Month: February 2016

Day 2 of our Taiwan adventure and by the look of this blog’s title you can see it’s going to be a long day ahead for us! Just Day 2 and so many places to cover. How are we going to travel? Many of our friends booked personal drivers when they visited Taiwan. For us, we wanted to try taking their public transport. This is the way we want; travelling together with the locals.

西門町 XIMENDING

I mentioned before that Via Hotel is located right smack in the heart of Ximending. Not only it is just 3 mins walk to Ximen Train Station, there are many food carts located nearby in the morning selling light snacks.

Plenty of choices to choose from and the best was they were not expensive at all!

As you can see we did not book a personal driver for the first part of our trip. Apart from saving cost, we really wanted to experience taking their public transport. To us, that’s what experiencing the best of Taiwan is all about.

 

瑞芳 Ruifang

Taipei Main Station is just a stop away from Ximen. We had to switch to Taipei Railway Station to switch to Ruifang station to visit Jiufen.

The train ride was about an hour.

Here we are…outside Ruifang Train Station.

Many taxis are parked outside Ruifang train station. But we are not taking taxi to Jiufen.

You have to know that Taiwanese are very friendly and helpful. We asked a local on the cheapest way to reach Jiufen. She guided us to take a bus. The distance was about 15 mins walk. Along our way, we chanced upon some local eateries and stopped by to snack. This is one of them.

We walked for about 15 mins and finally reached the police station. The bus stop is just next to it.

Remember the “invisible bus stop” is right at this green coloured building. We made a dash to this bus!

You only need to pay when you alight. The bus ride is about 15 mins. 九份 Jiufen is very much a touristy spot. Huge crowds are expected all season round. So watch out for your valuables in crowded places.

九份 Jiufen

We reached, we saw and we were blown away at this sight. 九份 Jiufen is so beautiful!

Food galore. Now you know why we didn’t eat much in the morning. This is why we are here for. Smelly beancurd may not be a liking for many, but we wouldn’t mind to try.

Peanut ice-cream.

This is a popular fish ball noodle stall in Jiufen.

After filling our stomachs, we continued to explore the streets of Jiufen. Taiwan is heavily influenced by Japanese culture. While you are in Jiufen, don’t be surprised to see some shops or streets akin to that of Japanese concept.

This is just the front part of our trip but yet there are so many things to buy!

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We love dogs very much. This trip we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Taiwanese love dogs very much too. Often, we would come across dog-owners bringing their furkids out to do shopping with them.

We reached the top of Jiufen and were amazed at the panoramic sight.

This will surely etched in their memories for a long time to come.

Not forgetting to take a family photo as well 🙂

If you think that’s the end of our Jiufen visit, you are wrong. We made an impromptu walk down the village to explore.

A view of Jiufen from the village.

We explored the tunnel as well.

All of us were tired, not to mention the presence of mosquitoes. It was challenging fending them off. So we will remember to bring mosquito repellent the next time we travel overseas.

Direction: From Taipei, take the train north to Ruifang Station. After exiting the station, cross the street to the bus stop and board the Keelung Transit bus towards Jiufen. The bus trip takes roughly 15 minutes, and the fare is NT$21 during the week, NT$15 during weekends/holiday.

 饒河夜市 Raohe Street Night Market

We walked for up to an hour and were exhausted. We managed to get a taxi to bring us to 饒河街觀光夜市 Raohe Street Night Market. Big and Small M were completely knocked out inside the taxi. We were glad actually as they could catch a short nap before we reached Raohe.

Everyone was crazy with these meat buns. The queue was insane. Good that these buns didn’t strike a chord with us as we don’t like vegetables to be stuffed inside the buns.

But if you really want to try, be prepared to queue up.

I’m a fish fanatics as well. Same goes for Big and Small M.

They enjoyed long-kang fishing here.

Be a fisherman for a day!

This is an interesting sight. Grilling beef in real hot flames.

Yummy squid.

Beef stew for me.

Non-stop eating whole day.

Taiwanese sausages is a must-try for me.

We like Raohe Street Night Market very much because the stalls are very well-organized. While it may not attract so much crowds as Jiufen, the spaciousness of this night market made walking so much easier.

Hello, I love to travel with my humans 🙂

My humans asked me to stay behind to look after the shop.

Plenty of these game stores in Taiwan. Big and Small M were so excited that we could spend an hour here.

Can I buy these?

Let’s make a giant candy floss.

So huge …

五分埔 Wufenpu

Have you been to Thailand Pratunam? Wufenpu is similar as well. Wufenpu is near to Songshan Station. Just 10 mins walk from Raohe Street Night Market, this place is a gigantic outlet that carries literally everything.

This is a apparel shopping haven for everyone. Prices are low and quality, surprisingly (honest), is good! Apparel prices can start as low as NTD $50.

Some of the apparels which were hung in the discounted rack were also of good quality. If you are thinking of a place to shop and stock up your wardrobe, visit Wufenpu.

Yes, we literally shopped till we dropped. It was late and we were the last few passengers in Songshan Station. Do you know that Ximen Station is just 7 stops away from Songshan? Better still, they are in the same green line.

Back to Via Hotel and we had a light snack at the complimentary snack bar.

It’s complimentary 🙂

Sweet dreams. Let’s get ready for Day 3 🙂

Location: Next to Songshan Railway Station

Opening Hours: About 11:00 – 22:00