[TW; 2023] Day 0 & 1 - Taipei, Shilin & Maokong
- Day 0 Itinerary: Check-in Hotel > (Dinner) Shilin Night Market 士林夜市
- Day 1 Itinerary: Hotel > (Breakfast) Comida Toast 可蜜達吐司 > Maokong Gondola > (Lunch) Shuang Hsiang Tea Garden 貓空雙橡園茶坊 > 貓空茶屋 Maokong tea house > 貓空茶屋 Maokong tea house > Taipei 101 Shopping center 台北101購物中心 > 44 South Military Village 四四南村 > (Dinner) 砸鍋賣鐵小火鍋 > (Supper) HANKO 60 如醉如夢
Taipei Day 0
Check-in Hotel
For my first 2 nights of Taipei, I decided to go a little budget and was deciding between hostel and small rooms; eventually the latter:
Taipei Innhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/SvRXDeUjvxjYRqV79
It was located upstairs of my favourite shop in Taipei Main Station - Kuang Nan Wholesale (光南大批發). Checking in was a breeze, they gave short and easy instructions.
At first I was reading the comments, many people were saying that the room was small...
To be honest, it wasn't small but more of compact. They could have design it better to make use of a lot of the waste space. Like the washroom was so spacious, they could have converted the sink area an open space so more walking space.. If they made the bed frame slightly higher with storage space below, it would have resolved a lot of storage issues.
And yes, there are no windows. But I saw some room types do have windows.
This is a reality how small your luggage (cabin size) need to be to comfortably walk around the room without tripping on it.
Nevertheless, it was a good stay - bed are comfortable, aircon strength was good, washroom was so spacious. I cannot complain with this price I can get the level of comfort vs in a hostel.
Dinner - Shilin Night Market 士林夜市
It has been donkey years since I came to Shilin Night Market! But things are still the same - do note that the "night market" has 2 parts. 1) Market with food court; 2) Night Market
We stopped over at the market to have some Taiwanese local food - they are plenty of stalls, just choose the one that you're most comfortable with, they all taste around the same.
Have been searching for some time and finally - Taiwan fruit beer!
After some good food in tummy, we start walking over to the night market for more food!
Small sausage in large sausage 大腸包小腸
麻辣鱼丸 Mala Fishball
Recommend to visit during the weekday - weekend is super packed with people!
Day 1
Breakfast
Eggy breakfast! We were hesitating whether we should enter the stall and a local told us it was good, so we went in!
And locals are always right with food recommendations, there was so much eggs that made our tummies happy :)
Maokong 貓空
Maokong Gondola
To travel to Maokong, you will need to take the gondola up the hills for approximately 30 minutes.
(click to see the full Maokong map)
Off we go~
Very greenly scenary view from the gondola:
After 30 minutes ride - Maokong Station!
(enlarge to see the bus timing)
If you have fear for heights, another option is to take the bus up. I never took the bus ride up before so I cannot comment if it will be less scary.
Walking around Maokong you will be able to see locals harvesting their tea leaves.
Lunch @ MaoKong
Before I type anything - save this in your foodie list.
We went during the weekdays and they have some lunch set. Being lazy, we just order the set and didn't have much expectations... until this pot of garlic chicken soup was served to us.
It was so good in the cold weather, I cannot explain how delicious it is! You need to try it on your own. It just warms your heart, body and soul.
The other side dishes were great too!
Probably one of the best and simple meal I had in Taiwan until date. You feel so refresh after having all these food.
We ordered a pot of tea - Baozhong tea 文山包種茶 which is a tea produced in Maokong.
Baozhong taste is a little bit lighter compared to the other varieties.
Oh yes, the restaurant do have an amazing view that in clear days you will be able to see 101.
Tea Session @ Maokong
貓空茶神 MaoKong Tea Master
The biggest reason why we went Maokong is to get tea leaves, we randomly walked into this store and the owner and son was super friendly!
They started serving us all the teas they had in the store, felt like we signed up for a tea appreciation session.
I was tea-drunk that day, seriously, I think I drank like 15 cups or more. Highly recommended their tea leaves, I bought 2 tins back (they are not cheap like SGD$40 per tin), but everyone was praising the tea fragrance.
Dessert @ Maokong
I'm sure dessert wasn't a big thing in Maokong the last time I came... but it was so cute not to have one!
貓空茶屋 Maokong tea house
There were a few stalls selling these cat tea flavoured ice cream, and this stall claimed to be the OG of it. Actually it was quite nice, you can taste the tea! We had the Baozhong since it is the local flavour!
Stopover @ 101
Took the gondola back down to ground and caught a bus to 101 - I recalled taking this bus route back in 2009!
Can you believe that I went Taiwan 9 times and I never been up the 101 building, and same for this round, the weather was foggy that I decided I will not go up there.
Sightseeing @ 44 South Military Village
44 South Military Village 四四南村
This place is one of my favourite angle of 101. And things are still the same, retro and traditional in the middle of the busy and expensive city.
Or grab some coffee and chill
Dinner @ Near Taipei Main Station
砸鍋賣鐵小火鍋
This is more of a student hangout place for hotpot, but the price was so reasonable that we ordered a lot and everything was yummy. It really reminds me of my exchange days where hotpot treats were for big days :')
Loved that I can cook my noodles dry and mix them in my favourite taiwanese satay sauce.
After Party @ Ximending
HANKO 60 如醉如夢
A very "hidden" secret bar in Ximending!
Quite nice vibes with very fancy menu of drinks.
Ordered something that didn't look very instagrammable, ended up the alcoholic level felt too high for me that I decided not to finish it.
There was another table where some got drunk and yeah drink with caution and know your limits.
That's marks my first 2 nights in Taipei and more to come next!
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