Drop all anchors: #wentravelogue5 - Taiwan travel blog entry (1)

So this was an impromptu trip.. booked air tickets 2 weeks before and the accommodation 1 week before.. Air tickets: SGD$359 nett from Scoot, both ways.

Taiwan travel itinerary on a budget

Day 1 (18 May 2014)

Took my first solo flight. Went to rest at Terminal 2’s free entertainment lounge with a cinema, playstations.. Just when I checked in, I forgot my most important file which contains all my travel details. T_T Luckily I got my itinerary with me.

Day 2 (19 May 2014)

How to get from Taoyuan International Airport to Ximen? Reached Taoyuan International Airport at about 5.30am. Went to the lowest to get FREEGO bus (飛狗巴士) tickets. They go to many different places. Just tell them where you’re heading to (such as your hotel) and they will drop you directly outside. 1 way ticket costs 140TWD (6SGD)

The journey to Ximen station was about 1hr and B came to fetch me.

Had brunch at 85 Degrees Café at Ximen exit 1 which is highly raved. The egg tarts were good but the milk tea and sandwich were just meh.

Met up with B’s friends and the 8 of us booked a van to Jiufen (九份) and Shifen (十分).

Had lu rou fan at some stall on the left once you enter Jiufen (九份).

My grandmother recommends the almond powder from this stall on the right hand side of the street. It costs TWD450 (18.75SGD) for 30 packets. Don’t buy things on your way up as you will take the same route down, saves you the trouble.

Had ice cream with peanuts popiah. It was raining when we left Jiufen but luckily we had transport. It’s much convenient and not that costly to get your own transport there as it saves a lot of time and you can stop by at several other attractions.

On the way to Shifen, we stopped by the Golden Waterfall (黃金瀑布)and Yingyang sea. It was so interesting. The sand in the waterfall “shines like gold” in bright sunlight and it leads down to Yingyang sea. (half blue, half orange)

Finally at Shifen for setting of lanterns. We bought a 4-colored one for novelty’s sake. It was pretty nice to set off your lantern.

There was sort of a company trip and so many lanterns were set off at once, super nice.

Dinner was at Ningxia Night Market (黃金瀑布)

Seafood shell. My favourite.

Had this really good soup and the soup was refillable.

Famous Taiwan scallops with many toppings to choose from.

Cheese potato. Badly taken ):

Their prawning! 7 sticks for 100TWD (4SGD). There’s a hook at the end of the stick to catch the prawns but it keeps snapping. We only caught one but the lady gave us 2. We chose to eat it and she grabbed the prawns and put it directly into hot water. #guilty .. ):

At night, we went to Babe 18! We went on a Monday Night. Cover charge for ladies were 200TWD (8SGD) and 350TWD (14.50SGD) for guys if I’m not wrong. There was free flow all night long. The queue was super long. Hence, since there was 8 of us, we paid 3,000TWD (each person about 15SGD) for a table. It got us in immediately and free flow drinks were served to us the whole night. There was shots after shots and jugs after jugs. Worth.

We stayed in a minsu -. 鍾西城咖啡. They own a coffee shop beside. Room and toilet was clean, big, comfortable. The owner was very nice. We paid 3900TWD total (162SGD) for 3 nights! Cheap and it's conveniently located near Ximen station. Took us awhile to find it but many Taiwanese stopped to help!

Email: hostelwest@gmail.com

Anna 0981302 245

Day 3 (20 May 2014)

Went to Taipei Underground Mall (at Taipei Main Station) for some shopping. We headed one floor down to the “Y” area where there were many anime shops.

Went to have the famous Yong Kang Beef Noodles (永康牛肉麵) after that. It was so good and the beef is so tender it melts in the mouth. I preferred the clear soup though as the braised one was slightly spicy for me.

Yong Kang Beef Noodles Address: 台北市金山南路二段31巷17號 (No. 17, Street 31, Jinshan South Road Section 2, Taipei. directly opposite Jinhua Primary School)

Nearest train station: Jieyundongmen station