Taiwan Trip - A Morning at Longshan Temple

Our last day in Taiwan.

I asked the front desk where I could get a nice breakfast and he introduced a doujiang shop nearby. He particularly mention the xian dou jiang and the you tiao.

So we walked there.

The shop from across the road

The shop was full of people. We had no doubt that this was the perfect spot to have breakfast. We ordered quite a number of things.

Xian Dou Jian a.k.a salty soya milk. It is basically an unsweetened soya milk with vinegar, salty soy sauce, celery, and you tiao. It tastes like porridge. 

Egg Pancake with Floss Filling.

Dou Hua a.k.a Beancurd.

Mantou with Egg Filling. It's huge.

You Tiao and Soya Milk. The you tiao is soooo crispy.

This satisfying breakfast cost us NTD 179 (~SGD 7.5) and we were sooo full.

We continued our journey by MRT to Longshan Temple. This temple was built in 1738 by settlers from Fujian and it is a mixture of Buddhism and Taoist. Longshan Temple has undergone a few rounds of renovation after bombing by USA, after world war, after earthquake.

How it looks now

The temple

Quite a number of people prayed there and we were one of them. After that we continued our journey to our second last destination.

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next Post - The Sexy Beitou Hot Spring

Taiwan Trip - A Short Night at Ximending

There's a reason why I chose a hotel near Taipei Main Station. Every transportation mode pass Taipei Main Station especially those out of the city.

After putting all our shopping bags in the hotel room, we went back to Taipei Main Station to continue our journey to Ximending, the harajuku of Taipei.

I don't think any explanation needed to describe this place. Shopping paradise it is.

The gate of Ximending

Shop and shop and shop and shop and shop

When it was getting dark, a lot of random food stalls appeared out of nowhere. I bought ordinary muaji like what Singapore sells for NTD30 (~SGD 1.3) per pack.

Muaji muaji~~

I also bought another unique food. The seller grilled the muaji until its all body blistered. After that, he poured some condensed milk over it and lie it over a bed of peanut/chocolate/black sesame/cheese/etc.

I bought a peanut one for NTD 30. Sinful but nice. Oh oh oh.

We were sourcing for dinner but whatever we suggested, Ah Yi seemed not to want it. So in the end, I felt upset and angry. I let mom pamper her and I bought my own thing.

XL Fried Chicken. Cholesterol whatever!

I wanted to walk and shop some more. I felt that we had not even walked 20% of it. But Ah Yi already felt tired.

She successfully doubled my anger.

We went back to the hotel.

Love is in the air,

Little Feet

Next Post - A Morning at Longshan Temple

Taiwan Trip - Going Out of City to Jiufen

The next morning we planned to catch 9:00am train to Ruifang. From Ruifang we would transfer to Jinguashi and Jiufen.

So we walked from the hotel to Taipei Main Station for about 5 minutes. We then just walked into the train platform using our easy cards.

We had our breakfast in the train.

From 7-Eleven and I love it!

I was continuously amazed by how Taiwan kept its cleanliness. Everybody is allowed to eat inside the train, there is not much rubbish bin, no threat of fines. However, everybody plays his part to be a good citizen, a good tourist. I hope Singapore can learn from Taiwan.

And we took selfie1

After reaching Ruifang Station, we walked across the street to catch the bus to Jinguashi Gold Ecological Park. Jinguashi Gold Ecological Park is a preserved mining town. This place used to be a mining town during Japanese occupation. There are a lot of areas open for public, like the Crown Prince Chalet, Benshan Tunnel, etc.

The bus ride to Jinguashi was a tough one. Ruifang was located at the foot of the hill, Jinguashi was located up there around the peak. The road was winding like hell,

And to my surprise, when we reached there, most of the area was closed for general cleaning. This cleaning happens every first Monday of the month. So, be reminded not to plan your visit on FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH.

The gate. No notice. Nothing.

The chalet was closed.

A few shops were still opened.

I walked up as Mom and Ah Yi waited downstairs. I got the impression they didn't like the place.

So I walked up. If I continued to walk, I could go a temple at the end of the hill. But I just walked halfway because I didn't want them to be too bored waiting for me down there.

The Benshan Tunnel was closed too

I continued walking 

The view. Oh God.

A beancurd stall where quite a number of people patronized

So we walked back to the front gate and waited for the bus across the road. Suddenly a taxi driver approached us and offered us a ride to Golden Waterfall and back to Jiufen for NTD 200 (~SGD 8.5).

We took his offer.

Golden Waterfall is yellowish in color due to the gold deposit in the water. Nowadays, nobody mines the gold there anymore. So the waterfall is purely for tourism.

The Golden Waterfall

They even built a viewing platform

Not up to here, the driver brought us to another site down the road to see the former gold processing factory. We could also see the gold deposit in the small stream there.

The factory

The stream which is even more golden than the waterfall

Then he sent us back up to Jiufen Old Street.

Jiufen Old Street is a shopping alley that sells foods and souvenirs. There is only a single alley that lead to the open space at the end. And the view of Pacific Ocean can be seen from there.

The Pineapple Tart Shop in front of the Shopping Street

Jiufen Old Street

After walking a few steps into the street, I saw an uncle grinding a big block of peanut manually. Being a big fan of peanut, my eyes and my saliva ran wild. I saw him creating an ice cream paw-piah and I ordered one without thinking twice. It cost NTD 40 (~SGD 1.8).

See that pretty block of peanut? I couldn't resist!

Ice cream and ground peanut wrapped with pawpiah skin. It pushed Amei Muaji down to the second place.

Walked another few steps, mom bought some kind of donut stick. 3 pieces for NTD 100 (SGD 4.2).

Fried flour!

I also bought a grilled king oyster mushroom that tasted superb! Chewy chewy!

Chewy chwey! They also sell the fried one.

We bought pineapple tarts, black roasted peanuts, sesame bars, some souvenirs and felt happy. We then took the bus back to Ruifang and the train back to Taipei.

We also got this view as the bonus!

The cutie for dearest besties!

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next Post - A Short Night at Ximending

Taiwan Trip - High End Shopping at Taipei 101 and Wholesale Shopping at Wufenpu

So our next itinerary was shopping!

We took the MRT to Taipei 101. I did not intend to shop here, I just wanted to see what kind of high end shopping experience that Taipei 101 offered.

And I should say that it was really a lux shopping mall.

ION Orchard in Singapore is luxurious but Taipei 101 is double the luxury. Even though they house similar shops, Taipei 101 has its own unique atmosphere of the rich. High ceiling, huge door, the color, the spacious feeling, anything.

The view when we walked out of the MRT Station

The mascot of Taipei 101

Actually I would like to climb up to the tower but Ah Yi seemed didn't like it. I could still remember how she did not enjoy going up to Melbourne Eureka Tower. So we just walked around the shopping mall. I saw a few nice cafe, felt like sitting down there to enjoy the afternoon.

I asked the customer service officer where I could take a photo of the tower. He directed me to an open space somewhere near the tower and he was right, I could take the full height of the tower from there.

I feel like being photoshopped inside the picteure of the tower

Then we continued walking to MRT Station to transfer to Houshanpi Station. Our next destination was Wufenpu.

Wufenpu is a wholesale market that sells all kind of fashion apparels. It is huge and it seems like a labyrinth. Once you are in, you can't get out. I was so happy to see all the things I did not take any photos at all.

Basically you can see alleys. Each alleys has rows of shops at the right and left sides. Every alley sells dresses, tops, skirts, etc etc etc. Some of the shop owners, especially those nearer to the entrance, did not let us touch all the items in the bags. I didn't like this kind of people so I didn't bother to spend time there. Only when I moved more inside, the shop owners were more polite and easy going.

There are two type of products sold in Wufenpu: made in Korea and made in China. Those made in Korea cost more expensive than those made in China, but to be honest, you can see the quality difference too.

When we walked out of there, the sky had turned dark. We tried to find something to eat around Houshanpi Station but in the end we went back to Shuanglian to eat.

Beef curry rice at Gindaco. Oishii.

We then collected our luggages and hailed a taxi to bring us to our next hotel at Taipei Main Station: City Inn. I intended to stay at City Inn for 3 nights but there was no room for the first night, so I should source for another hotel on the first night.

The taxi cost only NTD 70 (~SGD 3). We checked into the room, pay the room (NTD 1920/room/night) and settled down.

City Inn doesn't serve breakfast but there is a pantry where you can take all the water, coffee, and tea all the time. The hotel is equipped with free wifi too.

The reasonable size of the room

With TV and a desk

And a good toilet

So there went our fourth day in Taiwan. The next day has waited for us.

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next Post - Going Out of the City to Jiufen

Taiwan Trip - Three Hour Awaited Xiao Long Bao at Din Tai Fung

So we walked.

Yes we walked.

I have this strange affection towards walking. I love walking especially when I am in holiday. I love walking and quietly enjoy the new place that I am in.

So sorry for those who follow me for a trip, you will walk a lot.

Our destination is Din Tai Fung at the intersection of Xinyi Road and Yongkang Road, the first branch.

We spent about 20 minutes to walk slowly and enjoy the enjoyable October weather

We passed by Aiguo East Road where we could see the whole row of bridal boutiques. Taiwan is so well known for its prewedding photoshoots and they really utilize the oportunity.

When we finally reached Din Tai Fung restaurant before 12:00pm, I saw a crowd. I approached the waitress and she told me 'yi ge zhong ban' which meant 'one and a half hour'. Yes. 90 minutes for a basket of xiao long bao.

I have flown so long and walked so far, why should I back out?

So I took the queue number. Since I saw some shophouses along Yongkang Street, I thought we could spend some time to walk around and maybe shop. But I was wrong, I could walk around but I could not shop because the prices were sky high.

The Shopping Street

In the end we just entered all the shops to pass time. We walked to the end of the road and walked back. I bought a huge bowl of mango snow ice for NTD 190 (~SGD 8.2).

I was attracted by the queue to be honest

Taa daa~~~

So we joined the queue back as we had nowhere to go and I was so impatient I kept asking the waitress when my turn would be. In the end he asked me whether I wanted to share a big table with other people. I just okayed it.

We were led into the restaurant and up to the second floor. We had done all the ordering when we were still queueing so we just sat and waited for our foods to come.

French Bean with Minced Meat. This is bf's favourite. I was thinking it's good if he was there.

Xiao Long Bao. Much better than what I had in Singapore's Din Tai Fung. Perfect thickness of the skin, super juicy filling, and yummy stocks.

Praw siew mai. Mom liked it but I didn't fancy it very much.

Wanton with Sichuan Sauce. Ok I liked this one but mom did not. 

Fried rice. We should have ordered zhajiang mian instead. But I brought people with made-in-Indonesia tummy. They could not survive without paddy.

We waited for about two hours and finished everything less than 1 hour. However, I think it was worthy. Even those Taiwanese queue here so why shouldn't I?

We spent NTD 874.5 (~SGD 37) for everything. Generally same price as Singapore.

Bye Bye Xiao Long Bao!

Love is in the air,

Little Feet

Next Post - High End Shopping at Taipei 101 and Wholesale Shopping at Wufenpu