Cottage by the River

Dear Bloggie,

Taipei & Hongkong Part 2
Day 3

The comforter was so comfy that both of us over-slept... By the time we leave the Hotel, is is well after 11am (which is late by our standard). This is the Mascot of Mister Donut... So cute!! Me Like!! Nope... we didnt eat Mister Donut for Breakfast. Instead we went to MacDonald. We thought we will be in time for breakfast... but no such Luck. Why MacDonald... coz we saw the Hello Kitty give-away advertisment (which stars the very cute 小天 - 命中注定我爱你的积存希). But later I found out that Singapore is having the same Hello Kitty give-away... =_=After Breakfast/ Lunch... we took the Subway to 忠孝-something station and had some Deserts... The 豆花 is yummy!! And we found this shoe shop - I walked away with 5 pairs of new shoes and QH 4 pairs.... :p

And with the Shopping Engine all geared up, we took the subway to 五分浦... Despite being a 台风天 and Taipei is once again a non-working and non-schooling day, most of the shops at 五分浦 are open... We walked around a little but I didnt buy much... It was well after 4pm... so we went for a late Lunch/ early Dinner at 胡须张卤肉饭.

It is yummy de loh.... Keke... we finished EVERYTHING!!Very satisfied after the delicious meal... :)The last time I was in Taipei, I walked a super big round to get to 饶河夜市 from 五分浦 - I was on the verge of tears with the tiredness, lonliness and coldness last December. This time round I am smarter and more street savvy... We took the shortest way and reached 饶河夜市 in a couple of minutes... 饶河夜市is a 食街 after all... And we are still rather full from our 卤肉饭, hence we stopped for some Deserts... 爱玉冰. Me Like! The very friendly 爱玉冰 Auntie... We walked around a little in the rain... and bought some Doggie clothes back for my Darling Lizzie and Toffee and QH's Nickie... And we took a cab back to the Hotel. (See... Hotel even before the sun set. :p) My Loot from Day 3. =) I Love the Shoes~~* We slacked in the Hotel till ermm... close to 9pm? And decided that we are at Taipei to explore the place!!! And not nua in the Hotel... With much more reluctance, we finally got our ass out of the room... Above: QH's stinky tofu. Walked around 西门町 a little more... found this very cute Candy Shop. Found the 玻璃糖 that DT almost bought at Dempsey while we were having my Birthday Dinner; so I bought back for him and my colleauges, and some very cute chocolates for XDD. QH's colleauge gave her a shopping list of BB Cream with pretty good reviews; hence we also bought some back to try. And this... ended my Day 3 in Taipei. =)

Day 4We errr.... left the Hotel even later on Day 4... Blame it on the TV.

We took the subway and head down to... I cannot remember where and walk a distant in the rain for this 麻辣火锅 that I found off the web. The food is good considering that it is NTD 299 (SGD15 +/-) per pax... And I have 2 serving of my absolute favorite Haagen Dazs Ice-cream... :pLeft the place... very bloated. Took the subway back to Taipei City Hall... I had wanted to pay 信义书店 a visit... spent a couple hours there on the books, but spent a couple hundreds more on a Bag from Agnes B. Well... not very guilty on this purchase; let this be the Ang Bao money from my Friends during my Birthday this year... :p We took a cab back to the Hotel coz its raining cats and dogs once again; and while I was happily taking photo of the books, I realised I took the wrong 星座. I had wanted 巨蟹座 but God knows why I took 双子座 instead. I made a few phone calls, walked down to the 信义书店 near the Hotel only to realised I cannot do the exchange there due to the Tax Refund matters (coz we did Tax Refund for the Agnes B Bag and since its from the same shopping mall, we did it for the books too). In the end we have to take the subway back to the main 信义书店 for the exchange... then head down to 士林夜市. =(

We finally reached 士林夜市 well after 9pm... It was drizzling away and we do not have much mood for Food... hence we walked around a little and 打包-ed some food back to the Hotel.

Day 5

Set the alarms to wakie bright and early on Day 5... as I am meeting some colleauges - GL, XM + BF and CP + Hubby + Baby... Tried to figure out how to buy the tickets to 瑞方... but couldnt make head and tail out of the so many signboards... We queued with the people and bought the Train Tickets after much ado. We have a good 1 hour to the Train departure time... So QH and myself grabbed some breakfast at Mister Donut. Me Like! There are apparently 2 types of trains... 1 is the normal type where the ticket is NTD 25 each and there is no garenteed seats; while the other is much more costly (and my guess is it's still very cheap) but there are garenteed seats... We concluded that we look prettier when the photos are blur-ed... :pOkie... back to the Trains. Being our virgin ride, we obviously bought the sala tickets and had to stand all the way to 瑞方... CP's very very adorable Baby Boy... this is the way he say "Cheese!!". We finally manage to find seats... but its just 2 stops away. =(Ta dah~~* We reached 九份. =) Standing for the entire Train Ride is already pretty silly... but what makes it worst is we bought 便当 to eat on the Train, thinking we will be comfortably seated... So we hand-carried the 便当 from Taipei to 九份 and seated on the Bench outside the Train Station to finish up the 便当. This is very silly... With some help from the Station Control staff's... we found the correct bus stop and boarded the bus that will bring us up to 九份老街. And... we finally reached. After days of rain... our last day in Taipei is relatively warm. we bought various snacks as we walked down the street and finally stopped at this shop for some 贡圆. But not very yummy... :pThe 贡圆is not nice... but we walked a bit more and found the 赖阿婆宇圆, this is super yummy... Me absolutely Like!

Then... we stopped for Tea at the Authentic 九份茶坊. But... 我不会欣赏. This is our final day in Taipei and we still have plenty of NTD left... Hence we bought quite a bit of 土产 before we head back to the City. I bought some 花生糖，凤梨酥 and Mochi and took a Cab back to the Train Station. We had wanted to make a quick stop at the Hotel to put the things down and make a quick one to 淡水, but the laziness gets the better of us... So before we head back to the Hotel, we make a quick stop at 新光三月 for some 太阳饼 then to 龙山寺 - I had wanted to go back to 月老 to 还神. We got back to the Hotel near 6pm and we begin to pack our luggages and prepare for the next and final part of our vaccation. =)