2nd day in taipei (12th Apr 2006)

these travel articles were written, mostly by sm, AFTER the taipei-hong kong trip

Early morning, we headed to the train station to deposit our bags in the locker, travel light to our next destination, Wulai (çƒ?來). It was a day to take a breather away from the city, to enjoy the greenery and tranquility of the suburb. Before that, we were hunting for our breakfast at that vicinity. Across the road, we saw this chinese signboard “Wang Ji” (王記府城). Without second thoughts, we went straight there. It is one of the recommended food from our food guide. We had meat dumpling and fishball soup. It has many subsidiary branches.

After filling up our stomach, we were all ready to set off. We took a train to Xin Dian (新店). Within 15 minutes walk from the station, there is a long hanging bridge with many years of history. This bridge acts as a major medium for the residents to do their daily errands and back to their villages.

We took a bus from the station to Wulai. The origin of Wulai: In legend, when Atayal braves hunted three hundred years ago, they saw smoke from the riverside. After searching, they found a hot water spring. They yelled “wulai, wulai� in Atayal language, hot water is pronounced “wulai�, meaning hot spring. The journey is about 45 minutes. I began to doze off until the winding uphill road, which woke me up. The high mountain and long river set a scenic view.

We alighted at the drop off point and began to walk towards the town, heading toward the waterfall. Looking at the map, we were pondering whether to take a trail train or walk. We chose the latter as the distance from the drop off point to the trail train is approximately 15 minutes which is equivalent to the distance from the trail train to the waterfall.

As we walked, there are brightly coloured paintings of Atayal (I guess so) along the roadside, which spice up the greenery. After a while, it seems like endless road was ahead of us and we looked at the map again to make sure that we were on the right track. And passer by seems to be diminishing as we marched on. We began to feel lethargic and exhausted under the scorching sun. We were perspiring profusely and our legs were aching. We took a short rest at a shelter. Trail trains were heading to and fro in front of us and we looked at each other in despair. There was a major huge problem with scale of the map that had brought misery upon us.

We continued walking until we finally saw the waterfall. It was abit disappointing as we were anticipating a fairly spectacular waterfall. We almost collapsed when we saw a long flight of steps heading to our hotel. Up we go, our wobbly legs succumbed to the steps. The hotel has a direct front view of the waterfall, which we initially thought that it was magnificent and also there is a distance away from the town.

After much consideration, we decided to head back to Taipei. Of course this time round, we took a trail train down. We passed by a few villages. Not forgetting our main purposing of coming here, we went to enjoy the hot spring. It was very relaxing and comfortable. The hot spring is clear and odorless which consists of various chemicals. Children and old folks were bathing along the river, enjoying the hot spring. On our way back to the bus station, we shopped for some local food.

We took bus directly to “Gong guan” (公館). It was a long journey. And this time round, it was my stomach grumbling sound woke me up from my usual doze. We ate sweet potato strips, “Suan la Tang” (酸辣湯), “Zhao Pai Guo Tie” (招牌é?‹è²¼) and “Hu Jiao Bao” (大學å?£èƒ¡æ¤’包). I like the “Guo Tie”. It is rolled in a strip with meat fillings in it.

We went back to Ximen Ding (西門町) to search for our accommodation. We settled down at “Nei Jiang Fan Dian” (內江飯店).

Not wasting any time, we headed off to our next destination that is “Shi Lin” (士林). It was bustling with people and it was so happening out there. I started my shopping without any delay. There are a wide variety of jewelleries, shoes, clothes, gifts etc. There were a lot of mobile stalls selling stuffs in the middle of the road. We ate “Cong Zua Bing” (蔥抓餅) which is quite similar to onion prata.

Not to miss that famous “Shi Lin Hao Da Da Ji Pa” (士林 好大 豪大大雞排), it was really a long queue. And guess what, it was really yummy. The crispiness and the tenderness of the chicken certainly make you drool over it and wanted to have more.

We drank several cups of “Dong Gua Cha” (冬瓜茶) to quench our thirst. We also had “Squid soup” (é­·é­šç¾¹) which is really spicy.

On our way to the station, we noticed that the mobile stalls were all gone and for a moment, it came back one by one. It was weird. Anyway, we collected our bags and went back straight to hotel with our fulfilling and bloated stomach. (Especially his!!!) Eric: “that’s call è‚šè…©, bo bian lah…”

1st day in taipei (11th Apr 2006)

these travel articles were written, mostly by sm, AFTER the taipei-hong kong trip

After a few hours of flight, we finally reach Taipei and my excitement started to get into my head. We took a coach to the hostel that we had earlier planned for. During the journey, I was admiring the scenery and notice that there isn’t a single English signboard. All are in traditional Chinese wordings, and thank god that my chinese is not that bad afterall. It was quite a long journey and the warm weather put me to a drowsy and dreamy mood, which I began to doze off and drool. After a 45 minutes of bus ride, we reached our stop. We began to find our way to the hostel.

At first, we could not find the hostel, making some false turns. After some walking with our heavy bags, we found the hostel hidden in an obscure lane. The lift is so small that can only hold utmost 3 people I guess. The corridor to our room is quite dark and narrow, but nevertheless I was glad to be able to “lighten” my shoulder for that moment.

After taking a short rest, we took train and started off our “makan” journey with trendy, fashion district of Taipei, Ximen Ding (西門町).

Though it was neither holiday nor weekend in Taipei, there were still quite a lot of people. Most of them were students in their seasonal school attire, hanging around after school. We started eating and munching as we walk and shop.

Our first snack was “Yang Tao Bing” (楊桃冰), a cold desert with starfruit, sour plum juice and ice. It was very refreshing and cooling. He loves it though it tastes sour to him.

Next, we ate “Xiang Xiang Ji” (香香雞), a crispy chicken with very tender and juicy meat coated with some spicy powder. It was tasty and well-seasoned.

I must say that the service there (taipei) is quite good. The sale assistants greeted to almost everyone who entered their shop in a very sweet and friendly tone. Not only that, they will attend to you personally, making sure that you are equipped with any helps required. They might tend to be more persuasive in selling or promoting, but they speak in a very sweet and pleasing tone, which you will not feel annoyed at all. Most of the tops cannot be tried but with abit of coercing, you should be able to get your way through. The fashion now seems like bohemia with lacey trimming, stitched with sequins.

There were quite a number of “mobile” store selling snacks in the middle of the path way and of course we continued eating. we ate “Sausage with Jiu Cheng Ta” (烤香腸+ä¹?層塔), followed by the famous “Ah Zhong Mian Sian” (阿宗麵線). One lesson learnt here; though it is famous, do not gobble, eat it slowly to prevent getting a burnt tongue.

One of my favourite, “Qing Wa Xia Dan” (é?’蛙下蛋), a cold dessert with pearl and jelly. It consists of several flavours like green bean paste and milk etc. Next, we had “Xian Bing” (餡餅), a pan-fried pastry with red bean paste and a “cold” braised duck wing (eric: the photo not worth showing la, yucks).

After eating and walking for a few hours, we sat down and had a drink at a swing style teahouse. The cool luminous lighting set a comfortable and relaxing ambience. It was an ideal place to chill out or stopover for a short break.

We continued shopping and walking and off we go back to rest our day.