Day 2: 十分，九分，基隆

Day 2: 十分，九分，基隆

A beautiful morning to wake up to. Windy and bright.
Transformer costume for Halloween the day after.
Original Koi fruit tea to start the day~ theres one located near our hotel.

Never ever eat the hotel buffet breakfast when u are in Taipei, they have got the yummiest breakfast on the streets (unless u are staying in a 5 star hotel, then pls take the buffet breakfast and make sure u have some space for awesome local bf)
B is very in love with this. 葱抓饼 with bacon and egg and cheese. this is wat heavenly breakfast should taste like! Its like our local prata but less oily and with spring onions. 25 - 50 NT depending on the topping you add.

Got this from a push cart stall in Xi Men Ding when all the shops are not open yet.

Famous 永和豆浆, this is not the main branch and is located at a corner in Xi Men Ding, near East Dragon Hotel.

Its a take and go breakfast shop so there isnt any eating area. All items are made fresh upon order.

A big range of breakfast items.

脆皮菲力鸡 25NT. this is so so so yummy~ pan fried instead of deep fried but still crispy and tender.
锅贴 x 7. 25 NT. comfort food.

the soya bean milk is nice but nothing to shout about, almost the same as SG's

After a filling breakfast, we headed to Taipei Main Station to buy HSR ticket to Ruifang.

Our original plan was to reach Shifen before 12PM. FAILED.

We bought the ticket to Ruifang and the train departs at 12.35 PM. =X

We had about half an hour left, so we decided to walk ard in the underground mall.

Clean & spacious. Reminds me of JR in Japan. If you have space in your tummy, do try their Railway bento 铁路便当。

It takes about 40 mins to Ruifang, from there, change to a local Pingxi line to Shifen. You have to purchase another ticket at the station.

Its another 20 mins to Shifen station.

The train experience is cool. Its really those old school trains
scenaries along the way.

rched!

u can mail back a postcard from this shop here.

old school mail box.

steam yam & sweet potato. always take the sweet potato. i m a yam lover but its too bland to eat it on its own

Wild boar taiwanese sausage anybody~ its very Q. must try~

the railway tracks cuts through the street and pple can walk on it when theres no oncoming train. cool~ our first time walking on railway tracks

hanging bridge.
Shifen and Pingxi is 天灯的故乡，of cos we must release one! Last time the sky lanterns are only avail during lunar 8th month, but in order to boost tourism to these small towns, sky lanterns are avail 365 days a year. :) awesome isnt it?

B writing his love declaration with 毛笔。=D

Theres plenty of shops selling the lanterns, pick one u like and they will guide u thru the process and take pictures for you.

Cost of releasing the lantern range from 100NT (single color) to 300 NT (multi color).

Each color symbolises different things.

Most generic wish. haha.

As we still have some time, we decided to talk to the famous Shifen Waterfall. Boy, it was a very long walk, lucky for us, it was a good weather to do those walking.

Took us about half an hour =/

Coal mine museum, doesnt look fancy

another 300 m! *faints*

B was worried this might be the 'mighty' waterfall that we walked so much for. lol

little boy face =)

And tadah~ finally we reached and greeted w an unpleasant surprise.

No one told me, the waterfall was located inside a water theme park and we had to pay an entrance fee to enter :(

Since we walked this much distance, B insisted we pay although it looks damn sorry from outside and i was really reluctant. feel so cheated. BAH.

the so called water theme park is like a small park w some benches, lotsa flies and mossies, a few playground facilities and of cos the water fall.

to be fair, the waterfall looks really nice. maybe i would have appreciated it much more if i know i have to pay for it. u know, the difference in expectations~

in the theme park

After the disappointing waterfall hunting, we decided that it was late and we wanted to head to Jiu fen, and fml, we missed the train and the train will only reach in 40 mins or so :( So pls check the timing of the trains before you proceed to explore Shifen, so you wont waste any time :(

Took the train back to Ruifang, from there we took 基隆客运 from the bus stop outside Ruifang station. You can now pay for the ride on your Youyou card, i remember we can only pay by cash awhile back. Bus ride about 20 mins, 19NT, but theres plenty of cabs avail so if you have 4 pax, you can take the cab, which cost about 200NT one way.

Because we wasted time waiting for the train back from Shifen, it was already dark when we reach Jiufen, about 6 + PM.

And we were famished, so we bought grilled smelly toufu. 35 NT. First stall on the right as u enter the Jiufen street. Very nice!

螺 with chilli sauce, quite so so. taste powdery for my liking. 80NT.
they say jiufen night looks better in day, indeed. but some of the shops were close by the time we were there. :(

teahouse. it will be nice to have a cuppa at one of those tea houses in jiufen in the noon. relax and chill.

卤味。 supposedly famous. many things for you to try.
ah ma is very nice, we were spoilt w choices, so we wanted to order just one piece of fish cake, ah ma say let us try for free! :P and it all taste v nice btw :)

As you may have already know, jiufen is famous for taro balls and the most famous being 阿柑姨芋圆。finally we found the shop! its tucked on top of this flight of stairs that is not on the main street.

long q when theres alr not much pple at the street
choice of hot or cold. and choose the toppings, i ordered the mixed beans.

40 NT for this bowl of dessert. its super super nice!!! i still miss it :(

alcoholic dog. haha.

as most of the shops were closed, we finisihed the main street in half an hour, contemplating if we wanted to head to Keelung since its late. B insist we go, so yea, went to the road junction to catch bus to 基隆庙口。The waiting point is near the famous cake shop 李仪饼店。It was a pleasant night bus ride, always love night buses. :)

Napped a bit and reach our destination in 30 mins or so.

基隆庙口 is abit out of the way if you stay in taipei but its a must go for me when i m in taipei. bustling, cheap food and apparels.

my fav candied fruit.

my fav stall to have crab broth and 油饭。

love the 油饭

another stall for oysters, butter crab & fish, everything cost us about 10SGD only!

Camera died after this. :(

took the HSR back to Taipei Main Station from Keelung train station. About 40 mins ride.

Went back to the hotel to rest before we headed to Barcode, one of the most famous pub in Taipei. Lotsa pretty pple hanging out there, its located at Neo19 building near Taipei City Hall station. :)

The night ended at Room 18 with complimentary entrance by spending dunno how much at Barcode earlier.