Day 3 in Taiwan

When I saw the overcast skies and wet roads, I felt disappointment. The weather forecast was spot-on. I was praying hard that the forecast was wrong.

The breakfast was similar. I merely ate porridge with pork floss, fried egg, stir fry vegetables plus slices of ham. We bought 2 umbrellas and an extra jacket before setting off. As planned, we were supposed to go Ye Liu National Park before lunch and Jiu Fen after lunch. We took Kuo Kuang bus (NT96; NT48) at Taipei West Bus Terminal Block A. Half way, the rain started again. It rained all the way till we reached Ye Liu. The bus-stop that we alighted was pathetic. It was merely outside a shop house. There was no proper shelter. The winds were strong and we could see the winds carrying the rain. How to go to Ye Liu National Park in this condition? After much consideration, we went to Jiu Fen. From Ye Liu, we took a bus to Kee Lung located at the northeastern coast. At Kee Lung train station, we took another bus to Jiu Fen. Rain was following us all the way. By the time we reached Jiu Fen, we were hungry, cold and moist.


(Cloudy and wet in Jiu Fen)

Jiu Fen Old Street was a nice shopping street, selling various tit bits. We were not in the right mood to shop because there was little shelter along this street. Imagine, the street was crowded with people, the ground was wet, we were carrying an umbrella, holding onto the kids. The kids were unhappy because they wanted to return to the hotel. Luckily there were a lot of stalls offering free taste of tit-bits. Surely we bought some home. The pineapple tarts were quite expensive; a box of 10 pieces at a cost of min NT220 which means a piece of this tart costs about S$1!

I resisted buying any pineapple tarts except 6 packets of codfish pastry with seaweed, wasabi and spicy at NT100 each. I planned to give Li a packet. There was an outlet of Black Bridge Sausages here! A packet of 10 thick pork sausages costs NT220. D said pretty expensive but I intended to buy a packet before I return home. There was an outlet nearer to the hotel I was staying.

We left Jiu Fen before 3pm. There was a bus straight to Taipei Zhong Xiao Fu Xing Station. The bus fare was at an astonishing NT76! From there, we took the blue Bannan line to Ximen Station. When we reached there, the weather was just cloudy and windy. D wanted to return to hotel to take a warm shower. We wanted to look for the Red Theater House and found it easily when we exited from the station as indicated by the signage.

(One of our favourites in Ximending - Ah Zhong Mian Xian)

We tried Ah Zhong Mian Xian (small bowl at NT45) and it was really delicious. Isa said she wanted to eat again. Even for me who dislike Mian Xian very much, I found it real delicious.

Here I must mentioned that the Easy Card is real useful. The ferry to Fishermen's Wharf was paid using Easy Card. The bus and subway rides were paid using this card.

The announcement in the subway was made in 4 luggages; mandarin, hokkien, hakka and english! I am so surprised to hear an announcement in hakka.

Dinner was settled at a famous duck stall in Ximending. According to the guide book, this is the only stall in Taiwan. It sells bee hoon with duck meat or mee with duck meat, each bowl at NT50. You can also order duck meat at 1/2 or 1/4 or 1/8 which we did not. We ordered 2 bowls of bee hoon and 1 bowl of noodles. Isa has insisted on having Ah Zhong Mian Xian again as supper.

The weather was cooling in the evening. Cold winds blew and occasionally there were a few drops of rain. Ximending is more crowded during the first night (Sunday). From there, we continued walking in the direction to Long Shan Temple Station. We wanted to go to Carrefour to look for some local products. I am determined to buy some pineapple tarts back home. We found this supermarket after walking down a few cross-sections. But J insisted on buying during our return trip as he wanted to visit Hua Xi Night Market. After some walking, we found this Night Market. I must say that Shilin Night Market was more crowded than this one. We walked through the Night Market and decided to return. At Carrefour, I bought 6 boxes of pineapple tarts (6 pieces per box) at NT49, 3 boxes of assorted tarts at NT109 each and others. When checking out, we paid nearly NT1200 = S$60!

We bought 2 bowls of Ah Zhong Mian Xian as takeaway. J managed to put all the goodies into one of the check-in luggages. Seeing him spending much effort in packing, I think I better control my buying spree wie.