Oh yeah! Finally!
Here comes the part 2 of my Taipei Trip record, after using one week to arrange all the details *phew*
To me, I am not the kind of tourist that MUST visit all the commercial tourist attractions, such as museums, statues etc. Especially when it comes to travelling in Taiwan, I want to really feel what the locals like to eat and like to spend their time at. I never 100% trust the copy-writing on traveling brochure, but I will read between the lines and be careful not to be tricked by fancy words.
These are the spots that I visited in Taipei:Tamsui - SanzhiOkay I purposely traveled all the way down to Tamsui, which is like 30 minutes of MRT ride from Taipei Main Station, and took a bus to Sanzhi (30 minutes bus ride) just to visit this creature.
This is a cafe named OEYA Cafe, which its selling point is their Alpacas. There's a young Alpaca named Snow which walks around in the interior of the cafe, sniffing around and pulling the straps of your seat's cushion lol. Right at the seaside view garden of the cafe, there's four grown Alpacas which is adorably dumb, where you can enjoy a relaxing afternoon with these cute fluffy lamb-camel looking like Alpaca, along with the sea breeze.
Of course, you can also feed them with their favourite snacks! Potatoes strips are for the young Snow, and carrots for the grown ups.
OEYA Cafe have a rule where every customers need to order at least a meal, which is understandable la or else everyone is gonna rush into the cafe for the Alpacas but not paying, and the maintenance fees for the restaurant and their pets are very high. We ordered 2 mains and a dessert set to share.
Seafood Bolognaise
Turkey Ham Cabonara
Dessert Tower Set that comes with 2 fruit tea
The food quality was okay, acceptable la just like any cafe. But the main point is always the Alpacas!
We went to the seaside after the cafe.
These hexagon tiangs remind me of Shaolin Kungfu hahaha.
Damn good view
National Palace MuseumTo reach National Palace Museum, you can take MRT to Shilin, and take one of the buses that will stop by museum.
Basically its an antique museum that have a BROAD collection of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks. It will be a damn interesting place if you are a history fan, but if you're not, you can probably skip this lol. Or just go infront of the museum, snap a picture and proceed to Shilin Night Market XD
Ok my hair is darn messy. Come on, it was drizzling so give me a break lol.
Well I went in the museum. The ticket was NT360, which is not that cheap but considering the effort a museum needed to preserve their collection, it's understandable. No pictures of its interior, as no camera and sling bag is allowed.
The interior of National Palace Museum is very spacious, and it is divided into numerous exhibition halls with different theme. It was very packed when I visited, groups of tourists guided by their tour guide is walking around like sheep, and to be honest I am very impressed by how the tour guide can crap out so many interesting story based on every single item shown. Well to me, all I've seen there is vase, furniture, books, calligraphy. Okay I do understand all those are superb valuable history, but I'm just
over flooded by the huge amount of them and eventually I am numb.
Conclusion, I am not stopping you from going there, but be prepared that you are gonna pay to watch a lot of vase, cups, swords, books books books and books.
National ZooNational zoo is located at Muzha, which can be reached by MRT.
The entrance fee is NT60, very cheap. And the biggest attraction there? The panda family: Tuan Tuan, Yuan Yuan and Yuan Zai. You will get a special ticket stated your visit time for panda viewing, and you can only go in once. Well, it's actually quite packed when we went there, but still comfortable and acceptable la.
Genius dearie didn't take a single picture of the pandas. "Stupid pandas didn't give good angles," he said. *sighs*
Well but, this sun bear got very good showmanship. He was hiding behind the trees but he climb up and sat on the rock to perform some leaves eating for us to take picture when we walk close to his area. Woots I think he recognizes his folks lol. (Sunbear originates from Malaysia)
Oh hi, you're Malaysian too right?
Other than the pandas, well everything else just look like a zoo. Nothing much. I will probably check it out again when their new building project is done at next year. Just probably.
MaokongMaokong is like a mini version of Cameron Highland, where tea plantation is the main source of living there. To travel to Maokong, the easiest way is to take cable car.
Maokong Gondola Station is just beside National Zoo, or you can also choose to take the gondola in the zoo's station. We went up the cable car from main station as we didn't make it deep enough to the zoo's station lol.
A single trip ticket costs NT50, so a round trip is NT100.
Maokong is famous for their tea plantation and also good scenery. It is definitely a good enjoyment to spend a relaxing afternoon there sipping the high quality tea, while admiring the breathtaking sunset. There's a uphill pavement which will bring you pass a teahouse that serves Oolong Tea Ice-cream.
Tie Guan Yin Tea Ice Cream.
Can really taste the tea lol.
Personally I enjoy myself a lot at the food street right under the uphill pavement. Mostly selling tasty looking street food.
My favourite stall: Black Pork Sausage
*slurppps*
Breathtaking sunset
If you have enough time, you can opt to stay at Maokong for a night to feel the traditional tea culture and the cooling weather.
1914 Creative ParkThis creative park was an abandoned factory, refurbished into a cultural centre with multiple exhibition hall. We went there for the
One Piece Exhibition.
The ticket was NT320 per person, which is around RM34, so I found it not worthy to go in since I am not a fan of One Piece at all. Dearie went in by himself while me and the gang got ourself some drinks and chill around.
Dearie curi curi take picture in the exhibition, and the camera actually flashed so he cover with his hand quickly hahahahaha.
Apparently the exhibition is super awesome, until dearie almost teared while watching some parts of the story. They showcased hand draft of Eiichiro Oda, his working table, 3D animation of some parts of the comic etc. So I think the 34 bucks is a great investment for One Piece fans la.
Wu Fen PuA place dominated by wholesale clothing, mostly young and street style. Surprisingly, I didn't buy anything for myself except a monster shirt for my cat Mimi. Reason? It's not THAT cheap. I probably can get better rates back here in Malaysia or just order directly from Taobao, as according to my observation most of the stock there totally look like Made in China lol.
No harm to go for a walk, you might found something that you really like, but be alert about the price yo!
Rainbow BridgeSo its basically a bridge by riverside, decorated with coloured lights. It is nearby Raohe Night Market, so you can grab some snacks from the night market and then spend some relaxing moments here. There's some live band performance along the walkway, and folks who walk their cute little doggies here.
Taipei 101The signature building of Taiwan. Erm well its a very tall shopping mall, with all the big brands that probably we have it all here in Malaysia too. The interior of the mall is very classy and spacious, and its kinda heaven for girls who love to shop. But as a tourist spot, I find it normal only la since it is just a shopping mall anyway. The most popular restaurant in Taipei 101 is Ding Tai Feng, where insane long queue will be formed right outside the restaurant. Oh well, come on, its just Ding Tai Feng, we can totally eat it back here in MidValley, Pavillion, or Empire Subang etc.
Overall it is not a very interesting spot to go, but it seems to be the mandatory spot to go and snap some pictures for all tourists la haha. But dearie didn't snap a single picture of it wtf. *sighs*
BeitouIt's all about hot spring went it comes to Beitou. There's A LOT choices of hot spring resort or hotel that you can choose from to enjoy a hotspring session, and you can also choose between private pool and public pool, but please be noted that mostly all the public pool require you to be NAKED *blushes*
Ok la I am super shy to flaunt my body to random people so I chose private pool straight without thinking much. Hotel wise, we stop by this 热海饭店 randomly after walking pass a few other resorts. Well I would love to try out the other more fancy looking ones, but since we stopped so no harm to try out la. Their pricing is very cheap, which is NT600 for a room, which contains a tub, a sofa bed, fresh towels, and mineral water. And oh, there's a time limitation of 2 hours too! (We asked a few resorts before this, and their pricing range is around NT1600++ per room which comes with big bed and better design according to the picture they shown lol.)
Oh, please remember that you should take a break from soaking in the hotspring for every 15 minutes, and do not stay in the hotspring for more than an hour in total, else you gonna faint. Also, do not go for hotspring when you are drunk, empty stomach or right after a meal.
The hotspring in XXX hotel is medium sulphuric, so the colour of the water is slightly milky with some light sulphuric scent. And we mix the hotspring water with cold water to not cook ourself lol. Yea the advantage of having a private pool is you can control the temperature, and of course wear anything you want (or be naked without feeling shy).
Not my feet.
This kind of milky white quality hotspring is named as 美人汤 Beauty Spring as it benefits our skin the best. I actually feel that I have smoother and more radiant skin after the hotspring session :O
After enjoying the hotspring, we walked around in the business areas and got ourself Mois Burger.
I went into the pet shop beside Mois Burger to get some souvenir for my cat Mimi and poodle Bobo, but these folks are just too cute to be ignored!
Curly hair guinea pig wtf
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HOMG I want to bring it home so badly!!
Da Dao ChengThis is a damn random place. Literally we don't know why we went there lol. According to the travel brochure there's a cycling trail, which is true, but that's all about it. Nothing great at all and we didn't see much people there. Its like a random riverside by the highway which cycling trail is built. We didn't see any bicycle renting service too.
No picture at all, cause it's not worth to be visited lol.
Taipei Main StationWhat? A train station? Yes, it is. But it is a very interesting one. There's a lot of souvenir shops that sells cute accessories and local treats which are pretty famous.
If you want to get some good Pineapple Tarts and Sun Biscuits, I recommend you to
Li Yi Biscuit Shop 李仪饼店 which is very famous among the locals and hongkies. I bought 10 boxes of their biscuit, and I am so regret that I didn't buy more after coming back to Msia. It's too damn good.
Xi Men DingI will say Xi Men Ding is really like the best place to be in if you want a happening night. There's lotsa good food, clothing shops, cinema, pubs, hot hunks and hot chics there at Xi Men Ding. Some of the famous food there are like Hotstar Chicken Chop, Ah Zhong Oyster Meesua, MangoChaCha, etc but I do find the street food are amazingly tasty.
Oh the legendary 3 storeys Watsons.
Opening 24 hours so I only go there in the midnight to avoid the crowd.
There's a few cinema in XiMenDing, and the ticket price there is actually pricier than back here in Msia.
I will further introduce about GOOD FOOD I discovered in Taipei in my next post, so stay tuned!
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