Music: Ingram Washington- What a difference a day make Mood: sleepy
We got our travel package from MATA fair early this year, 6 days 5 nights to Taipei>Jiu Fen>Hua Lian>Kao Shiong> Tai Chung>Taipei, all for RM2015. Although we can't find the exact hardcore Taipei trip we are opting for, nevertheless, the day I've been waiting for has finally arrived- August 5 2008, Taiwan, here I come!!
Day 1Lunch on China Airlines:
Seafood rice set
Chicken pasta set
Taste OK lor, what can you expect from a flight meal anyway :P but I think it taste better than MAS~
Our plane touched down at 7.10pm. After all 18 of us checked into our rooms, it was nearly 8.30pm. First stop at Taipei is their Bukit Bintang-西门町(xi men ding).
We definitely wouldn't missed out the most famous Taipei food- 阿宗面线 (Ah Zong Mian Xian). There're no seats in this so call 'shop', people will just stand around, finish up and dispose your empty bowl in a bucket and leave.
the noodle is short enough to scoop with a spoon, they also added enough chewy pig intestines. Nice one!
Even though it's a Tuesday, it's still a considerable crowd around here. Things ain't cheap around here either, the normal KL price. Shops and stalls that sells accessories like these are all over this area:
You can easily find figurine shops here too:
A street full of tattoo-ing services:
An old man stopped us down all of a sudden and placed a trained squirrel on my hand.
Taiwan do not have chain cinemas like TGV or GSC, they have their very own stand-alone cinemas like this:
The biggest California Fitness I've ever seen. Jackie Chan sure is smart~
Shops here closes at 11pm on weekdays. Then me and Pin had supper at a shop next to our hotel. The noodle is called 意面and side dishes are all sorts of 卤味. Taste wise is ok nia, too oily.
R-rated film shops are legal here! This is just situated next to where we were having our supper.
Day 2Next morning, we followed the tour group to 自由广场 (Zi You Guang Chang)，which was used to be called 中正纪念堂(Chong Zheng Ji Nian Tang).
Forgot what's the name of this place. Young soldiers will have their routine march here every morning.
They are not allowed to move a muscle.
Next destination, 野柳地质公园 (Yehliu Geopark) to look at curious shaping stones caused by sea erosions.
The famous Queen's head.
Next stop, 九份 (Jiu Fen)。Hayao Miyazaki is said to have taken this town as a blue print for the ghost town in千与千寻 (Spirited Away)。
We had their famous 九份鱼丸 (Jiu Fen fish balls) and 肉燥饭 (Pork rice) for lunch.
It's like TeoChew fish balls, damn nice!
Our tour guide recommended us to buy muachi in this shop. We shop like mad here, but alas, we only found out that things here are actually more costly compared to other shops around the area. >.<
Another famous food of 九份, 九份芋圆(Jiu Fen yam balls). It's being served hot or cold like tong shui, something like 汤圆(tang yuan).
Other shops around 九份:
Next stop-南天宮 (Nan Tian Gong) at 宜兰(Yi Lan). The two 妈祖statues(Ma Zhu) here are solely made of jade and gold.
Mum prayed for both of us.
The beautiful fishing village view outside the temple.
We had a nice dinner at a restaurant in 花莲:
Steamed fish , 梅菜扣肉 (marinated pork ribs cooked with preserved vegetables)
Lobster, deer meat
shark meat, abalone
Bayam, spring roll.
After dinner, we went for a cultural dance show at 阿美族文化村(Ah Mei Aborigins Cultural Village).
Me and Pin went for a stroll after our group checked in the hotel.花莲(Hua Lian) is actually a small town, where things are much cheaper compared to Taipei. We also found out this place is famous for muachi, so much for spending a fortune at 九份 on muachi. Don't do homework somemore lah... If you are planning on visiting 花莲, remember to get your muachi from this shop called 曾师傅麻(Cheng Shi Fu muachi), it's has the most chain stores selling muachi in town.
We found a cute shop called 阿之宝 (Ah Zi Bao) where they customized everything from keychains, clothes, stationaries to food products.
Another unique shop here selling T-shirts, bags and caps designed by their own line of designers.
I stole a few shots here outside a re-ment shop. Cute neh??
A cup of soya bean, one steamed bun and nine steamed dumplings only cost us NT51!
No need to say, the piggy finished off everything :P
Day 3Day time, We stopped by 太鲁阁公园 (Tarako National Park) for about 45 minutes.
The tour guide took the one and only group photo for 6 of us, and the worst among the bunch. Non of us had our eyes opened in this shot. -__- stupid idiot guide....
The view was magnificent.
Coffee+cheese cake+good view=NT150
This bridge and tunnel was built by Taiwanese ancestors with their bare hands.
Then we visited to the biggest crystal shop and factory in Taiwan.
Lunch sucks. Then we took an eight-hour bus ride all the way to Kao Shiong. After dinner, we were limited to an hour walk in this small night market- 新崛江夜市 (Xin Jue Jiang Night Market)
As usual after checking in, Pin and me went down and had supper at the shop opposite our hotel.
We ordered 筒仔米糕(Tong zi mi gao), which is made up of glutinous rice, pork, meat floss and cucumber, a great combination of a little of everything. The 爌肉饭 (kuang rou fan) on the other hand has mixed vege, pork and 臭豆腐(chou tofu). It's my first attempt eating chao tofu, and I think it's not bad at all what... not sure why do people hated it :P
Day 4We went 慈济宫龙虎塔 (Ci Ji Gong Long Hu Ta) in the following morning. Here, everyone must enter from the dragon's mouth, and exit from the tiger's end.
A bird's eye view from top of the pagoda at 8th floor.
观音骑龙(Guan Yin qi long)
Next stop is at the famous Taiwan 佛光山(Fo Guang Mountain). Too bad me and Pin took the wrong route and didn't climb to the top to witness the big Guan Yin.
Then we had a brief visit to this pearl and Jewelry shop, a place made to tipu tourists like us.
Then, we went to a seafood restaurant for lunch.
Here's something special: 猪血糕 (Pig's blood) and 山猪猪脚肉(wild boar's tigh meat).
After lunch was a 2 and a half hour drive to our next destination- 麒麟峰温泉 (Qi Ling Feng Hot Spring) in 台中 (Tai Chong). Kononly it's one of the best hot springs in the world. It has an open air concept just like swimming pools, but if you do not bring any swim wear, it's either you are not allowed into the pool, or opt for 裸汤 where you can stay totally nekkid indoor ^^
Today, our group checked into the hotel at 5.30pm and were given the entire night to shop around the biggest night market in Tai Chung after that, which is called 逢甲夜市 (Feng Jia Night Market).
Situated right next to 逢甲大学(Feng Jia University), you can shop outdoor,
Or shop indoor.
Taiwanese are like Japs, they really have the patience to line up.
We wanted to try this famous fries but check out the queue, looks like 5KM long -__-
same goes here...
and here...
No choice, we joined the crowd to one of the best selling food here, 大肠包小肠 (da chang bao xiao chang). It's sausage wrapped in glutinous rice, then adding in around 6 different types of vege with sauces to choose from. Check out Pin in the line, we queue for about 20 mins to get here.
It's so huge I can't even stuff everything in my mouth in one go, and it's so delicious! My most favourite Taiwanese snack~
Drinks around here are very cheap, the most expensive that I can find is only at NT35.
Another famous food in this night market-地瓜球 (sweet potato balls). As mentioned, the line is too darn long~
There's this trend here where they would advertise on 'mobile'. You can find this in any night markets~
Other interesting looking stalls around here:
The most hardcore figurine shop I've ever seen~!
We spent around 4 hours here. If it wasn't because it started to drizzle, I would have wanted to shop longer. After taking a cab back to our hotel, we took a 13 min walk to Carrefour then walked back again~~ saving NT20 in total hehehe... (taxi fares here are not cheap. In Malaysia, they will charge RM2.50 once you enter the cab; here, it starts at NT85, and NT5 for every 1KM)
Day 5
Last day here. We spent the morning at 小人国主题乐园(Little Taiwan) in 桃园 (Tao Yuan).
The whole of Taiwan has been shrunk into miniatures, and some of them are even mobile!
I like this one, the Feline God~^^
We had our best ever lunch here at 蒙古烤肉(Mongolian BBQ), a buffet style + BBQ by the chefs.
We went to 台湾故宫博物院 (Taiwan National Palace Museum) after lunch and spent about an hour there, too bad the place forbids cameras so I didn't shot anything from there...
Of course what is coming to Taipei without visiting Taipei 101? It's something like KLCC, but I think KLCC looks better interior wise.
Since we are boarding at 8.30am the following morning, arrangements were being made for us to stay near the airport in 桃园 (Tao yuan)。So, we're being assigned a mission impossible: to have dinner and shopping in Taiwan's biggest night market,士林夜市(Shilin night market) in one and a half hour's time.
As if we are in the Amazing Race, me and Pin rushed to the must-try of this night market-豪大大鸡排(Hao Da big chicken chop), and it looked as if there were 100 patrons queuing up.
We have to give up and choose another nearby stall, which doesn't look too better off anyway.
This stall sells both chicken chop and 葱饼(spring onion pancakes), so patrons chin chai line up. When it's finally our turn, it was already 30 minutes later. Was it nice? It taste like flour and chicken, bluek.... Pin only managed to consume half the chop and threw the rest away~
this is the 葱饼(spring onion pancakes) I was talking about.
The stall beside us makes the biggest steak I've ever seen, it occupies more than three quarter of the hotplate.
If Feng Jia Night market attracts the biggest crowd, Shilin Night Market has the most variety of stalls. There are a few specialties in Shilin including that big chicken chop, 大饼包小饼 (da bing bao xiao bing), which simply means a deep fried small pancake wrapped in a big pancake with sweet or salty fillings (red bean, green bean, yam, curry,sesame);
蚵煎 (oh jian), 生炒花枝羹 (fried sotong broth),
士林特色大香肠(Shilin big sausage) and 十全排骨汤 (pork ribs soup).
There are also stalls like these famous for being filmed in tv shows or drama series.
Taiwanese can really 卤 (stew) anything.
A nice pet shop with rather cheap pet products near Shilin.
A really cute lounge next to the pet shop, the heart shape rocks sideways~!
Nice uniforms hehe...
We did not even finish 1/5 of Shilin, so dulan!!! our flight was early and that was it for our entire 6 days 5 nights tour, more like a 4 day tour to me -__-
Oh well... remember we bought muachi from 九份 (Jiu Fen)? Here's how much we bought~ I think there are 30 packets here :P
Here's everything I bought~ took me more than an hour to line up everything. I even have to stand on a chair to get everthing in one shot :P
This little fella cost me a bomb. Fyi, it's a 貔貅 (pi xiu), a mytical creature that exorcises evil spirits and attracts fortune. It cost me a freaking NT6888 and best of all, all 6 of us got it , some even got bigger ones at NT 8888 *.* Hopefully I'm gonna kena lottery or at least a career advancement soon!
Anyone of you have a habit of collecting hotel freebies? Well I do! Freebies from 5 different hotels altogether ;)
Next time, i'm not gonna follow tour anymore, I'll choose to backpack solely to Taipei and TaiChung instead, there are so many places being left out in this trip! If not I wouldn't have named this entry as 1/2 wish fulfilled~~
Taiwan, I'll be back in 3 years' time!
