Day 1 :
Hello! It's holiday time again!
This time round will be a short trip to my another "home", Taiwan and it's proudly sponsored by my friends as my birthday gift!
Hello Taiwan!
First thing first, get ourselves a local prepaid card! You can find the shop where the luggage belt is, so while waiting for your luggage, you can go over to grab the prepaid card.
2 different prices from 2 different network line, price is about the same.
Look carefully because sometimes they have small discount like this. Oh ya, and they only accept cash.
And off to the Taipei by the Taoyuan Airport MRT!
This express train is a nonstop train and will reach Taipei main station.
It's been a year plus that I last came to Taiwan but why do I feel that the station become a lot bigger (because we took longer to walk to the metro station)?
Then I realize because we have walked to Beimen instead of Taipei Main station.
If you are going to Xi Men Ding like us, you can take 1 station from the train at Platform 2, towards Xin Dian.
We are here! A place that we are so familiar with!
Our Airbnb host is very nice to let us check in 1hr early and here is our house for the next few days!
The living room area.
The sleeping areas is at the upper deck.
A small kitchen that can't do any cooking next to the door.
And the toilet. Everything seems good expect the toilet. Can see some mold on the wall but overall, still acceptable if you are not a very OCD person.
Off to the main Xi Men Ding for lunch!
I found this hidden Japanese raman place a few years back and I will always try to eat at least once when I come to Taipei.
Located at level 6.
Operation Hours: 11.30am - 8.30pm (Monday to Thursday)
11.30am - 9pm (Friday to Sunday)
It's always quite empty when I'm here so I guess not many people know this hidden gem?
The menu.
Placed my order and I can't wait!
Here comes our raman!
Phylicia ordered non spicy raman.
And I ordered the spicy raman.
I'm not a fan of running eggs but Japanese running egg just hit differently.
So, we see queue everywhere for this Xing Fu Tang (幸福堂) bubble tea, both Singapore and Taiwan also have long queue, so we decided to get one to see what's the hype about.
(there is many outlet around Taiwan）
Operating Hours: 8.30am to 12.30am (Monday to Sunday)
The queue is quite fast.
Can see them cooking the pearls while you are near the cashier.
Gotten our drinks! And both of our feedback is nothing special, there is better bubble tea in Taiwan so it's not worth the queue. I prefer CoCo!
Shopping time!
It's only 5pm+ and sky is dark already, but the weather is so good!
Continue our shopping.
This 4 story Wastons is my favorite store in Xi Men Ding and in general Waston in Taiwan is really nicer to shop! The best about this outlet is it's 24hrs!
Operating Hours: 24hrs
Having light dinner at Tian Tian Li (天天利)
Been here before for a few times already, their food is not your kind of fantastic food but the kind place you can feel the local vibes, the kind simple food that what the locals always eats.
It's always full of people no matter what time I visit.
Operating Hours: 11am - 10.30pm (Tuesday to Sunday)
Close on Monday
We had some local braised pork rice (卤肉饭)
and carrot cake (萝卜糕).
After very light "appetizer", we went over to the famous Ah Chung Flour rice noodle (阿宗面线) and each order a small bowl if noodle. I will never miss this if I come to Taiwan.
Operating Hours: 8.30am - 10.30pm (Monday to Thursday)
8.30am - 11pm (Friday to Sunday)
As I had mention before, some people think the taste is normal, not worth trying, but I personally like it very much. The noodle is very smooth, the pork intestine doesn't have smell (super important!), there is no oyster in it (some rice noodle will put which I hate it) and most importantly, their chilli plays a part too!
Off to the next destination!
Once you see this fried milk (炸鲜奶), you should know where we are now!
If you do not know, no worries, I will reveal in a while.
Anyway, you didn't see it wrongly, and yes, it's fried milk!
Cute corgi that belongs to the fried milk stall owner, I think?
We didn't get the fried milk, but we got the charcoal chicken cutlet instead!
Let's queue!
Look how thick the chicken cutlet is!
So here we are at Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)!
Operating Hours: 4pm - 12am (Monday to Sunday)
Look at this suckling pig!
And trust me, you will never go hungry when you go to any night market in Taiwan!
One of my 'must visit' stall! They sell really good ginger tea in solid cubes form, you just need to add warm water in. They do sell other kind of drinks too if you are not a ginger tea person.
Operating Hours: 4pm - 11.30pm (Monday to Sunday)
Every time I come to Shilin night market; I will definitely come here for the BBQ pork bun(叉烧肉包)!
It's call Hao Chi Rou Bao (好吃肉包) which direct translate to delicious meat bun and no doubt, I agree with the name.
Operating Hours: 3.30pm - 12am (Monday to Sunday)
Wow now their menu comes in different languages! Anway, BBQ bun is selling at 20NT (=SG$0.90). Their bun is soft, and BBQ pork filling is not very sweet (some place's BBQ is overly sweet)! But somehow, I felt that the BBQ pork meat filling seems to be lesser now. (Inflation?)
Getting some old school handmade mochi. The old school mochi is just plain mochi ball roll in the peanut powder. Very much same as Singapore old school mochi but Singapore one is smaller ball. Taste is almost the same, but somehow, I prefer the Singapore ones (maybe because I grew up eating that? or maybe smaller ball is easier to eat...). A box of 10 mochi ball is 60NT (=SG$2.80).
Continue to shop around Shilin Night market.
Back to apartment, put down our shopping loot, Phylicia says she is hungry again (I don't know how is that possible after us eating so much food the whole night) so we went downstairs to see what we can find here. Saw this Guo Bin Xian Zhou (國賓鹹粥) which is basically salted porridge.
Operating Hours: 10am - 3am (Monday to Sunday)
Beside porridge, they sell braised pork rice too!
And we ordered the salted porridge too and it's with seafood in it.
After supper, back to apartment! Good night!
Day 2:
Good morning!
Today will be my solo trip as Phylicia has packed her bag and run away! Haha! Joking, she went to meet her brother and sister-in-law and they went to other state of Taiwan. I have been to the place before, so I decided to stay in Taipei.
Anyway, first thing first, coffee time!
Operating Hours: 8am - 10pm (Monday to Sunday)
The menu.
My blue mountain coffee is here! So good!
I ordered a cheesecake as well. Cake was ok only, maybe I choose the wrong cake to go along with my blue mountain.
And I went to Taipei 101 to meet up my local friends.
If you have not been to Taipei 101, at this place you can find most of the luxury brand.
Operating Hours: 11am - 9.30pm (Sunday to Thursday ）
11am - 10pm (Saturday & Sunday)
Beautiful store!
And we went for some tea break at Salt & Stone.
Operating Hours: 11.30am - 2.30pm, 5.30pm - 10.30pm (Monday to Sunday)
The pastry was not bad.
Charles needs to go for classes (he is a piano teacher), so I walked over to the 44 South Military Village (眷村) to have a look how does a military village in the olden days look like.
Cute advertainment.
Here we are at the Military Village!
This place is like very vintage village but surrounded by tall and modern building.
What is a military village?
It is a community in Taiwan built in the late 1940s, whose original purpose was to serve as provisional housing for the military man of China armed forces, along with their family from China.
Can see Taipei 101 from here! The contrast between Taipei 101 and this military village is really big.
I like this quote! It means 'do something you like, to make something you like valuable'.
Tried to edit the picture to make it more vintage!
I kind of love how the outcome! Haha!
Went into Good Cho (好丘) to have a look.
I found many special flavor tea bags here!
Saw some wooden charms with positive quote craves on it.
And look at the choice of coffee! All coffee you see is drip coffee bags although it looks like some facial mask sheet!
Got myself some coffee and tea, went out and saw the Taipei 101 had lighted up!
Walk around to wait for the sky to become dark so I can take a nicer picture of the lighted up Taipei 101.
Hee hee selfie while waiting...
And tada! Look at the Taipei 101 at the back! So beautiful!
After some picture with Taipei 101. I went walking around the village to see how the house looks like in the olden days. Can't go in but it's still quite interesting.
Time to head off to meet Charles again for dinner after his class.
I'm heading off to Bitan so, I'm taking the train from Taipei 101 station (red line) and change to green line at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall station and from there, take the train all the way to the last station, Xindian station.
Follow the sign for the exit to Bitan Scenic area.
Xindian is the closest station to Bitan.
And here I'm at Bitan! I have been to Taiwan every year in the past 10 over years but it's my first time to Bitan!
Walking over the Scenic Area.
So colourful so beautiful.
Just nice there is a Jimmy (几米)exhibition here on the river! The moon looks so cool in the water! The exhibition is actually to celebrate the 20th anniversary one of Jimmy's books, When the Moon forgot.
A full view of the moon and the colourful bridge.
Charles is here and we went up to see what we can have here.
There is actually quite a few cafes and restaurant here.
We decided to have mini hot pot here at this Bi Shui Tang (碧水堂).
Operating Hours: 12pm - 10pm ( Monday to Sunday )
The menu. We are getting the hot pot set. Price is very reasonable and there is vegetarian choice too!
So, the hot pot set looks like this! Lots of vegetable and meat of your choice (beef or pork)!
After dinner and chilling there will late night, back home and I shall start using my mask from my mask loot while enjoying my home alone for the last night! Haha!
Good night!
Day 3:
Good afternoon!
Yes, it's already afternoon because I am not planning to go many places today, so I decided to wake up late and start the day later!
Coffee from the convenient store to start off the day!
Operating Hours: 11am - 8pm (Tuesday to Thursday)
11am - 9pm (Friday and Sunday)
11am - 10pm (Saturday)
Close on Monday
Website: https://www.redhouse.taipei/
For those who love creative and handmade item, you can easily find here at the weekend market and also inside the Red House.
Many item here are by local designers.
So cute!
Many small stores at level 2!
I really enjoying looking at these creative items and got a few items for myself and friends too!
Address: No. 16號, Alley 4, Lane 133, Section 4, Nanjing E Rd, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105
Operating Hours: 12pm - 2am (Tuesday to Saturday)
12pm - 10pm (Sunday to Monday)
This seems like a very IG worthy kind of cafe.
That's a real cat by the way!
Basically, this is cat friendly place, even the picture used around the cafe are all cats.
It was full.
Their food menu.
Even their menu is so beautifully illustrated!
Coffee menu.
If you can understand Chinese, their menu is actually a short story for each induvial coffee, only the wording in red is the actual name of the coffee.
Not a coffee person? Don't worry, they serve tea too!
Not here for lunch or dinner? They do serve dessert too!
My coffee is here! I'm having their signature coffee, Remember Me Coffee. The top part is like crème brulee, caramelized brown sugar. Oh ya, it comes with a note too!
It roughly says, 'Let's smile together and enjoy everyday!'
Spotted a bear! Erm... I mean chow chow outside the window!
I assume the books display here is for people to read? Or it's just part of the interior design?
The cat that was sitting at the entrance finish its bouncer job and now is resting on the chair.
Nice cafe, with nice food and coffee! I will come back again to try other food and coffee!
Nearest metro station to the cafe will be the Taipei Arena Station, exit 5.
Took the metro from Taipei Arena station and alight at Song San station. At Song San station, you can go to both Wu Fen Pu wholesales shopping district (五分埔) and Rao He night market (饶河夜市). Now I am heading towards Wu Fen Pu first and will meet Phylicia later at the night market for dinner.
Song San TRA station is here too but at another building.
It was raining just now before I reach the wholesales shopping district, there is a few vendors outside the TRA station and start selling umbrellas and raincoat! I'm thinking if I should get one too but let's go into the shopping district and decided later. I'm sure many shops in there sells raincoat too.
Here I'm at the Wu Fen Pu shopping district! This place is famous for their wholesales clothing, accessories etc. They do sell 1 piece only but of course don't expect the standard friendly Taiwanese service here. Most of the staff here are not very friendly as they are busy with wholesales service so if you are here for 1 or 2 pieces, they will not spend so much time on you.
Operating Hours: 1.30pm - 11pm (Monday to Sunday)
Even though for the not so friendly service, I still like to come here to find some cheap stuff!
Tips for you, look at those clothes hanging outside the store on the mobile rack, you can find clothes that cost like 100NT (=SG$4.70) - 300NT (=SG$11.20) or even cheaper (for like tank top or tube top)!
This place is big so give yourself a little more time if you wanna shop here. And also, try to take picture of the shop if you wanna consider because you might not be able to find back the shop again.
The accessories section.
Meet the run-away Phylicia at the nearby Hu Xu Zhang braise pork rice (胡须张卤肉饭) because she wants to eat braised pork rice again!
Operating Hours: 10.30am - 10.30pm (Monday to Sunday)
Ordered a small bowl so that our tummy will still have space for some other food when we enter the night market!
This temple which is located outside the night market is one of the popular temples here.
Walked over to the night market to continue to hunt for yummy food! Even before we enter the night market, we start off our feast with bubble tea from the shop right outside the night market! This time round I had Tiger Sugar bubble tea (老虎堂), also a bubble tea chain we have back in Singapore.
Let's start eating!
I will always eat the pepper bun at the very first stall from the entrance but since there is a long queue, I shall skip for now and come back again later.
Michelin Guide traditional Mochi (古早味麻糬) from this Ma Shu Bao Bao (麻糬宝宝)?
Hm... Let's try!
Not bad... but again I still prefer Singapore version, maybe cause of the size and texture.
Next, we are trying the Tangyuan (汤圆) aka the glutinous rice ball. Tangyuan is a traditional Chinese dessert either serve hot or cold, that is traditionally ate during certain festival to symbolize 'togetherness' and 'completeness'. Now in the modern era, we can have tangyuan any time we want!
The menu on the wall.
Peanut and black sesame filling inside the glutinous rice ball.
We are actually quite full, but we still went to drink the herbal pork rib soup (十全排骨汤). There are a few stalls that sells this soup, I think I had tried all of them throughout the multiple visits here and I can say most of them are yummy so you can just go to any stall.
Ok enough of eating and back to Xi Men Ding!
Before heading back to our apartment, we drop by the 24hrs Watson to do more shopping!
This lady here buys so much until she manages to collect so many stickers! Eventually she manages to change the Hello Kitty glass lunch box and thermal bag for free!
Look out for all these stickers at Watson and 7-11! If you spend certain amount, they will give you 1 to a few stickers and by end of your trip, you might be able to exchange something useful!
I manage to change a few Le Creuset bowl using the same way in 7-11 last year!
On our way back, we pass by Cosmed and bought something too and they gave us KFC dinning vouchers. This voucher will save our lives if we shop too much and had no more money to eat! Haha!
And guess what? It's almost 1 am and this lady here is hungry AGAIN after all the shopping at Watson and unloading back in apartment!
So, we went to Guo Bin Xian Zhou (国宾咸粥) again.
This time round she never eat braised pork rice again because she had a spoonful of my porridge the other day and she like it, so she wants to have the whole bowl by herself today and ya it's almost 1am and she is still eating!
Saw a small cockroach crawling on the next table and luckily, she finishes her porridge if not it totally spoilt the eating mood.
Anyway, like Korea, Taiwan mask is also very affordable and good! Good to buy as gift for family and friends!
My coffee loot! A brand that I like a lot here.
Anyway, that's all for today! Good night!
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