Taiwan Day 3 & 4: Shopping at Xi Meng Ding, Wu Fen Pu, High Tea at Mao Kong and KTV!

Day 3 :

Below our hotel sells lots of local food and all of them just smells sooooooo good! Breakfast settled easily!

Unique cafe interior for mostly take away coffee cause there is only a very small table and 2 seats there.

Taiwan's pan fried carrot cake! Looks like Singapore carrot cake, but it taste differently with their own sauce. Yummy!

Morning coffee to start of the day!

There are 3 ways to take their metro train a.k.a our MRT. 

First type will be the permanent 'Easy Card' which works like our normal EZ-link card. Top up when there is no value in it. You can choose to return when you are leaving Taiwan and take back the card deposit money or keep in till your next visit to Taiwan. I kept mine since I love to visit Taiwan!   

Second type will be a 'One Day Pass' card, which you can use for unlimited trip for a day and return by end of the day and they will return the deposit money. Some find it worth it cause you can use for unlimited trips but some find it troublesome as you have to buy and return everyday. Unless you are travelling to many places on the same day, then it's worth but you are going to only a few place, it might not be as worth.  

The third way will be using this 'Single Trip Chip' which you will have to buy every trip.

Ok, enough of sharing information on MRT, time to shop and eat at Xi Men Ding! This is the famous Xi Men Ding exit 6, where it leads you to the busy shopping area. Heard that there is also a Taiwan movie name after this exit but not sure what is the story about. Haha!

First thing to do when I'm in Xi Men Ding is always grab a bowl of Ah-Chung Flour Rice Noodle ( 阿宗面线 ) a.k.a mee sua! Previously, I always stay in Xi Men Ding area so I can have Ah-chung mee sua everyday but this time round staying in Taipei Main Station area so this will be my only chance to eat it.

Big bowl : NT$60 = SG$2.50

Small bowl : NT$45 = SG$1.90

As crowded as usual. Mostly tourist will eat there and locals will prefer take away.

It still taste so good! I still love their mee sua after trying others in Taiwan! As I mention in my last year's Taiwan post, this mee sua has nothing special but I still love it!

How to go: Xi Men Station, Exit 6, turn to your right at the exit, walk straight till you see a KFC and turn to you right and you will see a lot of people siting at the corridor and there it is.

While the girls are busy shopping, the guy will be busy looking for food. Haha! This is also a very local... dessert? Yup, it should be consider as dessert i guess! It's ice cream with freshly grind peanuts wrap together in a popiah skin. Good for fighting the super hot weather!

Wraps is NT$40 (=SGD$1.70)

Ice cream is NT$30 (=SGD$1.30)

They will grind the peanut powder from this big piece of peanut!

This is how the wraps looks like! Ice cream with peanut inside.

Lots of street local food everywhere in Xi Men Ding!

Pass by Stage, a fashion boutique owns by a Taiwanese celebrity - Show Luo Zhi Xiang. We went in but only Qianyi manage to get a top cause they do not have my size for the design I like. 

Look at this Hello Kitty spots car! I wonder the owner is a female or any possibility to be a guy? Haha!

Snacks time while waiting for the rest and this is before heading to our lunch place! It seems like we have be eating non-stop from morning! Haha! ( I always believe, 'Diet starts only when you are back home' )

There is a meeting point in the train station. I always tell my friend meet at control station but they can say meet at the meeting point. Haha interesting! 

I'm bringing them to Loccitane cafe for lunch. Came here last year and find that their food is really nice so I am back here again!

Lunch time! 

Call them in advance to do booking because it's not easy to get a table for 10 pax if we are to walk in just like that.

Their promotion and menu.

This berries smoothies is so nice! Recommend for those who love sour and during summer time!

My second time here and both time menu are different. Read online that people saying their food are bad but i had a great time for both of my visit. I did recommended some friends who are going to Taipei to try at the cafe and feedback was good too. Try it yourself if you are there! 

Have to admit that their dessert is not that nice. I still prefer their main dish and drinks.

Loccitane Cafe is located at
106 台北市大安區光復南路290巷32號1樓
1F., No.32, Ln. 290, Guangfu S. Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City 106, Taiwan 
Tel :+886 227418756
Operating hours : 11am to 10pm

How to go : Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall Station, Exit 2...

You will see this view when you step out the train station. Cross towards the underground car park entrance and keep to your right...

Keeping to your right and walk straight till you see the cafe.

After a happy lunch, time for some shopping at Wu Fen Pu! 

Once we enter the place, SHOPPING TIME!! 

If you have enough time, slowly spend your time here cause there is many shops here. Not all shops might suits you but surely there is something to buy! Oh ya, Taiwanese are known to be very friendly people but you might not find all people here friendly and they might not entertain you if you are only buying one or two pieces from their shops.

Cute doggy welcoming people to the shop.

Many shops in each ally. You might not be able to find back the same shop once you left the shop so grab what you want first. Need not compare price cause most of the shops there do not sell the same thing. 

This shop's assistant is not very friendly when I asked for permission to take a picture of the dog and of course got rejected by her. I ended up standing opposite the shop and zoom all the way in to the dog! ( I know I am a bit rebel but the dog is way too cute! )

How to go: Hou Shan Pi Station, Exit 1... 

You will see this view and this sign board when you walk out of the station, cross over the road towards the Hi-Life ( the pink convenience store in the picture)...

Walk straight from Hi-Life and cross over to Cosmed, turn to your left, walk straight and you will be able to see lots of wholesales shops. 

After a few hours of shopping, dinner time at Hu Xu Chang Lu Rou Fan.

How to go: Walk back to the Cosmed and it's opposite Cosmed. 

Look at their take away rice box! Almost as small as my Iphone 4!

What's next after dinner? SUPPER! Haha! Walking over to Raohe Street Night Market and at the same time trying to digest our dinner.

My first stop ( always ) ! 

I don't eat beef but apparently the rest of them say it's super tasty! 

BBQ beef dice.

Fresh fruits ice blended for a hot summer!

Real grapes ice blended! Nothing added but just grapes fruits and little bit of honey. Pure fruit juice!

Bought two of this cute baby milk bottle back! Not really for the bottle but for the drinks.

Cheeeeeeeeeeese potato! My favorite!  

Choose the sides and they will put it in the mashed potato and lastly pour those cheese all over the potato! ( warning : only for cheese lover! )

Back to hotel and have our supper party at our favorite cozy corner to end our day! 

The cheese potato will look like this!

Fried cuttlefish!

Fresh peach that we bought at Cing jing! After supper, time to sleep! 

If you are shopping around Wu Fen Pu, then walking over to Rao He Night market is not a problem. Walk towards Song San Station, continue to walk straight and you will be able to see the night market.

Day 4 :

Heading to Maokong for some high tea session! Taking train to the Zoo station and will be taking the cable car up to the tea mountain. Went once with my friend and love the air there so I brought them there to have some tea on the mountain.

Zoo station, exit 2 and will lead us to the Maokong Gondola, A.K.A the cable car station.

Found a funny mirror at the station and we decided to have a wefie first! Haha!

Turn left and walk straight to the cable car station.

Hello Kitty cable car! 

If you do not have the permanent Easy card, you can buy your cable car tickets through the machine or line up at the counter. 

Tickets are by per trip. You can buy the tickets down from the counter on top.

Long queue and look at our poor boy stoning while waiting for his turn to go in.

And so I am using the Easy Card. Am feeling like a local! Haha!   

Every cable car are with Hello Kitty! 

View from the top in the cable car!

So many place to have tea! I only went one before and we do not know which to go this time round. But before our tea session, we shall have our brunch at the eatery area first.

The eatery which is just opposite the cable car station and you will be able to see it once you walk out the station. They sells lots of their local food. 

Smelly tofu but personally thinks this is not smelly enough! Haha! I have eaten more smelly and yet taste better one.

Taiwan oyster omelette, one of their famous local food! Taste different from the Singapore one. 

It starts to rain while we are eating and it is not stopping, so we decided to skip our tea session and head back down. 

Cable car will not be operating when it rains and the only way to get back down is to wait for the shuttle mini bus or take a cab down. Please note that if you want to take a cab down, the cab driver will be charging each person NT$100 ( SG$4.20 ). If your group is not enough to fill up the car, you will have to share with some strangers.

Not able to have our tea session, so back to shopping! 

Look at all this cute 3D display at Zhong Xiao Fu Xing station.

Heading to Pacific Sogo ( Zhong Xiao ) outlet to buy my Porter international. 

How to go: Zhong Xiao Fu Xing station, Exit 4

Thought of getting something from Jill Stuart, Level 1, but didn't manage to get anything.

Porter International located at Sogo ( Zhong Xiao ) outlet level 6.

For more outlet details : http://www.ll-porter.com

Heehee! Finally got myself something from Porter International! Price are cheaper then Singapore as this brand is original from Taiwan! I always thought that this brand is from Japan but the staff told us Porter is from Japan but Porter International is from Taiwan! This explain why it's cheaper there.

Taking the lift up the the customer service counter for our tax refund. I am surprise to see that there is still "Miss Elevator" nowadays. Anyway tax refund can be refunded on the spot at the customer service counter if your purchase above NT$3000 ( SGD$128 ). Only if you spend till a certain amount then you will have to get your refund back at the airport. 

Their customer service counter which they call it the VIP lounge located at level 9.

Heading to have our dinner. Look at the crowd! 

We are heading to Jay Chou's restaurant, Deja Vu for dinner. Not a fan of him but heard that he got a very cool magic themed restaurant so we decided to visit there. 

Walk in and the whole place looks mysterious. It's full but lucky we did call for reservation before going over.

Very cool bike next to the reception counter.

The waiting area.

Even the dining area looks so mysterious with the black certain covering the whole area. 

Wefie while waiting for our table to be prepared. Inside looks empty but they say its fully booked.

The stage for magic show and singing performance. Performance starts at 8pm.  

Quite a big restaurant.

The famous batman car displayed in the restaurant.

Our very own quite corner just right outside the VIP room. We couldn't see anything from the stage but doesn't really matter cause we are not here for the performance. 

The VIP room.

This vintage piano looks so cool! 

Appetizer is here!

Magic show starts not long after our food arrived.

Honestly speaking, food here is not fantastic. Very disappointing. For the price we are paying, it's not worth it. I guess people came here because they are curious about this restaurant or they thought they might bump into Jay Chou, but not for their food.

We thought that there is only magic show but actually there is live singing performance too. And that vintage grand piano can still use and sounds great!

Lastly the dessert! Dessert is so so too... 

The magician came to our table to perform magic for us!

The biggest coin i ever seen! 

Lego art outside creative square.

How to go : Zhong Xiao Xin Sheng station, Exit 1...

Walk all the way straight for about 8 mins till you see this arts center call the Huashan 1914 Creative Center. Walk in and you will be able to see the restaurant.

Back to Xi Men Ding for KTV session but since there is still about an hour before the timing we booked, we went shopping again! Came to Mirada department store for my beauty product stock up. A place that I will always visit whenever I go to Taipei.

Although I have been to Taiwan for so many times but this is my first time singing KTV at their Partyworld! This whole building belongs to Partyworld! 

The lobby of the Partyworld looks like a hotel lobby!

I only see this when we order food or drinks in Singapore but the Partyworld also use this!

My turn to get my room number at the counter!

10 level of KTV rooms! WOW!

Our KTV room! Very clean not like those in Singapore!

Throat candies provided to smooth our throat before singing! How nice of them!

Toilet in each individual KTV room and most importantly, it's CLEAN!

This boy is more excited with the food then the singing! So cute! 

Anyway, anyone age below 16 have to leave the place before 12am and even kids like him, age of 3 have no exception, no matter with or without their parents along. Weird rules but no choice that we have to follow. So little Oli have to go back to the hotel with his parents once the clock strike 12am.

Oh ya, back to the food, first time we had something yummy served at a KTV place! Those in Singapore is bad and expensive!

Haha! After ordering food now he is trying to select songs! 

The couple duet performance.

After a fun KTV session and back to hotel to sleep!