Taipei, Taiwan Sep 2015
We decided to take a trip to Taipei as we havent been there in a long while.Other than a short 48 hr layover, the last time I was there, was back during R&R military training.
Being pretty much our "first time", we decided to spend the whole time in the Taipei area.
Petals at Changi airport
Eva Air (BR) 777 was fairly old and the seats and partitions look quite worn out.
The legspace was quite adequate, almost as much as KE/OZ Economy.
BR also has a Premier Economy with more legspace and wider seats but they cost a lot more.
Their business class looked really nice with full lie flat.
The IFE was not too bad, easy to navigate with a decent selection of hollywood and asian movies.
I watched "Spy", a comedy on the way to Taipei.
Quite tasty!
BR meals are slightly different in that they have two desserts, a fruit plate and a cake plate.
Most economy meals have either one.
Immigration clearance was rather lengthy as there were many tour groups from China.
It was to be a recurring theme throughout the trip, at major tourist attractions.
Just Sleep hotel, Ximending
The hotel, Just Sleep Ximending, is conveniently located just outside exit 5.Really easy to get to!
The breakfast buffet spread was really good too, with a large selection of Taiwanese and Western options. They seem to rotate the dishes once every two days.
Ximending
Off we went to Ximending, which consists of several blocks full of shopping, restaurants and street food vendors.Petals at Ximending
One of the first stores we came across was Hot Star Large Fried Chicken which is exactly what it is.
A huge piece of fried chicken (which unfortunately isnt boneless).
Really worth trying out!
The weird looking fruit seemed to be White Jade Bitter melon.
I passed... :)
Another popular store was Ah Chung Noodles.
They sell only flour noodles in a braised stew like soup supposedly made with pig internals.
Wasnt to my taste but it was very popular.
More street food!
This 85c chain coffee shop has super good tasting ice coffee!
Ask for their house special with sugar level 3 and prepare to be amazed.
Very similar in taste to Japanese iced coffee in Tokyo.
National Palace Museum
The next day, we took a subway to Shilin station and changed to a bus headed to the famous National Palace Museum.Alight at Shilin station, walk out to the main street, turn right and there is a bus stop.
The buses will display a sign if they are headed to the museum.
This museum houses many rare items from Chinese history and they rotate their exhibits often.
Many many Chinese tourist groups come here, so be prepared to be jammed in like sardines for some exhibits.
You get a discount on the tickets if you are a student.
150 NTD for Students and 250 NTD for normal tickets.
Most of the exhibits prohibit photography due to the rare and old nature of the items so we hardly took any photos.
This was just outside Shilin station.
This store, just next to the roti store, wasn't that good.
Shilin Night Market
It was just a short walk to the famous Shilin Night Market, full of street food and stalls selling all sorts of items.
This grilled beef cube stall is really good! Recommended.
Also recommended!
Jiufen/Shifen/Houtong
Our next destination was to go out of Taipei to the towns of Jiufen/Shifen/Houtong via Ruifang.Ruifang is kind of an interchange for the various towns in this area.
Took a train to Ruifang from Taipei Main Station and from Ruifang, we took the Pingxi line train to Shifen/Houtong and then back again to Ruifang.
Extremely important to get a train schedule or take a photo of the timing.
Another tip is to just get a daypass train ticket for the Pingxi line so u wont have to queue up each time. Might miss out on a train.
As you can see, the Pingxi trains are very crowded.
Shifen
Our first stop was at Shifen, where people could write their wishes on a lantern and send it soaring into the skies. After the hot air (which powers the lantern) goes out, the lantern crash lands in the forests below.
Fun suspension bridge near the railway station
Being on the last station, the train had a longer stop, about 17 mins.
Houtong
There really wasnt anything much to see/do in Jintong so we got back on
the same train and headed to Houtong, which is a "cat town".
The return train from Jintong to Houtong took almost 40 minutes and was super crowded by the time we got to Houtong. Glad we boarded an empty train at Jintong.
Everyone seated was sleeping by the time we reached Houtong. :)
Houtong, despite being a cat town, had very few cats.
It did have a ton of mosquitoes though!
I was wearing shorts and got thoroughly bitten... at least 5 times.
I dont recommend stopping by Houtong, because there really isnt anything much to see.
Ice cream at Houtong cafe while waiting for the return train to Ruifang.
Jinguashi
Back at Ruifang station, we took a bus to Jiufen.
We went out the side gate and couldnt find the bus stop so we asked a shopkeeper who directed us to a distant bus stop. Got there just as our bus pulled away!
So we had to wait around for another 20 minutes.
We could use our Taipei subway cards for bus fare, which was nice.
Our bus driver was a maniac though.
The road up to Jiufen was a windy narrow two-directional mountain road with single lanes in both directions.
The driver was speeding up the road with no regard!
Obviously, he is experienced but it was quite a hairy experience... lol
We didnt stop at Jiufen but went on to Jinguashi, an old mining town and the last stop on the bus route.
Unfortunately, we got there at 6pm where the whole place has already shut down.
So we had to take the next bus back to Jiufen.
Jinguashi had a lot of Japanese influence and a rather dark history during ww2.
Jiufen
We finally made it to Jiufen!
This place was made popular in the Studio Ghibli anime "Spirited Away".
Many many Japanese tourists here.
There are plenty of narrow alleys with shops selling food and souvenirs in Jiufen.
This old style tea house with the pink lanterns was so traditional that they even boil the water using coals!
Quite yummy!
Recommended if u come across it!
The way back to Ruifang station was rough though.
We found our way to a bus station after asking the locals and there was a gigantic long line of people waiting for the buses.
There were also taxi drivers offering 200 NTD per person to drive us into Taipei.
Fortunately, we didnt have to wait long for a Ruifang Station bus.
Seems like most of the people were waiting to catch a bus to Keelung which has a popular night market. Whew!
At Ruifang station, we took the train back to Taipei Main station.
Jiufen is highly recommended, especially so if u can go at night!
Shifen is also quite interesting but the other locations can be skipped if you are short on time.
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