Taipei 台北, Taiwan (November 2016)

12 November 2016 (Saturday)

Short 4D3N trip to Taipei with my mum and sis! Just a weekend get-away I guess. About 3.5 years since the time I first went to Taiwan. This trip really gave me a different outlook and feel for Taipei. Probably cause we just spent the full 4 days here. So we stayed in a hotel called Go Sleep Xining which was not very easy to find but afterwards we found it to be really convenient! It wasn't that wow but yeah just enough for you to sleep and comfortable enough I guess.

Yong He Dou Jiang Ximending 永和豆漿

The China version of 豆浆 scared me but after drinking this is was so so so so so gooooood! Ended up coming here to get it again. The queue can get really crazy but lucky us for getting seats during the times we came! 豆浆油条 is such a good combination. Hahahah.

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Probably didn't expect much from a typical tourist place but damn the place was quite scenic even though it was in the middle of the city! After climbing up to the Memorial Hall, I looked back and see the entire view from the top and wow I didn't expect to see a different thing altogether. It's like how things don't look that good at first but after looking from it in another viewpoint you'll see a different side to it!

This mee sua as usual cannot beat the one I love!

Went to the same old CD shop at Ximending at its opening time! It's still here, not sure how long it would last though. Managed to get my albums but there were only one of each left.

Shida Night Market 師大夜市

Didn't really visit Taipei night markets during my first time so this time we just went to all the highly raved night market! Each night market has their different good points.

Ximending

Our hotel's at Ximending so we practically spend everyday around here hahaha. So bored of it.

I love this 芒果冰沙 so much!! It's from the store somewhere opposite the overrated Ah-Chung Mee Sua.

13 November 2016 (Sunday)

Chun Lai Mee Sua

Okay so this is the Mee Sua I was talking about during my previous trip here that's so much better than Ah-Chung!!! It's at Wufenpu (Houshanpi) though. Came here twice just to eat Mee Sua but I didn't go to Wufenpu this time at all hahaha. If I'm not wrong their Bazhang is not bad too, but I don't eat Bazhang.

Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall

This memorial hall is bigger but it didn't really wow me though. I preferred the other one which felt more calming. Hahaha. But we stayed to watch the changing of guards here. Was really curious to see them finally move! Since we were only about 10-15minutes before they change the guard so we just stayed to watch from the second floor! I think we went to another shopping district before going here and we walked from there to here but I forgot what was it called... The Eslite Bookstore and SOGO area.

Walked to the Taipei 101 afterwards because I want to go to a particular Art Exhibition that was only held for 4 days and coincidentally the 4 days that I'm in Taipei!! It wasn't that easy to find the place though but managed to find it in the end! It was so worth it even though the ticket cost about SGD15. Anyway we were so hungry and Haidilao was so crowded and the other resutarants too so we ended up at this Ramen store cause we couldn't wait anymore...

There were so many interesting stuff at the art exhibition. It was worth it. Love gaining new insights to things through all my trips or outings even in my own country.

Elephant Mountain 象山 

Walked all the way to Xiang Shan after that... Okay so we didn't stop walking since about noon!? After arriving at the memorial hall we just continued walking and walking following my google map HAHAHA. It was a little crazy. Anyway I climbed all the way up and I almost died! Plus there were so many people so it was such a stressful climb :'( The skies were pinkish and it was beautiful but I almost died and of thirst too cause I had no water. My mum and sis didn't continue after like 1/4 of the climb up and I couldn't take it but I still kept continuing. HAHAHA. It took me about 30 minutes. Okay it's not very worth it because there were so many people but the scenery was good and free, since you can see Taipei 101 from there. By the time I went back down, the skies were already dark and it started to get cold and windy...

14 November 2016 (Monday)

Beitou

It was a rather hot day and we went to Beitou 'cause my sister wanted to go there but I kept whining cause it was hot. It was a monday so the museum and thermal valley wasn't open... Just walked around there and then went back after about 2 hours plus. We had lunch at some noodle store there as well... The best part of this trip is probably the train station! HAHA. Okay maybe it's only a good idea to come here during the cold weather since it's famous for its hot spring.

Chia Te

The legendary famous Pineapple Tart store!? So we headed to this place and queue to go in... Bought lots of boxes for souvenir back hahahaha.

Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

Okay so apparently this is the must go night market which I never been to before. Wow it was really huge. I love the Mala Balls & Fried Milk so much!! I even bought the balls twice hahaha. As nice as the Hongkong 魚蛋. Okay they are about the same thing. Yes I don't have to go to Hongkong for it anymore, I can have it in Taiwan hahahaha. Other than the food street I guess there's nothing worthy at Shilin.

Ximending

After going back to the hotel to rest for a little while, we headed for a foot massage. I had both foot and shoulder massage. Damn it felt so good!? Better than all the massages I had in Vietnam.

15 November 2016 (Tuesday)

Last day in Taipei! So other than walking around Ximending, we headed to have Din Tai Fung! Didn't go to the main branch this time. I think we went to the one at Zhongxiaofuxing? I remember coming here before when we came back from Jiufen and the bus stopped us somewhere around here! This time we spent some time exploring the area while waiting for the DTF which was about a 45 minutes wait.

Huashan 1914 Creative Park

Didn't really know where to go anymore on the last day so I just decided to go to the Huashan 1914 Creative Park and walked around there. The place was really cool and it looked so vintage. I went to the Vogue Exhibition and it was quite a good one! Especially when I recognise all the Vogue Taiwan celebrities! HAHA.

The hotel called for us a car to bring us to the Airport and upon arriving at the airport it was so cold!!! The temperature dropped drastically as I was about to leave. Woohoo -.- Anyway upon arriving in Singapore's airport, we had to take a bus 'cause there was no space for the plane to park... HAHA.

This trip was really a good one though. Ate enough, shopped enough and I've seen plenty of things that I wanted to see. All the artsy stuff that I went was worth it too, they were all really interesting. Taiwan streets always gives me a kind of calming feel unlike the streets of Hong Kong that always make me feel like I'm in a rush and hectic area.