Fly me to the moon.: Taipei Part 1.

It's an off day and I feel like typing.
So here it is.
My picture-heavy Taipei trip blog post.

Laptop cannot display Chinese characters
so excuse me for using English for all the Chinese words.
I know it is weird. :/

So, as mentioned,
flight tickets were booked in July
when I accidentally spotted a promotion going on on AirAsia.

For both of us. :)

The 2-way ticket cost us around RM900 each,

including airport tax and luggage fee.

The boyfriend and another 2 travel mates came down to Ipoh from Penang

and we took Yoyo Bus to LCCT in the morning.

When we were happily checking-in,

only we realized Yi Huey's passport was expired,

so she and Say Seng stayed in KL to have her passport renewed

while me and boyfriend flew to Taipei first.

Not much choice we had, because it was already 4pm+,

the governmental departments were all closing soon

and they are far from the airport,

so YH and SS bought their new tickets.

Fact Number 1:

Before travelling, always make sure the expiry date on your passport

is at least 6 months ahead of the flying date.

The airport crews are very strict on this.

Reached Taoyuan Airport at around 1130pm.

Oh btw, there is no time difference between Taiwan and Malaysia.

Were picked up by the boyfriend's uncle,

and headed straight to his house.

Had microwaved carbonara spaghetti from 7-eleven nearby,

which didn't taste good,

and hit the sack.

Woke up at 9am+ the next morning

and played Battle Ludo with the boyfriend

until auntie called us down for breakfast at about 1030am.

Fact Number 2:

The Taiwanese people start their day quite late compared to us.

All the shops open around 11am.

We never did our homework well enough

thus we woke up really early almost every morning

and found ourselves looking at empty streets and closed shops.

LOLs.

Auntie was kind enough to cook us breakfast

and she bought so much Taiwanese food for us to try.

Regretted for not taking pictures of all of them.

Most of the time I was super blur in the house

from all the walking, eating, sight-seeing and shopping.

What auntie bought, I just grabbed and hentam,

and wow-ed at the awesomeness.

Was so so lazy to run upstairs to grab the camera, so yeah.

The train station was 5 minutes away from uncle's house.

The boyfriend and I took the train to Taipei station, and from there,

we took MRT, aka jie yun for the Taiwanese,

to all the other places in the following days.

The public transports are super convenient in Taiwan.

And also very very clean,

plus you don't feel threatened

because all you can see are Chinese,

no immigrants in sight AT ALL. Weird.

All the Chinese signs are really welcoming. :)

The first destination was Dan Shui.

Headed to lao jie (old street) first as it was still early (for the Taiwanese).

Fact Number 3:

Lao Jie (old street) is a street with traditional crafts, souvenirs, and mainly food,

of which most of them are famous old brands started by their grandpas or fathers.

Almost all the towns in Taiwan has their own lao jie.

In Dan Shui Lao Jie,

the boyfriend couldn't wait to try this nasty food:

which stank like hell and tasted like shit.

This is the famous chou dou fu (smelly toufu).

The old auntie even tried to make it look edible with the vege,

but trust me, it ain't help at all.

I took a bite and the boyfriend finished the rest with funny face

because it really was disgusting.

Hahahahahahaha.

After eating this piece of shit, he didn't feel like eating at all.

Nauseated by it, he said. LMAO.

DAI SEIIIIIII.

This is xia ba (giant prawn?).

Bought it because the travel guide recommended it.

Nothing special. Just fried juicy prawn.

Ke Kou Yu Wan.

Not that ke kou. Hahahaha.

Not elastic at all but had pork filling and the soup was nice.

The mantou came in a set.

Hong Ma suan mei tang (sour plum juice).

I guess sour plum juice is the second favourite drink of the Taiwanese after pearl milk tea.

It was everywhere.

And this, Hong Ma, was really really nice.

The sour plum taste was really strong.

And I like Taiwan for encouraging recycling and loving the environment.

Fact Number 4:

Learn about recycling before you step into Taiwan.

You should know which is recyclable and which is not

or else you would spend hours in front of all their dustbins

figuring which bin you should throw your rubbish into.

The Taiwanese people also practice recycling at home.

They separate their rubbish according to types

before they throw them out.

Bought ferry tickets, and off we went over to Dan Shui Ma Tou (Dan Shui Jetty).

Dan Shui Ma Tou is the trademark of Dan Shui.

It used to be very old and dirty, then the government repaired and cleaned the place,

and built a chio bridge which then became a tourist attraction. LOLs.

That's the famous bridge, Qing Ren Qiao (Lover's Bridge).

The entrance of the bridge:

My hair was in a mess almost all the time in Taiwan because of the crazy wind.

Mentioned the weather in the previous post

so I am not gonna talk about it anymore.

Just make sure you bring some cardigans and scarves with you

if you are going to Taiwan during autumn.

The sideways of the bridge to nowhere:

So so beautiful.

Dan Shui is really a place for couples.

There was a nice red LOVE sign but I am lazy to download it from my inbox

as it was captured with boyfriend's DSLR.

And also the Lover's Bell:

And this too:

With wishes and promises cramped on a wooden board.

Fact Number 5:

Plan your Dan Shui trip in the evening.

A hawker said we went there at the wrong hour.

The shops near the Lover's Bridge all open in the evening around 5pm.

Maybe you can go there at around 430pm

when the sun is still up for photo taking,

then chill at the restaurants with some beers until night.

The hawker said the place is really beautiful at night with all the pretty lights.

After walking around for a bit,

we took LRT to the second destination:

the famous Shih Lin Ye Shi (Shih Lin Night Market).

It was still early (5pm+) so it wasn't crowded yet.

Walked around and shopped!

Got my first 2 favourite hoodies there with only RM 17 each!

And the boyfriend freaking got 2 Nike pants and a limited edition cap.

Cost him about RM300 which he very much regretted after that.

Hahahaha. Noob ball.

Entered Di Xia Mei Shi Jie (underground food street) at about 8pm.

The underground food street was built lately.

There was an open-aired one at the end of the night market

but we didn't have time to walk that far

plus we were already starving.

The first thing which came in sight:

Juicy and big Taiwanese sausages!!!!!

The jumbo ones vs. the original.

The boy went crazy and bought a garlic jumbo immediately.

It tasted like heaven!!!! So so so so so awesome.

Can totally fight with German sausage.

O-jien (fried oyster omelette).

A must-try in Taiwan but I dare say Penang has better o-jien.

Seriously.

Never ordered a second one in other night markets.

Fried crabs.

Saw it on every table so we ordered.

Also tasted so-so. Quite salty.

Not my thing. Except that it was really crispy.

THIS. THIS WAS THE BOMB.

Called rou zao mian (minced pork noodle).

When the boy ordered noodles I was like

why come to Taiwan night market to order noodles,

but then when I had it, OMG I TELL YOU, IT WAS CRAZILY AWESOME.

Not exaggerating.

I finished 80% of this plate in a few seconds.

This is crazy. The most delicious noodles in the world!!

And I miss it to bits!!!! OMG.

My boyfriend is a genius. Haha.

Qing Wa Xia Dan (Frog lay eggs?). LMAO.

It is a drink with syrup and many many fen yuan

which is something like pearls.

Must-have. Stated in travel guide.

Very refreshing. Order the lime one!

Fact Number 6:

Buy small potions in Taiwan night markets and share with friends.

You don't want to make yourself full with only 1 type of food right?

By sharing food, you can try many types of other food

(believe me, you will never want to stop trying),

and at the same time save cost.

After eating, we shopped for a bit

then headed back to uncle's home,

again by MRT and train.

The second day.

After breakfast, uncle and auntie brought us around Zhong Li,

it is a small town located near Taoyuan Airport,

and they drove us to Da Xi,

which is located like half an hour away from their place.

We reached this place called Ci Hu,

which was once the residence of Jiang Jie Shi.

This Jiang Jie Shi fellow was an influential politician in the 1920s.

He was chased away by China before he went to Taiwan

and took over the position of Sun Yat Sen.

If you wanna know more, click here.

According to uncle, the Taiwanese people were treated like shit

and Jiang Jie Shi kind of used all the people's money for his own purpose,

so the Taiwanese people hate him, even until now.

This might be true.

His residence was soooooooooo big.

The bridge that overlooks his park.

His park with all his statues.

I bet there were more than 100.

A lot were transferred from the schools around Taiwan

because many of them were vandalized in their original places.

See how much the Taiwan people hate him. Haha.

A map showing ONLY the park.

There was a walkway in his house area:

He likes jungle trekking?

And who needs a lake in their residence????

Crazy right?

His body and coffin are kept in the area too:

Inside this room.

We were not allowed in, anyway.

Could only look at his giant portrait and the coffin. Pfffff.

After that, uncle and auntie brought us to Da Xi Lao Jie (Da Xi Old Street).

A temple appeared in the middle of nowhere.

Haha.

It was cramped between the shop lots.

Free pie for testing.

Nice nice nice.

Taiwanese are really really friendly.

Even if you look with not a tiny bit of the intention of buying their stuff,

they still serve you well and give hell lots of things for you to test.

And they will just say Come back if you feel like buying afterwards.

Really warmhearted.

Cute mango ice cream. ♪♫

Then auntie stopped by at a stall to buy our lunch.

This was the main reason we go to the old street.

Highly recommended by uncle and auntie.

Especially the huang jin dan (golden egg).
The eggs were kept in the fridge and were cold,
and the egg yolk was in this really deep orange and was really Q.
Weird eggs but the boyfriend loved it.