My happy face before a day of battling with the crowd began
My day spent in Jiufen and Shifen was very close to becoming a nightmare. I knew that this place was going to be crazy crowded on weekends so I planned to visit on a Friday (02/01). And it turned out that 1st Jan - 4th Jan were all public holidays -_-
To get to Jiufen and Shifen, we had to take the TSR to Rui Fang, from where we'll change to Pingxi Line. But all I can say is that the TSR system was super confusing, like there were a few different types of tickets at different prices but they are all supposed to bring you to Rui Fang. And in fact, you can just buy your tickets to any random station and top up for fare later. We later deduced that the more expensive tickets are for direct trains that don't stop at so many stations in between, on the other hand, the cheapest ticket will take the longest to bring you to Rui Fang because the train stops at quite a number of stops in between.
So we were like 2 confused kittens. Kw just bought 2 tickets and we just got to the platform which we were ushered to and holy shit, THE STATION WAS SO DAMN CROWDED! It's like rush hour at Bishan / Serangoon / Dhoby Ghaut Stations. THE TRAIN WAS SO PACKED and it's a challenge to even get up the train.
After an hour, we finally got to Ruifang and the crowd waiting to take the Pingxi train was beyond scary. Instead of squeezing and taking the train which would've taken up to an hour to reach Jiufen, we got out and took a cab instead.
The cabs all charged around the same rates, I think the industry is quite regulated so there's no need to worry about getting scammed. I would also think it's better to book a cab for the whole day that covers places like Jiufen and Shifen and sending you back to Taipei, if you are travelling in a group. I really wanted to do that but it would be super expensive since it's just the 2 of us.
Up the hill on the cab
Pleasantly surprised by how scenic it was!
People were STUCKED at the small narrow entrance into this street and it's so crowded that you can just lean against the crowd and people won't feel a thing, and you cannot possibly fall down.
It's so bad that after 10 minutes, you probably only took 8 steps.
It was literally a nightmare.
Yes, literally what I felt.
We were starving so we got to a noodles shop using all the strength we had and had our lunch there.
Not superb but it was life-saving. Super grateful that we could escape the crowd for a bit.
After lunch, we went next door for taro balls, a must-eat at Jiufen!
And then we scooted off this place of terror since it was impossible to properly enjoy exploring the place.
We then flagged a cab, hoping to get to Shifen Waterfall! But the traffic was SO BAD. We spent 2 hours on the cab and were still nowhere near. In the end, we got down the cab and walked to the waterfall cuz it was faster walking than to wait in the jam. Knowing that it's probably quite hard to get out of that place after that, we told the driver to wait for us at the entrance to the waterfall so he can send us to Pingxi station after we're done.
But.........................
.......when we finally reached.............................................................
............................we were told that the waterfall was already closed at 4.30pm -____________-
Super sian because I was looking forward to it so much! I think it's just me having no fate with waterfalls :(
We walked back to the cab instead of it waiting for us because it was still stucked in the jam and set off to Pingxi for sky lanterns! Was super excited when we saw the sky lanterns from afar on the cab!
We went to a random shop cuz we didn't know there were so many of them at Pingxi station itself and it was a lot nicer to do it at Pingxi station :/ but well, it's still the experience that counts!
Different colours represent different things and we chose the multi-coloured lantern so we can have the best of 4 worlds hehe
May all our wishes come true~~
After releasing the sky lantern, all we wanted to do was to get the fuck out of these place, back to Taipei city which was a more hospitable place. So as can be seen, we didn't really accomplish much on our trip to Jiufen and Shifen.
But before we left, I really wanted to get some Taiwan sausage
And it was really good! Was craving for more after finishing
Then we watched people releasing sky lanterns while waiting for our train
Getting back was another unimaginable wrestle with the crowd. The crowd on the train on our way back was 2x worse than when we took the train to Ruifang. We barely had breathing space................ It was nothing but squeezy and everyone was basically leaning against each other. I was trying so hard not to fall onto the people sitting down in front of me. -_-
After an hour, we were finally back at Ruifang station.
The not-so-happy us waiting to transit cuz the train was lateeeeeeee by about 20 minutes
Thank god we got a seat on this train back to Taipei.
After another hour, we finally made it back to the dearly missed city. No words can describe the relief I felt after a day of wrestling with the crowd. Went to our 2nd home - Shilin Night Market (only because we visited it every night before walking back to our hotel) to grab more night snacks!
There was this basement food court lined up with many food stalls!
Another random meesua cuz I couldn't find the Ah Zong Mian Xian @ Shilin Night Market. Ah Zong Mian Xian is truly unbeatable.
This looked really appetising so I finally decided to try it after walking past it so many times. But since Kw wasn't a fan of sea creatures including cuttlefish, I knew there was going to be some wastage. Turns out I only finished 50% of it.
Interesting "flying milk"
That was the end of our 2nd last day in Taipei.
Decided to merge 2 days into one entry!
So on the very last day, we were finally going to do something I've been looking forward to for super long: HOT SPRING!!!!!!
But before that, time for a selfie to start off an exciting day!
My #ootd
Weather was good enough for short skirt :D
So to enjoy Taipei's hot spring, you'll have to take the MRT to Beitou station (along the red line therefore super convenient for us!) and transit to Xinbeitou station which is one stop away!
We took a cab from the MRT station to Spring City Resort as our choice of hot spring destination! Cab fare was only 70NT but since it's up the hill, I don't think walking is an option.
Did some research before that there are a few options. There's a public hot spring area that only costs 40NT and another kind that's like a private room where they charge hourly rate.
Since we had quite a bit of money left on the last day, we chose to go for a luxurious spa-style hot spring. It costs 800NT (about 43 SGD) and you are entitled to use all the spa facilities without a time limit. Shiokkkkk!
Basket with slippers, kimono, locker key and shower cap!
We saw this area where people were inside taking a nap and we were thinking, "wtf come here and sleep on the floor?????" And then on closer look, it's a marble bath with hot spring underneath it. The marble floor was really warm and quite comfy so we spent quite awhile there lol
You'll get a little light-headed if you soak yourself in the pool for too long, especially so if the pool is hot. We go dizzy after awhile so we had to get out every 15 minutes and cool ourselves down. The hottest pool there was 45dc and I couldn't spend more than 5 minutes inside.
After pampering ourselves, we headed to Danshui. There is a lot more to eat and see at Danshui than I expected!
Butter pancake
Quail eggs
Super happy to get to eat this super tall ice cream at danshui!!!! There's so many of them along the street BUT watch them serve before buying because there are some with really short and skinny ice creams and the lousy waffle cone (MacDonalds' kind). I recce for awhile before deciding on this stall cuz they had the good waffle cones! :D
Super fluffy 鸡蛋糕
There wasn't anything fanciful but just staying there watching the sun setting was so beautiful.
Then we bought tickets to Fishermen's Wharf!
Perfect view of our 2nd sunset in Taiwan!
Lovers' Bridge
Got this girl who looked damn pro to take this for us. How??
Lover's Bridge at night
And then we set off to Taipei Station to get sun cakes and pineapple tarts from 李仪饼店.
Their pineapple tarts were FABULOUS! I bought 2 boxes and couldn't get enough of it!
We went back to drop everything off at our hotel before going to Shilin Night Market (again) for dinner! Hehe.
And I haven't mentioned that the last day of our trip in Taiwan happens to be Kw and my 5th anniversary together. So when we got back to the hotel.................
I was greeted by a bed of romantic decorations and a huge bouquet of my favourite champagne roses!
Don't really have an idea how he's able to do this without me knowing at all and also, he's already paid for all this!!!
Ok looking a bit cui after being out the whole day so please don't mind
Happygurl_92
And our final night in Shilin...
Yeap so that was the end of our food adventure in Taiwan.
Ending this post...
with the love of my life. :)
To many more trips to come! Luv you! -3-
No comments:
Post a Comment