*Photo Intensive Post*
Jetstar has changed their flight timing to Taipei from afternoon to early morning at 0705.
This meant that we would arrive slightly pass noon = more time for shopping!
Left the house at 0430 for the airport.
After check-in, we headed to T2 for breakfast.
Haha..I was not sleeping although I was tired.
Slept close to 2300 and woke up at 0345!
Sunrise from the plane before take-off.
Before KO.
Can't differentiate the sea and the sky.
After picking up the Youth pass and map at the information counter on the extreme right side of the airport, we headed to the extreme left side of the airport to get the Freego (飛狗巴士) bus tickets to hotel.
Bus tickets one way costs NT140 per person and they drop you as near the hotel as they can.
If you purchase return tickets, it's cheaper.
If you are staying near the Taipei Main Station, you can also opt for Kuo Kuang Bus as it terminates in the main bus interchange.
On the big bus after a 20-30 minute wait.
It was pretty messy with everyone cramping by the door to wait for various buses.
The big bus will bring you into Taipei City but after that you change to either a smaller bus or mini van depending on the number of passengers.
**Must remember to tell the bus driver when you change bus which hotel to drop you.
We stayed at Rainbow hotel (長虹大飯店) which is right smack in the middle of XiMenDing.
I booked the Plush Double room (精緻雙人房) which was about NT2200 per night.
To book a room at Rainbow, you need to call them ((886-2) 2311-9193) and give them your name, dates of stay and flight number.
I forgot to take photos of the hotel or the room but the Plush room was pretty spacious.
After checking in, we headed to have lunch a street away from the hotel and went to pick up some stuff at the 7-11.
NT 5,000+ worth of PayEasy products.
I did struggle with ordering from the website and almost gave up.
The site does not have a shopping cart so each order = 1 item.
But that's not the only problem, it's the filling up of personal particulars.
My advice - fill in the hotel's address and phone number but choose to be notified via email for updates =)
The items take 3-4 days to reach the 7-11 at Hanzhong street (where Rainbow is) and they will hold for 7 days so order about 4-5 days before you fly off.
I ordered a total of 13 times which results in all the above packages.
Bring your own bag to the 7-11 as they charge for each plastic bag.
Headed to Wufenpu for some shopping.
But before that, we headed to get the 悠遊卡 (like our EZ-link card) for the MRT, bus and some railway rides.
The initial payment is NT500 with NT100 as deposit for each card.
Upon returning the card, they will take NT20 as handling fee and return the remaining amount in the card.
The card can be brought and returned at the MRT information counter and topped up at the stands.
Next, we headed to collect the railway tickets to Hualien for the next day.
I'll cover the details in the next post.
Arriving at HouShanPi Station Exit 1 on the blue Nangang-Yongning line to get to Wufenpu.
Shopping time!
Yong says that this place reminds him of Bangkok's weekend market.
After that, we headed to RaoHe Night market which is near WufenPu.
We got lost too and asked for directions from one of the shop owner after buying 2 tank tops. =)
Beautifully lit temple!
Totally mesmerising and the photo doesn't do any justice.
The famous RaoHe Hu Jiao Bing - yummilicious!!!!
Smelly toufu and Oyster Omelette.
The omelette was not nice at all!
Saw this Thai Cha Yen (Iced Milk Tea) store and I had to try.
It looks the same but doesn't really taste the same.
Ho-lan-ded after that looking for a way to go to the nearest train station.
Come to think of it, we could have simply walk back to the other end of the night market and take the Song Shan Railway train back -_-"
Anyway, we took a taxi back after walking aimlessly for close to 15 minutes.
Slept early (only this 1 night in Taipei) as we had a long day ahead of us.
