Believe it or not, I pestered JY to wake up early just to buy my favourite Dan Bing. HAHA my best boyfriend ever 😍 Gonna start this post with my favourite breakfast.
We had Dan Bing for breakfast before checking out of Chan's place. From there, we took the same shuttle bus 160 from Fengchia university (the bus stop opposite Macdonald's) to THSR Taichung station. However, please be informed that the journey is no longer free of charge & you have to pay a fee once you alight at THSR Taichung station. Sorry I couldn't remember the exact amount but it should be approximately NT30-40 per pax.
From THSR Taichung station, we followed the signage and arrived at TRA Xinwuri station. THSR is more expensive than TRA. Taiwan's TRA is just like our local MRT train... For your information, TRA Xinwuri station is located right beside THSR Taichung station.
1 pax is about 12SGD whereas a THSR ticket from Taichung to Taipei cost about 26SGD if you are to purchase from Klook's website.
However, choosing the TRA is extremely time-consuming... We sat from Xinwuri to Taipei Main station for about 1.5 hours? There were about 20 stops. Hence, if you are not rushing for time and you're on a tight budget, I would suggest TRA. Just imagine that you gotta sit with your huge luggage for 1 hour+... Ok now that I think of that uncomfortable experience hor, I would advise you to spend more money on THSR HAHA. THSR is more spacious and they have lesser stopover.
Yep so we finally reached Taipei Main Station & we took taipei metro to Ximending!
This is our taipei's airbnb. The size of the room is sufficient enough for 2 pax, but I dislike the fact that the building is too run-down. Their lift lobby is quite dusty and I can't stop imagining all the horror movies I've seen... I will not recommend this apartment to any of my girlfriends. It is a short 3 minutes walk from Ximending exit 3 though.
We rested for awhile before heading over to Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall (Ximending to Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall station, green line) exit 5. Do note that the memorial hall closes at 6pm!
Take my hand~
It was a challenge for us to take insta-worthy photo as the memorial hall was filled with thousands of tourists.
As New Year eve (31 Dec 2016) falls on our day 3 of 8, we went to Taipei 101 to see what's the hype about.
We should have visited the taipei 101 mall at a later timing to catch the New Year fireworks! Urgh we reached at 6pm so we could only visit the nearby flea market opposite Taipei 101. Some of the stalls sell delicious snacks and we spent most of our money on food and drinks lolololol. Taipei 101 shopping mall is boring, very similar to our local Paragon/ MBS shopping mall. Unless you're a first-timer in Taipei, I wouldn't recommend this place at all.
We were loitering around taipei 101 and decided to rest in our apartment first before counting down to 2017 at Ximending night market (since we're 5 minutes away from Ximending night market). Unfortunately... things didn't go according to our plan. We were watching the television show and fell asleep. By the time we woke up, it was 2017 already. I was so pissed with myself as I slept through my way from 31/12/16 11pm to 01/01/17 12.30am!!! How could this happen to me...
On the next day, our itinerary includes Elephant Mountain Hiking Trail > Taipei Zoo > cable car (gondola) to maokong > Wufenpu shopping district > Raohe night market.
I felt extremely embarrassed to announce this on my blog but... I couldn't complete the hiking trail. It is meant to be a trail YET I gave up. I must have underestimated the mountain. As much as I prefer to take the stairs in Singapore, THIS HIKING TRAIL IS NOT A JOKE if you loathe perspiration, tiredness and exercising on land. The weather was not merciful at all and I don't have a good feeling if I were to continue hiking.
I threw the red flag the moment we reach the first resting place. Never am I gonna include hiking activities again.
Our next destination is Cable car right next to Taipei Zoo! I'm sorry JY, I didn't want to visit their Zoo in the end as my laziness got over me... I know the admission ticket to their Zoo is freaking cheap, like 3SGD/pax?!?!
Queued for ~1 hour just to take the Gondola ride.
Here's the pricing as at January 2017. We board the cable car from Taipei Zoo station and alighted at Maokong station, so we gotta pay NT240 for 2 pax.
The cable car took about 15 minutes to arrive at Maokong station.
Tourists were everywhere and there's nothing special there... I felt that I've wasted my time here. There were only kopitiam, cafe and street food around. Ok I know there are some temples at the top of the mountain but you gotta walk there. We tried walking for ~20 minutes and gave up HAHAHA. If only the weather is cooling enough la then I will be able to tank longer. #sorrynotsorry for giving up easily.
Next up, Wufenpu shopping district! Always plan to visit Wufenpu right before Raohe night market as both attractions are located in the vicinity. However, I felt that it is not worthy to make a trip down to Wufenpu shopping district as they sell similar clothes. Also, you will definitely get lost but the type of clothes that they are selling hor... really CMI. 1 of my friends said that the shop owner scolded her for touching the clothes on sale. Hmm, how are you supposed to make the decision to purchase if you can't even touch the material?!
You should see this TRA Songshan station whilst walking towards Raohe night market:
This is similar to our neighbourhood's shopping mall i.e. Hougang mall, tiong bahru plaza, northpoint shopping centre. Had our dinner there and it was delicious!
Don't ask me why I had ramen in Taipei. I just wanna fill my tummy with food first.
& we have finally arrived at Raohe night market! We created so much memories there and this is definitely 1 of the night markets that I will revisit again! You can enjoy all sorts of local food, shopping for clothes and bags, pokemon plushy and arcade!
Time passes too fast when we are enjoying ourselves. Luckily we managed to catch the last train back to Ximending or else we would need to take cab...
Day 1 & 2 in Taichung click here
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