Kaohsiung Airport

About to board HSR to Kaohsiung

0750 : We got to Terminal 1 @ Changi Airport quite early and proceeded to get our boarding pass. T1 compared to the new T3 really feels quite old.

This is the first time our whole family has travelled together since 2002 China Trip(before my sis and myself got married)! This time round, we have baby Celeste along with us.

The plane trip (via China Airlines) was pretty smooth with some turbulence reaching Taipei. With my third visit, everything seems just as it is with the only difference being this would be summer and the weather would pretty much be similar to Singapore.

Celeste was great throughout her first plane trip with her usual curiosity in everything. The trip to our hotel (booked via Chan Brothers) at Hotel Riverview Taipei took slightly less than an hour since traffic was pretty good. This was a short 10 minutes walk to Xi Men Ding although I preferred Wonstar which we stayed during the last trip for its nicer rooms.

1820 : After a quick drop of our luggage, we proceeded to Xi Men Ding to take a quick walk around.  On route, there was a road side stall selling Onion Pancakes (yh loves them) next to a cinema.

Since we were in Xi Men Ding, we had to try the famous Ah Zhong Mian Xian. This delightful soup noodle is great to have in all seasons! We got shared 2 bowls between my parents and ourselves.

1920 : My sis, bro-in-law and Celeste went off to find a place more suitable to have dinner while parents, yh and myself headed down to Shi Lin night market.

While we were there, we had to try Hao Da Ji Pa (fried chicken cutlet) which I never miss out on since tasting it in 2003! Of course, we also made sure to cool off with a bowl of mango shaved ice while my parents had a mixed fruit. See my dad enjoy the cold milk syrup shaved ice in the hot summer.

The crowds in the summer was even more than I remembered during the winter period. Seems everyone enjoyed taking a stroll past the various roadside stalls selling all manners of food stuff and clothing.

The illegal hawkers also displayed their wares in easy to display (and pack up) mats/ or tables which quickly disappeared into the alleys when the police came patrolling. The crowds would just cover up the gaps as if nothing had happened. We also passed by a shop where Yh had bought a bag in 2006 although nothing really caught her eye this time round. Since the night was still young, we split up on the way back when my parents wanted to explore Xi Men Ding further. We went and caught a movie “Blood : The Last Vampire” (our first in Taipei) near the onion pancake stall. Movie was below average and very cheesy effects. By the time we reached back to our hotel, it was about midnight and we turned in for a early day to Yang Ming Shan.

Arrival at terminal 1

Taiwan!

On more serious note, going to be heading for first ICT (in camp training) right after I get back from the trip. Guess my unit finally caught up with me! Will be back to familiar grounds in the West so just like good old/bad? times.

Our Last day! We haven’t really done much shopping for folks back home so after a nice breakfast of duck noodles (鸭肉扁), we proceeded to walk around Xi Men Ding for one last time.

Luckily just as we were about to head back after lunch a nice railroad sushi place, we found a shop selling Candy and Gift (果风小铺). We bought all sorts of chocolates shaped like condoms and breasts and various candies in different packaging and you can see Yh grinning happily at the gifts we purchased. Soon after, we headed back to hotel to freshen up and waited for our limo service to pick us up.

Taoyuan Airport T2 was all new and rather empty. We even walked back to T1 with the time to spare and felt like we entered two time zones with the old and new terminals in comparison. As we were leaving for our departure gate, we came across an exhibit on Ali Shan. Seems we got to start planning for our next trip! Alas, it’s time to head back to Singapore, wish we had more time to explore Taiwan.. definitely been a great honeymoon for us :)

*note* Came across this website on Xi Men Ding
(http://www.shimen-walker.com/）which we didn’t see before heading to Taiwan. Looks interesting for knowing what’s what in Xi Men Ding.

0900 With all our research done we set off to Wu Lai by first taking MRT to Xi Dian station (about 40 minutes ride) and then taking another local bus just right to Tourist Information centre to Wu Lai (NTD$65 x 2). At about 1030, we were at Wu Lai! The last time I was here, my friends and I actually walked 2 hours+ to reach Nei Dong. This time, with the slight drizzle and all, Yh and myself decided to splurge NTD$600 on a taxi ride that took just 20 minutes.

1050 The cab driver ferried us via the moutain roads to Nei Dong (内洞) and even graciously offered us his multi-coloured umbrella (made a great prop for photos ). He advised us to take a slow walk in and than call him when we were at the last waterfall. We proceeded to pay for the entrance fee (which didn’t need to be paid 3 years ago!) and strolled into the area. There has been quite a bit of upgrading in form of barriers etc but I honestly can’t say that much has changed other than there seems to be a lot of work going on which kinda spoilt the mood somewhat. The final waterfall was a sight to behold but alas they had erected a barrier preventing people from going near the pool. An adventurous couple had ventured down to have some tea and so we happily took some snaps before going on our merry way back to the entrance. 

1230 Only cable car access to Yun Hsien (云仙乐园) made it kinda special at first since it was situated above Wu Lai waterfall. It was pretty interesting to see the hotel built so high up and we were surprised that apparently they hold business functions here. It must be a great place to discuss business and enjoy the view! The place is apparently packed on weekends since we could see games for children. The slight drizzle made it kinda hard to enjoy and take photos but we spent some time having lunch and trying out archery at the range.

1545 We had read from the magazine that Melody Villa (水韵) was a rather nice place to visit. Since we weren’t quite sure where the place actually was except for some vague instructions from the staff, we proceeded to climb up stairs and along the roads and finally reached 30 minutes later. Unfortunately, there was a old folks group having a celebration and taking up the quaint tents. There was also a special feature whereby you could soak your legs in the spring water and a type of fish would nibble on the dead skin from your feet. We didn’t much have time since it was getting dark and so decided to skip this place and proceeded to head down back to Wu Lai town.

1645 We walked along the moutain roads to Wu Lai town. There, the locals were selling mushrooms and local products. This being a weekday, there weren’t a lot of people around which was kinda good since we didn’t have to squeeze with the crowds. We headed towards Full Moon Spa (明月温泉) to enjoy a soak and some hot tea (NTD$2000 for 2 hours private bath)

Its been a pretty long day of walking and enjoying nature. Definitely a different experience from my previous visit to this place. Overall seems a bit more touristy but still worth a visit for Nei Dong’s waterfall.

1040 After days of waking up at 6 am, we finally took a break and set off for Yang Ming Shan. Unfortunately, we were a little sotong after listening to the hotel receptionist’s instruction of not crossing the road when taking the bus and took the wrong direction when we boarded Bus 260. By the time we realized, we had to wait 15 minutes for another bus (and it was the same bus driver!). The ride is only 15 å…ƒ so luckily only time was wasted.

1215 The bus trip up the mountain took roughly an hour and we were surprised to see quite a few schools along the way as well as a university. After getting off at the terminus, we took another leisure bus around Yang Ming Shan. We hadn’t done much research and after going on the winding road and encountering a lot of fog, we decided to just get off at Leng Shuei Keng (冷水坑) and see what we could do. Thank goodness we had decided correctly since the wind was pretty cold but refreshing and I don’t think we could have walked around for much.

1340 After a quick brunch and getting a map to orientate ourselves, we set off on a “easy” 2.2 km trail after looking at some of the public hot spring baths.

Actually, 2.2 km in normal conditions would be pretty easy but with the fog, the trail was rather slippery and we took the closer part of 2 hours to get to Jyuansih Waterfall (绢丝瀑布). It was definitely worth taking the trail and I think it would be an amazing place to work out each weekend

1600 A short 20 minutes away from Jyuansih Waterfall was Jiengshan Recreational Area (菁山游憩区). We kinda stumbled into the place without realising there would be a hot spring villa nestled in the area. Luckily, we walked the small winding road and came upon Sakura Resort (原櫻花溫泉). It was a beautiful place and we had afternoon tea enjoying the great view. The skies however wasn’t very cooperative and opened up on us.

While perusing the magazines, I happened upon an article on Wu Lai (the very place we were heading to tomorrow). The great staff at the resort graciously offered us the magazine when we requested to make a copy of the article

1730 Since it was getting pretty late to head towards Bei Tou, we decided to enjoy a 2 hour hot spring bath at the villa. Definitely worth it (NTD $1700) as we got a whole villa to ourselves!

2010 We met a helpful worker who directed us to the public bus (Bus 15) down the moutain. She actually wakes up each day at 4 am to get to her work place!

2045 Getting off at Jiantan MRT, we headed again to Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) for our dinner. One of the definite must try is Deep fried chicken fillet (豪大大鸡排) from on the front row stalls. Had it first 3 years ago and must say the singapore version is nothing like it. We also tried some BBQ Sotong (花枝) and finally had Teppanyaki (铁板烧) for the main course.

We then walked around the area a little to explore the stuff that we missed out last night and Yuhui found a nice shop that specialised in clothing/accessories from India. Guess she finally found stuff to buy as she went wild and purchased a few items there

2330 It’s been a late night for us and we headed back to Ximen Station and our great hotel at Onestar Yuhui helped make phone calls to the places to visit from the Wu Lai article and so we planned out the next day’s itinerary.

0725 A bright morning greeted us in Taichung and we headed out. Unfortunate that the tour doesn’t let us have much time to explore the area since it seems like an interesting place to walk around. We passed a market of sorts on our way.

0905 Our first rest Stop (新竹) after hitting the roads let everyone get a quick breather and stretch out the legs. We’re near Taipei again!

Taipei (台北)

1030 Since a visit to Taipei must warrant a visit to Taipei 101, Sam drove us by some landmark buildings like the Mayor’s office and Taipei 101 to have a look. We also had a very early lunch at a hot pot restaurant. Definitely great to have some ma la steamboat.

1215 Martyr’s Shrine (忠烈祠) was our first stop of the day tour where we witnessed the change of guards. The guards performed the change of shift with amazing endurance and skill with the weapon toss.

1300 National Palace Museum (故宫博物馆) was interesting but unfortunately we couldn’t take photos inside. There were numerous antiques for viewing and apparently there is so much that all of it can’t be shown at one time. We were introduced to 4 unique items.  Bai Cai and Zhu Rou jade that looked amazingly like white lettuce and pork. Also we saw a Tian Lu and Elephant that had some meaning but unfortunately can’t quite remember it

1435 The last time I was in Taipei, we also visited Fengshui Master Mr. Liu (天禄), this time round, it seemed to be a funnier session with a whole lot of insight into numbers and our names. Apparently, the numbers 13, 9 and 4 are good numbers while 10 is bad.

1615 Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂) had a concert ongoing and an arts display so was pretty interesting to have a look in the great evening sun.

We also bought some native products that are a definite must try like pineapple tarts Taiwan style.

1815 Dinner for us was at Shilin Night Market (士林夜市). We had a few items like 棺材板 (Bread toasted with ingredients “buried” inside) and also a pasty that wasn’t too great called 大饼包小饼. One of the definite must try is mango ice shavings (芒果冰). We didn’t much like 生炒三鲜羹 which is a mix of various seafood in a stew.

1945 Everyone was parting ways this night as some were traveling back to Singapore and others were staying on. Two of us had booked ourselves into Onestar Hotel (万事达酒店) near Xi Men Ding. The hotel is great (location and room) and we would heartily book it again next time we’re in Taipei