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…