last minute packing. My 六表姨 booked a taxi for us to TaoYuan Airport. Thank You! Had dinner at the Airport and head back to Singapore.
;D
finally back!

Additional notes:
1. $1 = NT$20 (around there)
2. Total amount spent (includes air tickets and ect) for this trip: around$1200!
3. I miss my 蚵仔煎! 蚵仔煎~
4. This is a long post. This post took me 4 days to complete. (: