Taiwan - Taipei

Arrived at Taoyuan Airport late at night, and took shuttle bus to Taipei. Had a quick glimpse of Ximending and arrived at our hotel - Design at Ximen Hotel. The location is perfect, right at the heart of Ximending vibe.

Day 1 (Sun) - Taipei City
We woke late as planned. After a quick Taiwanese breakfast, we headed off to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. There's generally nothing much to see there. For lunch we queued awhile for a famous 卤肉饭. Following lunch we drifted by President Office Building and walked back to our hotel, as the sun was way too hot.

Woke from nap in the evening and took train to 象山 for some climbing and night view. The steepness of the hill made the climb really tiring, but we made our way up (halfway up).

For dinner we decided to visit 师大夜市 since its along the way.
Food for the night:

1. 盐酥鸡 - the meat was dry
2. 蚵仔煎 - fantastic
3. 羊肉串 - great
4. 猪血臭豆腐锅 - spicy
5. 大肠面线 - fantastic
6. 肉羹汤 - alright







Day 2 (Mon)- 淡水
Day trip day to 淡水. Woke at almost 11 again and bought 永和豆浆 breakfast back for Kaixin and I. Had 汤包，油条， 豆浆 they were all great.

Moved out at noon and took metro to 淡水. Had the best street food in Taiwan during lunch - 炸花枝!!! The meat was so tender.

Spent the rest of the afternoon strolling along the river and watching the sunset. We didn't go the famous jetty though as it's not walkable by foot.

We left 淡水 in the evening and went back to hotel for quick rest, before heading to nearby 建宏牛肉面 for dinner. The noodle was pretty good too.

Night time was of course spent chilling in hotel room watching free movies!

Day 3 (Tue)- Taipei City
Slack day! Woke up close to noon and went to meet Kaixin's ex-colleague for lunch. Instead of eating DinTaiFung as planned, he decided to bring us to 高记 next door as the queue was way shorter. The 生煎包 and 小笼包 were fantastic.

We took Metro to Taipei 101 in the afternoon. It was pretty boring there since we didn't pay to go to the top. In the evening, we visited our second night market - 辽宁夜市.
Food:
1. 蚵仔煎 - Good
2. 卤大肠 - Kaixin's fav
3. 炸鸡翅 - Crispy
4. 炸臭豆腐 - Nice

Day 4 (Wed)- 九份
Day (half-day) trip to 九份！But before that, of course mandatory 永和豆浆 breakfast to start the day. Had {insert food}. Took train to 瑞芳 station then transferred to a bus which brought us to 黄金瀑布, our first destination.

Took bus to 九份 in the afternoon. Had lunch and a great time walking around enjoying the scenic place. The small drizzle added to the 烟雨江南 atmosphere there.

We took a direct bus back to Taipei in the evening and alighted at 饶河夜市.
Food:
1. 胡椒饼 (打包) - amazing
2. 羊肉串 - Kaixin ate
3. 麻吉 （打包）
4. 豪大鸡扒 - bought at Ximending

Day 5 (Thur) - 阳明山
Woke up close to noon, and bought 永和豆浆 for breakfast. Today we have decided to go 阳明山 for some hike. Took bus to the base of the mountain, and trekked up quite a bit to the visitor center. Afterwards, we had a brief trek up before I decided to give up and take shuttle bus instead. The bus took us all the way up to the mountain top, where the scenery was absolutely great.

2 photos taken within minutes of each other, can you believe this

Took bus back to Shilin night market and met up with Chensin and his gf for dinner. Shilin is pretty overrated to me, way too crowded and commercialized, and hard to navigate.
Food:
1. 烤牛肉 - Cs bought and tried 2 piece, decent
2. 胡椒饼 - not as authentic as 饶河
3. 大肠包小肠 - AMAZING
4. 羊肉串 - Kaixin ate
5. 炸牛奶 - finally found what I've been looking for!
6. 九龙城奶盖 - fav milk tea in taiwan
7. 花枝羹 - soso

Day 6 (Fri) - Taipei City, rainy day
For once a rainy day during our stay. Woke up for 永和豆浆 and went back to slack. We intended to cycle by the river but it was spoiled by the bad weather. In the late afternoon, we headed to 五分埔shopping district. The place was soso, with cheap and lower-end clothes. In the evening, we met up with Kaixin's exchange friends near 台北大学. They brought us around their campus. It's pretty much as big as NTU and the cycling routes remind me of my exchange in UCD.

Day 7 (Sat) - 十份
Woke up at noon and instantly decided to go 宜兰 . First had our mandatory 永和豆浆 breakfast consisting of 汤包 and 煎饼. We then went to 台北车站 only to found out that the tickets to 宜兰 has sold out. We thus switched to alternative plan of going 十份. We took train to 瑞芳 station again, and first took a cab which brought as to 八斗子渔场. We had a brief hike there.

Tiring and hot hike

We then took another cab to 十份. Unfortunately, the waterfall was closed as it was 5pm by then.. Feeling disappointed, we strolled to 十份老街 to 放天灯. The overall  experience is great, just as what we saw on TV.

Crowded place

Took train back to 瑞芳, then back to Taipei where we alighted as 饶河夜市, to have our night market finale.
Food:
1. 胡椒饼 - authentic
2. 猪血臭豆腐汤 - soso
3. 羊肉串 - great
4. 烤虾和螃蟹 - very average
5. 烤鸡腿肉 - not bad la
Sadly I couldn't find my 鸡包饭 and 考牛奶, and was too full for 大肠包小肠.

Day 8 - Home Sweet Home
Ready (not ready) to go back to work.