Taiwan – Part 2 (March 2012)

Day 4

As usual, breakfast in the hotel before leaving since we usually spend the entire day out and will not be back until the late evening after our walk around Taipei.

On our fourth day, we decided to head to JiuFen via the old train.

Please excuse my camera as it wasn’t really behaving itself and my pale face as I did not have a good rest the night before.

 

 

 

 

The train ride was about 45minutes to arrive to JiuFen and the view was really nice along the way there.

Some bought some food and brought it into the train to have it as either breakfast or lunch.

I recommend buying a seat number rather than just buying a ticket to enter the train.

If you purchase a ticket for a seat number, it will cost a little bit more than just the regular ticket, but it’ll be totally worth it because if you have your bagpack along with you and you can’t seem to find an available seat, you will need to stand for 45 minutes.

I’ve seen a few teens standing while having their noodles for breakfast as though it was nothing.

But I strongly recommend resting your leg a little when you have the chance.

 

Once we arrived, the view of JiuFen welcoming us was really really nice.

You can feel the ocean breeze hitting your face when wind blows.

Even though from the outside, it seemed like just a small walkway to head inside, but there are loads of things to eat and see.

As usual, tourists traveling in groups are always around if you travel around this time of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If some of you know the movie called Spirited Away, the person who drew the scenes of the spirit realm actually took the idea from this place. 

He drew it almost as similar as the famous JiuFen steps and shops with food around. 

Since I love that movie so much (I think watched that movie for more than 10 times), seeing this place for myself is seriously unbelievable and I would understand why he used this place as part of his movie.

 

Oh! I have also found a Lavender shop around the corner while walking around.

The things are really pretty together with huge teddy bears sitting around outside the shop.

If you are a fan of lavender items, this is a nice shop to look around and purchase some things. 

Bought a few packets of lavender tea as souvenir for friends 🙂

 

 

 

Other than the Lavender shop that we visited, there is an old cinema that is restored for visitors to have a look see of what our old folks had previously. 

However, I don’t really see tourists really visiting this place.

If I am not mistaken, they actually do show certain old shows at a certain time of a day.

I wasn’t able to stay for one of the shows, so I just decided to walk around and take some photos with the items within the hall. 

 

 

 

 

 

Another thing to enjoy in JiuFen is the food available in the stores around the area.

I just randomly enter into this shop below to try the food below as shown in the photos.

I can’t really speak mandarin so I am not really sure what we ordered, but my boyfriend at that time said that it is one of the must try food there in JiuFen.

The taste is quite new to me since the first dish was meat with something chewy around it.

While the second one is just meatballs with different type of flavours.

 

 

 

 

Above is a photo of how the train looked like before boarding it.

Even though it looked old, it was pretty well taken care of because they had people cleaning the train quite regularly.

A young lady will be going up and down selling candies and packet drinks if you are interested.

It felt like the olden days where candy ladies walked up and down the isle to sell you some candies and drinks for the ride back home 😉

 

After JiuFen, we headed to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to see if we could witness the changing of officers.

I must say that the garden outside is something that I could imagine myself reading a book and rest there without worrying about everything that is happening around me.

We headed up to the memorial hall located upstairs and to my surprise, they had just started the ceremony to change the officers!

The whole ceremony was quite amazing as I have not witness something like this before.

They seemed so united and orderly throughout the whole routine.

Really loved it and an unforgettable moment.

Here are some photos of the garden in front of the hall, memorial view and also the officers who changed into their new position.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, I took a photo of the officer ;p

He is pretty good looking if I must say so myself. Hehe!

The view around the memorial hall is really nice and we walked around the area for awhile.

 

We then headed to the museum around the corner.

No entrance fees will be charged.

The museum looked quite old, but clean.

However, everything in it told a story about Chiang Kai-shek and it was quite interesting to know 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

As we exited the museum, I didn’t realize that it was quite late.

On our way back, we stopped by Shida night market to see if there is anything we could munch on.

While walking, we saw a western themed steak house and just thought that it could be alright to have something pricy for the night.

To our surprise when the menu came, everything was quite affordable (this includes set meal).

It came with a salad, soup, bread, drink, a main dish and dessert.

The whole meal was quite delicious.

We spent only close to RM60 for that meal, which is quite acceptable to me.

 

 

 

 

 

The whole day was a great but tiring experience.

I remembered how sore our feet were and to have them soak into hot water for almost half an hour.

Our shoulders were also quite sore from carrying all the things we bought for the day, but we were quite happy after our hot shower and leg soaking.

 

Day 5

It was the day before flying off the next day 🙁

Our usual ritual like normal days in Taiwan, having breakfast before leaving the hotel.

This time, we left the hotel late to rest and then walked around the hotel to remember the place before we officially leave the following day.

 

The Xin Beitou hot spring area was the second last place we visited and relaxed.

We didn’t stay in a hotel there nor did we enter into a hot spring to enjoy.

I wanted to try out the hot spring, but wasn’t in a good condition to try it out.

Instead, we took a stroll around the place, had lunch and even found a really cool library 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just FYI, this is a library belonging to a university there.

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside (but we sorta managed to snap one photo before leaving the place).

Loads of books and private learning area for students to spend their time studying there.

Oh how I envy them having such facilities there.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch was in a very unexpected place! Hehe.

We had our lunch in Seven Eleven because we thought we should at least experience eating in one outlet since we had never done it before in our lives.

I understand this could be quite a common experience for some people to eat in a convenience store, but this is totally new to us. Haha.

Had spicy beef instant noodles, salad and drinks.

 

 

 

After lunch, we decided to walk around again.

We were lazying around because I have an appointment with my friend in Dansui for dinner.

It was drizzling and we decided to stop by Starbucks for something warm to drink.

 

 

The rain stopped and it was time to go to Dansui.

Arriving Dansui at about 2 something and there were loads of things to see before dinner time. 

At this place, we found a store that sells all types of old traditional Asian candies and toys.

Seriously brought back some good childhood memories 🙂

They even had another store that sold Peter the Rabbit items.

I bought myself a few pair of socks ;p

ALSO! There is a store for Henry & Cats <3

I bought myself a cute little bunny magnet for my fridge because I already have a few of their things that my boyfriend got me when he was in China *hearts*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The red brick church is quite popular for wedding photography there.

We walked around for quite awhile and it was time for dinner with my bff 😉

We had Taiwan’s version of steamboat and it was quite alright.

Although I have to admit that I prefer having my soup in a pot with me slowly placing whatever I would want to eat inside than having everything already inside and boiling.

So it was kind of a new experience to me 🙂

 

We hung out for awhile and walked around the area to see more things.

Then it was time to go back to our hotel.

Dansui is actually quite a distance, but it was worth our trip. 

Knowing that we have to leave the next day made us quite reluctant to head back to our hotel room.

But I guess like people say, “all things good will come to an end” 🙁

 

Day 6

It was time to say byebye and we packed everything nicely into our luggage before heading down for breakfast.

Then started our journey to the airport with happy thoughts 🙂

Luggage did not went over weight, line wasn’t long and we had extra money left to purchase ourselves a new pair of Havaianas slippers each. 

Even had extra money to get some stuff to eat and drink before boarding the plane 😉

 

We had about 45minutes to kill around the airport.

So, we walked around and found the ever famous Hello Kitty shop that most girls are happy to see.

I on the other hand did not enter to see (only took some photos outside).

It was a good decision to walk around because there were so many different themed waiting areas around the airport for people to experience.

*thumbs up*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The whole trip was great and a new experience every time we stopped some where.

People were really friendly and the country was pretty clean!

The places that I have not posted were the Taiwan 101 Buidling (it wasn’t open due to a fire drill) and the Taipei Mainstation (camera wasn’t working).

All in all, I was a very happy but tired girl after the trip due to all the walking and shopping 😉

The most memorable part of this trip was the proposal and the memory of my first trip out of the country. Hehe. 

Time to head out! Until next time! 😉

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