Visiting Taipei (3-7 April 2010)

Day 1 – Arrival in Taipei

Our flight from Kota Kinabalu to Taipei took 4.5 hours.  The weather was beautiful. I could see the sun rising above Mount Kinabalu.  Fantastic.  Reminded me when I first set foot on the mountain years ago.

At the Taoyuan Airport, after checking through Customs, walk to the exit and right in front of it are a variety of pamphlets for you to take foc…take only the necessary. There are English & Mandarin itinerary and foldup maps. These come in really handy if you are traveling DIY.  From there, turn right and walk till the end of the terminal.  A display of boards  showing which buses, which ride, which town/city you are heading to.  There are a few buses so make sure you know where you are heading to.  We got on Bus 61 and the ride into Taipei City took about 1 hour.  Traffic was heavy but moving in an orderly manner.  If you cannot converse in Mandarin, let the driver know, by pointing on the map, where you are heading so he can call out to you once he reach the stop.

Taipei Main Station

Actually the last stop is the Taipei Main Station,Taipei Main Station where the driver will be asking everyone to get down.  Its a big brown concrete building with small square design at the front.  You will alight at the East 2 Entrance.  Whilst you are there, do check out the lower floors for souvenirs, food, etc etc.  Try the rice cakes made from chocolate, yam….delicious.  Sushi is cheap here and can be found easily.  Pack them in 4s or 8s to carry along the way to satisfy the hunger pangs which seems to be frequent.  Maybe its the cool breeze….

We bought our MRT ticket to Ximen.  Our hotel, the East Dragon Hotel is a straight walk from the station, right to the end of the Ximending Pedestrian Mall.  The hotel is clean, spacious and have English Astro Channels.  We are given breakfast coupons which we found out to be eggs, toast, sausage, orange juice, tea or coffee each morning.

Visit to Longshan Temple

After breakfast, we decided to visit Longshan Temple.  Its the next subway stop from Ximen Station.  There were a lot of people there.  Some praying and offering gifts, some lining up to stand under a divine deity for blessings.  Others were curious onlookers like us, taking pictures.  The area is rather crowded inside and the smell of incense are everywhere.

Taipei 101

From Longshan Temple, we took the subway to Taipei City Hall Station.

We decided to walk to Taipei 101 thinking its was near, which we found out later to be quite a distance. There is actually a free shuttle from the TCH Station. Look out for the banner on the bus. The goods sold at 101, well, are rather pricey but check out the supermarket at the basement. It does have nice goodies to buy & bring home. There is also a food court with a variety of menus to choose from. We had desserts…yummy. We thought of going up to the viewing station but the price of the ticket dampened our plans. Maybe if we came at night, the view would have been worth the price.

Wu Fen Pu Market (Ladies Clothing Market)

We took the MRT to Housanpi Station. Always head to the yellow board at each station to check out which exit and bus to take to get to the place of visit. There are a lot of clothing for sale at this market both for men, women and man’s best friend…Stylish and most daring outfits.  Look out for the irritating motorcyclists who weaved their way in and out of the walkway.  It do test your patience especially when the space is rather small.

You can bargain to a certain extent and buy in bulk. Most of the clothing even in XL or XXL can only be worn by the medium sized Sabahan. Look out for the current trendy black socks…all nice & cute designs.  Cotton blouses with nice embroidery can be found there.  Reasonably priced.

Shilin Night Market

From Wu Fen Pu, we took the Jiantan MRT to Shilin Night Market. If you stop at the Shilin MRT Station, it will be quite a walk to the market. When we got there, there were people lining up at a stall that sold chicken chops. Seems that this stall was highlighted on TV. We did get to eat the chops…hmmmm…when hot, its delicious. Crispy and juicy.

At the Shilin Food Market you can try a variety of meals. We had porridge. Best to check out the type of porridge you be eating coz the one I ordered was actually rice soaked in soup. Watch out for the smelly tofu. Its almost everywhere. It has a strong odor and difficult to ignore. We sat far away from the stinky tofu as its difficult to shallow your meal with the pungent odor in the air. But others who had tried it said its very nice. There is also peanut cakes sold here. Very sweet. Its is one of the best selling item in this market.

Ximending Pedestrian Mall

After tired of walking, we headed back to Ximen Station. There we walked around the Ximending Pedestrian Mall. In the mornings, the place is rather quiet but at night, it comes alive. Lots of things to see and buy. Clothing, shoes, bags, accessories etc etc. There is also many restaurants here…strange thing is lots of pasta dishes. I did try at the Main Station and it was good. We tried the Steamboat Seafood Buffer Dinner. Eat all you can at RM44.00 per person. Wow…delicious but make sure you leave some space in the tummy for the Meiji & H.Daaz Ice-cream. Oysters, prawns, fish, different seafood balls & slices, roasted lamb & chicken, salad, fruits, various cold cut meats….hmmmmm….worth it.

Do also try the bitter gourd juice which can be found in a lot of places. But go easy on the honey as it can be rather sweet. Try the sausages at the 7-eleven as it taste different from the ones we have here. I won’t recommend eating at the street vendors unless your tummy is made of strong stuff….

Day 2 – Yangmingshan National Park

Nice buses

After breakfast we headed to Yangminghsan National Park. Its located at the Southeast of Taipei and commonly known as the Grass Mountain. We took the MRT from Ximen to Jiantan Station. From the exit, walk right down to the street and find the bus stop that has RED 5 written on the top. Be prepared to stand all the way up to Yangmingshan coz the bus we took was full with elderly passengers who had boarded the bus at an earlier stop. Wear something to keep you warm coz certain places at the park can be rather chilly. We had to walk about 30mins before reaching the park entrance.

Map of Park

So Many CheckPoint

Walk Up all the way

View from the Park

Buy something to eat before you start your journey as its a long long way up. Although not like climbing upwards all theway. Maybe the height and the thin mountain air drains the air from my lungs. After taking some pictures, we gave up and came down. You will need to line up for the bus. One thing in Taiwan, I noticed is that everyone, in an orderly manner, will line up properly..to the washroom, at the MRT, buying foods etc…..no pushing and shoving nor cutting way like you know where. At the MRT, you can rest assured of getting on and off in a relaxed pace…No one will trample over you. People there are well mannered and often you can see them give up easily their place to the elderly to sit.

Staircase to the Fountain

The Fountain

Actually this Park is really a good spot for Landscape and Nature photographer. Waterfall , fountain, flowers etc can be found here. Take a look at few pictures that we manage to snap. Bring your tripod to get better exposure.

Follow This Exit to the Digital Plaza

After boarding the bus we headed down to Zhongshan Station. Time to scout for the cheap IT buys at Guanghua Digital Plaza. We walk past some buildings which had the greenery growing out of them. Looks like the scary movie. There were some metal artistic design that look like trees or something. It was rather confusing as there were two signboard where the plaza was so we just walk around looking for stuff to buy. I bought a camera pod which cost half of what I would have had to pay here. Lots of computer gadgets and we mistakenly thought it was pricey. Regrets…regrets…lesson learned.

Follow the Blue Sign to the Digital Plaza

We went back to the hotel for a good rest. The legs were getting wobbly from all the mountain walking.

Even though we felt we could see more, but the body was no longer able to withstand the aches and pains.

Day 3-Guanghua Tourist Jade Market

Jade Market

We had the same breakfast for 2 days already. Some might feel its boring but its sufficient to give you enough strength to walk about till noon. Today we are heading off to the Guanghua Tourist Jade Market. From the Ximen Station, we took a ride to Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station. As always, read the yellow board to know which exit to take before you get out of the building as a wrong turn will end up walking a big round. When you get there, look for the road sign that says Guanghua Tourist Jade Exhibition. Its actually street vendors stationed in and around the walkway. Small pace…some good buys though.

Across the street, you can find the Guanghua Fruit Market. Wow, its definitely a place to check out the fresh veggies and fruits. Their guava is so sweet and crunchy. Outside you can buy cut ones which is sold at RM5 per packet. A friend bought 10 and we had to head back to the hotel to keep them. It was Saturday and the Pedestrian Mall was quite crowded. They even had some group of people singing hymns. Although we didn’t understand the language, the tune was rather catchy.

Day 4 – Taoyuan City

City Suites Hotel

We planned to walk around the hotel, not going to far off as we had booked a taxi to take us to Taoyuan City in the evening. Seems our taxi driver is also cum tourist guide and photographer. Unfortunately he cannot converse in English. He charges around RM300 per day for a whole day tour out of town. Hot Springs anyone????

We reached Taoyuan about an hour and night was beginning to set in. Here you can see young girl dressed up in small cubicle selling betel nuts. Taoyuan has mostly industrial building. I am not sure if there are places of interest to go as it was rather dark when we got there. We didn’t realise the temperature has dropped dramatically till we stop and got out. Boy, was it so cold and windy…freezing…shivers…so wear something warm.

City Suites Hotel

We checked into the Taoyuan City Suites becoz it is located very near to the airport. About 10mins by taxi. You can even see the planes landing from the hotel. This hotel is in fact a very beautiful classy hotel and the best part is they served buffet dinner at only RM25. Oysters again, fresh fish, prawns, meat etc etc……ooooo……Breakfast was also quite good. Good variety to choose from. The flight to Kota Kinabalu was at 9.50 so we packed and left early.

Airport Taoyuan View from Hotel City Suites

Day 5 – Fly Home

Airport Taipei

Home Sweet Home

next time we shall come again to visit more places.