Trip to Taiwan – Taipei
This is the second
time I went to Taiwan! On Tuesday we took 10:00 AM flight by Airasia to Taiwan.
It took around 4 hours to reach Taiwan. We landed at Taiwan Taoyuan Airport Terminal
1 around 2:00pm.
After collecting
our luggages, I went to buy a sim card. Once you walk out from the arrival
hall, facing the road turn right and walk to the end, the sim card store is
somewhere near the toilet. I bought a 8 days prepaid sim card with NT$50 free
airtime and unlimited data from Far EasTone, it costs NT$450 (around RM 65).
After buying sim
card, we went to Taipei by bus. About 45 minutes later, finally we arrived our
hotel which named as Dairy of Taipei 2.
Diary of Taipei 2
Address: No. 152,
Section 1, Zhonghua Rd, Wanhua Dstrict, Taipei City, Taiwan 108
Tel: +886 22314
4003
We left our luggage
in the hotel after checked-in and immediately went to Xi MenDing for our lunch.
Our hotel was nearby with XiMenDing, it took around 2 minutes to reach there by
walking.
Ximending, or Xi MenDing is one of a must visit place and
popular shopping area in Taipei. Take you
time to walk around because there are lot of shopping and eatery here!
 |
Ah Chung Mee Sua |
The place is always crowded with a lot
of people. It is very popular in Taiwan. There are no tables here, you have to
pull up a chair and enjoy your bowl of mee sua!
 |
| Bitter Gourd Juice |
Bitter Gourd Juice is one of the famous
drinks in Taiwan and it can be easily found at here. Actually it did not taste
bitter at all because it was mixed with honey together with biter gourd and
blended it up together.
 |
| Hot Star Chicken Taiwan |
They are famous for their XXL fried
chicken. The fried chicken is juicy, tender and flavourful with salt and
pepper. It costs NT$55 for each.
 |
| Peanut Ice Cream Popiah |
It costs NT$40 for each. Interesting
flavours especially when you get a bite of coriander to go with the ice cream
and the fragrant maltose peanut.
 |
| Stinky tofu |
Stinky tofu is Taiwan’s most notorious
dish. Stinky tofu is one of my favourite snacks in Taiwan. It was perfectly
crisp and the pickled cabbage was amazing! Definitely worth a try! It costs NT$50
per plate.
The second day of our exploration of
Taipei brings us to the beautiful Danshui (Tamsui) district. It was easily to
access by the MRT, the final stop on the red line. It took around 15 minutes to
reach there, there was 5 stops from Taipei station to Jiantan station.
 |
| Waterfront
Sitting at the riverside of waterfront
to enjoy the refreshing wind, you can definitely find a way to enjoy yourself
at this peaceful.
 |
There are some gaming shops at the
waterfront, it would be fun to spend your time there with your kids, friends or
families. Remind me of my childhood memories because those are the games we
used to play when I was a kid.
The delicious local food was one of the
man attractions in Danshui, the street was full of the roadside stalls and
shops that selling local food.
There are a few of stalls selling fried
and grilled squids at Danshui Waterfront, and I bought fried squids at the
stall was right in front of the ferry terminal. It was fresh and tasted good,
selling at NT$120.
 |
Tall Soft Serve Ice-Cream Tower
|
It was really tall and many flavour of
it, such as chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, greentea, mango and so on, u can
mixed with the two flavour, selling at NT$10 for each!
I ordered the mango
flavour because I’m a mango lover <3
 |
| Ba wan |
Pork, vegetables are stuffed inside and
gravy poured on the top. You can choose either spicy or not spicy. They were
selling at NT$50 for each, NT$135 for 3 pieces, and NT$200 for 6 pieces and so
on.
 |
| AXiang Shrimp Rolls |
A little stall that selling delicious
shrimp rolls, selling at NT$20 for 3 pieces. Customers can choose the sauces by
own. I liked it with both garlic and chili sauces!
 |
| Ah Gei |
Ah Gei is basically tofu stuffed with
glass noodles with the combination of sweet and spicy sauce, selling at NT$35
for each.
Besides food, there are also some
interesting shops I discovered on my recent trip to Taiwan.
 |
| Believe It or Not Curiosity Museum |
I was pass by this shop and noticed that
there was crowded outside this shop. It was required tickets to go in, NT$89
for each person. We did not go to visit because it was a bit costly ><
The turtle as shown in the photo has
experienced an unnatural genetic mutation which caused it with thick, round and
deformed shell.
 |
| Danshui Old Times Knick-Knacks Shop |
There are a few of shops that sells
Taiwanese tidbits and knick-knacks from the good old days. The packaging of
merchandise in this shop are so colourful, this is quite easy to get
attractions from people to buy it.
I spotted the ‘Bif Foot
Candy’ in this shop! I liked to eat this when I was a kid! And I still remember
the mini explosions within my mouth from the little balls in the candy
packaging.
 |
| Henry Cats & Friends |
It is a Taiwanese gift brand
infusing art and love into life. Each beautiful artwork and each whimsical character
creation is originated with story-based feature and detailed artistic touch,
which are carefully and creatively designed into lovely and functional gifts
for you!
You can either take bus or ferry to the Fisherman’s Wharf. We chose to
take ferry which cost about NT$100 round-trip. It took around 15 minutes to
there by ferry.
 |
| This is the famous Lover’s Bridge. |
The 196-metre white-coloured cable
bridge derived its name from its launch date of 14 February 2003 (she’s 10 this
year!). The bridge has quite a reputation as a romantic spot to view
breath-taking sunsets. Since we came on a rainy day, so we couldn’t see the
sunset. L
There are many artists near the bridge, who draw
people. I decided to get one drawing of myself. It cost around NT$200 and this was the result. :)
On the next day, we visited to WuFenPu. We took MRT
from Taipei main station to HouShanPi station. It took around 13 minutes and
cost NT$25 for each person.
WuFenPu is the largest garment wholesale market in
Taipei. Up to 1,000 shops that selling huge variety of products such as
clothes, shoes, bags, accessories and so on. It opens daily from 11:00 am to
10:00pm.
Here comes some guideline for you:-
·
1st street: Trendy products.
·
3rd street: Teahouse, shoes store
and clothes shops selling Japanese style products.
·
5th street: Products mainly focus on
Europe, USA, Japanese and Korean style.
·
7th street: Korean style sport and street
wears for ladies.
·
13th street: Mainly Japanese style clothes
for ladies.
·
YongJi Road: Kid’s wear.
From WuFenPu to Taipei 101, we took MRT to Taipei
101 station. We went for Taipei 101 observatory. Tickets for each person cost
NT$500, we purchased the tickets at level 5. Please take note: no slippers
allowed as mentioned on its website.
It was so fast and only took 37 seconds to arrive
the 89th floor which is the indoor of observatory.
You can go around and appreciate the view of the
entire city with appropriate labels and names of the buildings and structures.
The view from the top was really amazing! I love how green
mountains seem to embrace the valley city of Taipei!
Operating hours: 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM Daily
Last ticketing & entry: 9:15 PM
Note: Operating hours during holidays are subject to change.
Thanks for spending your time on my blog about the journey of
Taipei! J More will be update soon! :D
