PART 2. TEN DAYS IN TAIWAN. 260313-040413

PART 2. TAIWAN ahahahha. OPPSS this is kind of lengthy and again super delayeddd..

Day 6: We woke up really late that day and didnt follow the itinerary that cousin's gf planned. Instead, we went to places we want to check out. First stop was Chiang Kia-Shek Memorial Hall. It looked cool from the outside when we passed by the day before. There is this big statue of Chiang Kia-Shek guarded by soldiers or guards. We wanted to see the ceremony where they would change the guards, its an hourly thing, so we waited for another half an hour. This means, Candy Crush break! Overheard some tour guides telling their people to stand where where where, to get a better view blablabla so we automatically stationed ourselves in front, yay. BUT the people behind just keep pushing. Mostly the prc. *roll eyes*

Next up, Maokong Gondola! Trained to Taipei Zoo. Advertisements about Maokong was everywhere so we decided to give it a try! It was quite scary, when we first saw the actual thing. its like cable car with GLASS floor. We chose the crystal cabin. The cable car route was actually quite steep. We just kept shouting until we got used to it but it was still shaky at times. Tried standing but had the it-is-not-safe feeling.. Sat down immediately. Nonetheless, we went all the way up to Maokong Station. Superduper Cold. Bro and cousin wore slippers, and they literally jumped around. We headed to their famous tea house for late lunch! Stayed there till the sky turned dark. Chose the regular cabin when we headed back, as it was so dark and we would not be able to see anything anyway. Furthermore the queue for regular cabin was so much shorter. Nightmarkets all the way after that again!!

It was about 30 plus min to Maokong station? (i forgot) Its was quite a long ride.

Day 7: Woke up early to catch the train to Shifen. Went to the breakfast shop 早餐店 (i translated directly) to get breakfast before boarding the train. Long train ride. Shi fen was supposedly a place where 那些年 filmed the sky lantern scene, which i don't remember... Heard about the waterfall, was suppose to be walking distance but it was like quite a long walk eh.. Anyway, the waterfall was 'woah'! Worth walking. 

Rainbow Rainbow Rainbow!

Then i tried tossing my coin into those boxes, but none went in, i used most of my coins but still fail. Bro and cousin got theirs in. But im still happy, i tired hor. 

Played balancing, balanced on the train track, first to fall eats smelly tofu! BRO fell first, phew. Cousin's gf love smelly tofu though! Balanced and balanced only to realise that we headed towards the wrong direction and had to walk back, so we hailed the cab to bring us back to the train station instead.

Sky lantern!!! Each colour on the lantern represents something. I think ours was (Fortune, Studies, Bright future and Good health) Scribbled wishes and blablabla! Took pictures and sent the lantern up! :)

 Trained and cabbed to Jiufen after that, it was so foggy and there was no view at all (supposed to be really nice), but its OK, many good food there like the pastries, and stuff bring back to sg ! Bought the doremon drink because it looked cute, even though i didn't like the drink.

 

HEHE, Trained back to Taipei comfortably for the 2 hour Steamboat Buffet we booked earlier! Haagen-dazs ice-cream, and prawns shabu shabu crab everything was superb, i ate many many!!! Love it so much!! 2 hours is a little too short though. Night markets a little before heading back to rest!

Day 8: Woke up at 9 plus cabbed to the train station, to catch the train to Yilan. Bought our bento before boarding! BUT our tickets are seat-less. Meaning we got to stand or find a seat that is not ours, which is difficult la.. The thing is, the train ride is freaking 1 or 2 hours plus. Cant stand any longer, found a random metal thingy, sat on it and slept. How pig was that. It was super uncomfortable. Bro borrowed my clip to pin the curtains up so that he could see the scenery. He dozed of later also, another pig, Finally, we reached Yilan, cousie woke us up, backache all the way. Alighted quickly, and only realise my clip was still on the train after a long long time, so im butterfly clip-less for the rest of the trip. Nvm, super late, rushing for the ferry, so we cabbed to the harbor. Cabs in Yilan charges 4 to 5 dollars for just short distances, considered ex..... Reached the harbor to find out that there's no ferry going out, the auntie said that it was because of the bad weather... Was supposed to go out to the ocean or sea to see the dolphins and whales, so it is kind of dangerous with the bad weather.... SUPER SAD. 

The whole morning was wasted like that!!! (I will be back in Taiwan for the dolphins and whales!!!) So we went to see what else Yilan has. Walked around like lost kids. There's this museum, doesn't seem interesting. Then we decided to cab back to the train station. Otw back, we asked the cab driver for any interesting places in Yilan, and his reply was, "there's nothing fun here." LITERALLY LOL! But we knew about this famous night market that opens at 6, BUT we cant stay in there any longer. Bought train tix back to Taipei. Bought food again before the boarding time. And we found some old man selling good food (forget what was the name of it though) NEXT, Taipei 101 observatory tower, FOGGY. -,- super suey. So we went to Dazzling x Hello kitty for tea.

 Their honey toast are superb! They are famous for that if im not wrong. Booked a seat and went shopping first and got back to eat later, ordered the bannaa icecream honey toast it was heavenly!! Left one of the shopping bags in the cafe.. Went back for it, luckily it was still there. Went up Taipei 101 despite the fog, as it was a lot better than it was in the afternoon because of the night lights, so yup we went up, and night markets we go! WHAT A DAY.

This helps to explain the view that we are facing. Like what is in that direction blablabla.

This was in the lift, the lift was really fast.

Day 9: It was the last day in Taipei! We woke up at 12 plus and left for lunch only at 2 plus. Last day of Ru Rou Fan, some very nice cheap, 50 cents, per bowl, minced meat rice! Never did we give up about dolphins and whales. Cousin's gf called Hualien's company, and they said they will be sailing out! They will sail out at 3 plus. The auntie asked where were we and we said were in Taipei HAHAHA, impossible to be in Hualien within 1 hour. HAHAHAH, let it go. So we went YangMingShan! Trained to Beitou station and took the bus up to YangMingShan. It was rather long and bumpy, but i slept throughout so no worries. Reached and ya, bird eye view of Taipei downtown. And then, all the greenery. 

Cause we are kind of late so it was evening already. Queued for the bus to go back to the mrt station. But bro saw this Xiao you keng (Volcano thing) on the map and wanted to check it out. We couldn't figure out the way there, so cousie suggested to hail a cab, its easier. The cab uncle say its gonna be late, so he said, 1000 which is 40 sing dollars to go up and sent us down to Beitou station.  Agreed cause we wanted to see the volcano thingy, so the cab uncle drove us up, stopped and waited for us then bring us down to the mrt station. He was really nice, slowed down when we wanted to see the scenery and waited for us while we walked about. We thought that 40 was kind of expensive, but only realised later, that it was cheaper than if the cab uncle was to charge by meter. First time seeing this! Xiao you keng was a post-volcanic geological landscape area. I don't think it's active alr, i forgot what the cab uncle say. Oh it was really smelly because of the smell of the sulfur, eee. Oh ya the hot spring places were also nearby, in this area.

Gummies gummies bought many many!

So we went to all the nighmarkets one last time to get what we want and food! I liked Rouhe, shida and shilin nighmarket the best! Then bro went to meet his friends (who also came to tw) in the club and we headed back to the hotel first. We went to get food for supper and i went over to cousin's room cause i will be alone. So we ate supper in his room, love the cup noodles and fried chicken. I went back at around 2 plus and waited for the bro to be back cause i needa open the door for him, bathed and watched the tv before he's back and yep packed our luggage and sleep!

Day 10: Cousin booked the taxi a few days before, this auntie which we find cool, she drive like a man. I don't know how to describe though.We got her name card that day when she sent us back from the nightmarkets to the hotel. Got her to drive us to the airport that morning, she was early, waiting for us at 11am. And yeap, checked out and home sweet home.Tiger airways.

Reached sg, we cabbed home, and met out for dinner after throwing our luggage home. AND ya! 

Its a fruitful and fun 10 days, and hopefully there's more to come! I LOVE TAIWAN! muacks*