Taiwan Trip 07 - Taipei (part 1)

7th September
Yeah! Taipei!
Check out this hotel that we stayed in while we were in Taipei:


It’s basically a boutique hotel called Hotel 73 (新尚旅店) located at No. 73 Sec. 2 Sinyi Rd. Jhong Jheng district (100台北市信義路二段73號) where you stepped in to find a “stylo-milo” lobby greeting you. For free internet access, you just need to head over to the Mac at the lobby any time. Out of the many rooms it offered, there were 9 designer suites for you to choose from as well. If you check-in during the of-peak season, it would cost you NT$2100 (less than S$105) per night for a 2-person suite. :P

We were unlucky on the first night as all the designer rooms were taken and we had to put up in the classic deluxe room (designer rooms were dependant on availability). But lucky for us, someone checked out the next day and the hotel staff helped us with the shift. For the record, we didn’t stay in the “fish-themed” room as it wasn’t available then. We stayed in the other where’s there’s cityscape design instead :)

There wasn’t any time to lose so we headed for Wu Fen Pu (五分埔) almost immediately after check-in! To put it simply, it’s a shopping paradise for girls as it’s basically an area made up of a few streets of wholesale clothing and accessories. If you arrived at this area at the right time (for us, it was during the summer sale), you could get tops as cheap as S$4 and Japan imports between S$15 to S$40 as well! :P

Imagine. I’m usually done shopping within an hour or two. But with Wu Fen Pu, it simply wasn’t enough! I’d spent approx. 6 hours before beating a retreat and went back for another 3 hours the next day just to make sure that I didn’t miss out anything!

But sorry guys! There were only a handful of shops dedicated for guys. But if you search closely enough between lanes, you could actually stumble upon some shops that imported clothing from Japan – cool and stylish. However, don’t expect the price for guys’ clothing to be as cheap as those for girls. The price was usually reasonable. And when we talk about a top for guy, it usually ranged about S$20 and above.

For guys who were forced to accompany girlfriends there, just keep a look out for the street food/ snack vendors and the following drink station (my favourite) where cheap but good food and drinks can be found!



And for the gluttons out there, you could just head over to the nearby RaoHe Night Market (饒河夜市), opposite the Songshan train station (松山車站), for some delicious yet cheap snacks and food! Plus, if you were lucky enough, you could bump into some small street stalls selling exotic animals as pets. For the record, you could find yourself marvel at piglets, tarantulas, huge beetles, lizards and etc…

For us, we bumped into this guy who was queuing up to get some delicacies with his pet – but I have absolutely no idea what’s this creature! Do you?


Other must try food at RaoHe included Hu Jiao Bing (it might look small but it was extremely filling) and the ice desserts!


8th September
Morning… got ourselves some Mister Donut (yummy :) ) and headed to the nearby bus terminal or the bus to Yeliu Cape (野柳地質公園) for a date with mother nature. The journey from Taipei to Yeliu Cape took approx 2 hours…



It was there that Tuk fell on the slippery rocks and almost hurt himself in a bid to save his EXPENSIVE camera. With his khakis dirtied with patches of mud and a strong desire for food after spending more than 3 hours at the location, we headed for Jiufen (九份).

The place’s situated at the top of the mountains and the easiest way to get there was to actually take a train to Re Fang Station (瑞芳) and a free feeder bus afterwards. Tuk was fascinated with the old streets and the mountain top view…



While you were there, do try out the stalls featured above, especially the fish ball stall. Trust me, it’s simply the best fishballs (and the biggest) I’ve ever tasted. It’s simply mouth-watering and sure to make you crave for more!

Another must try dish would be the following dessert:





To be continued…

Taiwan Trip 07 - Yilan

5th September
Any idea why Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (中正国际机场) was renamed as Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (台湾桃园国际机场), but it wasn’t reflected on our air tickets? For a moment, I was confused. Were there 2 airports in Taiwan? Nay. It’s referring to the same one. The reason for the renaming? Political sentiments.

Anyways, it was a battle between the train and the long-distance bus. To take or not to take? That’s the question that bugged us once we reached Taiwan.

Tuk picked up his phone and called the homestay owner.
She was surprised that we really turned up.
Well, you see… the homestay’s newly opened and she had been receiving the locals only to date.

Took her advice to take the train instead. But in order for us to take the train, we need to first get to Taipei Main station (台北車站) via a bus service (which you need to pay) from the airport (which is based in Taoyuan). The journey took us approx. 45mins. Man… we were starving and freezing cold in the noisy bus as it made its way through the wet night amidst busy traffic.

Finally! Taipei Main station…



For first time travelers to Taiwan, it’s important to note that there are different categories of railway trains. If you choose the wrong one, you either end up missing a lot of sceneries or you end up spending 3x the time to travel from one place to another.

普快車 – The slowest in the category
復興號/區間車
莒光號
自強號 – The fastest in the category if you don’t include the bullet train.

For us, we took the earliest possible train (區間車). While waiting for the train to come, we headed to 7-11 to grab bentos! Oh! Do bring your bento instead of buying on the train as it is slightly more expensive if you buy on board. Or worse still, the train you took does not offer bento (which happens most of the time)!

Here’s the bento we bought. Doesn’t look very appetizing but you will be surprised that it turned out pretty delicious!



The journey took us approx. 2 hours, from Taipei to Jiao Si 礁溪 (Yilan). The homestay owner was very kind to come pick us up at the station. Knowing that we were starving (despite having the bentos 2 hrs before), she actually went the extra mile to fry some nuggets, made us some hot tea and gave us a big plate of watermelons to munch on!

For the record, we are paying less than S$50 per person, per night for a stay in a place that offers great service and different theme rooms:



Let me see… you get a really huge bed, nice cable TV, great service PLUS your very own personal hot spring bathroom! Shiok man! Yippeee!!! :P

Too bad we had to vacate this room the next day for another theme room which is less “fairytale-like”. But no worries, we still have our own personal hot spring bathroom!


6th September
Headed down to the living room the next morning and a delicious, healthy and extremely fresh breakfast awaited us!



Couldn’t resist to take some “MTV” shots… well… some of these were taken in the rooms the night before though. :P




But who was to know that drama was to unfold…

We’d spent more than 2 hours traveling up and down via railway to get to Tuk’s nature reserve only to realize that the only way to reach the place is to take a cab… which will cost us more than S$50 because of the distance. In the end, we dragged ourselves back to the train station and switched plans to head to another county in Yilan… Luo Dong 羅東.

It’s here where we discovered a wonderful mountain top café cum restaurant. But be warned… most of us can only afford to go for its high tea session (pricing’s about the same as NYDC). Set dinner with steak will cost you a bomb at approx S$60 per person. This café is also well-know amongst the locals and they usually refer it as one of the high-class eateries. So play it down you are only going there for the tea session which is not that expensive... so that you won't be left in a situation that your money got swindled unknowingly. The only way up and down is to take the local cab which will cost you approx. NT$250-300 (not more than S$15) per trip.

Too bad it was drizzling the whole day. Strange. It’s summer. It’s not supposed to rain that much. Even the locals lamented about the weather. But the view was still stunning and the tea session was great. The service was fantastic too.

Before we even stepped out of the cab, one of the waitresses actually walked out into the rain with an umbrella to chaperon us into the café! The environment’s quiet and peaceful as you overlook the mountains and the tea fields… ahhhh~ paradise… Want to order or call for service? Do so via the wireless tencard cum service bell… made you go “walao… damn hi-tech”.



Oh!!! The fries! The fries! How could I even forget that! It’s the first time in my life that the moment you bit into the fries, it’s so crispy (yet not oily) that you hear it crisped inside your mouth! :P

Oh! The rose tea too! Simply wonderful and fragrant. So far I haven’t tasted anything close to that in Singapore. Over here, I need to add a lot of sugar and rose petals just to achieve the same effect.

After spending more than 2 hours there, we decided to make our way down to the famous Luo Dong Night Market before it got too dark.

The rain never stopped. It just kept drizzling. But it didn’t dampen our excitement to tour around the night market and had our hands on the different street gourmet. Too bad I was still feeling sick. There’s a lot of dishes I couldn’t eat. For instance, the well known goat soup…

After much deliberation, decided to have some icy desserts with Tuk. I wasn’t supposed to eat that but after much thoughts about what Tuk had ‘sacrificed’ over the days on the food he would’ve luv to try but couldn’t because I wasn’t allowed to, I took a gamble.



And I lost. Terribly.

Imagine. It’s cold and the streets were wet. People jostled against one another and you had to dodge the umbrellas. Amidst the chaos, my stomach cramped and started a revolution on its own. I could barely move.

In the end, we had to call the cab driver that drove us to the café earlier (yes, he gave us his namecard) and asked if he could drive us back to our homestay in another county. He agreed. While waiting for him to arrive, I squatted down along the main road (seeking shelter under the post office) and wallowed in pain. Walao.. damn drama…

When he finally arrived, he was in shorts and a casual tee.
“He must’ve knocked off work and came from home,” I thought to myself.

The trip caused us close to S$50.

The homestay owner greeted us at the living room and asked us if we were hungry. Tuk told her my situation and within the next half hour or so, she buzzed our room and had her daughter brought up two choc waffles. Awwwww~

After bombing the bathroom, took a quick shower and a short dip in the hot spring bathroom, we were ready for bed when it all happened…

Oh man… don’t tell me I was that sick. I was swaying and feeling slightly giddy… then it struck me. Earthquake!!! Instincts took over and I glanced up at the ceiling while the grounds shook… no cracks… safe for now.

When it stopped, one other “homestayer” from the second floor (we were on the 3rd) came out to do a quick security check. Coast clear. As a precaution, I placed my valuables in one bag beside the bed just before I sleep. In case it happened again or when the need arises, I could just grab and go.

Next morning, the first thing we did was to on the TV and stay tuned to local news channel. Apparently, a 6.6 earthquake had struck the county (Luo Dong) just 2 or 3 hours we had left. The tremors we felt were great. Imagine if I didn’t have that stomach situation, we might still be in that county at the time the earthquake struck… guess it was a blessing in disguise... though a painful one.


To be continued...

Prelude to Taiwan Trip 07

August 30, Thursday (Night)
Working late in the office. Unwell. Must be the apple struddle. Had left it out on my table for too long before I ate it. Tuk came. Sent me home. Went down to get some dinner for us while I wallow in pain on my bed. Too weak to even walk. Tried one sip of fishball soup. Walah! Merlion... Took some left over pills to stop the nausea and the vomit. Ended up eating nothing at all.


August 31, Friday
Doc gave me a day MC. Felt bad about abandoning all my work to my colleague. Went back to office to finish up whatever I could and did a handover. Supposed to stay till lunch but ended up leaving aound 5.30pm. Without having any breakfast and lunch. Survived on a can of sweet non-carbonated drink before I left the office. Felt slightly better than the day before though.


September 1, Saturday
Felt a lot better and decided to go extract my wisdom tooth (the only one left - right upper jaw). The doc was good. It was done in less than 5 mins. Went home and washed that tooth and soaked it in bleach before I could store it with my other teeth :P


Let me see... I have my wisdom teeth in there plus 2 decayed teeth and 4 teeth that I had to extract before I could do my braces the other time. Yeah! Trophies of my life.

Gung-ho enough to go meet up with Wanlin and Adrian to watch that Rat show. Not too bad. Makes you think that cooking gourmet dishes is easier than you thought. Had pop-corn and ice lemon tea too (which I shouldn't have after wisdom tooth extraction just less than 3 hours ago). :P But I was starving and we were almost late for the show.


September 2, Sunday
Merlion resurfaced. Trying to be extra gung-ho about myself. Decided to go ahead with my hair cut at Novena. Damn. I felt weak. I could barely brace myself against the wind as I tried to flag for a cab to fulfill my hair cut appointment on a rainy day. Stumbled back to a neighboring block to rest and called tuk. I'm down again.
Couldn't take it. Family doc's closed. Had to take a cab down to Mount Alvernia instead.

Doc said: "Could be the anasthetic they gave you when you went for wisdom tooth extraction. It can cause some patients to vomit and the effects of the drug can actually last up to 36 hours. So maybe you have gotten it as your stomach's already weakened so all the symptoms set in at one time."

Ahhh~ lesson learnt.

Decided to take doc's advice and go on MC on Monday. Didn't want to risk my health and trip although I felt really, really bad about leaving my colleague in the lurch when we were really busy.


September 4, Tuesday
Weak. But gathered all my strength to get to work. Couldn't take it by lunch. Couldn't even touch my fishball noodles. Only managed to force myself to take the fishballs. Otherwise, I swear I would faint. Poor colleague of mine had to take over work from me and I left for Mount Alvernia again around 3 plus.

Another doc said: "There's still virus left in your abdomen. You should come back tomorrow for a blood test to see if the virus had attacked your liver."

Poor me said: "But I'm travelling..."

Doc said: "Then I'll give you stronger dose and hope that helps during your trip."

Then he gave me half day MC. Hid the new dosage in my bag so that my parents won't discover that I'm still very sick and disallow me to travel...


September 5, Wednesday
Weak but well enough to travel :)