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.
