DAY ONE - 27th April
We took a morning flight to Taoyuan (桃園) before transferring to the HSR (高鐵) towards Kaohsiung (高雄). The journey to Kaohsiung took approximately 2 hours and it was so much more comfortable than the flight.
Checked into our hostel, rested and we headed to the shopping district (新崛江商圈) within walking distance but end up not buying anything. Then we decided to head to Liuhe Night Market (六合夜市) which we spent a long time walking and searching.
Last stop was Love Harbour (愛河) which looks exactly like Clarke Quay so we feel that it's no big deal and not worth visiting.
DAY TWO - 28th April
We checked out and hired a cab that brought us to Kenting (墾丁).
We checked into our 民宿 thereafter and booked an 8-hour tour around Kenting and I would say that the scenery was awesome.
Although I'm more of a city person, I don't deny that I was in awe when I saw the scenery.
We went to many places with beaches that look the same, and I can't remember the names of all the places.
DAY THREE - 29th April
We started the day with brunch at Kenting Street (墾丁大街) which is conveniently located 5 minutes away, then to the beach to get wild!
Okay we didn't do much except to soak our feet in the cold clear seawater and soft yet coarse sand.
We went back for a rest before heading back to the street to pass time and wait for it to come alive! We ended up walking up and down the stretch of food stores, shops and pushcarts several times because we either wanted to get something that we've missed but wanted eventually, or because it was still early.
DAY FOUR - 30th April
Our supposed plan for this day was to head to Alishan (阿里山), but we changed our plan the night before because there were several accidents that took place over the past few days on the mountain, and we (as well as our parents) were kinda worried. So we found a hotel in Kaohsiung at the eleventh hour and headed back there the next day.
We all knew that the hotel that we would be spending our night in was really chui but we didn't expect it to be THAT BAD. The bed and pillows were hard, the floor was sandy and dirty, the lights in the toilet were dim and the shower head was faulty -_-
Headed to Dream Mall for their Sanrio Ferris Wheel and Rueifeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市), which IMO is one of the best night markets in terms of shopping.
DAY FIVE - 1st May
Breakfast was provided but we chose to eat out because anything served outside would definitely be better than the hotel's food. However, I shall still give some credit to the hotel for providing wireless connection, and another would be the presence of 50嵐 (KOI in Singapore) just a few steps away. Oh by the way, 50嵐 is anywhere and everywhere! (Y)
The five of us then took the MRT (the station was just opposite the hotel) to the airport for our 30-min flight to Makung (馬公), Penghu (澎湖). We landed shortly and made inquiries with the airport counter on places of interest. The driver from the 民宿 came and drove us there.
The people from the 民宿 hired another driver on our behalf to send us around. We went to some touristy places then to the night market and old street. We were so excited to head to the night market only to see it looking as pathetic as pasarmalams in Singapore. To think the driver said there's lots to eat there, yah right.
The driver had bad attitude and his car was so old and disgusting. He complaint when we spent quite some time in some of the shops. Wasn't it right for tourists to do so?
We feed backed to the 民宿 and they replaced him with their own driver the following day.
DAY SIX - 2nd May
We started the day at 7am because we still had some other places to visit before catching our flight back to Kaohsiung.
We went to erm... crab museum, a temple to see enormous turtles, had cactus ice etc.
Then we took the HSR to TAIPEI!
DAY SEVEN - 3rd May
It's a Chiufen (九份) and Wufenpu Wholesale District (五分埔) day for the five of us. We took a train (not the MRT kind of train) down to Rueifang (瑞芳) then a cab to Chiufen.
It was drizzling and the Mazu (馬祖) believers were having a celebratory ceremony so the road was badly jammed. The cab driver dropped us at the foot of Chiufen and we had to climb a million steps up. It was such a torture!
The drizzle turned into a heavy downpour and it was kinda misty up the mountain as well. Walked around the Chiufen Old Street (九份老街), then we took a bus back to the train station before we head back to Wufenpu. We had to stand throughout the entire journey back because the tickets we bought said, "no seat" or something along this line.
From top left hand corner: the scary flights of steps we had to climb / a kpo dog looking at the firecrackers / some random shop at Chiufen / mini 天燈 we bought / misty Chiufen / retro mama shop / loosely translated as "milk piece" :S / retro-looking chocolate boxes / the crowd at Chiufen / tea kueh / meatball (貢丸) / tea kueh with red bean paste which I like! / random street sign / another random shop / our ticket back to Wufenpu / Rueifang train station / HU XU ZHANG braised meat rice! (鬍鬚張魯肉飯) / kangkong/ otw to Raohe Night Market (饒河夜市) / entrance of Raohe Night Market
DAY EIGHT - 4th May
We woke up an hour earlier to head to the bank to "change" currency, but the three of us ended up withdrawing from the ATM out of sheer laziness. Since we still had abit of time left before we met up with Yuer and Suet, we headed to XMD for breakfast.
After meeting up with them, we headed to Zhongxiao Fuxing's (忠孝復興) SOGO for Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐). I think the food in SG's outlets are better than Taiwan's.
menu / XLBs / drunken chicken / stir-fried veg / shrimp guo tie (鍋貼) / red bean paste bao
Then we headed to a mall (統一阪急百貨) at Taipei City Hall station in search for Yuer's stuffs at Uniqlo. We ended up getting nothing but doughnuts from the basement. Sammie then saw that the mall has an Agnes b cafe so we headed there for high-tea.
We headed back to XMD for some light shopping, then back to Taipei Main Station (台北車站) in search for some local pastries which Karlyn wanted to bring back to SG. The search was futile so we sat down for some snacks before heading back to XMD for spicy hotpot. In my honest opinion, the hotpot was so-so but the free flow of Haagen Dazs ice-cream made up for it.
We ended our foodie day with a trip to Carrefour to pick up some snacks, instant noodles and drinks to bring home. :)
DAY NINE - 5th May
We had goose noodles (鵝面) for lunch then some shopping at XMD before we headed to Danshuei Old Street (淡水老街).
old street / deep-fried durian stall / deep-fried durian / spongebob stall / pan-fried XLBs / me with spongebob / red bean soup with rice balls / cold beancurd with rice balls
I didn't get to eat my favourite sausage because we were rushing off to take a bus to Fisherman's Wharf (漁人碼頭).
Stayed awhile before we rushed off to meet Peixuan at Shida Night Market (師大夜市) located at Taipower Building Station (台電大樓). We had steak on hotplace again (we had the same thing at another place the 1st time we met as well). This time round I chose pork chop. We gave her a treat and she wanted to treat us to crepe with ice-cream but I declined (because we made her wait for 1hour :x)
salad (duh!) / corn soup & garlic bread / pork chop / crepe with green tea ice-cream
We went back to Shihlin Night Market because some of us hadn't gotten anything for our parents yet. And we almost lost Sammie here, HAHAHA!
DAY TEN - 6th May
I reached there only to realise this restaurant wasn't the one I saw online. :( The steak was okay, nothing fantastic so I would say it's not really worth visiting.
Then we went to get some custard cakes from Zhongxiao Fuxing seeing that we still had time to spare and didn't want to waste our last day in Taiwan. Then back to XMD for ice-cream from Snow King (雪王). One scoop is around SGD$4/+!
menu with 73 ice-cream flavours (unique ones like chilli, pork etc) / our ice-creams (brown: oolong flavour) / yam flavour / peach flavour
Bought 10 doughnuts back (which I still think wasn't enough). I was so afraid that my luggage would overload but it was only 17.6kg, which is the lightest luggage I ever brought back from any trip. But we ended up paying excess for our stupid brown box. My sister exceeded her limit by 6kg but was "let off" previously and we had to pay. The counter girl probably got ditched the night before/in the morning.
So that sums up my wonderful trip to various counties in Taiwan. I hope the next time when I'm back, I would be able to fly via a better airline (think: SIA).
