Day 1 (All timings in Singapore Time GMT+8)
0900 - Reached Singapore Changi Airport
1025 - Boarded plane (China Airlines)
1235 - Took off (Flight delayed 2hrs due technical fault)
1625 - Landed Taipei
1830 - Checked in Dahshin hotel (Near Zhongshan MRT)
2030 - Explored the area around hotel (Really nice western food just 2mins walk away)
2130 to 2359 - Reached Shilin Night
Day 2
1100 - Woke up
1230 - Taipei Main Station MRT
1500 - City Hall MRT (Taipei 101)
1730 - Houshanpi MRT (WuFenPu)
2000 to 2300 - Raohe Night Market
Day 3
0915 - Woke up
1030 - Set off for YangMingShan (Scenery)
1630 - YuRenMaTou aka Fisherman's Wharf near Danshui MRT (Sunset)
1900 - Danshui Old Street
2115 to 2330 - Ximen MRT (Ximenting)
Day 4
0930 - Woke up
1400 - Arrived at Wulai (Hot spring & scenery)
2000 - Set off for Raohe Night Market (Xindian MRT to Taipei Main MRT, then railway)
2130 to 2359 - Raohe Night Market
Day 5 (Setting off to Kaohshiung)
0930 - Woke up
1030 - Left for Roumei Hotel to deposit luggage (Near Nanjing MRT)
1200 - Took MRT to Taipei Main then HSR to Zuoying Station
1430 - Reached Zuoying HSR Station
1530 - Took Kaohshiung's MRT and checked in Holiday Garden Hotel (City Council MRT)
1830 - After a short rest, set off for Nanhua Night Market (Nothing much, don't go)
1930 - Arrived at Liuho Night Market (Most famous night market in KS) - Not bad
2030 - Walked to Urban Spotlight (Near Central Park MRT) - Sadly the place collapsed
2130 - Walked to True Love Pier (Lantern Festival!) - Missed the fireworks argh
2200 - Walked to Love River (Nice place, gave the boat ride a miss though)
2250 - Reached Hotel, by walking... Legs damn tire!
Day 6 (Day 2 at Kaohshiung)
0820 - Woke up by earthquake! Whole room was shaking haha, but it's normal there =/
1000 - Set off for Former British Consulate (Near Sizchuan MRT)
1200 - Visit some beaches near Cai-shan (Beautiful)
1400 - Arrived at Dream Mall (Big, and quite fun, see description below)
1800 - Back to hotel for a rest
2020 - Set off to True Love Pier by cab to see fireworks (Great display!)
2115 - Cab to Xinjuejiang for shopping, best shopping district in KS =)
2245 to 0015 - Cab to Rueifeng Night Market (People's favourite night market) And it lives up to its name! Really, really great food! Highly recommended must go!
0035 - Back to hotel, rest!
Day 7
1100 - Woke up and packed up, gg back to Taipei
1315 - HSR back to Taipei (Some delays due to earthquake previous day)
1615 - Back to Taipei! & Checked in Roumei Hotel
1730 - Set off for Beitou Hotspring area
1830 - Reached XinBeitou MRT (Found a nice hotspring hotel, beautiful ambience)
2030 - Shopped around Xinbeitou area
2120 to 0115 - Reached Shilin Night Market for last night shopping and eating spree!
Day 8
0900 - Woke up and had hotel bfast
1200 - Set off for Taoyuan Airport
1300 - Reached Airport for early check-in
Bought lots of foodstuff to bring back and had lunch.
Boarded Plane at 1545, no delays this time round.
2045 - HOME SWEET HOME!
A great trip! Feel free to contact me at y_munwai@hotmail.com if you need help =)
Now for the complete summary of our trip:
Day 1
Landed Taipei 4.45pm local time. Changed money at airport, they have the best rates. Checked into hotel at 6.30pm. It's a pretty small place, Dahshin Hotel, a 3star hotel, no complaints though, as location was good. Had dinner at small eatery nearby(they have lots of food choices in the area) and headed to Zhongsan MRT, exploring the area a lil on the way.
Reached Shilin Night Market(Jiantan MRT) at 9pm. Lots of nice food and it's really, really big! Left at midnight with tired legs and took the last train back.
Day 2
Went to Kitchen Pucci(chinese restaurant with a western outlook) for dimsum brunch. Next, went to Taipei Main Station MRT and checked out some travel brochures and fares. Had ice-cream at Cold Stone in ISquare before leaving for Taipei 101 at 1.30pm.
Reached City Hall MRT at 2.30pm. Took some nice pics on the way walking to Taipei 101. You can't miss it, its the tallest building out there! There's actually a shuttle service to Taipei 101 as a alternative. Explored the 101 mall before entering the lift(really fast!) up to the tower of the building at 3.30pm. It's 400NT per head for the entry. There we were treated to a splendid view of Taipei.
Next stop, Wufenpu, its near Houshanpi MRT. It's really a girls heaven, there are guys clothes too though. Did lots of shopping there, and went to Raohe Night Market. I can safely say that in Taipei, this night market is definitely second only to Shilin. Lots of great food and shops!
Ended a long day with a long walk to Houshanpi MRT at 11pm.
Day 3
Woke up at 9.15am(8am was the intial plan lol). Quick shower and a light breakfast at hotel. Set off for Yangmingshan at 10.30am. Reached Jiantan MRT, and there was a really, really long queue for the bus. We managed to cabpool with 3 other taiwanese for 100NT per head, so so lucky =D
Wow at Yangmingshan's scenery! Exactly the time of the cherry blossoms(we didn't exactly plan for it)! Not surprising that most of the best pics of the Taiwan trip were taken here.
Left Yangmingshan at 2.30pm, took a bus down to the city and changed a cab to Fisherman's Wharf at Danshui. Reached at 4.15pm, getting ready for the sunset. For information, Taiwan's sunset is around 4.45 to 5.45pm. And a really nice sight! Worth every penny of the trip here, there's this lover's bridge too.
At 6pm, took a ferry to Danshui Old Street (Danshui lao jie) for 50NT per head. Explored Danshui Old Street thoroughly, nice food and shopping area, plus they do have some signature dishes there!
Walked to Danshui MRT and took a train to Ximenting. Reached at 9.15pm, and the place was lively as ever! Tried the famous Ah Zhong Mee Sua & Duck Noodles. A drink worth trying would be the frog eggs milk tea. Exotic hehe...
Left Ximenting at 11.30pm. Took the train and reached hotel at 12midnight. Probably the most tiring and fulfilling day! =)
Day 4
Had breakfast at hotel before getting a haircut at a nearby salon. Had a great lunch at Casa Della Pasta(waiting time is long though), located right behind Dahshin Hotel. Met up with our tour guide for a half day tour to Wulai at 1.15pm. Our tour consisted of 3 persons, us plus an american Rob.
Before describing Wulai, let me describe the tour guide first. He's crap. Activities planned there were not too bad though. Wulai is a really beautiful place, filled with hot springs, waterfalls & a large river landscape. We did not complete the tour by not returning with the tour guide, decided to explore the area a bit on our own instead. Marks the start of the day! It was 5pm.
Explored the hot spring areas, there are quite a few outdoor natural hot springs as well as lots of indoor ones. We found a really nice outdoor hot spring & made some taiwanese friends there too! Spent about 30mins..
At 6pm we decided to settle into a indoor hot spring house and relax for 2 hours. It was great! At 8.30pm took a bus to Xindian MRT.
From Xindian MRT station, took MRT to Taipei Main Station and changed to railway train, one stop straight to Raohe Night Market, where we spent the rest of the night shopping and eating. We manage to take the last railway train and MRT back to hotel! Lucky us!
Day 5
Woke up at 9.30am and after packing up, left for Roumei Hotel to deposit our luggage (15mins by cab). After that, we walked to Nanjing E MRT and had MOS Burger on the way(SG's MOS owns them big time!).
Took the MRT to Taipei Main Station and changed to High Speed Rail. Next destination, Zuoying Station (Kaohshiung). Journey was 1.5 hours. We kinda enjoyed the ride, reached at 3.30pm =)
Kaohshiung was well linked by MRT, no problems finding our way to Hotel Holiday Garden. This is a great boutique hotel! Staff super friendly (think they don't see tourist often that's why haha).
Settled in real quick and had a rest before setting off at 6.30pm for Nanhua Night Market. Nothing much there to be honest.
Walked to Liuho Night Market, Kaohshiung's signature tourist night market, where it was much more happening. Lots of food and shops there!
From there, we:
-Took MRT to Central Park Station
-Walked to Urban Nightlife (Place collapsed, their brochures not updated zzz)
-Walked to True Love Pier, where Kaohshiung's annual Lantern Festival is held, very very big buzz, it's like the entire city is there. Pity we missed the fireworks, which are held everyday.
-Walked to Love River, nice place, something like Clarke Quay in SG, nothing special about the boat ride and we decided not to take it.
-Walked back to hotel and reached around 10.50pm
Day ended. Legs really almost gave way, too much walking lol
Day 6
2nd day at Kaohshiung, woke up at 8.20am by an earthquake, entire room rocked really hard we almost thought the building gonna collapse. Hotel staff then told us it's normal in the area.
From 10an onwards, we:
-Set off and took MRT to Sizchuan Station, after reaching, took a bus to Former British Consulate, one of their attractions. Pretty nice place and took some good photos there.
-From then on, it was cab all the way, Kaohshiung is too big to travel by foot and too long by public transport. Explored the beaches near Caishan.
-Went to Dream Mall, really really big shopping center with amusement park and arcade. It was a weekday, so there's no competition for machines, too much to play and too little time. There's also a ferris wheel, which we decided against taking.
-At 8.45pm, went to Wufu Bridge near True Love Pier for a great display of fireworks we missed the day before. We got the best view I think hehe...
-After the fireworks display, went to Xinjuejiang for some shopping, this has to be the best shopping district Kaohshiung has to offer!
-10.45pm, went to Rueifeng Night Market, the locals' favourite night market. Lots and lots of fantastic food! This is a must-go, best night market in Kaohshiung. It is open on certain days only. Tue, Thur to Sun if I'm not wrong.
-Left Rueifeng Night Market at 12.15am and back to hotel for a good, good rest.
Day 7
Relaxed and lazed at hotel before setting off for High Speed Rail back to Taipei. Train was slightly delay due to the damaged caused by the earthquake on the previous day. Still, it was a relaxing journey and we reached Taipei at 4pm. Settled into Roumei Hotel, which was really a 4star hotel, with a 6star bathroom. Excellent for the last night. Location was quite remote though.
Set off for Xinbeitou MRT for some final hotspring dipping. Before that had lunch at a Japanese Restaurant near Zhongsan MRT. After scouting the area at Xinbeitou, we found a really nice hotspring house with outdoor facilities. Beautiful ambience.
After the dip, we went to a nearby supermarket for some food shopping to bring back to SG. Set off for Shilin Night Market afterwards, where we spent the rest of the night exploring from 10pm-2am. We explored the entire night market, left nothing out!
Day 8
Woke at 9am for hotel breakfast, was decent.
Set off for airport at 12pm for early check in, reached airport at 1pm and had lunch there(our flight was 4pm). Bought LOTS of food stuff to bring back at the airport. 2 persons, 2 large luggages, 2 backpacks & 4 bags, can you imagine that?
Boarded plane at 4pm, and at 8.45pm, back to the place we belong!
Places we wanted to go but didn't
-Jiufen, Jinguashi, Pingxi
-Yilan, Yeliou, Ba-li
-Alishan, Hualian Tarako Gorge
Nevertheless, it was still a really fun trip! =)
Sunset at Danshui
In the plane
