DAY 1
TAIWAN TAOYUAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - FEELING 18 DEGREE CHOCOLATE FACTORY(18度C巧克力工房) - TALOWAN VIEW RESTAURANT(塔洛弯景观餐厅) - MING LU HOLIDAY HOTEL(廬山溫泉名廬假期大飯店)
After almost 5 hours of plane ride, we are finally here!
As soon as we reached the airport around 2.00pm something, a tour guide welcomed us with our company's name sign. The tour guide was a friendly man called 老刘. Before that, we have booked a tour trip with 吴胖哥 agency. So this whole trip was scheduled with places they arranged for us to visit. The weather was so cold and chilly. Especially when the wind blows.
FEELING 18 DEGREE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (18度C巧克力工房)
We started our journey in the bus... and we were in the bus for a very long time because of the traffic jam. The first destination spot we visited was 18度C巧克力工房 which we only arrived at 6.30pm something. Imagine the long bus ride! By the time we reached, the sky was already dark. We were given 30 minutes to eat, to buy, to take picture here. A lot of people queue up for free hot coffee (or cold tea) here.
Feeling 18 Degree Chocolate Factory 18度C巧克力工房
No.20, Ci’en St., Puli Township, Nantou County 545, Taiwan
TALOWAN VIEW RESTAURANT (塔洛弯景观餐厅)
After that, we continue the journey, somewhere up to the hill to a place to eat our dinner which is Talowan View Restaurant 塔洛弯景观餐厅. The weather was so cold that I don't even have the appetite to eat.
Talowan View Restaurant (塔洛弯景观餐厅)
546, Taiwan, Nantou County, Ren’ai Township, 大同村仁和路信義巷25-1號
MING LU HOLIDAY HOTEL(廬山溫泉名廬假期大飯店)
After the dinner, we were headed to our hotel which is called 廬山溫泉名廬假期大飯店 (Ming Lu Holiday Hotel). It is a hotel with public hot spring. But by the time we reached the hotel, it was already 9pm something. By the time we settled down, it was already late and the hot spring was closed. So the swimsuit that I brought was wasted. Nearby the hotel, there are some shops and convenience store that sell stuff like rain coats, hat, gloves for the cold weather.
Our room and it's time to sleep!
It's morning time, the view from our hotel
Breakfast at the hotel
Ming Lu Holiday Hotel (廬山溫泉名廬假期大飯店)
546, Taiwan, Nantou County, Ren’ai Township, 廬山溫泉9號
DAY 2
HE HUAN SHAN(合歡山) - CINGJING LUMAMA RESTAURANT(清境魯媽媽雲南擺夷料理) - QING JING CHAO YUAN(清境農場草原) - YU REN MA TOU(淡水漁人碼頭) - XI MEN TING (西門町) - GO SLEEP HOTEL HANKOU(高絲旅時尚旅館漢口館)
HE HUAN SHAN (合歡山)
My second day in Taiwan. We have to wake up early because we have to continue our journey at 8am. It was not the best sleep I had because last night was so cold, with the temperature around 9 °C and I ended up waking up in the middle of the night feeling cold especially my poor feet. Anyway, we have to pack and bring our luggage along because we were heading to another hotel in Taipei today.
While on our way to He Huan Shan (合歡山), the tour guide stopped in the middle of the road, to let us take picture of the beautiful, blossoming sakura.
This is my first time seeing sakura trees with my own eyes in Taiwan
Yes, we are standing in the middle of the road!
After the moment with sakura is over, we continued our journey to He Huan Shan(合歡山). But because the weather is quite bad, we can't even walk to the top.
Tyres need to be chained for safety purpose
Look at that, it's the snow! Another first time for me.
The temperature was apparently 3 °C. We tried to walk up a bit but in the end, we all gave up because the wind is blowing, the rain are falling, we all are so cold and I am shaking with cold. So, we just took a few pictures for memories.
On our way down from the hill, we stopped by here for a break.
The tour guide brought us to visit the home of the Taiwan indigenous(臺灣原住民) but because of the weather, we can hardly see anything
CINGJING LUMAMA RESTAURANT (清境魯媽媽雲南擺夷料理)
After that, we went for lunch at Cingjing Lumama Restaurant 清境魯媽媽雲南擺夷料理. It was quite an experience eating the Taiwan indigenous cuisine.
Cingjing Lumama Restaurant 清境魯媽媽雲南擺夷料理No. 210之2之1號, Renhe Road, Ren’ai Township, Nantou County, Taiwan 546
QING JING CHAO YUAN (清境農場草原)
After finishing our lunch, we headed to Qing Jing Chao Yuan (清境農場草原), where the cute sheep are.
The sheep shows are only available on weekends, so because it was weekday, we can only see the sheep running all over the place.
When we were about to leave, the weather suddenly became bad. It was so misty.
Qing Jing Chao Yuan 清境農場草原
No. 170, Renhe Road, Ren’ai Township, Nantou County, Taiwan 546
YU REN MA TOU (淡水漁人碼頭)
After dinner, our last destination was Yu Ren Ma Tou / Yu Ren Pier (淡水漁人碼頭). And on that day was Valentine's Day too.
The lover's bridge
Guess what? It was raining, and the floor was slippery. Annoyed.
The pier
XI MEN TING 西門町
After that we headed to Xi Men Ting (西門町) where our hotel was. There were a lot of people around this area. A lot of food to eat, a lot of place to shop.
GO SLEEP HOTEL HANKOU (高絲旅時尚旅館漢口館)
We are staying at this hotel called Go Sleep Hotel HanKou (高絲旅時尚旅館漢口館). Our room has the design of piano which was really nice.
DAY 3
HUANG JIN WATERFALL(金瓜石黃金瀑布) - JIU FEN OLD STREET(九份老街) - SHI FEN(十分) - RAO HE NIGHT MARKET(饒河街觀光夜市) - AH CAI SHI MU YU DU (阿财虱目鱼肚)
HUANG JIN WATERFALL(金瓜石黃金瀑布)
Woke up early in the morning for our third day in Taiwan. The first destination we are going to was Huang Jin waterfall (金瓜石黃金瀑布). On our way there, we saw this beautiful two tone colors seawater -yellowish brown color in the bay, and blue water toward the open sea which was called The YinYang sea. The sea is located near Shuinandong in Rueifang Township. Couldn't take a very clear picture due to the fact we were in the bus
We got down from our bus and get on another bus to continue our way to Huang Jin waterfall (金瓜石黃金瀑布)
Huang Jin waterfall (金瓜石黃金瀑布)
The tour guide asked us to quickly take picture and rush us to get on the bus. I don't think it is more than 15 minutes. So we quickly snapped some shots and hopped on the bus again to Jiu Fen Old Street(九份老街). Our group was not the only passengers in the bus, there are other people too.
JIU FEN OLD STREET(九份老街)
And here we are. The famous Jiu Fen Old Street(九份老街). Lot of traditional old shops.
We had our lunch at the old street
The view from top
SHI FEN (十分)
After Jiu Fen Old Street (九份老街), we were heading to Shi Fen (十分), a place for visitor to set off their sky lantern for wishes and blessing. It was actually a railway station which are still operating with many souvenir shops and local snack stalls!
While we were there, there was actually TV station reporters, probably introducing and explaining about the traditions of the sky lanterns or something. And we were lucky to witness these unique shaped sky lanterns because of the recording.
Heart-shaped
Gold ingot (金元宝)
And the panda!
Which couldn't fly to the sky, because people kept wanting to take picture with it, thus it ended up falling down.
Once in a while, the train will appeared, so you will have to be extra careful when you are in the railway tracks which you are going to be when you are releasing the sky lanterns.
It was our time to write wishes on the sky lantern. When we were ready, we stood in the middle of the railway track and the worker helped us to take picture from every side of our sky lantern. Each color of the lantern has their own meaning.
Ready to let it fly...May our wishes come true
After that, we walked around and snapped some photos.
This is a special stall that sells chicken with fried rice inside. There are no bones too. It was delicious. Don't forget to try it if you got the chance.
RAO HE NIGHT MARKET(饒河街觀光夜市)
Our next destination, is Rao He Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市). There was one incident before I reached the night market. Because there was many roads to cross before we can reach there, I was following my colleagues to cross the road but because my feet was in my pain, I couldn't walk as fast as them. So, what happened was I was crossing the road, following my colleagues in front - they had reached the other side of the road, but because the timer was so fast (I still couldn't get used to crossing road in Taiwan), I couldn't catch up with them, I was left in the middle of the road. It was a scary experience as there were cars passing by behind me to the left side, and there were cars in front of me, to the right side. Luckily, the tour guide was at the other side, watching me, asked me to wait till the light turned green. The sight of him calmed me down, so I was really thankful.
The temple beside the night market
AH CAI SHI MU YU DU(阿财虱目鱼肚)
After the night market, we went back to Xi Men Ting. One of my colleagues recommended us to try a famous local food shop, so we kept searching for the place for quite some time because it is quite far from our hotel. After going round and round, we finally found it! But... there was a long queue and by that time it was already 10pm something, nearing 11pm. We waited for one hour before we finally being seated. I was too tired to take pic of the food.
The queue!
After that, we walked quite a distance before reaching our hotel. It was exhausting.
DAY 4
TAIPEI 101 - WU FEN PU(五分埔) - BARHI RESTAURANT(吧海德國豬腳啤酒餐廳)
As for the fourth day, our schedule for the day was free and easy. That means we can go wherever we want to go for the whole day. We have decided to go to Taipei 101 as that is one of the must-go destination for tourist. It it recommended by a friendly shop assistant that we buy a pass(Taipei Metro One Day Pass) from the train station so we can use that single card to take the train for the whole day.
TAIPEI 101
Because of the angle we were standing at, we can't really capture the whole building :(
We barely can take this group shot because the security guard immediately chased us away
After visiting Taipei 101, we went to Eslite Bookstore Tunnan(诚品书店敦南总店) to take a look at the bookstore. It was delighting for book lovers like me, but as the luggage I brought was not big, I didn't buy anything. Oh,well.
FORMOSA CHANG (鬍鬚張)
We went to eat lunch at Formosa Chang (鬍鬚張)
Lu Rou Fan ( 滷肉飯) also known as braised pork on rice
WU FEN PU(五分埔)
Then it was time to shop for clothes! Wu Fen Pu is a wholesale garment market known for its low prices. There are so much shops that we don't know where to begin. But sometimes, when there is too much choices, you don't even feel like buying. Lol. Another reason is that because of the cold weather, they are still selling a lot of winter clothes so it is not really suitable for us, Malaysians. I ended up buying two tops.
BARHI RESTAURANT (吧海德國豬腳啤酒餐廳)
For dinner, we went to this place called Barhi Restaurant (吧海德國豬腳啤酒餐廳) because the whole group is going to gather there for our last night in Taipei.
Barhi Restaurant 吧海德國豬腳啤酒餐廳
No. 444, Daye Road, Beitou District, Taipei City, Taiwan 112
After that, we have to take the train to go back to our hotel again.
DAY 5
YONG HE DOU JIANG (永和豆漿) - TAIWAN TAOYUAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
The last day in Taipei. Woke up to have breakfast at this famous shop called Yong He Dou Jiang (永和豆漿) There were a lot of people so we have to order first before we can properly seated.
After breakfast, it was time to pack and check out from our room. We were once again sitting in the bus, on the way to the airport. But before that, we went to eat lunch at a restaurant (I totally forgot the name and didn't manage to take any picture of the place. Must be the sickness and exhaustion that cause it.
At the airport, with our friendly tour guide 老刘
So the overall, the trip was okay, just that the schedule was tight. One person costs about RM2500 including the air ticket and accommodation for the whole trip. As for personally, I spend around 10,000 yuan which is around RM1200 for my own stuff and souvenirs.
THINGS TO BUY
Before going to our scheduled tour spot, the tour guide brought us to a local bakery shop, called Chia Te Bakery(佳德糕餅), which was highly recommended according to the source on the web, famous for its pineapple tart(鳳梨酥) and local pastries. I brought one box of pineapple tart and one box of sun cakes(太陽餅) which is my fav for my family.
Pineapple tart(鳳梨酥)
Sun cakes(太陽餅)
Chia Te Bakery 佳德糕餅
No. 88, Section 5, Nanjing East Road, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105