It's my 100th post! :D *pops confetti*
Finally had some free time to blog on my Taiwan trip months ago! I went on a 8 days 7 nights trip to Taiwan back in December during winter! No snow though! :p We planned out the trip with half tour, and half free and easy! I planned the free and easy for three days of the trip!
Overall, I would definitely revisit Taiwan again! The people here are so friendly! ♥ Despite the slight inconvenience in terms of language (I can't read and write in Mandarin), I was still able to get around quite easily, of course with proper research beforehand! Street food in Taipei is delicious and affordable. Clothes in street markets are slightly pricier (around RM50) than KL's casual wear of the same quality (around RM25 from Mirrorcle in Pavilion and Fahrenheit 88). MRT commute is accessible to many landmarks and easy to use :)
Day 1 - Touchdown in Taipei!
In Taipei after about 4 hours flight! :D
Touchdown in Taoyuan International Airport
Baggage claim
Crane games
Pompom Purin!
Wang Jiao Shi Tou hot pot just down the street from our accommodation (arranged by the tour) for the night. I love this hot pot so much, ate this when it was raining and freezing then! You need to order a minimum of 3 dishes here! If you like Taiwanese hot pot, there's a famous one called Taifeng in C180 area.
Gorgeous cuts of pork ♥♥♥ Pork shoulder for NT120
Seafood platter
Omg I love this amazing sauce mixture! Comprises of peanut butter, scallions, chillies and dried shrimps! :D
The staff will fry the meat until half-cooked, and then add the cabbage soup into the pot.
*sizzle sizzle*
It's mandatory to visit to every country's 7 Eleven! I love other country's 7E...
Meanwhile in Malaysia, I rarely enter 7E. Their instant noodles are so flavourful that you wouldn't notice that you're actually eating instant noodles! But their bulky packaging is such a pain. Had to hand carry some of the instant noodles back to Malaysia!
Day 2 - Heading east side from Taipei > Jiufen > Hualien
8am - We head out from the hotel and met up with the rest of the tour in the bus for the first time! First destination is Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.
Krystal and JJ Lin for GAP
Weather was pretty gloomy at 9am as it drizzled the whole morning. Brrr..
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
After an hour drive, we finally reached Yehliu Geopark
My younger sister bumped into her high school friend here. LIKE, WHAT COINCIDENCE?! It's rare to even bump into your friends in KL! Hahaha
Uphill walk to view the mushroom-like rock formations
Different names for different odd shaped rock formations caused by erosion.
The guard warned by blowing the whistle at some Mainland China visitors who leaned on the rocks. Tsk tsk
We are almost there!
It's so beautiful! And packed with noisy tourists -_-
Mushroom rock formations!
Fisherman boats
Finally after about an hour drive (from 12.05pm to 1.10pm), we reached the iconic Jiufen aka the place that inspired Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away! Heads up to Studio Ghibli fans: You'll find plenty of Ghibli merchandises here!
Colourful tour buses parked here
Henry Cats and Friends store located just behind the entrance of Jiufen Old Street
Jiufen's must try : peanut ice cream roll
Look at that huge block of peanut!
Coffee!
Bailey's Irish cream ;D Thought of my alcoholic buddies when I saw these hahaha
There were two stalls selling dry noodles with meatballs.
Taiwanese love this lazy egg Gudetama! It's seen everywhere in Taiwan!
Misty pastry store! Get their taro cream puffs! ♥
We ate our lunch at this stall. See this uncle and you'll know that you're at the right place.
It's super packed here! We just follow the crowd to gauge the taste and quality of the food lol. We bumped into our tour guide here too. Managed to get a table quick because of him. The ceilings were so low that I was beginning to get a little claustrophobic. There's an area at the back of the store where patrons sat on the floor or on low stools to eat.
Omg it's such a simple but comforting food to eat in the chilly weather. Yilan cold herbal chicken, noodles, and meatballs in soup. Total meal costs NT510 (5 pax), approximately RM70.
Ice cream puffs! I didn't get this cause it was already very cold!
Puffs for NT50, ~ RM6.80
Crispy choux! ♥♥♥
DIY postcard keychain! Sew the keychain on your own!
Wooden postcards
Tempted to try the deep fried squid, but at that time, I just got my braces (less than 2 weeks) so I couldn't really bite or chew hard food :/
Narrow street
One of my favourite food from Taiwan! Grilled pork skin! Omg it's so bad but so goooood! It's a must to buy a few packets back!
The tour guide only gave us about an hour and a half for us to walk around in Jiufen! Too short! I'd prefer if he gave us more time to hang out there as there's so much to explore and eat! We couldn't even make it to the end of the street (the multi-storey tea house) because we have to make our way back to the entrance of the street.
Took some pictures of myself outside Henry Cats and Friends store, apparently I was too close to the door till the door automatically slide open. I saw the cashier saying something in Mandarin, I thought she wanted to ask me to stand aside as not to block the entrance! When I actually took awhile to understand, she actually politely ask me to stand further so that the door wouldn't slide open and close and I can get a better picture of myself at the entrance! LOL HOW NICE ♥♥♥ I honestly thought she was going to ask me to get off!
So far from my trip in Taiwan, I only encountered ONE person who was a little rude! It was a street vendor who told me "Hey, no photography!". AND THAT WAS IT. That was really minor and acceptable thou because I respect people's opinion on getting photographed. Taiwanese people are generally friendly, which made my whole travelling experience a lot more enjoyable!
Picturesque ♥
A temple just further up the road from Jiufen Old Street.
Left Jiufen at 2.30pm and reached the Harry Potter theme Magic Restaurant located just behind the Lanyang Railway at 3.50pm.
Coffee and buns just in time for teatime!
Medival and Harry Potter themed bakery and restaurant
Hedwig, is that you?
The western food restaurant. You have to dine there to enter, so this was the closest that I can get to from the entrance.
However, many tourists just shamelessly walked in to take closer pictures with the paintings lolol
"Hoot, hoot, hooooot ~"
Antique typewritter
Tribute to Harry Potter with dem round glasses! Hahaha!
It's just a really small bakery. There's no seating area for the bakery.
"Let's name it Happy Potter, that way we won't get sued for copyright infringement!"
After we left Happy Potter, the bus drove us through a winding narrow uphill road to Hualien (east side of Taiwan). The tour guide gave some of us some medicine to counter the dizziness before we set off to Hualien. It helped me cause I have bad motion sickness. An aunty who ate too much in the bus eventually vomited from the dizziness. Our tour guide's tip was sleep throughout the few hours drive or don't fill your stomach! You're more likely to get indigestion from the motion sickness.
Reached a restaurant that specialises in Hualien cuisine at around 8.30pm.
Love this stewed spicy and sour pork!
Chicken
Fish paste rolls
Deep fried aubergine
Herbal soup! ♥
This is a picture of our kind and meticulous tour guide (best tour guide ever!) making the final calculations before leaving the restaurant.
That night, we checked in to a tiny family-owned hotel called Na Lu Wan hotel (which apparently means welcome in certain dialect). The decorations were very...red Indians-inspired. Lol but their beds and bathroom was very spacious considering it was just a building block made into a hotel business. We had a good night rest after munching on my buns and puffs from Jiufen and Happy Potter :)
Stay tuned for the next Day 3 Hualien post! :)
Signing off ♥
( = ^ ㅅ ^ = )
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