Ready, set, & rumble!
Getting ready to head out cause my friend's dad came by my house to pick me up. Sweet! Not forgetting the night before we set foot in Taiwan, Sandy came by the airport to send me off! How sweet can she gets! <3
Nevertheless, it was a great supper at Popeye before our flight. & talking about the flight, it was my first time on Jetstar and never did I know that we weren't served food at all. I swear I was so thirsty throughout the whole flight that the moment I got off from the flight, I had to get myself a drink!
I love how beautiful morning sunrise is :)
So, first time stepping into Taiwan was definitely an experience when neither of us knows the way to our hotel. This definitely boosts my "thick-skin-ness" cause you had to go around asking strangers for directions. We did that, a lot. It was no joke reaching Taiwan at 6am in the morning, and I had to say we have trouble understanding the routes directed to us on the board given.
Purchased our ticket and off we go to Xi Men Ding, where our hotel is located at!
After a somewhat 45mins bus ride, we finally reached our destination! Not exactly yet because we still gotta take train to Xi Men Ding from the main station.
So if happens your hotel is at Xi Men Ding, here's the route.
Head to the bus interchange at the airport --> Purchased your ticket at counter 7 --> Alight at the last station when you see Taipei Main Station --> Train to Xi Men Ding.
EASY RIGHT! What differs Taipei from Singapore is the issuing of the train ticket. I find it rather amusing cause it uses token instead of card. Love it!
It was 7 in the morning and we're already at Xi Men Ding. What makes it worse is that we only get to check in after 2pm, and we haven't slept for the entire night. Awesome trip but tiring on the first day! Look at the photos below and you'll see for yourself how bad we looked.
Here we are now, at our hotel... AIRLINE INN!
This inn offers excellent service and they suggest places to go etc. I recommend you to stay here if service is your top priority. The room is clean and relatively spacious too. I have no regrets in choosing this hotel.
ENOUGH TALK AND LET'S GET ON TO OUR FIRST MEAL:
Popular place for breakfast! People are queuing up for it and obviously we had to queue to blend in too! Ordered a couple of stuffs to share and I was feeling quite bloated after that. OH, did I say I bump into my inspector when I was here at Taipei? How coincidental can this gets! :D
This is no ordinary Ice Tea where you get from coffee shop. I don't know how do I describe the taste but it was heaven! The best Ice Tea I've ever drank. No joke!
This tasted pretty much average.
This too!
And last but not least, the highlight of our breakfast: Shui Tang Bao!
It was superbly delicious! You ought to get this if you're heading to Taiwan ok! (Now I sound like a tour guide). I wouldn't mind working as one if I'm paid to travel. Hehehe.
And sorry to say, I had to post this up because I've never seen people heading to breakfast with..
Boxer? Ok. I'm fine if it's some normal print boxer, but Despicable Me? For someone his age 25-30? This is definitely a joke. I had hard time snapping ok! I had to act as if I'm snapping other places near him which in fact, he was the main focus of this picture. :p
And so after breakfast, we explored a little at Xi Men Ding and this caught our eyes.
#justforlaugh
If you're wondering where our first stop is, that is the CKS Memorial Hall that can be reached by taking the train to "Zhong Zheng Ji Nian Guan"
It talks about the history of Taiwan and how this building comes about. It's used for performance and where all the kings and emperors (if I remember correctly) enjoy themselves to. Shut up, I know I suck at history! The place looks magnificent though.
The first president in Taiwan!
Oh, and it was pouring heavily when we reached that place. We were somewhat stranded in the building itself, and had to wait for the rain to subside.
But lucky us, we managed to catch the guard exchange duty that happens every hour sharp! Do take note if you wanna witness this event.
And a photo of me with the guard,
This is the bird eye view of the entire place..
Before we left the place, my friend got crazy and suggested to have an ice cream under cold weather. I was freezing after that!
Overall, this place isn't really recommended to go unless you wanna kill some time or learn some history about Taiwan. We were there because we had a couple of hours to kill before returning to the hotel to check in. That is, after our first shopping spree at Taipei MRT.
What makes this MRT special is that it has 2 underground shopping malls that sells variety of items and foods! This part of our trip wasn't planned, but I'm glad we went still! :) Sad to say, no photos were taken because there isn't anything that's worth taking. Still, check out the place if you're there. If I remember correctly, it should be "Taipei Di Xia Jie". Two long stretches of shops.
It was almost 3-4 in the afternoon and we decided to head back to the hotel for a wash-up after getting in the rain etc to prepare for our first OFFICIAL shopping spree that got me splurging: SHILIN NIGHT MARKET!
To get to the night market, take the MRT to Jiantan and it's about a 5 mins walk :)
I had to share this.. The system in the MRT at Taiwan is worth mentioning. Maybe I should send this photo to SMRT.
And this leopard print specs that I bought at the underground mall went missing no more than a day :(
Before we set out for our shopping spree at the night market, below are some of the places that you should go.
After getting changed and washed up, we walk around Xi Men Ding for awhile before heading to the night market.
And again, this plan was uncalled for and we chanced upon this really famous "mian xian" stall in Xi Men Ding. Every day for the 7 days at Taiwan, people are queuing up. We decided to join the queue (as usual) and earned ourselves something that's worth remembering for: The taste of the mian xian was indescribable! YOU MUST TRY THIS IF YOU'RE AT XI MEN DING!
Damn sexcited to visit the night market because not only it is bustling, it sells so many items that Singapore don't have. If only I was a girl, I think I'll spend even more here. Really. I think the ratio of a girl's shop to a guy's shop is 10:1. Sadly.
Bypasses the small little game stall that Singapore's night market has too, and we decided to try our luck.
The bingo game! You get to choose 15 tiles and placed them on the pictures given whichever your tile says. 5 rounds and we haven't got anything from the stall. :(
And this shooting game makes me so upset! We were given around 30 bullets to shoot from and if you successfully shoot and the money drop, it's yours! I got so greedy to aim the NT1000 but I never got it la. Obviously! It was still fun. I LOVE CHEAP THRILLS OKAY!
This is one of the popular night markets you must never miss! It's big, offers great variety of items, and the foods sold here can't be found in Singapore. The entire shopping took us close to 4 hours!
IT'S A MUST GO!
If you're wondering why I haven't post any pictures on our dinner, that's because we were so bloated eating all the junk foods! :) And that concludes our first day in Taiwan. I swear it was a LOOONNNNGGG day considering that we reached Taiwan at 6am in the morning and managed to get to bed only at 12 at night.
And now, get ready for the upcoming trip on Taiwan Trip Day 2! :)
As promised, after the entire 7 days of entries I've posted on my blog, I'll be doing up a little quiz and prizes will be given away. 1 Kiehl's lip balm & 1 Crabtree & Evelyn hand moisturizer will be given away :)
Till then...
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