Invictus: Taiwan

Day 4: Move out from Tai Chung and Arrive in Taipei (29 Dec)

We stayed at an Airbnb accom in Zhong Shan District. It was only towards the end of our trip that we learnt from variety shows/taxi uncle that further from our area is the red light district of Taipei lol that explains the number of pubs that situate nearby our accom...

I would say if you are traveling in group of girls and are afraid of such... do avoid this area. Otherwise, if you are traveling with your guy partner or family, I think it should be fine!

Though our accommodation is about 10minutes walk from the station, there are a lot of food stalls, marts and shopping mall along the way! Very convenient I would say :)

Moreover, the place we stayed is also near a super artsy compound that not many bloggers blog about! Have you heard from the Huashan 1914 park? #daebakartsy

💢Link: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/15595535

After we settled down in Taipei, we dedicated this day to shop around in Ximending and we had our early dinner at 肥前屋. damn nice unagi bento omg 😋

Lol just realised that we took this photo after finishing those fatty unagis 😛

Store front!

Yummy food at Ximending!

Try this sparkling and glittery drink! its so popular in Taiwan!

Must try 起司马铃薯!!

Night Market Street Food to Try in Taipei!

1) Cheese Potato 起司马铃薯

2) Fried Chicken!! 炸鸡排

3) Ah Zong Mee Sua 面线

4) Beef cubes 牛肉块

5) Papaya milk - DAMN SMOOTH N NICE! 木瓜牛奶

6) Glittery Drink

7) Bubble Tea 珍珠奶茶

8) Big Sausage wrap small sausage (lol the direct translation) 大肠包小肠

9) Braised Meat Rice 卤肉饭

10) Oyster Omelette

(should have more items but thats all I can recall for now)

Day 5: Jiufen Old Street and Rao He Night Market (30 Dec)

Walau I tell you, havoc day seriously... We totally underestimated the jam and crowd coming here... Both of us went out late morning as usual cos we wanted it to be relaxing kinda trip.

So, Miss Blur here decided to travel down by bus entirely. So we took bus nearby our accommodation to Zhong Xiao Fu Xing station bus stop, it took us awhile waiting for this bus... Then, when we reached the station bus stop, we still got to walk abit of distance to the KeeLung Bus stop to take that Bus1062 directly to Jiufen... Apparently, no bus stopped by because those buses were already filled with passengers. We waited for like an hour under the cold weather along the roadside. Damnnnnnnnn 😠😩

Haohao concluded that we should just take train... And so we made our way to the nearest station and train down to RuiFang station instead. When we finally reached Ruifang it was already like 3pm, definitely can't clear both jiufen and shifen... So we had to sacrifice 1 place in our itinerary which is shifen as we had went to Tai An railway in Taichung... same same la 😔😣

In Ruifang station, its crowded with tourists and tour group. We thought we could just board bus at the station bus stop but a few kind local aunties and uncles told us that we had to walk further down about another 200m to the correct bus stop to Jiufen.

Cut the story short, we boarded the bus. Stood all the way. And I thought it's gonna be a smooth ride. nah... it's traveling up the mountain. and JAM! JAM! JAM!!! Cos its just one lane route up and another lane down the mountain...

so many tourist/locals on board requested to walk up to Jiufen old street at a point, so we alighted as well since it's faster to walk up from there.

While walking up, we arrive at this view!

At the entrance of the Jiufen old street! filled with humans

Going back was a havoc again... Never come to jiufen during the peak season otherwise risk getting home late and wait till your legs turn jelly

The serene part of Jiufen, away from the mad tourist crowd

lol

After finally boarding the bus back to one of the Taipei station, we felt relieved. But actually on the bus, we had an internal Cold War. Couples do fight. Then we gave in, said sorry, and mum mum (baby language of eating food) again!

At Raohe Night Market!

Must try if you are in Raohe Night market! This stall is located near the entrance so very easy to spot! Always long queue haha but I forgot the name of this stall though... I think its something like pepper meat bun?

Or if you fancy some cutsy and sweet stuff, here's a minion for you! garnered quite a few eyes on this minion candy floss lol

Day 6: Countdown to New Year at Taipei 101 (31 Dec)

As we expected a huge crowd, we came really early to chope our seats on the floor. But really no point for us cos we weren't really prepared for that massive push from the back when the concert started. People only started to stream in like 7pm... and we were there since 4pm... Some concert goers are really prepared for the fireworks and concert, having their own 2 x tripod stands to capture both sides. Some prepared foldable chair for seating and standing when required.

Some of the artists we saw:

Alin

Li Jia Wei 李佳薇

911玖壹壹

Kai Le (formerly known as "Sister Butterfly 蝴蝶姐姐")

Amber An 安心亚

Day 7: New Year Gongyo and Shilin Night Market (1 Jan)

Our accommodation is also very near to our Soka Kaikan in Zhong Shan! Not the HQ though but at least we could do our new year gongyo there :) and get some souvenirs.

We met a nice YMD leader there who brought us around the kaikan and book shop!

Shihlin Night Market after kaikan tour!

Must try there Devil Fried Chicken! Apparently, there's an angel fried chicken store too! Devil vs Angel 😍

Must try their Oyster Omelette too!

Day 8: Hua Shan 1914 Creative Park and Taipei 101 Starbucks (2 Jan)

You should really visit this park. Its really beautiful :)

At team lab studio.

After touring, taking photo, buying souvenirs in Hua Shan park, we headed to Taipei 101 for our Starbucks at level 35!

Details:

Starbucks Taipei 101
35F., No.7, Sec. 5, Xinyi Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City 110
Tel: +886 2 8101 0701
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 6:30pm (Mon – Fri), 9:00am – 6:00pm (Sat – Sun)

Some Tips:

1) Enter by their office building, not the shopping mall side

2) You need to call at least one day in advance. But always try couple of days in advance.

3) The reservation will be made in mandarin. If you can't speak mandarin well, please seek for assistance.

4) IMPORTANT: You may not get through during your first call. They are not office bound customer service officer who receives call full time. They are Starbucks Taipei 101 branch worker. Sometimes they could be baristas, or cashiers. Try calling in the morning when they first operate, technically that should be the lull timing. Cos when they receive office customers or outsider customers they will get busy.

5) If you read enough blog posts, they used to issue cards through the level 1 kiosks, but no longer.

6) You have to spend at least NTD 200 per customer. You can get cake and drink!

7) Time limit inside this Starbucks store is 90 minutes after which, 1 Starbucks worker will direct everyone inside this outlet to level 1.

8) Dress code: No slippers or shorts. The Starbucks worker will inform you of this when you make the reservation.

9) Try to get into the lift last so you will be the first to get the window seats. Even if you can't, no worries, there are quite many window seats and you could get to those seats when people leave :)

After Starbucks, we went around Taipei 101 and malls nearby.

And this marks the end of our Taiwan trip! Definitely coming back again to tour other places!

Cheers!

DAY 1: ARRIVE IN TAIPEI

Haohao and I decided to celebrate the new year at Taiwan! As usual, aunty Elaine will try to look out for flight good deals lol but... the period (26 Dec to 3 Jan) which we are going is really the peak peak so we only managed to book flights with Eva Air at $728.80

Pokemon at Changi Airport!

Upon reaching Taoyuan International Airport, we took the Ubus to the Tao Yuan THSR station. HSR all the way to Tai Chung.

After reaching Tai Chung THSR station, we walked to the Xin Wuri Train station where we can take the Train to TaiChung Train Station where our hotel located nearby! We stayed at CityInn Plus Tai Chung Hotel.

DAY 2: DAY TRIP IN TAICHUNG

Took me awhile to persuade this little fatty that it's worth it to hire a cabby lol cos there are simply too many pretty places to go in Tai Chung. To be honest, 1 day might not even be enough but we just wanna save up.

Places: Rainbow village, Bike, Tai'an old railway station, Zhong She Hua Shi, Gaomei wetlands

Other place didn't go to: Xin She Castle, Lavender Cottage

First Stop: Rainbow Village

It is a small village, and there's a carpark nearby full of cars and tour buses. I think you are still able to hail a cab here.

Second Stop: Hou Feng Steel Frame Bridge / Longest Tunnel (2km)

Riding the bicycle across this bridge is quite scary for me cos Im not a very skilled cyclist... And sometime we got to let others go... In fact, as I was familiarising myself with the bike from the kiosk leading up to the bridge, I had a few hiccups riding the bike such as when another cyclist needed to pass by me, I tried to give way but I couldn't control the bike lol then I got scolded :X

Third Stop: Tai'an Old Railway Station

Such rebellious kid I am. Crossing the rail road when it is cautioned not to. kidding la. This is an abandoned railway station which is quite scenic and reek of ancient feels... probably a good thing that there isn't many tourists around :) don't be worried with anyone photobombing you lol

Just take the example of the Tanjong Pagar railway station. It only opens when officially announced or usually during public holidays, then a lot of people crowd around the railway that you can't really take a nice photo.

Fourth Stop: Zhong She Hua Shi

We tried to rush here in time before the skies turn too dark to take any pretty pictures. To be honest, having seen pictures of my friends in this flower field, I thought it bigger but ok lah... maybe I imagined too much lol

Fifth Stop: Gaomei Wetlands

THE. WIND. IS. CRAZY. IS. MAD.

SERIOUSLY MAD.

Was just standing at the slightly elevated "bench"(?) we could totally fly away.... see the photo below... Haohao can't even open his eyes.

So this Haohao wants to challenge the wind, and asked me if wanna walk on the wooden pavement that leads into the wetland 😒. which means more wind.

There are people (1 or 2 only) managed to reach the furthest point away from the land, those guys aren't even standing straight... their body is like Michael Jackson dancing to the Smooth Criminal. Slanted body against the strong wind. 😐

We only made it through till the half way mark. And, we can't stand properly. I took a video of that, but I was so so scared that my phone will be blown away. And my saliva just flew out of my mouth without any control. Eww but real. 😓