Taipei, Taiwan (Day 9 - Final day)

My last destination was to visit Yehliu (野柳) to view the natural formation of rocks after erosion. 


In order to get there, simply take a metro to Taipei Main Station, then walk towards the bus terminal to look for this bus service called GuoKuang (国光). The one-way bus ticket cost NT96. The journey will take about 1hr and 30 minutes on the bus. 


Some sights:

Many tourists venture here to view the sight of the last picture, which is called the Queen's head. Basically, all the rocks there have been eroded into certain shapes and it is up to your imagination to think what it looks like. 

After walking around, I went to Yehliu market where they were selling some food items. One key thing to buy at Yehliu will be cuttlefish sweets! It is the specialty over there, and it cost around NT300 per packet. I also tried fried seeweed that was super tasty! 

Do try it when you are there! 


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Final reflections:
I wanted to experience Taipei hence this trip was mainly about Taipei, as I've been to Kaoshiung and part of Taichung. I also made a pact with myself that I want to travel around Taipei using their bus system and metro system. I only took the cab once which was on the final day where I went to the airport. It was indeed a wonderful experience! If you have any questions about Taipei, feel free to leave a message and I will get back to you if I know it. 
Some people asked why I did not hire a driver to bring me around.. I'm not sure, I guess I wanted to walk, reflect, and appreciate the sights instead of sitting on the car. Yes, it's more convenient, but I feel that you are missing out on a lot of things and experiences when you do that. 


It was a trip to remember.. for sure!

Taipei, Taiwan (Day 8)

Today, I've decided to venture to the outskirts of Taipei using the railway. 


In order to get on the railway system, you will need to travel to Taipei Main Station using the metro. Follow the signs for the ticketing for the railway system. 


In order to venture into the outskirts of Taipei, I bought a ticket for the railway from Taipei to Ruifang. It costs NT76. There are a lot of train services going to Ruifang from Taipei as it is the first stop, so fret not.. after buying the ticket, I went to the platform, and waited for about 5 minutes before the train came. 


This is the train station, Ruifang: 

I did not want to explore Ruifang, but instead I wanted to explore the Pingxi line which was much more interesting. Hence, if you are intending to do the same, do not exit Ruifang station. On the platform of Ruifang station, there will be a booth that sells the tickets for Pingxi line. I bought the ticket that allows me to have unlimited trips on the train on Pingxi line. It costs NT52 for the entire day. 


It looks something like this:

Behind the ticket for Pingxi line, there is a map that tells you what is good at each stop. I have also included the last picture that is clearer to show how the entire route goes. 


The interior of the trains are very clean and they even have a toilet on board the train. 

I wanted to work my way backwards so my first stop was Pingxi station. It was a good 35-40 minutes ride on the train. 


One thing to be cautious if you have planned a day visiting Pingxi line and you do not want to return back to Taipei at a strange hour would be to check this board so you know how much time you have at a particular spot. The train is not very frequent, and it can take 45 minutes during each interval. 


The board to check looks something like this at Pingxi station:

Pingxi station is famous for its black pig sausage and its heritage. They had a cave with all kinds of small rooms during the Japanese Occupation. 

It was super yummy and juicy! It will be better to come during a weekday as during weekend, it will be filled with many people. There's usually a long queue for this stall. 


After walking around for about 40 minutes, I quickly returned back to the train station to catch the train to go to Shifen station. This is the station where many Taiwanese movies like to feature their releasing of Sky lanterns/lights (天灯). 

I also found it very interesting that the shops were next to the train tracks. My main purpose of coming to this station was to view the waterfall. In order to view the waterfall, from the train station, walk straight ahead and follow the signs. The journey for walking will take about 45 minutes. Just keep following the signs ahead. 


These are some sights that you will pass as you are walking...

I was actually quite afraid at one point because I didn't know how long the journey was. I just kept walking and since it was a weekday, there was no one on the road to check for directions. Luckily there were signs along the way, and I finally reached the end point: Shifen Waterfall! 

The sights of it were amazing: 

This is also a great place to release the sky lanterns as it was high up on the mountains. People will usually write their hopes and dreams on the sky lanterns and hope that their prayers/dreams/hopes will be answered. 

This was one of my best sights and greatest accomplishment in my entire trip... and it was really a great walk up. Don't miss this! 

Taiwan, Taipei (Day 7)

Today's main activity was to visit Taipei Zoo. 

Unfortunately for me, it was drizzling... but that did not dampen my mood. The price of the tickets were really cheap, being NT60 (less than 3SGD)! 

In order to get to Taipei Zoo, simply take the metro to Taipei Zoo Station. Maokong Gondola was closed for maintenance during the stay I was there, so if you are at Taipei Zoo, don't forget to drop by Maokong Gondola where you get to be treated to the sights of the greenery. 

I saw a lot of animals there, and since it was a weekday and it was quite early, there were hardly any tourists around. The paths were quite empty so I felt quite pleased to immerse myself in the nature. Most of the animals found there are enclosed, but their living environments are quite open. 

I could not believe I had the chance to see Koala bears.. even though they were in a special air-conditioned room, it was quite a rare sight to see them. I took my time spending time to watch them. 

One thing I love about Taipei Zoo is that there are lots of statues of animals around for you to take a photograph with. I also wanted to visit there because there were pandas! 

And then there were many other animals too..

I even witnessed the zookeeper doing grooming for the animals! 

It was super adorable watching the whole process! She was combing its fur and grooming it so that it looked fluffy and cute. 

I spent around 2-3 hours there, and when I reached the peak of the Taipei Zoo, I was mad tired... and I didn't want to walk anymore. Hence, I took the internal shuttle using my metro card, as it only cost NT5 for one single trip. 

After that, it was nearly evening... and I went back to Shida Night Market, as opposite Shida Night Market, there was a street filled with authentic Korean food. It was highly raved in the Taipei Guidebook. 

There ending a picture of my night...

Kimchi Pancake! Yums.

Taipei, Taiwan (Day 5-6)

Day 5
Today was a visit to the shopping district as it was a rainy day. I did not want to be outdoors at all. 


I took a metro to Taipei City Hall Station, and there you can find Taipei 101, Shin-kong Mitsukoshi Department Stores. I had a lunch at one of the malls there.. again, Japanese food. 

After walking around, I ended my night at a cafe, and indulged in fries and beer. Yum.

Spot the 100 calories? That must have been the buy-in factor for me! 


Day 6
The next morning, I went to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. In order to get there, just take the metro to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall station. The entry is also free, and there's some exhibits for you to view. There, you can also have a good photograph of Taipei 101. 

The exhibits are quite nice, especially the last picture, where it is actually a 3d artefact on the wall. And here's Taipei 101.. though it was really a hazy morning..

After that, I had lunch at a random Japanese restaurant as it was during the weekends.. it was really crowded. I just realised that I keep eating Japanese food... this time round, it was ramen! I was quite intrigued by the amount of condiments given to eat this bowl of ramen. 

This bowl of ramen was quite yummy, with the noodles being very springy. It was also extremely crowded, with lots of people queuing up at this restaurant. After that, I went shopping at the underground mall at Zhongxiao Fuxing metro station. There are lots of shops and great buys there if you have the stamina to walk. I finished the whole underground mall in one afternoon. 


After that, I went back to XMD and saw a queue forming up for fried chicken. Apparently they were having some promotion for a packet of fried chicken for NT30. It was cheap, so I bought it. This shop is just outside XMD station. 

It smelt heavenly when I bought it, but I felt that it was a tad too oily for me. Time for some rest!

Taipei, Taiwan (Day 4)

I had Saizeriya for brunch today. Saizeriya is a cheap Japanese-Italian food outlet that can be found in XMD. The prices are also much cheaper than Singapore's Saizeriya's. 

After that, I proceeded to the National Museum of History. The metro station to stop at would be CKS Memorial Hall Station. The entry is free and it was a great place to take photographs, so I spent a good 2 hours there. 

This is not all. At the ground level, there's actually an exhibition of Chiang Kai Shiek's life.

Here's a picture of his car! It's huge! 

After that, I went shopping at Wu Fen Pu. Basically, Wu Fen Pu is a wholesale market, and it will be best to go during the weekdays, except on Monday as they are more interested in the wholesale sellers. Wu Fen Pu doesn't open very early, the stalls usually open at around 2-3pm. In order to go to Wu Fen Pu, do take the metro to Houshanpi station, and go by exit 4. After that, follow the signs and you should reach there at about 10 minutes if you do a slow walk. They do not allow trying, but if you are of a smaller size, most clothes should be able to fit you. 

After shopping, I decided to have my tea break at a cafe called "Mita" near Wu Fen Pu. I had a pineapple tart, floss bread, and matcha green tea. It was a nice break from shopping. 

After that, I went to Raohe Night Market. In my opinion, Raohe Night Market is my favourite night market as there are a lot of delicious food over there. From Wu Fen Pu, it is about a 15 minutes walk there. You just have to spot the Songshan Rail Station and continue walking towards it. 

I had my dosage of grilled corn at the night market. How they charge you for the corn is based on the weight of the corn. If the weight of the corn is 68g, they will charge you NT68! So if you are small eater, you can pick a smaller corn to try out. 

Here's a corn(y) picture to end the day..