D2 | Taipei

Wow. Looks like I'm on some blogging frenzy. This site has been neglected a tad lately. I'm thinking when I'm done with Taiwan, I'd love to go back writing about Italy. Because that's definitely one trip I wouldn't want to forget. I've been delaying it because there's just tooooo many things and tooooo many photos.

One at a time.

One at a time...

The rest of them woke up early and had hotel buffet at 7.45AM. I bought this Quaker oat drink from the supermarket earlier so I slept a little longer and had that instead. It's good! I wished they sell it here too!! 

We went into office, met the people, discussed a little and left office for lunch. I was brought to this little place few shops down the road from my hotel to have 滷肉饭 with 滷蛋 and 苦瓜排骨汤 ( bitter gourd with pork soup). Off track a bit, DO YOU ALL NOTICE MY MANDARIN HAS GREATLY IMPROVED? hahahaha. Honestly I've learnt so much mandarin from this trip. In fact I learnt more mandarin than my own work project haha.

And the 滷肉饭 is soo good! I never had 苦瓜汤 before. It tasted a little weird but I can accept it. Bitter gourd is said to be an excellent detoxifier so I guess all is good.

3 of us went back to the hotel, wrote reports and packed for Taipei through the high speed rail.

There was a miscommunication with the counter lady and we ended up buying free seating rail tickets, which is only less than S$1 cheaper =( Luckily it was a weekday afternoon so there're still many seats left.

Taipei main station. Our hotel is in Bannan Line. We booked the hotel 1 day before we flew off. Most good hotels are taken, and only left Minsu. I wouldn't have minded minsu but they are quite reluctant. I've seen photos of minsu and they seem decent and clean. In the end, we randomly picked a hotel from Agoda.com.

FerrarY Hotel hahaha. It's around 5-10 mins walk from Ximen station. When we reached the place I couldn't believe my eyes. WHY SO DODGY, SO RUNDOWN? So we laughed and laughed and took photos with it before we went in to confirm we indeed booked this haunted place wtf.

Ferrary Hotel

台北市康定路41號

Taiwan

+886 2 2381 8111

http://www.agoda.com/asia/taiwan/taipei/ferrary_hotel.html

Receptionists are very friendly and helpful. Surprisingly, the room was pretty good too! 

We booked the family room, with 1 double bed and 1 single bed. 2 nights cost S$300.

Toilet is crazy big though. The shower area can fit 10 man. Serious!

Looks better at night when they turn on the lights.

Walked from hotel to Xi Men Ding and passed by the famous and most talked about bubble tea shop in Taiwan 50 岚. I ordered the green milk tea with small pearl. It's good! I like it! I'm glad Singapore's Koi is as good. It seems Koi was opened by some guy from 50 岚too so the quality should be on par. Singapore's Koi does not have small pearl though. Why didn't they bring in the small pearl?

First stop: Ximen Red House! We do not know the history of the place, but went in anyway because I've seen people write about it as a 'must visit'. In the end, we agreed it's a must visit because the toilet is free hahaha. Sorry la we very cheapo because it's so tough to find a toilet in Ximending area! We did contribute though and bought some unique toys there.

The back of the building is the Cultural and Creative Development Center. It's said to have 16 creative boutiques there selling unique and creative products.

Shop selling hand made bags and little purses.

Kevin bought the hand made passport cover there.

There're a lot more unique items like this on display with description. As it's mostly in Mandarin, I just simply glanced through.

Some random wall painting. hahaha. I suck at giving good descriptions. People learn nothing from me.

Off to walk around Ximending area in search for dinner. It rained the whole night!

We took this because one of my coworker really really likes 'little pig' (the guy in WeChat advertisement).

Not crowded at all. I like to walk around here so much more compared to the night markets! There are so many things to see here.

4 floors for the hair salon. Every corner we turn, we saw a different Crazy Hair Salon. Saw almost 4 of them in 1 small area. Very crazy indeed! I'm so tempted to go and wash my hair so I don't have to wash later at night. Didn't manage to though because too busy eating.

Again! We were strolling around the area and then comes the notorious stinky tofu smell. They bought stinky tofu everywhere we go! Seriously i've never smelled anything worse. I really can't bring myself to even take a bite.

Strolled around. Bought nothing. 

Ah Chung Mee Sua (Oyster Vermicelli)!!!!! I've heard so much about it! Nobody can say they have visited Taiwan without trying at least a bowl of Ah Chung Mee Sua (at least that's what I was told). So even though I don't eat oyster, I ordered one to try. You won't miss the shop. It's very near to the Rainbow hotel and there's a huge crowd in front of the shop. There are no seats so people have to stand by the side of the street to eat.

Ordering is simple and fuss free. Only need to say whether you want big or small lol. I can't remember but I think it's only less than S$2 a bowl.

Stewed broth was thick and flavorful. Argh it's really pretty good. I gave all my oysters to Max but the mee sua itself is quite satisfying.

haha Jakun betul. We saw the pink hearted guava and bought one to try. It so much sweeter and sceptic  me believed they bathed it in sugar water.

The guys bought caps, scarves, toys etc. I bought...nothing. We were so tired from walking so randomly picked a cafe for drinks. The first themed cafe we picked was really unique and decorated creatively. Unfortunately they are about to close and the guy said most cafes in that area close at 10 too. So after walking around a bit, we found this instead. It closes a little past midnight.

Taiwanese style photo taking? Need to senget a bit.

Never tasted a worse waffle in my life.

We decided to go sing K around midnight. Our room for 3 is big enough to accomodate 10. I can't remember but I think they charge by room. It's only less than S$20 for 2 hours.

2 hours of sing-a-thon. Room comes with 3 drinks and 3 snacks so we ordered fried sotong ball etc. System was easy to navigate and there's toilet in the room. Convenient indeed so we can take the mic into the toilet and sing while pee hahahah must make full use of the 2 hours ma.

Party World Ximending is hugeeeeee. It has 12 floors!

The night ended around 2AM, walked back hotel and slept around 3. Argh I really missed that night! Haven't been that relaxed and carefree for a long looooong time! Weather's cooling, great company and everything else seems so right in place.