The previous Day 1 post ended at Shilin Night Market and since we had no idea what time was the last train + we were carrying a lot of barang barangs, so we decided to take a cab back to the hotel! (cab fare cost around TWD200, which is about $10) Reached back ximending at around 12 or 1am i think. Wait! Read Day 1 post HERE if you haven't!
Woke up at 8am the next day. There will be a lot of these yellow cabs waiting along the streets early in the morning peddling their car service to bring you on tours to far places such as Shi fen 十分 etc. But i feel that it's only worth it if you are in a group of 4 so the cost can be split. 2 person definitely not worth it and i would want to experience the different public transport such as the MRT. Oh ya! Especially the railway train to different parts of Taipei (:
The 西門町 Ximending station was already crowded early in the morning!
There is a define waiting line for people to queue up to enter the train so everything is very systematic. Unlike Singapore whereby everyone just rush in once the door opens regardless if there's anyone exiting -__-
Our first destination was 淡水 Dan shui. If you look at the Taipei MRT map, 淡水 is all the way at the north side and it's the last station of the red line. Objective would be to walk the 淡水老街 - Dan shui old street (food food food!) and also to take a ferry over to the 情人桥 - Lover's bridge to take a look! (Don't get the wrong idea please, see see only...)
The view that greeted us once we alighted the train! You get a serene feeling when you are there (:
The start of the 淡水老街 - Dan shui old street. It was still early so most stalls are not opened...
First stall was this 铁蛋 stall which until now, i have no idea what kind of egg is it. Don't want to try, LOL
Quail eggs! This is the first time i tried quail eggs in this manner! Most of the time is those hard boiled ones we have during steamboat but this one they directly crack it into this mold and let it cook slowly. After which add some sauce (and pepper i think). Super nice! TWD20 ($0.85) only! I kept buying again and again, high cholesterol opps :|
Taiwan sausage! I was expecting it to be like those at our pasar malam but no leh. It's like more firm and harder. TWD35
Random camwhore pic against the nice background! (couldn't think of a better caption, LOL)
THIS IS A MUST TRY IN DAN SHUI! The super tall ice cream!
Before this trip, i read on blogs that this ice cream is a must try. Not because it's super delicious or what, but the outlook is enough to make you happy, AHAHHAHAHAHA The small/ shorter one cost TWD15 and the big/jumbo one cost TWD25. Since we are there already, off course just go for the BIG one to see how tall it is! Cost only SGD$1!
The ice cream is so HUGEEEEEEE that it cannot stay upright for long! See mine slant like like what like that. LOL
Photo with our jumbo ice cream! By the way, it's almost quite impossible to finish the whole thing. The thing just kept melting and melting under the sun, soon your whole hand will be covered in ice cream. I did not even manage to reach to the cone and i gave up. Threw it away in the end, seriously too much. But still feel fun and happy! LOL
Camwhore under the shade (:
Bought our ferry tickets over to 淡水漁人碼頭 Fisherman's wharf at TWD120 ($5) each.
HERE COMES OUR FERRY! Weather was quite hot that day ☀
Once we see the 情人桥 Lover's bridge, we knew we were approaching the jetty soon.
This bridge is known as the 情人桥 - Lover's bridge because it was started on Valentine's Day. Supposedly one of the best place to see the sunset but that's in the evening. Not gonna wait and waste time! HAHHAHAHAHAHHAA
Ok lah, the whole outlook for the bridge is really not bad.
Cannot open my eyes properly because of the glaring sun. TMD
At the other end of the Lover's bridge. Sounds like a good place for a wedding photo shoot ❤
They had some kind of an event there that day so it was SUPER CROWDED. Seriously of all days?! So we walked around, took some photos and crossed the bridge again. Plus the sun is not helping at all. BUT at least we came to take a look!
Random shot #2 against the beautiful mountain background - Photobombed by a passerby. FOL
Back to 淡水老街 Danshui old street where most stalls are now opened! The amount of scooters in Taipei is scary. They are parked along the road SO closely together that i wonder how they remove it without hitting the adjacent scooter AND how they recognize their own scooters among so many of them! Memory must be very good, i cannot. LOL
More food stalls along the street! I just came eating and eating non stop. FAT DIE ME
While walking along the street, this "museum" caught our attention. It's like they have all the weirdest things inside and since the admission fee is only TWD69 which is only $3, we decided to buy the tickets and take a look inside.
Took individual mug shot before entering. It says "Caught cheating during exams" The rest of the boards are worse...
Photo with a giant anaconda! Pretending to be afraid, TROLOLOLOL
Wah lao eh. The things inside are seriously weird. I wonder where they got them!!!! Like this dragon tortoise or something (top right hand corner) or this long neck turtle, tarantula (i hate big spiders), porcupines and lots of colourful snakes and that's not all! It's like a Ripley's Believe it or not kind of museum but with live animals. Oh my tian.
You can find Naraya and Birkenstock at Danshui old street too!
By the way, it's very common to see dogs on the streets everywhere in Taipei, especially toy poodles! Apparently the people in Taiwan likes to keep dogs. One reason i heard was that couples don't like the idea of having kids so they share a dog. Sometimes when i see a pram, i thought it's a baby inside, but it's actually a dog sleeping inside -__-
Bought these handmade fruit jelly to munch on. Not exactly very nice though...
Someone pretending to be a bronze/ tin statue under the hot sun.
Saw these cute bear donuts at the Dan shui MRT station!
The value of the coins range from as little as TWD5 to TWD50! Very wide range i would say.
It was almost evening when we left Dan shui so we decided to head back to our hotel in Ximending to put down the stuff that we bought and to have our dinner. Ximending is still as crowded as ever. Guess what's for dinner?
Before that we had some snacks and drinks at the bar counter of our hotel! FREE!!! They are so nice ♥
MODERN TOILET RESTAURANT FOR DINNER!
I wanted to visit this restaurant since forever and i'm finally in Taipei to try it.
Had to wait for about 45 mins before we had a table so we left our names and went to shop around xmd!
Stage by Luo Zixiang.
This Ah mao risotto seem to be quite famous and their mascot is this golden retriever as seen in the photo above!
This peanut mochi is FREAKIN' NICE! It's sold by this auntie operating from a cart means she can be anywhere. Inside the mochi is more peanut filling which makes it so delicious! It's TWD30 for about 9 of it. I had to search around ximending for her cart during the subsequent days just to buy it. It's really very nice. Chewy and full of flavor ♥
Planned to try this Mala steamboat buffet (that serves Haagen-Dazs and Movenpick ice cream!) but in the end due to time constraint. Did not manage to try it... Not cheap though, about SGD25 per person for 2 hours only.
Back to the Modern toilet restaurant! Even before i was there, i already heard reviews that their food are so so only, not very nice blah blah blah but still, i have to try it for myself! How can i give it a miss after so long!
Ordered a chicken cutlet set for myself and i think cheese pork cutlet set for Angela! The set comes with soup, salad, drink, rice, the main dish and dessert. I thought the food was not bad and it only cost us TWD505 which is equivalent to SGD$21 which i think is quite reasonable! It's the experience of dining in a toilet restaurant that counts, LOL
Our dessert shaped in a form of a shit. After the Danshui jumbo ice cream, we can't take this anymore.
The sink is also in the shape of a toilet bowl!
The crowd in Ximending at night is crazyyyyy.
The night is still young and we took the MRT over to Shilin Night Market again since we did not managed to complete it the first day! It's really that big and there's too many things to try! This time we stopped at Jiantan MRT station instead and crossed the road. Much faster than the previous time where we stopped at Shilin station and walked over.
士林夜市 Shilin Night Market - The most famous night market in Taipei. Everyday it's crowded.
Remember the games stalls i mentioned before in the previous post? We decided to try our hands on winning some prizes! I tried the one with the BB gun (bottom left photo), not that difficult but the thing is, in order to win a big prize, i have to accumulate points so i gave up paying more $$. Self-control okay! Actually cheat money one lah! HAHA
This Mahjong game is interesting! I think the both of us spent quite a lot of money (i think TWD20 per game) on this game because it's so addictive. It's like something like Bingo - We choose like maybe 15 tiles? (can't remember) and just match it with the chart pasted there and if we get 6 in a row, we win any prize (HUGE soft toys!) that is available. Possible but apparently our luck wasn't that good. In the end never win anything at all. Seriously FOL
Bought a few boxes of the famous pineapple tarts back to SG for friends and family. The handmade ones are so much nicer but they cost like $1.50 per cube compared to these machine made ones... Like maybe 50 cents each?
Decided to have authetic mango shaved ice at one of the stall! So freakin' delicious and the mangoes are super sweet!
Tried out more and more food! Every day i go for the 豪大大鸡扒 XXL chicken cutlet - TWD55 only! Tried the corn dog too! Did you notice the hotdog waffle shaped of a dick in the bottom left corner? I wonder if anyone will buy it, LOL
Before going back to the hotel, dropped by 7eleven to get a bottle of Yakult! Their 7eleven seem to have everything! Even their microwaveable good looks so delicious. Like the curry chicken cutlet rice on the left of the photo!
That's all for Day 2!
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
Our first destination was 淡水 Dan shui. If you look at the Taipei MRT map, 淡水 is all the way at the north side and it's the last station of the red line. Objective would be to walk the 淡水老街 - Dan shui old street (food food food!) and also to take a ferry over to the 情人桥 - Lover's bridge to take a look! (Don't get the wrong idea please, see see only...)
The view that greeted us once we alighted the train! You get a serene feeling when you are there (:
The start of the 淡水老街 - Dan shui old street. It was still early so most stalls are not opened...
First stall was this 铁蛋 stall which until now, i have no idea what kind of egg is it. Don't want to try, LOL
Quail eggs! This is the first time i tried quail eggs in this manner! Most of the time is those hard boiled ones we have during steamboat but this one they directly crack it into this mold and let it cook slowly. After which add some sauce (and pepper i think). Super nice! TWD20 ($0.85) only! I kept buying again and again, high cholesterol opps :|
Taiwan sausage! I was expecting it to be like those at our pasar malam but no leh. It's like more firm and harder. TWD35
Random camwhore pic against the nice background! (couldn't think of a better caption, LOL)
THIS IS A MUST TRY IN DAN SHUI! The super tall ice cream!
Before this trip, i read on blogs that this ice cream is a must try. Not because it's super delicious or what, but the outlook is enough to make you happy, AHAHHAHAHAHA The small/ shorter one cost TWD15 and the big/jumbo one cost TWD25. Since we are there already, off course just go for the BIG one to see how tall it is! Cost only SGD$1!
The ice cream is so HUGEEEEEEE that it cannot stay upright for long! See mine slant like like what like that. LOL
Photo with our jumbo ice cream! By the way, it's almost quite impossible to finish the whole thing. The thing just kept melting and melting under the sun, soon your whole hand will be covered in ice cream. I did not even manage to reach to the cone and i gave up. Threw it away in the end, seriously too much. But still feel fun and happy! LOL
Camwhore under the shade (:
Bought our ferry tickets over to 淡水漁人碼頭 Fisherman's wharf at TWD120 ($5) each.
HERE COMES OUR FERRY! Weather was quite hot that day ☀
Once we see the 情人桥 Lover's bridge, we knew we were approaching the jetty soon.
This bridge is known as the 情人桥 - Lover's bridge because it was started on Valentine's Day. Supposedly one of the best place to see the sunset but that's in the evening. Not gonna wait and waste time! HAHHAHAHAHAHHAA
Ok lah, the whole outlook for the bridge is really not bad.
Cannot open my eyes properly because of the glaring sun. TMD
At the other end of the Lover's bridge. Sounds like a good place for a wedding photo shoot ❤
They had some kind of an event there that day so it was SUPER CROWDED. Seriously of all days?! So we walked around, took some photos and crossed the bridge again. Plus the sun is not helping at all. BUT at least we came to take a look!
Random shot #2 against the beautiful mountain background - Photobombed by a passerby. FOL
Back to 淡水老街 Danshui old street where most stalls are now opened! The amount of scooters in Taipei is scary. They are parked along the road SO closely together that i wonder how they remove it without hitting the adjacent scooter AND how they recognize their own scooters among so many of them! Memory must be very good, i cannot. LOL
More food stalls along the street! I just came eating and eating non stop. FAT DIE ME
While walking along the street, this "museum" caught our attention. It's like they have all the weirdest things inside and since the admission fee is only TWD69 which is only $3, we decided to buy the tickets and take a look inside.
Took individual mug shot before entering. It says "Caught cheating during exams" The rest of the boards are worse...
Photo with a giant anaconda! Pretending to be afraid, TROLOLOLOL
Wah lao eh. The things inside are seriously weird. I wonder where they got them!!!! Like this dragon tortoise or something (top right hand corner) or this long neck turtle, tarantula (i hate big spiders), porcupines and lots of colourful snakes and that's not all! It's like a Ripley's Believe it or not kind of museum but with live animals. Oh my tian.
You can find Naraya and Birkenstock at Danshui old street too!
By the way, it's very common to see dogs on the streets everywhere in Taipei, especially toy poodles! Apparently the people in Taiwan likes to keep dogs. One reason i heard was that couples don't like the idea of having kids so they share a dog. Sometimes when i see a pram, i thought it's a baby inside, but it's actually a dog sleeping inside -__-
Bought these handmade fruit jelly to munch on. Not exactly very nice though...
Someone pretending to be a bronze/ tin statue under the hot sun.
Saw these cute bear donuts at the Dan shui MRT station!
The value of the coins range from as little as TWD5 to TWD50! Very wide range i would say.
It was almost evening when we left Dan shui so we decided to head back to our hotel in Ximending to put down the stuff that we bought and to have our dinner. Ximending is still as crowded as ever. Guess what's for dinner?
Before that we had some snacks and drinks at the bar counter of our hotel! FREE!!! They are so nice ♥
MODERN TOILET RESTAURANT FOR DINNER!
I wanted to visit this restaurant since forever and i'm finally in Taipei to try it.
Had to wait for about 45 mins before we had a table so we left our names and went to shop around xmd!
Stage by Luo Zixiang.
This Ah mao risotto seem to be quite famous and their mascot is this golden retriever as seen in the photo above!
This peanut mochi is FREAKIN' NICE! It's sold by this auntie operating from a cart means she can be anywhere. Inside the mochi is more peanut filling which makes it so delicious! It's TWD30 for about 9 of it. I had to search around ximending for her cart during the subsequent days just to buy it. It's really very nice. Chewy and full of flavor ♥
Planned to try this Mala steamboat buffet (that serves Haagen-Dazs and Movenpick ice cream!) but in the end due to time constraint. Did not manage to try it... Not cheap though, about SGD25 per person for 2 hours only.
Back to the Modern toilet restaurant! Even before i was there, i already heard reviews that their food are so so only, not very nice blah blah blah but still, i have to try it for myself! How can i give it a miss after so long!
Ordered a chicken cutlet set for myself and i think cheese pork cutlet set for Angela! The set comes with soup, salad, drink, rice, the main dish and dessert. I thought the food was not bad and it only cost us TWD505 which is equivalent to SGD$21 which i think is quite reasonable! It's the experience of dining in a toilet restaurant that counts, LOL
Our dessert shaped in a form of a shit. After the Danshui jumbo ice cream, we can't take this anymore.
The sink is also in the shape of a toilet bowl!
The crowd in Ximending at night is crazyyyyy.
The night is still young and we took the MRT over to Shilin Night Market again since we did not managed to complete it the first day! It's really that big and there's too many things to try! This time we stopped at Jiantan MRT station instead and crossed the road. Much faster than the previous time where we stopped at Shilin station and walked over.
士林夜市 Shilin Night Market - The most famous night market in Taipei. Everyday it's crowded.
Remember the games stalls i mentioned before in the previous post? We decided to try our hands on winning some prizes! I tried the one with the BB gun (bottom left photo), not that difficult but the thing is, in order to win a big prize, i have to accumulate points so i gave up paying more $$. Self-control okay! Actually cheat money one lah! HAHA
This Mahjong game is interesting! I think the both of us spent quite a lot of money (i think TWD20 per game) on this game because it's so addictive. It's like something like Bingo - We choose like maybe 15 tiles? (can't remember) and just match it with the chart pasted there and if we get 6 in a row, we win any prize (HUGE soft toys!) that is available. Possible but apparently our luck wasn't that good. In the end never win anything at all. Seriously FOL
Bought a few boxes of the famous pineapple tarts back to SG for friends and family. The handmade ones are so much nicer but they cost like $1.50 per cube compared to these machine made ones... Like maybe 50 cents each?
Decided to have authetic mango shaved ice at one of the stall! So freakin' delicious and the mangoes are super sweet!
Tried out more and more food! Every day i go for the 豪大大鸡扒 XXL chicken cutlet - TWD55 only! Tried the corn dog too! Did you notice the hotdog waffle shaped of a dick in the bottom left corner? I wonder if anyone will buy it, LOL
Before going back to the hotel, dropped by 7eleven to get a bottle of Yakult! Their 7eleven seem to have everything! Even their microwaveable good looks so delicious. Like the curry chicken cutlet rice on the left of the photo!
That's all for Day 2!
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5