Taiwan - Day 8: Packing up and ready for home

It's time to go home so we have to pack up and make our way back to Taoyuan International Airport.

The Ironman fad is still on as we pass through the transit area to get some souvenirs before boarding our flight home.

Taiwan's a beautiful place and we'll definitely miss it.  Nice food, beautiful sceneries, and friendly people.  I have friends telling me that I have literally covered half of Taiwan at this trip but we'll see what I can do at the next visit.  Till then, farewell to Taiwan for now.

Taiwan - Day 7 Part 3: Ximending

A Bus 1815 brings us back directly to this place and we
 
This place is also known as the Shinjiku of Taiwan.  Lots of shopping, bright lights, signboards, swanky food, young crowd...you name it.

 

The first thing we have to settle is dinner, so we decided to have something light and warm first.  1st stop, Ah Cong Vermincelli.  The unique thing about this eatery is that stools are provided instead of tables to save space, but most of the time, we just stand and eat with the bowl in our hand. 

 

Dinner was done at Watami (和民わたみ) which served a decent array of food.  The waitress wore a kimono as work attire. 

We had quite a fair wide spread which was not just filling, and also good taste and the service was great.  The waitress who attended to us was very friendly and her name's Siya (思雅）who resembles a friend whom I've lost touch with.

More footwalking after dinner.  Stalls along roadsides with collapsable tables are seen around, selling counterfeit videos who will scoot off when they see an enforcement officer but as soon as the officer on patrol's gone, you can see them "back in business".

There was an artist who caught our attention as he uses weird pieces of card, stencils, lots of spray paint cans and a flame torch to do his work; he was surrounded by many who watch him create a piece of drawing out of a blank sheet.  We can simply choose something we like and pay him via his cash tin right in front as he continues working.  He may be shabby looking but certainly one of those spraypaint artists I have seen in real life. 

Lots of activity done for the day.  A night to wrap up as we are going back tomorrow.

Taiwan - Day 7 Part 2: Yeliu Geopark

Next destination to visit: Yeliu Geological Park which was right at the coasts off the city.

We took the subway to Fuxing station followed by Bus 1815; the whole journey took us almost 2 hours and soon, we found the place to alight as walls were lined with icons of the Queen's Head; a symoblic icon of this scenic area.

As the direction said, we have to walk past a quaint fishing port for about 10 minutes before we reach the entrance of the geopark. 









Coincidentally, there was a couple who were taking their wedding photos there so the fishermen stood by the sides to spectate them.

Soon, we have arrived at the entrance and got our tickets to move in.

The place was like a stony beach filled with interestingly shaped rocks which resemble various things such as chicken thigh, golden slipper, ice cream and the sort.  There are safety lines demarked and workers to remind visitors not to venture past those red lines.

Having soaked heavily with sea breeze, we are done by dinner time so it's time to head back to Taipei for a proper place to sit down for dinner.

Taiwan - Day 7 Part 1: Lim Family Mansion, New Taipei, Yeliu, Ximending,

This place isn't too far away for us.  Just a subway to YongNing station and we can get there by foot.

It's a mansion that was resided by a noble Lim family.  The place indeed is noble, with gardens, lots of halls and a courtyard (the last being a place we couldn't visit due to renovations).  At our visit, there were student excusion groups so we managed to see how the local school teachers bring the students around for such education tours.



















 For those who love such traditional Chinese architecture, there's quite a lot to see in this area.  The only thing we missed around was the courtyard which wasn't ready for viewing.

Next stop, Yeliu Geopark.

Taiwan - Day 6 Part 3: Taipei, Hello Kitty

Dinnertime and the best place for any girl.  Hello Kitty restaurant, which we took a while to search and accidentally went past it.

All the waitresses are dressed up in cute uniforms and they will advise the minimum spending of NT3000 before we decide to dine there.  Since we are here, we might as well go for it as it's also a beautiful place.

 The food is nice though it's a pricey restaurant to be in.  Probably that's why there are much lesser people here.  We had sets and the waitresses are also very helpful.

Literally all the food pieces comes with a hello kitty stamp; such as being moulded into the cat's head shape, printed on or just something related to it.  No wonder this place is such a nice place to hang out; one can just walk all over the place to get snapshots!






















The quantity of the food quite was considerably large too and we sure had a good fill after visiting this place.  Time to head back and plan for the next day.

Taiwan - Day 6 Part 2: Keelung, Jinguashi

Lunchtime and here we are to tuck into local delights.  A meatball soup and noodles were ordered.  Though the noodles may look bland, the way to eat them was to mix them as the ingredients such as seasoning, fried onions are right at the bottom.

A variation of the dessert we had in Shilin Night Market was also available here.

Next stop, Jinguashi which is just a bus ride away.  We caught the bus in time as we popped by 7-11 to get some provisions.

This was previously a mining place hence there are some exhibitions of history and much of the town is preserved.  It was previously occupied by Japanese hence the town retains a flavour of the Japanese architecture.

There is a Japanese house (四連棟) which served as residence of the upper management of the mine.  Considering the age and space constrain, we were told by the guide that only a small group of people can be allowed into the house at one time, as much restoration and preservation work had been done to keep original things in place.  The tour was pretty quick; in less than 10minutes, we are done and out of the house. 



Due to preservation regulations, we could only walk past these exhibited places hence the best we could do was snapping pictures along the way as we walk through fixed pathways.

 
Here's a view from the exit:

Soon, it was time to head back Taipei for dinner.  The sun sets with a beautiful light over the mountains.

Glowing sunrays over Keelung.

Taiwan - Day 6 Part 1: Keelung, Jiufen

A long trip awaits us today.  The big part of the journey was out of Taipei town, a bus ride to Keelung county, which includes places like Jiufen.

The bus ride was about an hour which one can catch either a snoozer on the way or be just like, staying awake and snapping what I can catch along the way.  To board this bus, you'll need to go to the East West bus station operated by Kuo-Kuang Bus company.

This town is actually built along hills so the facade of the hill already revealed quite a handful of buildings of various colours.  Being a more remote area in higher land, the weather is cooler here and we have to keep walking along the pavement, as bus moves on a single lane route both ways.

Inside Jiufen, the place is filled with shops selling souvenirs from food to handicrafts, as well as dining in places.  And it was such coincidence to meet a friend in there too!

Time for lunch before we move on.

Taiwan - Day 5 Part 3: Taipei, Shilin Night Market

We were almost heading towards Taipei 101 but considering the long queue, we decided to give it a pass.

The inside of the building still looks very neat, clean and comfortable.

Next destination was Shilin Night Market.  Upon reaching the station, we could see at the entrance of the night market is really crowded.  It's all about eating here; lots of street food which are popular and nothing identical found in Singapore.






There's even a fermented beancurd stuffed sausage so you can literally smell it after biting and carrying it around.  However, there's too much fatty meat inside so the sausage didn't taste too nice.

We found a nice place to sit down for some fried oyster; a small serving and tastes just as great.  Street food here are considerably cheap and nice too at this night market.

Our final stop before heading back was at a dessert store which comes with a mixture of flour cakes, beancurd chilled with ice.  We sure had ate and seen quite a fair bit today.

By the time we reached our hotel, it was already near midnight.  Time to plan for the next day.

Taiwan - Day 5 Part 2: Taipei

After about an hourish HSR ride, we are here in Taipei.  It's much more crowded compared to the places we have visited on the first half of the trip.

 It's definitely quite windy outside!  Lugging the luggage along does have some challenge as the wind sweeps hard.  The sun is still up but it's pretty cooling as compared to Kaohsiung.

Lodging is about 5 - 10mins walk from the subway station.  Since Taipei being the cosmopolitan area of the country, it's pretty well-connected so we managed to get a 3-day pass for getting around for unlimited rides during this period of stay.

Since we are here at Taipei, we decided to visit
Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall which a subway is located just beside it.  As a national holiday was just over, tents could be seen around the area. 







We were there at the right time as it was the flag lowering ceremony by the CKS Guards dressed in white.  When they marched out of the hall down to the flagpost, many people surrounded them including myself, to get their shot while there were designated to guard their march route.

After the flag lowering ceremony, the sky has turned dark and it's time to head to the city area.

Taiwan - Day 5 Part 1: Kaohsiung, Yellow Duck

This morning we'll be visiting the Yellow Duck which stands at 40 feet high.  It's a couple of subway stations away from where we put up.

A simple breakfast before heading off.

Being a touristy spot, stalls are strewn around this attraction so we found a place to sit down to eat after getting enough shots.

As we had to catch a train to Taipei, it's soon time to bid my godsis goodbye before we headed back to grab our stuff, some food and taking the northbound HSR to Taipei.

Taiwan - Day 4 Part 2: Kaohsiung, Anping

We've arranged to meet my godsis here who is a local.  Been many years since we've met after her visit to Singapore a couple of years back.

Kaohsiung's pretty crowded and with the change in temperature by 20 degrees upwards, I have to get acclimatised quickly.

Finally met up with my godsis after a long journey and many years of discussion on visiting Taiwan!  We went to a stall nearby which serves fried pancakes that consisted of different flavors, and it also was beside her schoolmate's drink stall.

After food, we went to Anping, with her help of a friend who was going by that area, we hitched a ride that brought us to Anping, a historical fortress that watches the coasts of this area.

This tower wasn't something easy to go by as it was a one-human wide stairway up to about 4 storeys high.

There's really alot to see and do here, especially the local food; nice and cheap.

Desserts at a local beancurd stall with lots of variation.  We had a bun which wasn't like any regular buns - filled with vegetables, salted eggs, mushrooms on top of the primary pork filling.

 

Another place to explore was a soup stall which had ample seating with fried meatballs.

 Certainly alot ate this evening before we caught a cab back to our hotel.