Cottage by the River

Dear Bloggie,

2008 Year End Trip

Day 3 (Taipei)

Started my day with a doughnut.. The one I bought from Mister Donut @ New York New York.

Made my way to the MTR... Its a Sunday, but just look at the crowd.

I took this in the cabin of the MTR... Look at the little bundle of fur. Doggies are allowed in Taiwan's MTR... How nice right? The Doggie is not even chained up...

I arrived.. at Beitou. Its a nice quaint town, less busy then Taipei.

The traffic lights here are practically not working.. Those who come here needs to learn the act of jay-walking...

I lost my way in Beitou... And somehow, I stumble at their their local market..

A Post Office at Beitou...

Bought a X'mas card and post it to myself since I'm at the Post Office. The stamp back to Singapore is only NTD10...

The Post Office at Beitou is really thoughtful... They even have 老花眼镜 at the Post Office for those who needs it...

And the glue... This is really the glue. Damn old school can!!

Oh yes... Finally all is done!

After getting lost of like half an hour... I finally reached the place for 温泉。

The interior of the 温泉饭店。

Me... In my own private 温泉 room...

I opted for the one with the hot and cold 温泉。But its totally pointless.. The cold one is simply too cold. There is no way I can put myself inside. So I'm in the hot one most of the time. So next time, dont waste the money. Just go for the one with the hot pool. To conclude, I dont really enjoy myself there... Guess I'm not exactly a very 温泉 person.

And with that, I made my back to Beitou MTR...

And I made my way... to my next destination.

Ta dah... Not difficult to guess where's my next destination right... I'm at Danshui! Walked down Danshui 老街. I had quite a tough time finding this street. Taiwan's road are not parallel like in New York. It is actually a little tough to navigate with the map.

And with much difficulty, I found the famous shop with sells 阿给。

This is all the food that the shop sells. 阿给，鱼圆 and 肉包子。

And if you are wondering what is 阿给, it is simply 豆干 being made into the skin, 冬粉 as the stuffing and its served in a gravy. And I like this dish can... The 冬粉 and the gravy is a good match. But well.. Friends who are closer to me know I also have a little something for 冬粉. So this 阿给 really works well with me.

And if you're wondering whats so special about their 鱼圆, it is special as it has meat stuffing inside. It is a little like our 福州鱼圆 that we have in Singapore. Ermm.. To me its rather normal. So whats unique about this shop is, all the stuff they sell have 'stuffng' in it. =)

After the little food break.. Its time to get going. I bought the tickets for a ferry ride to the famous 愚人码头 and 情人天桥.

My very first glimsp of the famous 情人天桥. In my opinion, this place is seriously over-rated.

This place... Really got nothing much. But many people like to bring their Doggies here for a stroll.

This is the only nice place I found at 渔人码头. It has an outdoor area with a 2 person band.. A guy with a guiter, and a girl singing life. Mainly the chinese pop songs.. which I find so nice! With the cooling weather, life music and a cold drink.. The whole combination is simply wonderful. =)

I didnt stay long and went back to Danshui... There are still many places which I have to go on my itinerary... =) Saw this at Danshui... The little girl is trying to fish out as many goldfish with the paper scoop... This remind me of 周杰伦's song - 游园会。

Since I'm at Danshui... Got to try the ultra tall ice-cream! Look at the queue... I waited quite long for it... The person is super slow, I watched till I pek chek. And what makes it worst is... the ice-cream is location right beside the stinky tofu... -_-"

Look at my ice-cream... =) But well... once again this is over-rated. Its more of ice, no cream.. A little on the disgusting. Like milk mix with water...

But nevertheless, Danshui is still a place where the people depends on sea for living... There are many make-shift stores like this selling all sort of sea food..

And with that... I left Danshui and make my way to Wu Fen Pu... You know you have reach this place when you see the landmark - 胡须张鲁肉饭。But I still wasnt hungry, and the temptation of shopping is too big for me to resist..

This is the famous Wu Fen Pu... This is truly a shopping paradise!! QH, we have to come back here one day. But unfortunately for me, its winter and they are selling winter wear.. But nevertheless, I walk out of Wu Fen Pu with 1 dress, 1 skirt and 1 shorts... =)

And I got a little hungry... Saw this at Ximending the other day, but didnt buy coz I already got too much food. But I bought one to try.

And this is delicous... I wonder why all the snacks at Taipei are all damn delicious.. Is it the water they used? Or what??


And since I'm getting hungry... I walked to Rao He Ye Shi. A huge area was hoarded up for a construction site. I took a wrong turn, and ended up walking the entire perimeter of the construction site.. Very tired.. My feet are really aching.

There are too much good food around, but ermm.. I do not dare to eat. Not coz the food are too exotic till I do not dare to try. But more of... everywhere is very crowded and messy. I do not know how to find a place for one to sit down and eat. So in the end, I only dare to settle down for a bowl of 豆腐花 in 豆浆, and 粉圆. Seriously... Taiwan's 豆浆 i truly good. This is not even a 专卖店 for 豆浆, but its really very very good... =)

And since I did not manage to eat anything in Rao He... I decided to walk back to Wu Fen Pu for the famous 鲁肉饭. Glad I made this choice.. This is fantastic!! The gravy is really good, and the meat is lean and tasty!

After this... I made my way down to buy 太阳饼 and 凤梨酥. My colleauge gave me the address of this famous 老字号 and so I made my way down.. This is the only part of my trip, where I felt scared.

After I exited the station, I'm not exactly sure of which way to walk... So after studying the map and the road for 30min, I sort of confirm the road and begin my long long walk... As I walk, the sky gets real dark even thou its only like 7pm. And all the shops along the way are closed, and the pedestrain gets lesser and lesser... The whole area looks very deserted.

I'm very tired and cold... And the whole place makes me feel so scary... But I didnt want to give up! But nevertheless, I'm afriad that the road I'm heading is wrong.. and also fear that the store will be closed when I reached...

After like 30min and a very very long walk... I finally reached the place! Thank God I got the direction right and its still open... I bought the 太阳饼 and 凤梨酥 and.. I'm left with a couple hundreds of NTD... How am I going to survive 1 and a half day at Taipei with only that bit of cash... I badly want to take a cab back to the Hotel.. But due to the lack of fund, I muster up my courage and begin the long long walk back to the MTR.

This is the entire part of my trip, where I'm so scare... And started to regret on this journey alone.. I almost felt like crying.. Fatique and fear is over-empowering for me to bear.

This is the last photo of the day... As I took the MTR back to the Hotel. Taiwanese are really serious about the seats for the elderlies and needies. Even thou the train is full, but still noone will take the seats that are meant for the elderlies and the needies..

Reach the Hotel... And Bestie and HF called from Hongkong. I almost cried when I heard their voice.. But Bestie manage to calm me down, and taught me ways to get money...

With that, it ended my 3rd day in Taipei.. =)