night market

Taipei Day 3

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Day 3 was pretty boring (since we covered most of the famous shopping areas).

Day 3: Long Shan Temple, Xi Men Ding, Hotel (rest for 2 hours), Shi Da Night Market and then back to Shilin Night Market.

Outfit of the day.

I was very very hungry cause I skipped the hotel’s breakfast so I grabbed a Pudding Bread nearby first. They have interesting and nice bakeries!

We went to visit the famous Long Shan Temple and had lunch at that little village place. Ordered 2 You Tiao and my god, they were as hard as potato chips. The temple was crowded and the people at the village were quite old but friendly. Everyone was crowding around this little pom who was very very active and playful!!

The interior was amazing. The waterfall look kinda natural.

After we left the temple, I had to grab a cup of bubble tea. I drank bubble tea EVERY single day. And because I couldn’t read chinese, I could only order “Zhen Zhu Nai Cha” every time ~.~

Back to Xi Men Ding for lunch! This building is called the Red House – the police station.

We went into a Japanese restaurant for ramen! Yums. I realised that none of the restaurant serves runny ramen egg 🙁 Anyway, my ramen only cost $6.

My brother’s bento set which cost less than $8.

Headed to the departmental store to buy some Porter back as well! Birthday presents from the Dad. Got 2 bags. Hehehehe. (But I bought more Porter again later on…. on Day 5).

Buildings at Xi Men Ding… They reminds me of Seoul. The shops in myeongdong looks like Xi Men Ding and Wu Fen Pu reminds me of Dongdaemun. The places sell quite similar stuffs but it is much more expensive in Seoul!! At least 3-4 times more!! You can only get beauty products in Seoul (in my opinion).

After 2 hours of rest, we cabbed over to Shi Da Night Market and we were still very early (4pm). Please reach only after 6pm if you are intend to head over to any night market. I thought stalls would start to open at 4pm but I was wrong. The entire place was still very very very quiet. We grabbed some street food and sat at some cafe to chill while waiting. Only managed to grab very minimal clothes (3 pieces) there so I suggested to head back to Shilin Night Market for proper dinner and shopping!

This cap was bought in Shilin too! For $5 I think.

It seems like everywhere in Taipei sells very juicy fruits! We had fruits almost everyday (which we don’t in Singapore).

Stay tuned for Taichung!

Taipei Day 2

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Woke up early for the hotel breakfast (but it was a disappointment). To be honest, I don’t each much when I am in Taipei because of the differences in taste. Their food seems to be either too salty or too oily. It is always on the extreme side. I avoid street snacks due to the oil issue that was reported in the news recently. (Having said that, my parents still enjoy street food -a little)

I always start my day with this shampoo-looking bottle of coffee every morning.

Our plans for Day 2 were – Taipei 101, Xinyi District, Shilin Night Market.

But it turned out – Taipei 101, Xinyi District, Zhong Xiao Fuxing, Wu Fen Pu, Shilin Night Market and then Xi Men Ding.

After traveling to Taipei 101 (take the blue line and alight at City Hall), we walked a distance to ATT and all at Xinyi District. It was very very much like our Orchard road where you can find big brands like Prada, Miu Miu and more. So we roamed around for 2 hours before heading off to Zhong Xiao Fuxing to shop.

You can find 2 SOGO departmental stores there but do roam around the alley as well. There are little stalls where you can find them at the night market too. Wanted to dine at Ding Tai Fung for lunch but omggggg, the queue was too long.

So we walked and walked and we found Barbie Cafe!

We didn’t get anything much from the 2 places so we went back to Wu Fen Pu to shop since it was too early for Shilin Night Market.

A shop caught my attention. My friends know my love for dogs and bulldog!!

I asked for permission for a picture with the bulldog. The shopkeeper told me if he would, it would be a miracle. So I sat down, and this little baby actually went up to my lap and rest! cute!!!!!!!!

Managed to grab more clothes before moving on to Shilin. I brought an empty luggage over so I had to buy clothes and more clothes for the remaining days.

Shilin Market is one of the biggest market in Taiwan and this is my favourite market so far (I am already at Day 5 while blogging this). You can find a lot of game stalls, street food and clothings! They are quite repetitive because they sell the same stuffs everywhere. I focused more on clothes at Wu Fen Pu so I tend to look at shoes more at Shilin.

I ended up with more shoes than clothes for Day 2. Yay~~~ The most expensive pair was only $13 (I think). It is hell cheap over here yo!!!

The skies in Taiwan gets dark at 5pm. By the time it is 6pm, it feel as if it is already 9pm. YUP, it is that dark!!

We left Shilin at 9 and cabbed back to the hotel at Xi Men Ding because my parents were too tired from the walking.

My brother and me went back to Xi Men Ding for more shopping and food.

I found this Ramen egg at their 7-Eleven which is like our Hanjuku egg. Expected, the eggs were too salty, I couldn’t finish them 🙁 I survived on chips, bubble tea and ramen restaurants ONLY. There are days where I rather go hungry than to give in to their food. Sigh.

I really really love how much the Taiwanese love their dogs. They bring them everywhere!! These golden retrievers were found at a restaurant! Hehe. And I ended my Day 2 like that.

Good night darlings!!

Taipei Day 1

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We took the 8.30am flight and reached Taoyuan Airport at 1.15pm. By the time we retrieve the luggage and all, it was almost 2pm. Cabbed from the airport to our hotel at Xi Men Ding straight. I have no idea why, when people told me that the cab fare in Taipei is much cheaper, I thought it would cost about 20-30% lesser but hell no. Our cab fare from the airport was SGD50. The distance is like our Jurong to Changi Airport (slightly further up). It would only cost SGD25-30 for that distance in Singapore though.

After checking in the hotel, we roamed around Xi Men Ding for lunch. Settled comfortably in a Japanese Restaurant. Each bowl of ramen only cost about $6. The portion is slightly smaller than what was served in Singapore.

And not wanting to waste any time, we took the metro (MRT) down from Xi Men Station to Hou Shan Pi Station where you can find Wu Fen Pu wholesale market.

The MRT fare is fairly cheap. SGD0.80 for a ride. And single ride journey tickets are in the form of a token. So cute!!

Wu Fen Pu is one hell of a good shopping place! It is so huge that it took me 3 hours to comb the entire place twice. I spent $200 on clothes for me and J within that 3 hours. My brother managed to grab quite a bit of male clothing too.

What to buy in Wu Fen Pu: Mostly clothes. Shoes are not exactly cheap here. You can get it cheaper at other parts of Taipei.

Station: Blue Line – Hou Shan Pi

After 3 hours of shopping, it was already 7pm so we walked over to Rao He Night Market. There is no direct station (Hou Shan Pi is one of the nearest) here so I would suggest you to cab there or walk over from Wu Fen Pu after shopping.

Rao He Night market has very good street food!! They do sell clothes, shoes and accessories but I would prefer the clothes at Wu Fen Pu instead. You can find cheap female shoes at NT200 (SGD8-9) where my mom and I got 2 pairs each. Male shoes are cheaper here. My brother got 2 pairs of loafers at NT500 (SGD22) each. Male loafers usually cost about SGD40-50 even in our Bugis Village.

My dad had Stinky Tofu there, although he insisted that it was good, I wanted to vomit at the smell of it. EWWWWW!

After all the street food and little shopping done at Rao He, we cabbed back to Xi Men Ding for more.

Xi Men Ding is very lively at night! I also realised from the Superdry Store in XMD, the stuffs here cost more than Singapore! A tee here cost about SGD90 when we could get it in Singapore for SGD70.

I love the people in Taiwan because they are dog lovers!!! You can see them everywhere!! Oh ya, pet clothing are cheap in Wu Fen Pu too!

Loot for first day.