Taiwan Day 3 -5

Day 3

Day 3 was a day of contemplation because I wasn't sure if I wanted to travel all the way to Jiufen or not. My initial plan I had sort of made the day before was to maybe go visit Da'an instead and just stay within the main part of Taipei. 

But the more I sat on the idea of not going to Jiufen, the more uncomfortable I got because I knew if I didn't make the effort and go to Jiufen, I will regret my decision. I knew there wasn't going to be much in Jiufen for me, but it's the same idea as with the Taipei 101 Observatory visit, this is just something I had to do as a Tourist who is here for my very first solo trip in Taiwan, I needed to go and if it sucks, then it sucks, but at least I can tell myself that I gave it a shot.

My day started with breakfast at Starbucks

An Apple Tart and a cup of Carmel Macchiato Oat milk Latte, it wasn't a very substantial meal but that gave me hope for the visit in Jiufen.

I have done a lot of research about how to get to Jiufen and I think the most popular way for a lot of tourist on a budget is to take the High Speed Rail all the way to Ruifang and then take a bus from there, I'm guessing one of the main perks of doing that is that you do get to enjoy the views as your ride the train through Taipei, but because I am lazy and I also didn't want to spend $50SGD on a taxi ride to get there, I found out that you could actually grab a direct bus from Ximen that will bring you straight to Jiufen, so right after breakfast, I went back to the hotel to prepare and then headed over to Ximen.

This was the little line that formed specifically for the bus that is heading towards Jiufen, due to Xiemn being one of the first few stops, the bus was still relatively and it only slowly started to fill up as we headed over to the expressway. 

The journey was relatively smooth, there was a small jam on the expressway, but it wasn't bad enough to cause me any sort of motion sickness, once we got out of the city, it became a very smooth ride all the way to Ruifang Station, that's when the bus started to fill up 

Total time taken to get from Taipei to Jiufen via bus was about 90 minutes, the view along the way was quite nice, so the ride was relatively comfortable.

It's really weird to me that the entrance to Jiufen is so small. I feel like if someone didn't do their research on the place, they would just miss this alley completely on a quiet day like the day I was there.

I was once again quite early for my Jiufen visit, reached the place at about 10am and most of the shops were not opened yet, a few of them were still preparing but I did come across this particular store that is famous in Jiufen 

I didn't actually do my research where all these stores were, I just happen to chance upon it as I was walking through the alleys, so I ordered 1 piece and the shopkeeper was really automatic as he placed the food on the plate and asked me if I wanted to take a picture before he wrapped it up like a popiah / burrito.

It was way too cold to be having this in the morning on such a chilly weather, it is essentially peanut candy shaving served with peanut ice cream and some other ice cream flavour that I didn't bother to clarify with the shopkeeper, wrapped in this thin popiah skin. It's good, but it was too cold, and to be honest, I was still a bit overwhelm about what I wanted to do there, so I couldn't fully enjoy the food. 

I was slowly consuming it as I explored this particular souvenir shop that I spotted, got a few pins for my family and pretty much stayed in that store until I was done with my peanut roll.

Took a walk around the area and came across this store that is also popular in Jiufen that specializes in Yam and Sweet Potato Balls in a green bean/ red bean soup. 

There was a cold and hot option, I took the hot option because it's freezing and I just had that ice cream peanut roll, so I needed something to warm myself up.

The texture of the balls were nice and chewy and it's green bean and red bean soup, which I liked, so it was nice, but it also felt a bit boring at the same time. I knew there were 2 different, but equally famous stores that sold the same thing, one is supposedly sweeter and had less serving and the other is less sweet but had bigger serving. I ended up running into the other store as well when I got lost later during my journey trying to find my next destination, didn't have any appetite for more of it though so I didn't try the other store as well.

My next stop was A-Mei's Teahouse, I know it's a tourist trap because of how expensive their tea set is, but I'm a tourist, I'm suppose to fall for the trap on my first visit. 

Well, I got lost for a good 10 minutes, just walking around aimlessly until I decided to open Google Map to lead me in the right direction. 

It looked like the photos I have seen online, so I went in and got a seat, unfortunately, all the seats that were along the windows were already taken up, so I had to sit in the middle of the restaurant and needed to look over the other patrons to get a full view of the hills and mountains, which were nothing short of fantastic. 

This is a screenshot taken from a video, so not the greatest example of the actual scenery, but the view is really nice. Initially at the start, there were a few of us there who were on our own, but as the tourist groups starting coming in, I became the only solo diner there, everyone else had friends and family to talk to whilst I was just sitting alone, in the middle of the restaurant, nursing the overprice Oolong Tea.

There really is nothing special about the tea set, at $15SGD, all I got was enough tea leaves to brew about 10 -15 small cup of Oolong Tea, 3 preserved prunes, 2 really tiny sesame brittle, 1 peanut cake and 1 mochi. 

It's a nice presentation, but the cost of those items combined can't be more than $2 - 3 SGD, I also ended up breaking the Peanut Cake because it was so brittle, the whole thing just broke apart when I tried to grab it with my fingers.

Stayed in the teahouse for about an hour because there was just so much tea to drink, I was actually full after this, all that water was making me feel bloated, I knew I was going to need to take a piss before going back because if not, my bladder will most probably end up suffering in the bus. It was a good experience, would make for a very nice spot to just chill and chat, but I will unlikely be visiting again unless I am going with a friend or family.

I then decided to take a walk around Jiufen to wait for the need to pee to kick in, got some Totoro merch for my Mum, had to get ones that looked the least fake because none of the Studio Ghibli items at Jiufen are actually official merch, they are all fake, but I got the least fake looking ones and then I got lost again...

... but I have to admit, getting lost in Jiufen isn't a horrible thing when you get to enjoy this type of views.

I did eventually find my way, got more souvenirs in the form of food, finally took a piss and then made my way back to Ximen, I was very lucky because the bus was only minutes from arriving when I reached the bus stop. The ride back was much faster because the bus driver was pretty much just racing down the mountain, it was quite exhilarating. 

Took a break in the hotel and then headed out to my final Night Market for this trip, the famous Shilin Night Market...

I was very early as always when it comes to visiting Night Market, so most stores aren't open yet. I had a feeling this was going to be a disappointment like with the rest of my Night Market experiences and I was right, but more on that later...

First stop. 

Stinky Tofu

I was really worried about this because I am not sure how bad it will be, they marketed their stinky tofu as "Fragrant Stinky Tofu" on the menu, not sure it's Fragrant as in not smelly, or Fragrant as in extremely fucking smelly, but I didn't smell anything bad in the store and the thing is, when I watch Youtube videos of Caucasians visiting Night Markets in Taiwan, they always claim they can smell the stench of Stinky Tofu the moment they enter the Night Market. There is literally no smell of the Stinky Tofu in any of the 3 Night Markets I have visited, I don't know, maybe it's because I always visit the Night Markets way too early, but even when I am in this Stinky Tofu store, there wasn't really any overpowering stench.

This is the Stinky Tofu, it doesn't stink as bad as I thought it would, I was worried it would reek like blue cheese or body odor, but it was a different stink, it was the same kind of pungency that kimchi has and I like kimchi, so this was actually quite nice. There is definitely a waft of garbage smell every time I put a piece in my mouth, but its not bad enough to affect my experience with it, I also put quite a bit of chilli to try and mask the garbage scent, overall it was really quite good. I would definitely have it again in the future. 

Got Bubble Tea right after, it was some Brown Sugar Soya drink, I was avoiding tea because I was worried I wouldn't be able to sleep later.

I saw this stand that was selling Squid, so I decided to get it as well.

It was a little disappointing to be honest, the squid wasn't very chewy, it wasn't as smoky as I would have liked it to be even though it's cooked with charcoal and it's about SGD8.00. It was quite a lot though, I took 20 minutes to finish this and by the time I was done with it, I had walked pretty much the entirety of the Night Market twice. 

 I also ended up getting this drink and it was surprisingly good, I assume it's a lime and orange drink, and this was the last item I had before I left. 

After this Night Market, I came to realize 1 thing, I just do not like going to Night Markets, I tried 3 different Night Markets and I didn't have a good experience, I just don't like eating at Night Markets, it's too troublesome for me personally, I would probably have enjoyed it better if I could have just got all the food and bring it back to my hotel to slowly enjoy in my own personal space. 

For my next Taipei trip, Night Markets will not be part of my itinerary anymore unless I really have nothing else to do, I just had such high expectations for all the Night Markets, so to realize that I just do not like the Night Market experience was a major disappointment for me. I gave it 3 shots at 3 different Night Markets and I left all 3 feeling somewhat empty, not in terms of being hungry but just the overall experience. I will definitely not enjoy it at night as well because when I just cannot handle crowded places.

Day 3 had a lot of travelling and I was just mentally exhausted from it all, I retied back to the hotel after this. I think I did visit Family Mart in the evening and got myself a carton of Taro Milk and a Blueberry and Cream Sandwich for supper, they both sucked that's why I don't have any pictures of them.

 Day 4

This was my final full day in Taipei. I was up at like 4.30am, I have no idea why but I kept waking up super early, it was the same during my trip in New York as well, I just naturally got up at 6am back then.

It gets bright at 5am in Taiwan.

This is how 5.30am looks like in Taiwan. It's very confusing because it only gets bright in Singapore at around 7am, 5.30am is suppose to still be dark.

Anyways, I decided I was going to have Fu Huang again because it's so close to the hotel and since they open at 5.30am, I went to visit the store at 5.30am.

This is the queue at 5.45am.

Here are the workers making the delicious fried stuff for us in the morning along with their Michelin Star plaques just hanging from the window

I decided to just get something simple and ordered a cold Soya Milk and Dough Fritters, that was all I needed and it was enough. The dough fritters were super crispy though, so I had to dip it into the Soya Milk to soften it and it was so good. If I had more days left in Taipei, I would probably go back again and order the same item, but have the Warm Soya Milk instead for dipping.

Just a random photo of the Temple near the hotel and the reason why the MRT Station is called Shandao Temple station.

Here is a photo of a toy I got from the Gachapon machine near Family Mart, I went there to get a cup of tea that my Taiwanese colleague had recommended, it was good, but it taste very similar to KOI Black Tea Macchiato, she had requested I get one pack back for her, but I didn't because I was worried it would just spill in my luggage.

Next up on the agenda was getting Pineapple Tarts from Chia Te, the store opens at 8.30am, I read that a long queue would always form at the store, so I figured I will go at 9am and maybe the queue wouldn't be so bad...

...this was the queue at 9.15am.

I was in the queue for 40 minutes! And of all days, that day had to be the day the weather decided to be on the warmer side, it was not air-con temperature that day, I could feel the heat of the Sun just shining down on me.

That same Taiwanese colleague had requested for me to get her this pastry from Chia Te as well, but when I was finally near the entrance, we were told that that particular item and the Wife Biscuits were sold out, it's nuts how quickly it sold out because the store has only opened for a little over an hour and things were already sold out.

By the time it was about my turn to enter, this Taiwanese grandpa who was standing behind me starting chatting with me, he asked me if I didn't have to work that day and I told him I was a tourist, he then complimented my height and ask me where I am from, he started talking about his history with the store, how he is friends with the original landlord who used to lease the space out to the bakery many years ago and then talked about how he is queuing up to get the Pineapple Tarts for his grandkids in America because they have requested for it. 

I ask him how many Pineapple Tarts he would usually get and he tells me he will usually get about 3 to 4 big boxes, so that became my own personal gauge. I was seeing people coming out of the store with really large bags and I told myself I wasn't going to come out of the store looking like them because I still had to travel back to the hotel, I didn't want to be carrying so much in the train on the way back.

Since the grandpa usually gets 3 - 4 big boxes, I was going to just get half of what he usually gets and buy 2 big boxes, 1 medium box, 2 bags of nougats and 1 box of Sun Biscuit for my Mum. 

I was finally in the store after 40 minutes of queuing, ticked all the items I wanted to get from the order sheet and when I saw how big the big boxes were, it was instant regret. I thought the medium size boxes were their big, bit nope, big is twice the size, and I got 2 boxes!

I ended up looking like the people who came out of the store with big bags, I became one of the kiasu people, that being said, there were also people coming out with cardboard boxes worth of food so those are even worst.

This was 5kg worth of items from Chia Te! Total damage was about SGD$140.

What's so stupid about this purchase is I have tried their pineapple tarts when one of my colleague brought it back from his Taiwan trip a late year and I didn't really find it special, but because of hype and that long queue, I still got so many. The milk and peanut nougat is probably my favorite item from them.

I also got Pineapple Tarts from a store in Taipei 101 called Sugar and Spice, they specializes in Nougats but also sold Pineapple Tarts, and after trying them, I actually prefer their Pineapple Tarts over Chia Te,  but I do prefer the Nougat from Chia Te over the ones from Sugar and Spice, so I don't know what the fuck is wrong with my tastebud. 

As I was carrying the goods from Chia Te back to the hotel, I really regretted ordering so many boxes because that meant I no longer had any space in my luggage for anything else, I was also worried I would exceed the luggage weight limit, but thankfully the hotel had a weighing machine, so I was still like 10kg away from the maximum weight limit capacity.

Took a short break in the hotel to decide where to go next because I literally had nothing else planned after the Pineapple Tart trip, so I did my research and decided to look for a place that I would personally enjoy going.

 Dongmen / Da'an

I did enjoy the place, it had cafes and a lot of small gift shops, it's similar to Ximending, but not as crowded and busy. If Ximending was Bugis Street, then Dongmen/ Da'an was Tiong Bahru. 

I had my first bowl of Beef Noodles there, it was decent but I was so parched because I literally only had a small box of apple juice after I came back from Chia Te, and this Beef Noodle shop didn't sell any drinks, so I was so focused on trying to finish the noodle as soon as possible so I could get a drink.

I had wanted to get 50 Lan bubble tea, but there was quite a long queue, so I just gave up and got a drink from 7-11, then I headed to this Soya shop that specializes in Soya desserts called Soypresso.

Got myself their Soya Milk Softserve and a bottle of their Soya Milk in Tie Guan Yin flavour, it was nice, the Soft Serve is very similar to the ones from Mr Bean, it's quite thick and is  essentially just soya milk ice cream.

I was initially sitting at their outdoor bar area with my back facing the road because I thought that was the only sitting they had, turns out they had a proper dining space on the second level through their door that I didn't realize.

I decided to just head to the park to finish the rest of my Ice Cream instead of going upstairs.

After this, I went to one of the souvenir shops to see if there was anything I could get for my colleagues, specifically at the metal pins they had, they were SGD$5 each, I wouldn't mind getting for some of my colleagues that I am closer to, but then out of my 8 colleagues that I work with in the store, I am only not particularly close to 2 of them, if I got the rest pins but didn't get for the other 2, it would just look bad, but then I am also not close enough with the 2 to warrant spending $5 on them, so in the end, I just didn't get any for anyone.

Dognmen ended up being a pretty nice place to visit and a lot of that I think had to do with the fact that this was an impromptu visit, I didn't plan to come visit this spot back in February after I made my plane ticket purchase, so my expectations were not high. It will definitely be a spot that I will want to return to for my next visit.

When I went back to the hotel, I started packing because my flight was the next day and it was early! Like I have to leave the hotel at 6am and reach the airport at 7am early, so I wasn't planning on going out anymore, the plan was to just stay in the hotel and have my final dinner at Starbucks to use up all my credit, and then just rest until the next day.

The longer I sat in my room once I could pack as much as I could, the more I felt the need to go out because it was only 3pm, I still have half the day left in Taipei, sitting in the hotel room and wasting those last few hours I had left just felt ridiculous. I'm on a overseas trip, the whole point is to explore the city, not be cooped up in the hotel room like it's a staycation. 

So I got up from the sofa I was lazing on, changed my clothes and headed out! I headed out to Zhongshan, the place I had accidentally visited on the 1st day when I got lost at Taipei Main Station. My plan going there was really to get a leather iPhone case from the apple shop there because I still had like TWD$12,000 of spending money left. (My Dad had given me TWD$8000 spending money before I left for my trip thus the insane extra amount I had).

Headed to the eslite Departmental Store first for a meal and decided to go for something that is more my style, western food and since I had money to spend, just go to a restaurant and enjoy the service. 

....picked this store and got myself this...

 I would honestly pick this over the food at the Night Market, those are really not my style, this is and I was very happy with the decision to actually come out for my final dinner for this trip.

Total damage was about SGD$25, typical price for this kind of food.

I then headed over to the Apple store which was located in another departmental store across the street and unfortunately, they didn't have the case I wanted, no service was rendered to me as well so I just left after looking around for like 2 minutes.

Took a walk around the mall, which had like 6 levels, just to kill time really, and then came across this bakery at the first level.

The Red Velvet looked really similar to the one sold at Lady M last time,(it has since been discontinued, which is such a pity) so I got a slice of it, thinking it will taste similar...

... it didn't. You could really taste the cream cheese here, which I didn't like and I guess that's why Lady M red velvet didn't do so well because their Cream Cheese flavor was lacking, which worked for my palette but probably not for majority of the people who actually like Red Velvet for the Cream Cheese Frosting.

I was very satisfied with the decision to go out for dinner and am just so thankful that the hotel is just so conveniently located and easy to get to all this places as I was trying to force the Red Velvet cake down.

It was only about 7pm when I got back, I still had time and I knew I wanted to leave the hotel at least 1 more time, not to go somewhere far, but just to take a short walk, and of course, the answer as to where I should go was simple... 50 Lan for 1 final cup of bubble tea.

I really wish I could get Tea, but because I wanted to sleep, I ended up getting their Yakult Lemonade, which was fucking sour...

...along with this little creature from the Gachapon machine, it's a lemon hamster, which is so fitting because I also happen to be having a cup of lemonade.

I then attempted to get some sleep, woke up at 2.30am and couldn't get back to sleep after that, the whole idea of that night being my last night in Taiwan just made me feel a little sad, it just felt too short, I mean I had been looking forward to this trip back in February, been talking to my colleague about it and now it's about to be over is just a bit depressing. 

So I just streamed YouTube on the TV and watched the interview Xiaxue did with Dee Kosh, which was perfect because it was 1.5 hours long and it was long enough to keep me entertained. 

When the Sun finally came up at like 5am, I took time to really soak in the views from my hotel room for one last time, looked at the school that I have been facing for the past 4 days, and then went to take a bath, packed all the remaining items and FORGOT TO PACK MY FACIAL CLEANSER THAT IS STILL FULL ! I even made sure to tighten the pump after I used it in the Shower so it wouldn't spill all over in the luggage when I packed it, but then I completely forgot about it and  just left it there in the shower area niche, so that item is now still in Taipei, probably in the trash somewhere. 

Anyways, my Uber came like 30 minutes early, I didn't really want to make him wait 30 minutes, so I checked out of the hotel 15 minutes earlier than I had planned to and went to look for the driver. 

He saw me carrying a bag from Chia Te (I had to carry the Sun Biscuit by hand because it couldn't fit in the luggage and I was worried it will break if my luggage got manhandled by the airport staff) and told me in Mandarin that the brand doesn't taste good, he then recommended me the brand that the locals actually get at this shop called Pan's Cake Bakery, so well noted on that, will get that instead for my next trip.

The Uber driver was quite a friendly guy, he was chatty and asked me if I had visited Taiwan before, and was surprised when I told him this was my first time and it also happens to be my first solo trip alone in a different country, he then ask me where I am from and once again, he got pleasantly surprised because he told me he will be visiting Singapore in July. 

We chatted for a while, but there was really still a bit of language barrier between us because he didn't understand English at all, and when I talk in Mandarin, I will usually thrown in some English words if I didn't know how to say it in Mandarin, he didn't catch balls, but it was nice while the chatting lasted.

I was able to reach the Airport at around 7pm, so the ride itself took about 45 minutes, which now that I think about it is roughly how long it takes to travel by train, which goes to show how efficient the metro system is and just how insanely convenient the hotel is located. 

Check in took a while, there was a snaking queue at the check in line, it was actually a bit nuts, my check in at Changi for departure was done within 2 minutes of queuing, the one at Taoyuan took at least 15 minutes because there were different tour groups who were checking in.

Headed into the departure hall and it was a really long walk to my gate, food options at my gate area won't great, so I just settled for a plain bagel and tea, then just waited for boarding to start.

I was fucking lucky once again because Premium Economy was not even 50% filled up. I had 2 seats to myself, I had originally paid $30 to book the front row seat middle aisle for the extra leg space, but I am so happy I requested to switch to a window seat during check in because this is so much better.

I mean what are the odds? I got an extra seat beside me for both flights!

The only complaint I have about flight is that the movie choices weren't great, for my flight to Taiwan, I watched Puss In Boots, and than that was it, for the remainder of the flight I think I just listened to music, for this return flight, I knew there wasn't going to be much difference, so I downloaded an episode of a K-Drama I am currently watching on Netflix and just watched that for the first 50 minutes of the flight.

After that I just looked at the photos I had taken from the trip, tried to sleep a bit, which didn't work because I just cannot sleep sitting up.

I also took a photo of this two out of boredom.

Reached Singapore at around 1.30pm and as I went through Immigration, I get reminded of how horrible the service staff at Singapore truly is compared to Taiwan.

I didn't know you needed to fill in the SG Arrival Card for residents, so when I tried to enter the automated gantry, I was met with an error, this staff who was manning the gantry then ask me to go fill up the SG Arrival Card at the iPad across the hall, to which I told her I was local, and then she responded in a very impatient tone...

"Locals also need to fill up the form."

… once I filled it up and got pass the gantry, I could hear a security officer very impatiently instructing the Taiwan tourist about doing a body check or something. 

It was the same when I came back from America, majority of the service staff back in Singapore just suddenly feel like they are extra rude and impatient. I feel bad for Taiwanese visiting Singapore because they will need to adjust to a lot of the service staff just being very unpleasant. 

I got a Grab once I got beer from the duty-free shop for my Sister and collected my luggage and headed back home. And of course the weather is a fucking cunt, it was so fucking warm and humid yesterday, and today, it is even worst at 35°c, according to Google, it feels like 45°c, it's fucking nuts. If I had known there was going to be this insane heatwave for the first half of May, I would definitely have extended my trip.

Overall, I will say the trip was a huge success and I look forward to going back to Taipei again soon, maybe January next year when the weather will definitely be cold and it won't be up to luck like this time around. 

Taipei Day 1 + 2

 I have returned from my first ever Overseas Solo Trip and I will say, it was a huge success!

My flight was on Sunday at 3.10pm, initially my plan was to just take a Grab over to the airport on my own, but my sister was kind enough to rent a car and drive me there, so I reached the airport at around 1.45pm-ish and went to check in straight after, had Pret-A-Manger in the Departure Hall because I really liked the food that was sold at the outlets in New York when I visited there back in 2019, unfortunately, the items sold at the Singapore outlet is fucking expensive, a small fruit bowl was already $10. 

So instead, I got myself a Fruit Smoothie and a Popcorn Rocky Road, the Smoothie was very sour and the Popcorn Rocky Road was very meh. I think this was about $12 in total if I'm not wrong. 

About an hour later, the boarding gate opened up, so I headed over and since I had gotten a Premium Economy ticket, I didn't have to go too far to find my seat with all the other peasants, I was a semi-peasant sandwiched between the Business Class and Economy Class.

Premium Economy Seats are like proper armchair seats whereas Economy Seats look like seats that were taken out from a bus and just installed directly onto the plane, there was enough leg room and it felt quite spacious. 

I was very lucky because the Premium Economy zone was quite empty and I almost had a whole back row to myself. It felt like such a steal to have that much space for my other stuff, like I didn't have to squeeze all my belongings within my own zone, I literally had another seat next to me that I could fully utilize.  That being said, I couldn't fully enjoy the space because I was also quite busy getting worried about how to navigate Taoyuan Airport once I landed and then was contemplating if I should take a cab or just take the Metro to the hotel right after that.

Anyways, here is a shot of the airport baggage claim area after I arrived in Taipei for the first time in my life, thankfully the signs are done really well in Taiwan, so navigating through the airport was a breeze, the Metro itself was also really easy to navigate, I would go so far as to say that the navigation within the Metro is done much better than here in Singapore, the signs that they plaster telling you which exit goes where is informative enough for a noob like me to not get lost, the moment you exit the train, they literally have a standee to point out where the exits are, and then telling you the Exit leads to where.

Also, Taiwanese people in general are just so much more well mannered, they are not rushing into the train the moment the door opens, they will stand one side to wait until everyone that is stepping out steps out before they go in, but here in Singapore, the moment the door opens, you will have a bunch of Aunties just pushing their way though, and the moment 1 Aunty starts doing that, everyone else will follow suit. 

I successfully navigated through the Metro, took the Express Train all the way to Taipei Main Station, from Taipei Main Station, transfer to the Bannan Line and took 1 stop to my hotel, which is literally just across one of the MRT Exit. It was so fucking convenient, and this convenience was what made the rest of my trip in Taipei such a breeze for exploration.

The main downside for day 1 is the fact that the flight was actually slightly delayed back in Singapore, so I only touchdown in Taipei at around 8.30pm, by the time I reached the Hotel once I was done with all the Immigration and Baggage collection, it was already 10pm, there really weren't much I could do after that, so I had my first meal in Taipei from 7-11.

It was honestly not a bad meal, the Malt Milk was pretty nice as well, but little would I know, this would be the only 7-11 meal I would eat for the entire trip because that's how successful this trip was, I didn't give in to laziness and just decide to stay in the hotel, I actually went out as much as I could for the 4 full days I was there.

Oh, the hotel room was also pretty great, I was given a room on the 13th floor...

I'm literally facing a school, so it is interesting to see students filling up the classroom in the morning at around 8am...

.... and at night, the students are literally in class until 9.30pm. It's insane, I would usually be back from my exploring at 6pm- 7pm, by which time it would already be dark because Taiwan is like that, I mean the Sun is usually already up at 5.30am, so it will look like the day time photo of the school, my body clock was very confused.

Also, it was cold during my visit there, so that was a very very pleasant surprise, it feels like I am walking in an air conditioned space, it was very comfortable, I had thought the weather would be warm, so I brought more shorts than long pants and I wore short shorts for the first 2 days while the locals were covered in sweaters and long pants, someone was clearly underdressed for the weather, but it was nice.

Anyways, on the first official day of my trip, I had Starbucks at the hotel, this was honestly one of the main reason why I chose the hotel, because of the Starbucks, the hotel will give all hotel guest credit that they can spend at Starbucks, and the Starbucks will be opened only for the hotel guest from 7.30am - 9.30am, which is really nice. 

It's a really nice Starbucks and is allegedly one of the nicest Starbucks in Taipei based on some articles I read online, it gets packed when it officially opens to the public after 9.30am, so it's really nice to have that peace and quiet in the morning.

Here is my first Breakfast at Taiwan. 

Something simple and accessible because it's literally in the hotel. I wanted to get Fu Huang Soy Milk at first, which is essentially Soy Milk and Fried Dough Fritters, but they were closed on Mondays, so I ended up settling for Starbucks instead, which isn't too bad because I have points I needed to utilize anyway.

After breakfast, I went back to rest a bit, a bit undecided on where to go, I had an itinerary and I was supposed to go visit Taipei 101 that day, but after my initial breakfast plan messed up, I contemplated for a while and decided I was going to go the Songshan instead to see visit their Cultural Centre and also take a look at their stores that sells little trinkets, which would make for perfect souvenirs. 

I took more videos than photos during this trip, so I will only post the photos here, but this is the fountain that is in the area.

It's a very nice place to visit, nice and quiet, a bit artsy. I really like the overall vibe of the space, got myself a hand cream at one of the stores there and the sales lady was really nice, I wanted to get this hand cream in a particular scent that they carried for their essential oils, perfume and candles, but unfortunately, because the hand cream doesn't come in that particular scent, I ended up going for a different scent, the sales lady then proceeded to hand me a small little stone that she had spritzed with the perfume of the scent that I liked and gave it to me for free because she felt bad that the hand cream I wanted didn't have the scent I wanted it in.

And this is the service standard there in Taipei, the service staff are just super nice and friendly, I mean people there in general are nice and friendly, after I got the hand cream and went out the store, this Taiwanese Aunty asked me what I had gotten, I told her I got a hand cream and she thought I was Japanese for some reason, so she commented that my Mandarin was really good for a Japanese person. 

I had to tell her I was in fact Singaporean, that's why I could speak Mandarin, we had a very short exchange and before she left, she welcomed me to Taiwan and went on her way. 

Small gestures like this just really made my day.

Anyways, I travelled around the area a bit more and came across this mall that was just across from the Cultural Centre I was in, took a look at the restaurant and they had a Chun Shui Tang outlet in there, this restaurants is on my list of places to visit and I was suppose to visit it near a departmental store near Taipei 101, so what are the odds?

It was such a nice place, it was quiet, I was really early as well so I was one of the first few customer that day who visited the restaurant. I just felt really satisfied as I was sitting in the restaurant and have the solo trip be going so perfectly, enjoying my nice cup of bubble tea, the weather is amazing, there was a light drizzle but that meant it was cooling and everything just felt perfect in that moment. 

After that meal, I went back to the hotel to take a short break.

 

Me lepaking on the bed, streaming Disney+ from my iPad. 

I just found out my style of travelling alone, so what I would do is I would visit Location A for breakfast, take a short walk around the area and then return back to the hotel to rest for 1 - 2 hours before heading to Location B for lunch, take a short walk before returning back to the hotel and repeating the same for Location C for dinner. That was my routine and I liked that routine, I made a lot of trips so it really familiarized me with the Metro. And the fact that the Metro is literally just across my hotel is just the cherry on top of this whole experience.

Next stop was the Raohe Night Market, it was the first of 3 Night Markets I had planned to visit during this trip and I will say this is when things started to not become so perfect anymore, it was still great, but not as amazing as lunch.

It was relatively easy to get to Raohe Night Market...

First Stop was the famous Pepper Buns. The moment I started eating this, I knew for sure I was not going to be able to eat a lot of what the Night Market had to offer because of how small my appetite is. I walked the entire stretch of Raohe before I was even close to finishing this and when I was done, I was already half full.

Next thing I needed was a drink, so I got myself a Mung Bean slushie. I like Green Bean soup, so this was not really not bad, the staff was quite generous as well when she was scooping the slushie into the cup, it's literally filled all the way to the brim and sealed.

Walked a little more and I come across this stall selling this herbal soup, I had watched a Youtube video when I was in the hotel talking  about this specific store, the Youtuber claimed that this store is what the locals would go for when they visit Roahe, and I was still thinking to myself when I saw that video that I was most probably not going to eat at this store because it looked really popular and crowded in the video.

Well, when I walked past it, I decided I needed to try it, I needed to make an effort for this trip to be memorable, so I  made a U-Turn, went up to the store, and told the staff there that I wanted to get 1 set, the staff ushered me to the nearest available seat and this ended up being my last meal of the day. It's not my style of food, but I was so happy I made the effort to at least give it a try. 

I didn't stay long in the Night Market, I was there for maybe an hour, so it wasn't at it's peak yet, a lot of stores were still preparing but I really couldn't handle anymore food after that, so I headed back to the hotel, but before that, I decided to take a walk around Taipei Main Station because it is almost like a mall on it's own.

Well, I got lost as I was navigating through the space, I saw this sign that led to the "Zhongshan Metro Mall", so I followed it thinking it would just lead me to some kind of shopping zone where I could potentially get some cake or dessert back for supper in my hotel room.

Following the sign led me to this long path of what I assumed used to be an underground mall, I didn't realize it at that time and kept assuming the Zhongshan Metro Mall was up ahead.

Well, there was no mall, this is the mall and I ended up walking all the way to Zhongshan, which is the station right after Taipei Main Station, it was where I had transferred from to get the Taipei Main Station and I was back there again. Figured since I was there, I will just go up and take a look at the place, it was mainly departmental stores that I had no interest in visiting at that time, so I walked back to Taipei Main Station and on the way, came across an actual mall called Q-Square.

It feels so random to find the underground entrance to the mall in the Taipei Main Station, but it was a pleasant surprise.

 I was literally just thinking about getting a Bath Bomb that day just to take full advantage of the bathtub in the hotel room, and I manage to find LUSH there, so I got the cheapest bubble both bomb I could find, it was still pretty expensive at around $14 SGD, but the sales person who assisted me was really friendly and also threw in a sample face mask for me because she saw my face was not exactly in a good condition. Taiwan service staff is really next level, you actually feel good shopping with them.

There was also a food court / food area at the lowest level of Q-Square, so I got myself a  Black Forest cake, this was also not cheap, it was about $11 SGD. It looked so light and fluffy in picture but unfortunately, the cake sponge felt a bit dry and not as soft as I would have liked it, the cream was on the stiffer side as well, not very light and airy, it was not very good, I have quite high expectations when it comes to cake, so it just didn't live up to my standard. It looks cute though.

So that concluded Day 1 of the trip, it was super fruitful, I visited quite a few locations and I was very proud of myself for making the effort to actually visit those places. The fact that the MRT is so close to the hotel definitely helped as well, so I was very happy with the location of the hotel.  

Second Day -

Fu Huang was finally opened on the second day of my trip, so that was where I headed after I woke up from bed...

... this was the queue at around 7.45am in the morning and it continues all the way up to the second level where the shop is located. 

The line moved quite quickly though, I was able to get my stuff within 10 minutes of queuing, the staff were very efficient.  

I got a few items, a Cold bowl of Soya Milk, a savory Salted Soya Milk that looks like bean curd because it is literally curded by the vinegar they pour on it and is essentially a savory item and this bread wrap with a dough fritter in it.  It was so filling, the Soya Milk was really good but I was so full after this.

When I was finally done with the meal, I went back to Starbucks to get a Pink Drink, just to relax at the Starbucks while it's still only open for the hotel guest.

I just needed something light after that heavy meal at Fu Huang, and I also needed to use the Starbucks credit as much as I possibly could. I notice that Starbucks served all their drinks in this paper cup, they don't serve in those transparent plastic cup, so I have no pretty pictures to take of the pink drink.

Took a quick 2 hour break in the hotel and was contemplating where to go next, decided that I will follow the Itinerary I had originally planned for the previous day and headed to Taipei 101 for lunch.

My colleague who had visited Taipei 101 before told me that there really was nothing much to see at the top and that I shouldn't waste my money going up there, so I contemplated if I should while having a very light meal at the foodcourt. 

Got a bubble tea and a small Katsu Sandwich because I was still full from Breakfast, it was meh, the bubble tea wasn't very nice, it had floral notes to it that I really did not like and I couldn't enjoy the Katsu Sandwich because I was essentially just forcing myself to eat it for the sake of eating it.

After the meal, I took a walk around the mall a bit....

... the stores were all mainly luxury brands, so I was definitely not their target demographic. When I reached their upper level, I was presented with this concourse where  Burberry or Chanel was having some sort of pop up exhibition, then I saw right behind those display was the entrance to the Taipei 101 observatory. 

I know it's a waste of money, at $30 SGD per entry just to get up there, it's a tourist trap for sure, but then I knew that even if it was a tourist trap, it was still an experience I had to try, I am a tourist in Taipei for the first time on my first ever solo trip, if there is an experience worth trying, then I am going to go for it. 

So I did, paid for the entry fee, and headed to the elevator that will shoot me up all the way to the 98th floor or something, but before that they had this little photo booth section where you can have your picture taken, I thought it was like a free service they offered, but apparently if you want your photos, you need to pay for it at the top floor, so I took an awkward photo where I didn't know what to do with my hands and then just headed to the lift.

My ears popped as we blasted up to the 98th storey and this was one the views up there...

.. it's really high, not worth $30SGD but definitely an experience worth trying out as a first time visitor to Taipei.

They also had a small cafe up there, so I got myself a coffee and cake...

... total was like $20SGD, but the entry ticket to the observatory came with a discount coupon, so I made use of it and this was still overpriced. I didn't know the coffee I ordered would be serve the way it did, I just wanted a light roast Americano, but that's what I got, and the cake is mainly mousse, which is not the type of cake that I like, I want my cakes to have sponge cake base, not just mousse.

The food and drink wasn't bad, it's just not my style, but I am glad I had that experience up there, also got a bunch of souvenirs from there. which I later find out are just souvenirs I can get literally at any other gift shop scattered around Taipei.

On the way back, I also got Mister Donut...

.. I only know about Mister Donut because I read that they had a pop up store in Singapore a few years back that had people queuing for hours, so I wanted to understand what the hype was about and so I got 3 to try, there was no queue, so it was very quick.

Mister Donut specializes in Mochi Donuts. 

I do not like Mochi Donuts. 

I didn't like Mister Donut, in fact I only ate 2 and threw the last one away days later because it got hard from just sitting on the table for 2 days. 

Luckily I never had to queue for it, would have been so disappointed if I gotten this after queuing for hours in Singapore. 

After this, I went back to the hotel for a rest again before heading out to Ximending for their Night Market.

I guess it's not so much a Night Market, but they do have quite a few food options there and the best way to describe the place for me would be Bugis Street on steroids.

First stop was to try the famous Ah Zhong Mian Xian....

... got myself a small bowl because I knew I would get full very easily. Honestly speaking, it's nothing too special, taste like any regular Mee Sua dish I could get from a Taiwanese food store in Singapore, like Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks.

After that, I went to look for this place called Snow King that sells really weird ice cream flavours. It's not located within the main shopping area of Ximending, so I had to walk a bit to get there... 

They have a sign by the side of the building "雪王“

Here is the interior of the place, so they have regular flavours, but also really weird ones like Pork Floss and Kidney Bean, 

...they also have much weirder ones like Seasame Oil Chicken, Bitter Gourd, Wasabi, Curry, but those are seasonal so they weren't available that day, not that I would have ordered them because it sounded too weird for me.

I should have gotten just 1 flavor, but I decided to get 2 just to try out a regular flavor and one of their weird flavors ....

... the ladyboss recommended I try the savory one first, so she brought out the Pork Floss for me. It's actually not bad, all the locals that came into the store whilst I was there ordered the Pork Floss Ice Cream as well.

The weather was actually cold that day, so having Ice Cream was probably not the best idea, which is why as I was eating this Pork Floss Ice Cream, I was heavily regretting getting their Mango as well...

... I thought it was going to be like Mango sorbet, so when I was presented with Mango Ice Cream, I was a bit disappointed. I do not like Mango Ice Cream, Mango is always better as a sorbet than an Ice Cream in my opinion, so I didn't really enjoy this just from a personal preference. 

2 cups of Ice Cream was definitely a mistake, and also, I probably should have had dessert last, like I didn't properly plan what to actually eat first and what to have last, I just made poor decisions on the fly that day. 

After that, I went back to the main area of Ximending and saw this store, seeing how they had a dine-in option, I decided to just give it a shot, I also read on an article online that you should try out the Onden from Ximen, so that's how I ended up in this store...

... it's a very old school set up, there were a few patrons in here and also this lingering smell of piss in the air, it smells like the streets of New York City. Like it's there, but it's not bad enough to  really affect your appetite.

I got myself their Onden, Braised Pork Rice and a cup of Watermelon Juice. It was okay, like nothing particularly outstanding about the meal, it's a good place for you to just go and get a meal to fill yourself up. 

This was the limit for that day for me, after this I really couldn't down anymore food, so I headed back to the hotel, but before that, I wanted to get some souvenirs back first, so I found this one store that was close to the train station entrance and got this...

... it's for my colleague at work. I'm actually not very close with him, but when he was in Melbourne visiting his friend earlier this year, he was super nice and got me a bunch of candies from there for my birthday , so I told him that I will definitely get him something when I am in Taiwan and I found the perfect gag gift for him.

... and the shopkeeper there managed to convince me to get all this as well before I left. They have a buy 5 get 1 free promotion happening, so in the end, I got a total of 7 items because the penis cake wasn't part of the promotional items. 

It is great though, I will be bringing half of those items to share with my colleagues at work.

When I got back to the hotel, it was only around 7.30pm, it literally took me less than 15 minutes to travel from Ximen to my hotel because that's how conveniently located my hotel is. I knew I wasn't going to go out anymore because I was already quite tired, it was a very fruitful day, I will admit I was quite disappointed with myself when it came to trying out food at Ximending though because the only main item I had there was the Ah Zhong Mian Xian, the ice cream and the final meal weren't really what you would think of when you think of Ximending, so in terms of my eating experience there, it was definitely a fail, which is the same as my eating experience as Raohe night market, both were big fail on my part because I just didn't have the appetite to try a lot of the food they offered.

After like an hour of just sitting in the hotel and streaming Netflix and Youtube on the TV,  I decided to head over to the closest bubble tea shop, which is literally a walking distance from my hotel, and just get a cup.

... this is KOI in Taiwan, it's called 50 Lan and it's freaking cheap compared to KOI in Singapore, their largest drink cost as much as the cheapest smallest drink in KOI.

It was a chilly night, so even the store kept their air-con turned off.

I got a cup of Ovaltine Latte because I didn't want anything with caffeine in it, this was about $3.50SGD, if I got this in Singapore, it would be about $7.00. I also had my second Mister Donut for supper and was just watching Youtube as I just sat back and recharged for the next day. 

Second day was also super fruitful, so I was very happy with myself. The only regret I had about the last 2 days was my experience with the night market, I just really didn't enjoy the Night Market as much as I thought I would.

Shall continue day 3 +4 in the next post because it's getting way too long.