I Survived 8 Days in Taipei (and came back to tell the tale)

Part 2

Day 2 (20/10/2009)

Today’s trip is both painful and rewarding. Painful because it is such a pain in the ass to spend most of our time inside public transports and rewarding because we are treated with beautiful vista. Our destination today is the Yeliou （野柳）Geo Park. To go there, take the MRT to Danshui (淡水)　Station for about 30 minutes and from there take a bus. The journey from Danshui MRT Station to Yeliou Geo Park will take you about 2 hours. Yup, 2 hours.

When you reached the final station, you will still need to walk for about 15 minutes to the Park. Along the journey you will come across a fisherman harbor. Well… it is a harbor; do I need to explain more? In the park, there is also a water park, called Yehliu Ocean World, featuring aquariums and dolphin show, much like Hong Kong’s Ocean World, I guess…

You can opt to have a look at the Ocean World or just proceed to the main attraction of the place: several rock formations that had been given imaginative names due to their shape, with the Queen’s Head (女王头) being the most famous of them all. It is so famous that they have decided to make the stone formation to be their town’s mascot.

To truly see the formation you have to look at it at a certain angle. Otherwise it looks just like a pile of… dong. Fortunately they have been kind enough to tell you exactly where to stand to see the formation; by drawing foot print on to the floor.

Well, that’s pretty much sums up how second day went through.

Day 3 (21/10/2009)

Nothing much special about Day 3 of Taipei adventure… We went to another shopping market, this time at Wufenpu （五分铺） Commercial Area. To go there, just take the MRT to Zhongxiao Dunhua （忠孝敦化）Station. Once you reach there, just ask people how to go alright? I can’t be bothered to include every minute detail. Oh yeah, be sure to go there after 11am, because the shops start to open at around 11am.

Henry and I can’t be bothered to shop again. We end up sitting at a coffee shop for at least 3 hours talking about life’s big issue and all… you know, those kind of stuff. After that we went to YET ANOTHER shopping district and surprise, surprise, it is inside Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT Station itself. There is a long stretch of tunnel featuring shops and restaurants, and at the middle of the tunnel, there is a stage for public to use as community center or whatever. There is old people practicing Tai-chi and kiddo doing break dancing, and stuff.

One thing I really like is how convenient Taipei’s MRT are. Located at strategic location, bus station and taxi stand is all there once you step out of the MRT station. Best of all there are multiple metro lines, 4 to be exact in Taipei and they are all centralized. You only need to pay once and all you need to do is get down from the appropriate station and walk a few steps to the desired metro lines. Tickets can be used at all metro lines. Much unlike *ahem* LRT *ahem* Putra *ahem* Monorail *ahem ahem*.

Day 3 of Taipei adventure leaves some bitter taste in my mouth…

I Survived 8 Days in Taipei (and came back to tell the tale)

Part 1

Day 0 (18/10/2009)

The clock is ticking… 4 hours before the time to leave our house and yet I still have not begun to start packing seriously. All I did was procrastinating, checking the ‘net and chatting with friends. To hell with it, I think I will stay up tonight to pack my stuff. Besides, I can sleep inside the plane…

Day 1 (19/10/2009)

6.30am. It is time. Bid farewell to Toto our family dog and HERE WE COME TAIPEI! The flight took approximately 4 hour… Touchdown at Tao Yuan （桃园）International Airport at 4pm+ with bloodshot-eyed and lack of caffeine… Damn.

The time zone for Taiwan is more or less the same as KL, which is convenient. The weather during this time of the year is very nice; breezy… it is autumn here by the way. Our hostel is at Jian Tan (剑潭); to go there we took a bus for 30 minutes to Shih Lin (士林) and took MRT for one station. Oh yeah, before I forgot, our trip to Taipei is all by our own, we did not follow any tour group. What this mean is we have to find our own way to go to the places we want to go and to find our own food. Kind of like survival in the concrete jungle, no?

We finally reached our hostel which is just a few blocks away from the famed Shih Lin Night Market (士林夜市) at about 6pm. The owner of the hostel is kind enough to provide us with advice and suggestion as to how to explore Taipei. The room we are living in to be honest is not that big, just about the size of an apartment room in KL, but with its own wash room. There is a double size bed and 2 additional bed for me and my sister’s boyfriend, Henry. Obviously my mom and my sister will sleep on the double size bed. Hey, I’m not complaining, eh? It’s not like we are going to stay here for a very long time. Just a place to sleep and shower is good enough; no need for penthouse or anything, no?

So, we reached our hostel and put down our luggage. What next? Hit the Night Market of course, you silly. The Shih Lin Night Market is basically the same as our very own Petaling Street, but 3 times as large. I tell you, I had been here for 8 days but I am still never been able to fully explore the Night Market. Stuff here is quite cheap, well, girls clothing most of the time anyway. There is a lot of junk food to choose from here that you do not know which one to try first, but the bad thing is that these junk food is mostly deep fried.

Sometime I wonder if woman’s legs are born to shop… How can they shop for 5 hours and still does not show any sign of fatigue? I guess this mystery can never be solved by science and logic; it is just what the nature intended to. My own legs however, are starting to feel numb. I can’t go on any further… please let me fall here and remember me as a war hero… Remember, I want Karma Police by Radiohead as my funeral song.

Anyway… my first day in Taipei ended with sore legs and bloodshot eye. Time to recharge...

Disenchanted

Oh dear blog, you are still alive even after I abandoned you for so long?

Alright then, let's get started again.