Day 1 :
Heading to my last trip of the year 2017! Guess where?
Boarding pass and luggage printed.
All set and ready to go!
Before fly off, let me get a cup of Ya Kun ice milk tea first and slowly scroll to my boarding gate which is like at the far end of the last few boarding gate. Actually I'm super sleepy right now as I just end work a few hours ago, went home to bath and off to the airport. Can't wait to board the flight and have a good sleep!
Took a OOTD before everyone starts to come in. Haha! Anyway I'm alone for now but gonna meet my friend who reach one day before me there in Taipei. I need to work so no choice I can only fly today.
Good morning! Wake up to my "second" home!
First thing to do is to go to the money charger to change some money! You must be thinking why didn't I change money in Singapore right? That's because the exchange rate at Taoyuan Airport is slightly better then the rate in Singapore.
But of course I'm not sure the rate there is it always better then in Singapore but you can go to their website to double check before you decide where to change. Oh ya, they will deduct 30NTD ( SG$1.40 ) as admin fee.
Next, collecting my 4G SIM Card that I order online through Klook. Bought their 4G 10 Days SIM card ( although I'm only going for 8 days, but the SIM card is either 7 days or 10 days and both at the same price ) at $22, slightly cheaper then buying from there which is 500NTD (SG$23 ).
Actually buying from Klook is not so much of the price because after all the different is only $1, but is more about whether I could get a SIM card at such early hour ( it's only 5.30am now ). I remember that the counter selling SIM cards only opens at 10am, so to avoid such case, I rather purchase online first. The counter is right at the end of the airport, on your right side when you exit the arrival door.
Actually buying from Klook is not so much of the price because after all the different is only $1, but is more about whether I could get a SIM card at such early hour ( it's only 5.30am now ). I remember that the counter selling SIM cards only opens at 10am, so to avoid such case, I rather purchase online first. The counter is right at the end of the airport, on your right side when you exit the arrival door.
Ha! I'm right! This is the counter I would usually go to purchase my SIM card is not open yet! It only opens at 7am.
Quite a few people queuing up for SIM cards in such an early hour?!
Collection is very easy, just show them your confirmation QR code and they will pass to you what you have purchase.
If you travel with more people, you can choose to rent a WIFI router there too but I will recommend
to rent from Changi Recommends as it is cheaper but if you just wanna use the date yourself, SIM card is more worth.
to rent from Changi Recommends as it is cheaper but if you just wanna use the date yourself, SIM card is more worth.
So the card look like this.
Instruction on how to change your SIM card in English.
I have tried different ways ( bus and HSR ) to go to Taipei main city from the Taoyuan Airport, and this time round I'm gonna take their new airport MRT! Ok, it's actually not that new, but at least when I'm here last February, it is still not operating. The MRT is right to the other end of the airport ( right opposite end of the SIM card counter, which means left hand side from the exit of arrival door ). Very clear signboard, so just follow what it says.
Once you reach the end of the airport, turn to your left and walk through the tunnel.
Once you finish walking the tunnel, there is a escalator, take the escalator down.
Once you reach the end of the escalator, turn left and walk all the way straight till you see the MRT station.
Not sure is their normal Easy Card ( a.k.a our Ezlink card ) can be used here but since my Easy Card has no more value, So I'm gonna purchase the single trip ticket.
My ticket look like this! The ticket to Taipei Main Station is 160NTD ( SG$7.40).
Big, comfortable and super clean train!
Very nice of them to have phone charger on the train!
Gonna take the red line to our apartment which is at the last station of the red line, Xiang San station.
Oh yes! I need to get myself some drinks! If you follow mt blog, you know that I will always get a certain brand milk tea right?
But since Singapore are already selling that milk tea, why should I get it here again right? So I decided to get another brand! This taste good as well!
Ok, time to top up some value into my Easy Card!
And off I go!
Finally reach! Super in love with the current chilly weather! Anyway this place looks like it's an expensive resident area!
Teresa and Simin came down to fetch me up and went back to sleep because they went clubbing till 4am+ this morning! And of course I need to nap a bit as well after all the plane and train ride! Good night!
Good morning again! Woke up and it's already 11am! Haha! Ok today we are not planning to go anywhere far else beside the Taipei 101 area because after which we still have to come back here for the countdown and the human traffic will be very crazy in the evening!
From out apartment, we can clearer see the Taipei 101 right in front of us, we purposely choose our Airbnb here because since we are coming here to countdown, and we all know that the traffic will be crazy, why not stay nearby ( walking distance ) so that we will not be stuck some where on the road while going home.
OMG! There is Ichiran Raman ( famous Japan raman resturant ) here!
But the queue here is seriously worse then the queue in Japan because this is the only outlet that opens in Taiwan.
Address : No. 97號, Songren Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Operating Hours : 24 Hours
Address : No. 97號, Songren Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Operating Hours : 24 Hours
So we decided to have Ding Tai Fung ( 鼎泰豐 信義三越A4店 ). There is two outlet around this area, one in Taipei 101, the other one will be at the Mutshushi A4 mall. we choose Mutshushi A4 mall thinking that it will be less crowded, but wrong! It's still crowded and waiting time is about 50 mins!
Address : 110, Taiwan, Taipei City, Xinyi District, Songgao Road, 19號新光三越信義新天地A4館
Operating Hours : 11am - 9.30pm ( Monday - Sunday )
Address : 110, Taiwan, Taipei City, Xinyi District, Songgao Road, 19號新光三越信義新天地A4館
Operating Hours : 11am - 9.30pm ( Monday - Sunday )
We decided to grab some Guan Dong Zhu as snacks at the family mart before the real meal as we are really too hungry.
Tada our snacks!
Got myself a cup of coffee at The Vintage coffee too!
And just nice that they are having 1 for 1 promotion. I couldn't get the address of this cafe as I couldn't find in google map.
Coffee are not bad.
Back to Ding Tai Fung to wait for our turn and soon after we arrive, finally we get to go in.
After lunch, we went to Eslite ( 誠品信義店 ) for their KiKi Restaurant to purchase their instant noodle.
Address : No. 11號, Songgao Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Operating Hours : 11am to 10pm ( Sunday to Thursday )
11am to 11pm ( Friday and Saturday )
Address : No. 11號, Songgao Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Operating Hours : 11am to 10pm ( Sunday to Thursday )
11am to 11pm ( Friday and Saturday )
Before reaching the KiKi restaurant, we got attract by this Paul Hewitt's pop up counter. They have really nice bracelet! They staff told us to take a picture of something there and post on Instagram to get a free gift and so we did! This is the photo I took! Haha!
Tada! This is the free gift we got! A small recycle sling bag and a cup of hot chocolate.
After gotten our free gift, the shopping continues at their actual counter and yes they bought something there!
Ok, back to the original plan of walking into this mall. The KiKi Restaurant. Honestly speaking, the service here is very bad! I am not sure how's the service when you eat here, but the service we gotten by just buying the instant noodle at the cashier counter was really bad. The staff doesn't seems to be very willingly to serve us and she sounds very impatient and used a very bad attitude tone to talk to us. We are not in a rush so we didn't even rush her to get our things for us or rush her to do payment for us, we actually still let some of the guest who just finish their meal to do their payment first.
Very disappointing service, knowing that the boss of this restaurant is actually two super famous celebrities, Lan Xin Mei ( Taiwan famous singer cum host ) and Shu Qi ( International famous actress ). I really think that the staff should not pull down the standard of the restaurant.
Very disappointing service, knowing that the boss of this restaurant is actually two super famous celebrities, Lan Xin Mei ( Taiwan famous singer cum host ) and Shu Qi ( International famous actress ). I really think that the staff should not pull down the standard of the restaurant.
Anyway, this is the instant noodle that we are talking about! It is actually quite famous and sold out very fast. It is really quite yummy, I wonder will it taste even better if we eat in the restaurant? But and again the service there will let me reconsider again if I would want to dine in.
Next, going to Teresa's favorite shop, iRoo!
Operating Hours : 11am to 10pm ( Monday to Sunday)
So it's a 1 person shop, 3 person relax one corner situation here.
After a long shopping in Iroo, walk out and show this old couple selling my favorite muah chee ( glutinous rice ball ) so there is no way I could give it a miss!
Look at the crowd! Everyone are afraid about the traffic and transport due to the countdown, therefore normally people will start to come to Taipei 101 in the afternoon and shop around until the countdown.
We decided to walk back to our apartment first to put our things and rest a bit first before going back down again. Finally I get to take a picture of the apartment.
Living room area.
Kitchen area.
Bathroom.
Level 2 bedroom.
The sky turn dark and the neighborhood lights on! This area look so beautiful at night!
Since this is a resident area and nobody around, we can take as many selfie and welfie as we want with nobody looking at us! Haha!
Saw that Taipei 101? Yes that's where we will be at tonight!
Time for dinner!
We actually make a reservation at Mo-Mo Paradise at Neo19 mall before we walk back our apartment.
Address : No. 22號, Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Operating Hours : 11.30am to 10pm ( Sunday to Thursday )
11.30am to 11pm ( Friday and Saturday )
Address : No. 22號, Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Operating Hours : 11.30am to 10pm ( Sunday to Thursday )
11.30am to 11pm ( Friday and Saturday )
The price list. We had the double soup base pot.
Since it's buffet, we order lots of meat!
Ok, and some vegetable too.
Squeeze ourselves through the crowd towards Taipei 101 after our dinner!
There is some food stalls and stalls that sell light stick and headbands too!
It's only 7pm plus and there is already so many people gotting themselves the best spot for the countdown fireworks!
We thought it is still very early, so we took some picture with the Taipei 101 and went shopping again at the nearby mall.
Address : 110, Taiwan, Taipei City, Xinyi District, Section 5, Xinyi Road
Address : 110, Taiwan, Taipei City, Xinyi District, Section 5, Xinyi Road
And for the next 1 hour after we leave the place, the whole road is filled with people siting there waiting for the fireworks already! Now, we have some difficulties in finding a place to sit! OMG!
But luckily we found one small spot among the crowd and we asked 2 guys if we could sit beside them and if they can sit closer a bit ( they were sitting a bit far ) so that the 4 of us can squeeze in and they agreed! A local family behind us did move a bit of space for us too!
The crowd is crazy! It seems like we are going for a concert! That's the crowd behind us!
And this is the crowd in front of us!
I have to say we are actually at the best spot! Not too far and not too near!
The count down finally starts!
12am strike! Beautiful firework starts!
Happy New Year my fellow reader!
Happy New Year my fellow reader!
Happy New Year 2018!
Wishing everybody's new year resolution will come true!
Time to head back home to sleep!
Time to head back home to sleep!
Day 2 :
1/1/2018 and the adventure starts! We booked a driver cum tour guide to bring us to the east side of Taiwan, Yilan and Hualien.
And to start off the first day of 2018, let's have some good breakfast first!
This is not the usual Yong He ( 永和豆漿大王 ) that I always go which is located at Xi Men Ding, but it's at the Da' an district and a bigger shop too.
Address : No. 102號, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
Operating Hours : 24 Hours
This is not the usual Yong He ( 永和豆漿大王 ) that I always go which is located at Xi Men Ding, but it's at the Da' an district and a bigger shop too.
Address : No. 102號, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
Operating Hours : 24 Hours
Open concept kitchen here!
Just their soy milk, there is different type, Sweet or salty, with egg or without egg, cold or hot.
My favorite rice roll and this time round is with onion pancake wrap around!
Carrot cake.
Onion egg. Taiwanese really love green onion right?
Fried dough with onion pancake ( again? ).
( Just ) Onion pancake with egg. Haha! too many onion...
White bun with egg.
First stop outside Taipei is Chuan Wu.
Basically there is three famous attraction here.
First : The Yin and Yang Sea ( 陰陽海 ) which is located near the Shuinandong Fishing Harbor.
See the different colour of sea water? This is why people name it as Yin and Yang Sea.
For what I know the yellow colour part of the sea water are form by the Pyrite contained in the Jinguashi mine.
Second : is the Abandoned smoke tunnel ( 長仁三坑坑口通風管 ) that in the olden days the local use. It is a super long tunnel that creep on the hill. Those tunnel were use to direct abundant smoke to the rear of the mountain for the copper-refining factory.
Address : 224, Taiwan, New Taipei City, Ruifang District
Address : 224, Taiwan, New Taipei City, Ruifang District
And lastly, the most famous one will be this Golden Waterfall ( 黃金瀑布 ).
Address : Jinshui Road, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 224
Address : Jinshui Road, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 224
The rocks here are all golden colour due to the Pyrite.
Our driver cum tour guide, Ming Ge, wanna join in our welfie too!
See the colour of the rock? Actually you can expected a not so pleasant smell there.
Drove back down to the ShuiNanDong Fishing Port ( 水湳洞漁港 ) to have a look.
Address : No. 90-1號, Mingli Road, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 224
Address : No. 90-1號, Mingli Road, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 224
Next, Ming Ge drove us a bit further down to have a look at the NanYa rock ( 南雅奇石 ).
Address : 224, Taiwan, New Taipei City, Ruifang District, 北部濱海公路224號
Address : 224, Taiwan, New Taipei City, Ruifang District, 北部濱海公路224號
This explain how the rocks are form.
Next, we stop by Bi Tou.
We only take picture at this nice stone wall and left! Haha!
It's lunch time! Ming Ge brought us to this very local bento shop call Ying Fu Long Bento (英福隆便當總店 ).
Address : No. 62, Dongxing Street, Gongliao District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 228
Operating Hours : 9am to 9pm ( Monday to Sunday )
Address : No. 62, Dongxing Street, Gongliao District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 228
Operating Hours : 9am to 9pm ( Monday to Sunday )
Very old school restaurant I would say.
Old school restaurant but price is not old school ya? Quite costly for a bento in Taiwan.
We ordered a few different type of bento to try. Taste is consider as good.
This is the address of the bento place in Chinese.
Next destination after lunch, San Diao Jiao Lighthouse ( 三貂角燈塔 ).
Address : No. 38號, Magang Street, Gongliao District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 22841
Operating Hours : 9am to 6pm ( Tuesday to Sunday )
Closed on Mondey
Address : No. 38號, Magang Street, Gongliao District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 22841
Operating Hours : 9am to 6pm ( Tuesday to Sunday )
Closed on Mondey
Found a cutie having his scroll there!
Don't know why is this hand here but I follow... Haha!
Don't you think the light house looks like a microphone?
Not very crowded here so here we are with all the welfie! I guess nobody is interested in lighthouse therefore it's basically consider as empty here.
You know the place is empty when you can actually take picture with this background without people standing beside you.
I seriously can't recall where is this place! Haha!
Castle in Taiwan?! Yes! It's a Castle!
Haha! Actually the castle is Mr Brown Coffee factory. Mr Brown coffee ( 伯朗咖啡館 頭城城堡咖啡二館 ) is actually one of the local coffee brand.
Address: No. 102號, Shikong Road, Toucheng Township, Yilan County, Taiwan 261
Operating Hours : 10am to 5pm ( Sunday to Thursday )
8am to 6pm ( Friday and Saturday )
Address: No. 102號, Shikong Road, Toucheng Township, Yilan County, Taiwan 261
Operating Hours : 10am to 5pm ( Sunday to Thursday )
8am to 6pm ( Friday and Saturday )
There is many Mr Brown cafe in Taipei and I have not been into any before but I do try before their instant coffee before.
Drinking the coffee in the cafe is definitely much better then the instant coffee!
I'm not a cake person so I can't give much comment on how good or bad it is.
Went up to the roof top wanting to see the mountain view but because it's raining so we didn't get to see any thing but mist/haze.
After visiting a castle, continue our journey and stop by Wai Ao Scenic area ( 外澳沙灘 ).
Address : 261, Taiwan, Yilan County, Toucheng Township
Address : 261, Taiwan, Yilan County, Toucheng Township
Ming Ge told us they sell hand crafted beer here at the No. 9 café at the beach ( 九號咖啡外澳館 ) .
Actually this cafe have a very nice sea view but too bad we went during the wrong season. I'm sure the beach will be very beautiful during summer time.
Operating Hours : 8am to 9pm ( Monday to Sunday )
Operating Hours : 8am to 9pm ( Monday to Sunday )
I don't drink beer so I have their tea.
What a beautiful view at the Lan Yang Museum ( 蘭陽博物館 )!
Address : No. 750, Section 3, Qingyun Road, Toucheng Township, Yilan County, Taiwan 261
Operating Hours : 9am to 5 pm ( Monday to Sunday, Closed on Wednesday )
Address : No. 750, Section 3, Qingyun Road, Toucheng Township, Yilan County, Taiwan 261
Operating Hours : 9am to 5 pm ( Monday to Sunday, Closed on Wednesday )
Many beautiful area to take photo at this museum even thou the rain is not helping!
Before reaching our hotel, we drop by a super mart to grab some cup noodle and some snacks for tonight.
Having some fun while shopping!
So who do you think is the best Lay's ambassador?
Finally reach our hotel, Duo Ai ( 礁溪多愛溫泉會館 ) .
Website : http://duoai.i-sharehotel.com.tw/room.html#menu
Address : No. 2, Lane 34, Xinyi Road, Jiaoxi Township, Yilan County, Taiwan 262
Website : http://duoai.i-sharehotel.com.tw/room.html#menu
Address : No. 2, Lane 34, Xinyi Road, Jiaoxi Township, Yilan County, Taiwan 262
Checked in.
Tada! Our room!
Sleeping area at level 2.
Kitchen area.
Sleeping at level 1.
Living room area.
The bathroom and hot spring area!
View from the bathroom.
A small balcony with basin.
Another balcony to dry clothes I guess.
Dinner time! Ming Ge highly recommended us to this Japanese restaurant call Le Wu ( 樂屋日本料理 ).
Address : 261, Taiwan, Yilan County, Toucheng Township, 西一巷15號
Operating Hours : 11am to 2pm, 5pm to 8pm ( Closed on Wednesday )
Address : 261, Taiwan, Yilan County, Toucheng Township, 西一巷15號
Operating Hours : 11am to 2pm, 5pm to 8pm ( Closed on Wednesday )
The restaurant provide free flow of miso soup but only limited to 1 pot.
The miso soup is sooooooo good that I actually drank 3 bowl! Haha!
Everything about chili here? Even ice cream?! Ok sounds weird...
Before going back to our hotel, we decided to walk around in the Tang Wei Gou Park ( 湯圍溝溫泉公園 ) to digest our food.
Address : No. 99-11號, Deyang Road, Jiaoxi Township, Yilan County, Taiwan 262
Operating Hours : 6.30am to 10pm ( Sunday to Thursday )
6.30am to 11pm ( Friday and Saturday )
Address : No. 99-11號, Deyang Road, Jiaoxi Township, Yilan County, Taiwan 262
Operating Hours : 6.30am to 10pm ( Sunday to Thursday )
6.30am to 11pm ( Friday and Saturday )
Many people in all age group are enjoying soaking their feet in the public hot spring.
Walking back to our hotel which is just less then 5 mins walk from the park.
Casino just opposite our hotel but we didn't went in.
What's next after a short rest once we reach our hotel?
Hot spring party starts now!
It's supper time!
First time trying this brand but not as yummy as those I always eat.
Today, I found out their way of having small face in the photos... Shoot from a super high angle!
From this amount of alcohol...
...to this amount and only 2 person is drinking!
Anyway, good night!
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