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Day 1 (Taiwan)
Friday, January 02, 2009 7:09 PM
Day 1 (Friday, 19.12.2008)
Singapore > Hong Kong International Airport (Transit) > Taoyuan International Airport > Hotel > Wufenpu(五分埔) > Raohe Street Night Market(饒河街觀光夜市)

Reached Changi Airport T1 at 6.45am. Flight was at 8.10am. Queue at the ticket counters were super long, I estimated we spent about half an hour waiting.


Our plane

In-flight entertainment is the only thing keeps me sane while being confined to a seat for 3 hours. Watched the Hana Yori Dango movie which I've always wanted to watch but never got about doing so.

Oh, and airplane food too! Whoever said airplane food sucks was definitely lying.

We reached Hong Kong International Airport at 11.55am. Our next flight was at 1.05pm, so we waited and hung around the shops.

Dad looking bored

At Hong Kong Airport

Yum! Lunch. The earlier one was breakfast.

From my window seat. Beautiful, isn't it?

At last! Taiwan International Airport at 2.30pm


A van came to fetch us to our hotel, Fortune Garden Hotel


View from my hotel room. Look at the number of food stalls downstairs! The other picture you're seeing is a luxurious condo(also opposite my hotel room) which was advertised on huge billboards with 吳宗憲 on them all over Taoyuan City.

Then we left the hotel at around 4.30pm and took a cab to Taoyuan Railway Station. Freaking cheap, only S$6! The cab-driver was very friendly and chatted with my Dad while driving. The cab-drivers are very honest too, if they want to take another route(which is slightly longer) due to traffic congestion on the original route, they will inform you and ask if you're okay with that. So there's no fear of being cheated on your cab fare.

Reach Taoyuan Railway Station at about 4.45pm. Spent quite a long time at the ticketing counter because we weren't familiar with the train routes. But the person behind the counter was very patient and explained the routes to us.

At Taoyuan Railway Station

We alighted the train at Taipei Railway Station with the help of the 2 guys(whom I mentioned in my earlier entry) we met on the train. We gave Jay Chou's Mr J Kitchen in 市政府 area a miss and took cab to Wufenpu area. We had dinner at this beef noodle shop. Food was damn nice and very affordable.

Top: Beef Brisket Noodles (S$3.80)  Bottom: 炸酱面 (S$2)

Then we walked to Wufenpu which was only 100m away. Bought alot of clothes there because they were pretty and cheap. Not kidding, their price range was S$5 - S$30+. The shop-owners were very friendly too. For those who are planning to go Wufenpu on your next vacation, it's advisable to go between Tuesday to Sunday because the shops there do wholesale on Monday. You can still go on Monday, but you might not get 100% service and attention from the shop-owners because they will be busy taking bulk orders from other sellers who buy from them.


Got myself a 珍珠奶茶 and it costs only S$1!?!? It was super nice. If you have tried Taiwan's bubble tea, I bet you won't want to buy those in Singapore anymore. I forgot to take a picture of my bubble tea but they gave me ALOT of pearls which took up like, one-third of the cup. So much that I choke on one while drinking because the pearls just keep going up the straw.

Look at the number of flavours! A must-try!

A temple at the back of Wufenpu

Look at the number of scooters (机车/小绵羊). I think almost every household has at least one of those. You see young girls, guys, aunties, uncles, ah mas, ah gongs driving them on the streets. I think it's the fastest way to get from place to place because of the frequent road congestions, especially in Taipei. You just have to zip in and out of the cars, and then you're home in no time!

Walking to Raohe Street Night Market via the covered walkway of Songshan Railway Station (The night market and Wufenpu are only separated by the railway station)

Temple at the entrance of Raohe Street Night Market

Raohe Street Night Market

Bought some lanyards at this cute shop which kinda resembles the Art Box. And then Mom bought Crispy Deep Fried Squid (炸花枝). It's heavenly, I can totally bite into the bouncy juicy sotong. And it costs only S$2. The ones I've been eating at Tampines Mall's basement can't even compare. All I taste is flour and the fried part, no sotong at all, and they sell it to me at S$3.50. Bought Crispy Deep Fried Chicken(炸鸡扒) too. Again, the ones at TM can't compare to it.

Crispy Deep Fried Squid

Left Raohe Street Night Market at 11pm, and rushed back to Songshan Railway Station. Just in time to catch the last train at 11.19pm back to Taoyuan Railway Station. Any later, we would have been stranded in Taipei and have to spent the night sleeping at the railway station or something. Lol.



Reached Taoyuan Railway Station at around 12.05am and took a cab back to the hotel. I showered and watched TV(不良笑花) till about 2am+ while my sister slept. Did I mention that Taiwan has over 100 tv channels which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? All the Taiwanese variety shows, idol dramas, news channels(there's like 10 over news channels alone, all reporting on the same thing), plus cable channels like AXN, HBO, Discovery, National Geographic, blah blah. You know, when it's commercial time, the host of the show you're watching will say ' 别转台!', but seriously, it's hard not to channel-surf because there's another 99 more channels waiting for you to watch. All the tv remote controls in all hotels will definitely have this button which says '选台'. Lol. All you have to do is to press this button to channel-surf from channel 1 all the way to 100+. Sometimes, you so spoilt for choices that you even have to weigh your choices, like, which channel is nicer to watch or which channel should I watch first or which channel has repeats which I can watch afterwards. That, I assure you, never happens in Singapore even when there's cable TV. Haha. And so, for the rest of my days in Taiwan, I just watch TV once I'm back at the hotel and only slept at around 2-3am, not a minute earlier. That's why my eye bags got worse and worse. Lol.

Day 2, to be continued~
Connie Tan
Nineteen
Singaporean
23 March 1991
National University of Singapore
FASS
Year 1
Floorball
Table Tennis
♥ Eusoff Hall

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