New Taipei City 新北市, Taiwan Trip (Day 15)

1st December 2014, Monday

Christmas Bears

Ahh...so fast is the last 2nd day of the trip. Today we were supposed to go to Jiu Fen, but we ended up sleeping until 11 plus. And by the time we 2 got ready to leave the hotel, it would be almost afternoon. So i told my friend don't go to Jiu Fen anymore, as it would be rushing for us too (still need to take train and take the bus, and then cannot really see much and would need to rush back to Taipei again). And i told her let's just go to Long Shan Temple (龍山寺) and then go Taipei Main Train Station to buy sun cakes. Although i had visited it before, but i still want to bring her go there to take a look. Then we just took our time to get ready and went out. When we first stepped out from the hotel, it was soooo cold and it was still so sunny yesterday. And then we 2 went back to the hotel to grab our jackets....kekeke....And so, we boarded the metro and when i saw the stations along the line, i saw a station named Banqiao. So i told my friend hey, that's the station the lady in Rock Coco who told us the tee shirt design was in. Then my friend said go there and check the shop out, maybe would be able to get the shirt. So we alighted at Banqiao station instead of Long Shan Temple....hohohoooo....Once alighted, we walked to see whether we can find the shop through wi-fi or maybe the shop was under the station. Though we didn't manage to get connected to the wi-fi, we managed to see a visitors information counter. So i went and asked the lady to help me google where is the shop in Banqiao. Luckily, the lady still managed to find it on the net. It was inside a shopping mall 2 blocks down and on level 6.

Transformer

So we walked from the station to the shopping mall, there was TSR, HSR and TRA trains in the station and later i realized this was the New Taipei City. When we came out from the station, there was a big square with merry-go-round and a big christmas tree. It was 17 degree celsius and it was very windy (finally..cooling weather). Then we had to cut through the New Taipei City Hall building, inside there was a yellow robot display. It was their new metro train, which can be transformed into a robot...hohohoho....Then we crossed the road junction, and reached the shopping mall. Once there, i was trying to look at the shop directory to find the shop but there wasn't any. But we still went up to level 6 to check, it was all sports shops and there it was, a small shop and it was Rock Coco. Then i went up to the shop assistant and asked her whether they still have the dragon design. She told me it was all sold out, i was disappointed but we told her that the ximending branch staff had told us their shop was still having the stock, so we came here. The shop assistant looked abit confusing and puzzled but she still helped us to look from their system to check. Then she told me there was 1 stock left and the size was XL. I was so happy that i told i wanted XL size. But later she told me it was red color, and she told me there was no more black when i asked her. Then she checked her system again, this time she told me she had 1 black stock left, 1 and only 1 and it was XL. I said ok...i take it...but she still said the stock was to bring to their shop from another place, which would be arriving at around 4 pm. So i said ok, i will wait for it. But my friend was asking me whether they can bring it to ximending branch so we can go there and collect instead of waiting here. The shop assistant told me she could only got back to me after half an hour time when i asked her. So we went around the area for shopping. Went looking for sports shoes and polo tees for my dad....we just kept walking from shops to shops slowly and to pass the time.

Gingerbread Man (From Krispy Kreme)

Snowman (From Krispy Kreme)

We shopped until it was about 3 plus, then we went back to the shop and checked with the shop assistant again. She told me that their goods had arrived, including that tee-shirt and they were just downstairs. And she was going down to pick them up. So we had to wait for it again. It took quite some time before the shop assistant was back. I was so happy that we managed to buy the shirt...and i kept checking on the size too. Can't believe it.....hahahaa.....Then we walked around abit longer, got a watch for my grandma too...Then we went back to the metro station and walked to see the shops there. Saw Krispy Kreme and dragged my friend inside. Bought a original glazed doughnut and she bought a don't know what flavor doughnut...hohoho...Then we just sat there and eat....ohhh...the original glazed tasted the same as the one i ate from KL...not like Singapore (super sweet).....This one was nice and made you want to eat some more. And so i did, my friend bought another 2 original glazed back for me....tomorrow's breakfast...hahahaa...We sat there until 5. 15 pm....played with wi-fi until we forgot the time. We were having a dinner reservation at the mala steamboat at 5.30 pm!!...So we quickly went to take the metro and went down to the restaurant as fast as we could. There were already people queuing outside the restaurant when we reached, luckily we still made it on time. Then we ordered the soup base and the pork...yum yum....the soft drinks were 1 bottle and there were veggies, crabs (which were gone once they were out for grabs), prawns, desserts (ice- creams and puddings) and they even have free flow of beers.....and we had only 2 hours to eat. Actually, 2 hours should be enough for dinner but not sure why, we were both rushing to eat our food towards the end...i didn't even have chance to finish drinking my sprite and they don't allow people to take their food or drinks out... :P....My friend had almost 2 whole crabs on her own...i had alot of the pork too...ohh..and their milk pudding was damn nice...smooth smooth....It was a nice dinner....hohohoho....and we were soooo full!!! Oh ya...and the staff came and asked us to pay for the meal when we were enjoying the meal in the middle. Think it was their practice....and the price increased on the 1st day of December but they were having promotion so there was some discount today too.......

Our Mala Steamboat Dinner

Pork!! Must Try!!

Fish and Prawn Pastes (Must Try!!)

Puddings (Must Try Milk Pudding!!)

After the dinner, we walked on the streets to digest first...Saw the price potato with cheese (which i bought from Shilin Night Market earlier) in an alley beside The Face Shop...then i dragged my friend up to an anime/comics shop....bought anime files there...then it was time to meet my friend's job agent who helped my friend to have a job in Singapore. We went to Starbucks, then my friend was telling me it was that lady standing in front lah...i asked her sure anot cos the 2 of them haven't met for like 8 or 9 years....hohoho...We didn't want to go Starbucks, so we went to a cafe opposite, called Rolling Cafe. It was quiet and lesser people. And so they started to chat, i just joined in to chat as and when....if the topic happened to be on Singapore...hahaha...The agent actually was a Singapore PR and even just renewed her PR too. And she had a company registered under Singapore and even have a flat there. But she is staying in Taipei for many years. She said she could manage to understand Mandarin and speak a little after many years but still couldn't speak it well...hehehee....And ya, of course to her Singapore is a very good country and she said every one in Singapore will have a roof under them but not in other countries. And taxes are much lower in SG than others.  She is a nice lady, had fun chatting with her too.... :)...We chatted until 10 plus, then she paid for our drinks. She went to our hotel with us, she said wanted to see how our room looks like....hohoho...And then my friend brought her to the lift and chatted there...i think...lol....When my friend came back....we just took our shower in turn and packed our luggage to prepare to fly off the next day.....

Hotel Stayed: Rainbow Hotel

Places Visited:
Banqiao

Taipei 台北, Taiwan Trip (Day 13)

29th November 2014, Saturday

My super big chicken cutlet

We woke up at around 8 plus today and we were taking our own sweet time to prepare ourselves to go out. My friend was messaging her friend who is working in Taiwan on where to meet us later.  We left the hotel at around 10 plus and made our way down to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂). Bought the hot star chicken cutlet as breakfast...yum yum...The memorial hall is just outside the metro exit, which is very convenient. My friend was worried that her friend won't be able to find us as she didn't told her the exact meeting place but just told her meet at the memorial hall. We went up to the memorial hall but the front entrance was doing some repairs works, which we can't go in. Then my friend just sat on the stairs, while i was walking here and there. Then my friend was talking to her friend who managed to recognize her (they haven't seen each other for about 8 years). Then they were talking happily, and her friend told us we could enter the memorial hall by taking the lift from downstairs and there was exhibit hall too. The friend is working as a maid in a Taiwan family, taking care of 2 elders (both are around 80 plus years old). And she had working for the family for 7 years now and she is very happy there. She is the only one person i met that told me Singapore was a nightmare place for her...hahhaaa...She really had a very bad experience when she was working as a maid in Singapore.

Chiang's Official State Car

So we went down, there was a post office, exhibit hall and a souvenirs shop (i didn't went down there when i went there on the first visit..hehee). There were many people around too, so i went walking around while the two friends chatting happily. On the 3rd level was a exhibit hall too, where there were some paper art displays. Then we went up to the 4th level, which was the memorial hall. When we entered the hall, the guards changing event had already been started (only managed to catch the ending). Didn't managed to watch the whole thing on my first visit too...this time also didn't manage to catch the whole thing...hahahaa...
After that and taking photos of the guards, then we were thinking where to have lunch as it was getting noon time too. So the friend was saying to go Taipei Main Station there to eat, so we made our way down to the the main station. Then we went to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store basement and went for lunch in a Teppanyaki restaurant. It was quite good and it costs around NT$1200 plus for 2 set meals. But the friend treated us for the lunch...free meal... :P...

View from Top

After lunch, we made our way to Taipei 101 tower. When we came out of the metro station, i was surprised the tower was just above us (last time need to walk from outside to get to the tower). And most importantly i saw Ding Tai Fung!!...hohohoo...and of cos it was crowded with people. It seems like the inside had also changed since my last visit. Then we went up to the tickets counter and bought 2 tickets to go up to the tower. The friend said she will wait for us downstairs, as she had went up before and it was expensive too. So me and my friend went up to level 88, 89 and 91. The observatory is at level 89, we took our time to walk around and my friend bought a wooden postcard to send to her sister who is living in Germany. Then we went down to level 89, which the wind dumper is located and Chii Lih Coral is (to buy statues made of corals). Then we went up to level 91, we had climbed the stairs up...tiring...Level 91 is the open space where you can view from the top. Cannot see much of the view much due to the barrages covering the view.

Thick Thick Cucumber!!

Mini Red Bean Baos (Nice!!)

After that, we made our way back to level 89 again to take the lift down to the tickets counter level. We met up with the friend again when we reached the tickets counter level. Then we went down to the basement (not sure why we went down to the basement too), so i asked my friend want to eat Ding Tai Fung...hehheee...There were really many people crowded in front of the restaurant, we had to squeeze out way to the front to get a queue number for us.Our waiting time was about 50 mins, so we just walked to other shops to see the sun cakes and pineapple cakes. There's even Jasons Supermarket there and then we waited here and there. Finally our table was ready and we can finally eat dinner...(waited almost 6 plus). I ordered some of the usual food like pork cutlet fried rice, the cold cucumber (thick thick ones, i like it), xiao long baos. I also ordered mini red bean baos and prawns wantons. The mini red bean baos were so niceee...even my friend likes it. We even tabao another 4 mini red bean baos back for tomorrow's breakfast...hehehe...By the time we finished dinner (did i mention the friend paid for our dinner too? hohoho), it was almost 7 plus. Although it was late, we still made our way down to Tamsui (淡水). The friend wasn't sure what bus to take to go to the Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭). Anyway, by the time we reached there, it was around 9 pm. So we gave up going to the wharf and just walked along the food and gifts shops near the pier. The friend was also telling us we could take the ferry to go to Fisherman's Wharf too. Saw a shop selling iron eggs snack, so we bought a few and made way back to our hotel as it was getting late. We alighted at Taipei Main Station to change line when the friend went on to take the train back to Taoyuan. Once back to Ximending, my friend went to the opposite 7-11 to buy some drinks...The yakult she bought back was big, not our normal small bottle...hohoho...

Hotel Stayed: Rainbow Hotel

Places Visited:
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Taipei Main Station
Taipei 101
Tamsui

Taipei 台北, Taiwan Trip (Day 12)

28th November 2014, Friday

Our Breakfast

Today, we will be going to Taipei (arrghh...so fast)...so we woke up and got ready to the train station. We had bought the tickets for 10:00 am train, as most of the trains were full. This was a slower train, which need about 3 hour plus to reach Taipei. I went to the 7-11 shop in the train station, to buy breakfast to eat on the train. Got hotdog breads, and a milk tea for my friend and calbee snacks. Then we went to the platform to wait for the train as there were many people today. The train looked super old, the doors were still those spring type and the walkways were small, very hard to push our luggage through. Finally we got to settle down on the seats and had our hotdog breads. The milk tea i bought from 7-11 was nice too, not too milky and it was a little sweet. Then we just slept on the train until it was about time to reach Taipei. Bought a lunch bento on the train too, it was quite nice too. We reached Taipei at around 1.44 pm, then we took a cab to Ximending (cos there were so many signs to TRA trains, HSR trains and Bannian Line which was the blue line of the metro). As the cab driver wasn't sure where was the hotel really located, we got off and i tried to find the hotel based on my long long time memory (when i first visited Taipei in 2009). We did manage to find the hotel in the streets, so we went up to our room to rest first. The room was smaller this time, it was bigger the first time i stayed in the hotel.

Our Lottery Tickets

After resting, we made our way to Wu Fen Pu commercial area. Saw some new shops around Ximending and the famous Hot Star Chicken Cutlet was just beside our hotel. Saw 1973 Fried Chicken stall too (just outside Ximen Station exit 6) and many people were queuing for it too. We went to the metro station and bought a 3 days pass to use for the next 3 days. So we bought the single tickets to Huoshanpi station.Upon reaching there, we walked the wrong direction to Wu Fen Pu. We passed by a lottery shop and went in to buy 2 tickets for the 8.30 pm draw today (NT$50 for 1 ticket, 3 matching numbers min to win NT$400). But the further we walked, i told my friend i don't remember it was so far away from the station. So we walked back to the station and there, we saw signs direction to Wu Fen Pu....heheee...Then we just walked around the commercial area, bought sausages and corns and also bought a very cute cat tee-shirt. We walked until 6 plus, by then we were both tired. My friend thought i wanted to walk there some more, so she didn't ask me whether wanted to go back. Until i told her let's go back...then she was like soo glad that finally going back...hohoho....

The Red House

My friend was making noise saying she wanted to eat steamboat in Taipei, so we went back to Ximending area and we came out from the opposite exit, which leads to the Red House. So i brought my friend to check out the red house. The first time i visited i wasn't able to enter the house and looked inside. This time the red house was still opened, so i was able to look the inside of the house. After that, we went looking around to find steamboat. A lot of Japanese restaurants around the area too, we came across a mala steamboat restaurant, where there were a lot of people queuing outside. I asked the staff what is the available time, she told me after 9.30 pm without reservation. I was thinking it was sooo late, by then we both were be damn hungry...but the soup base really smelled very nice and the people were really eating very happily. So i went back to the staff and asked them can i make table reservation. As tomorrow and the day after were weekends, so they were fully booked. But she gave a slot which was on next Monday, 5.30 pm, so i said ok. And then, we went back down the streets to have our dinner. Just beside Uniqlo, there was a building with some restaurants on the 4th floor. So we went up and take a look. We decided to go for a Japanese steamboat instead but we also need to wait until 8 pm before we can eat.So i left my name there and we went out to walk walk first. We went Uniqlo to check out their sales, the fleece jacket which was having heat tech was on sales. The collarless ultra light down jackets were also on sales (NT$690 or NT$790)....There were ultra light down jackets with parka designs too but it cost around SGD$129 (which i don't see it in sg stores when i came back)......

Our Dinner

Nice Looking Pork!!

After spending our time in Uniqlo, we went back to our dinning place to have our dinner. There were 4 soup bases to choose from and 2 of them needed to top NT$50 for it. The soup was tasteless at first, but the more we cooked, the soup got more tasty. The food was quite nice but it was a bit limited in the choices. The pork was still the best...thin thin and very nice to eat. After eating, we walked back to our hotel to rest. We checked online for the lottery winning numbers when we reached our hotel room. No luck, got 2 numbers only....haiz....

Hotel Stayed: Rainbow Hotel

Places Visited:
Wu Fen Pu Commercial Area
Ximending
The Red House