[TW; 2011] Taipei

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DAY5

#1 Windsor B&B > Windsor Cafe

Complimentary breakfast; handmade by the lady owner!

SUPERB! Although the sandwich was filled with raw veggies. I think that was my first time having such a healthy breakfast. Enjoying the nice handmade breakfast and viewing nice scenery from the cafe balcony; shiok life hah. (: (I also want to co-buy a house at jiufen with cons liao.)

#2 Windsor B&B > Jiufen Old Street

The street was longer then i thought so. Very interesting shops around there. But too bad we did not try the specialised food in Jiufen, wasted. But the shop owners there were friendly and very generous for taste testing of their products. (:

#3 Jiufen Old Street > Windsor B&B

Rushed back to check out from the room. End up we had to wait for the cab to drive us to ximending. Went roaming around the street where Windsor is situated..

Found an open space balcony to take pretty scenery pictures and also handcraft shop. The things in the shop were super cute, we bought like t-shirts and cons bought her 臭小腐 (on the spot handdrawn rabbit iphone pouch).

小徑照顏色, http://www.wretch.cc/blog/azuin9,
台北縣瑞芳鎮九份輕便路218號

#4 Windsor B&B > ColorMix Hotel-Apartment

Cabed to Ximending for our Taipei's Hotel-Apartment. The cab ride costed around NT$1100. The driver was friendly helping us to contact ColorMix and giving us lots of advice for Taipei.

[/update]ColorMix has 2 locations; the one I stayed was the old location. More details/map for the new location please refer to:
http://colormix.pixnet.net/blog/category/1067025

ColorMix 調色盤台北酒店式公寓, http://colormix.pixnet.net/blog, RoomD
Address (around): Lane 160 昆明街, Wanhua District

We stayed in a double room with an extra bedding, and the room is still spacious enough for us to throw our luggages and mess. The room is super cosy and i think the extra bed set is really comfortable. Maybe that's the reason three of us overslept throughout the 3days!? It is less than S$70/night, why stay in those famous Ximending hotels when you can get a better room with a lower pricing? (;

look at this post [TW] FQA for more details on ColorMix!

{maps, how to travel there and etc...}

#5 ColorMix > Ximending Streets

Lunched right below ColorMix, around S$2 for one bowl.

It was pouring.. but manage to walk about Ximending with the shelters and umbrellas. Shopping in Ximending!

TIP: My humble advice shopping in Ximending is, only buy items with price tag. WHY? Cause those salesgirls normally jack up prices as they know you're not local by just a glance.

Went for the famous 阿宗麵線.

阿宗麵線, http://www.ay-chung.com
No.8-1, Emei St., Wanhua District, Taipei City

#6 Ximending > Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station {中正紀念堂站}

#7 Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station > Shida Night Market

Our dinner! We practically walked the whole Shida Night Market, loss count the number of shops we walked in. Anyway 可麗餅 is the best, 3 favoured ice-cream costed NT$70! We sat at the basement of the shop, the walls are filled with writings so we decided to do that too. Bought bags from a blogshop's shop 天藍小舖. (:

阿諾可麗餅, www.ar-nor.com.tw,
No. 20號, Lane 39, Shīdà Road, Daan District

天藍小舖, http://tw.user.bid.yahoo.com/tw/booth/bigi0107000,
No. 5號, Lane 49, Shīdà Road, Daan District

We ended this day like that. ;D

DAY6

#1 ColorMix > Taipei Underground Mall {台北地下街}

Overslept, so brunched at Taipei's underground mall. Some random stall that we passed by. Around S$7-8 with free drinks and soup.

Bought clothes, tried shoes, played UFO machine, bought beauty products and many many more. Taipei Underground Mall have a few different sections. One shop that i recommend which is above the underground mall is 光南大批發, it sells all kinds of stuffs electronics, stationaries, beauty products, CDs and many more, the items are relatively lower than other places.

TIP: Highly recommend the t-shirts in the underground mall. Around NT$80~100+, it seems to be cheaper than Wufenpu. 

光南大批發 許昌店, 台北市許昌街40號, 在新光三越后面的那条街 [EXIT 6]

#2 Taipei Underground Mall > Danshui Old Street {淡水老街}

Headed for Danshui famous Fishball, Ahgei and Dumplings.

百葉溫州餛飩, www.wenchou.com.tw,
No. 177號, Zhōngzhèng Road, Danshuei District

#3 Danshui Old Street > Danshui Fisherman's Wharf {淡水漁人碼頭}

To get there take 紅26 from Danshui Station or Danshui Old Street

Wanted to watch the sun set but too late, hahaha. XD

TIP: To catch the sunset, be there by 5pm.

#4 Danshui Fisherman's Wharf > Miramar Shopping Centre

Took the free shutter bus right outside the exit at Jiantan Station and reached there around 9pm i think, we chiong and chiong and chiong up to the rooftop just to take the ferries wheel.

#5 Miramar Shopping Centre > Shilin Night Market {士林夜市}

Went there pretty late like close to 10pm, some stalls were closed and there was no crowd at all. The best time to visit Shilin Night Market food court i think.

TIP: Shilin Night Market food court have shifted to the new location. Follow the signboards/crowd to the new location upon alighting from the metro station.

Walked over to the Night Market near Shilin food court. Super interesting, having mini games like mahjong tiles, bottles and many more. And we even encounter police raiding, although we dont see any police but we saw many illegal stall owners fleeing. Bought a big hotdog bread on stick for supper. (:

We brisked walked to the metro station and reached the station close to 12midnight and caught like the last few train back. Ended the day munching hotdog bread infront of the TV at 1am.

TIP: The last train leaves the first station at 12am!

DAY7

#1 ColorMix > Ximending (random) Street

Went downstairs and had brunch. NT$50 per bento. cheap cheap CHEAP!

#2 Ximending > East Metro Mall {東區地下街}

Im forever trying shoes, cons forever buying clothes and jl forever looking at cute stuffs. hahaha! Conclusion, shopping again.

#3 East Metro Mall > Dongqu (random) Streets

Dongqu is above the underground mall.

Hello Kitty Sweets, http://www.hellokittysweets.com.tw/
No. 90號, Section 1, Dà'ān Road, Daan District Taipei City, Taiwan 106,
ZhongXiaoDunHua Station EXIT 3, Behind and beside the building Bistro98

The guide book drew a misleading map and made us walk a few rounds around dongqu and end up it is right behind at where we started. Wasted 1hour+! Due to this, i missed my favourite taiwanese blogger 小安's event! Oh well~

Anyway, the dessert set was NT$200+ which consist of a drink + cake + pudding. Everywhere is hellokitty even the toilet bowl has hellokitty sticker, hahaha. Which is really interesting to see a hellokitty themed restaurant where half of the people we asked for directions do not know the existence of this restaurant. Nevertheless, the cake is really a MUST-TRY ok! :D

#4 Dongqu Streets > Xinyi District {信義區}

Took shutter bus to taipei 101Building outside the Taipei Cityhall Station at EXIT2. Due to time constrain we were unable to go the 89floor. Asked the service counter for direction to the nearest DBS.

Anyway, saw very cool stuffs like sunset while waiting for the green man and diagonal crossings! ;)

TIP: Currently there is a metro station stopping at 101!

#5 Xinyi District > Wufenpu {五分埔}

I was happily buying my NT$100 clothes for my mum while cons and jl were like accompanying me walking through the crowds. haha. We had a mini-dinner of baos and corn soup. DELICIOUS! ;D

TIP: Best time to visit Wufenpu will be after 4~5pm.

#6 Wufenpu > Raohe Night Market {饒河夜市}

I never came Raohe NM before, it's pretty crowded despite the late timing.

Tried this korean stall and service was terrible. Long story but if you want to patronise do it at your own risk. I am not going to be responsible if you ended up as unhappy as me. On a happy note, a kind pushcart owner offered us to put our stuffs inside his pushcart stall, so we happily go shopping again. (:

We left the place close to 12am, and Raohe NM is pretty far from the mrt station. Thankful we reached there 2mins before 12am as our train pass expires at 12am. We ended the day sweating like crazy in the middle of the night. PS, we caught the 2nd last train.(:

DAY8

#1 ColorMix > Ximending

Hardly slept the previous night as the dryer in ColorMix was not functioning. In the morning the cleaning auntie helped us and thankfully our clothes were DRY in time! We did not know that the dryer requires gas to operate.

Early lunch after we gave up finding some famous shops in ximending. The wait time was extremely W.O.L.S, but the food is good. Around NT$200+ per set lunch including soup + salad + main course + drink. But jl's set lunch is abit different.. i think without salad?

咖哩世界 (西門店),
台北市萬華區漢中街50巷11號2樓, Ximending Station EXIT6

#2 Ximending > ColorMix

Rushed back to check out. But the cleaning auntie allowed us to leave our luggage for another 30mins or so as the cab had not arrive. So we rushed downstairs and went for last minute shopping; like albums, doraemon items, cup noodles etc. We totally forgot about our recycling bag and we just grab the amount that our hands can carry at our 'last stop' in 7-11.

TIP: Bring your own recycling bag everywhere you go in taiwan. Some stores require you to pay NT$10 for plastic bags!

#3 ColorMix > Taoyuan T1 Airport > KL Airport > Changi Airport

The taxi driver was hilarious. He keep thinking that driving a taxi in SG is much better than in TW. Plus, he keep suan-ing cons for taking random photos on the taxi.

Early dinner on the flight to KL Airport. Totally knocked off on the flight; too tired.

Hungry cons ate the whole packet of doraemon mini-bread we bought in TW's 7-11 while waiting for the transit at KL. (PS: the doraemon mini-breads were looks cute and delicious!) And the 'BIG RED APPLES' (by the air stewardess) mangoes bought in Raohe NM.

The flight from KL to Singapore Changi Airport was practically empty! ;)

If you are interested, my spendings for this trip are..

1. hotel: (NT$4900 + NT$3800 + NT$4607) / 3 = NT$4435 = S$193

2. air ticket: S$503.70

3. insurance: S$34

Total spending: Around $1500