~Life of an ordinary gal~

Day 3

Woke up at 7.15am, I had a good sleep cos I was starting to adjust to the hotel room's environment. We bathed and met Hua and Ru to eat breakfast. The first part of the itinerary for that day was to go to Chang Kai Shek’s Memorial Hall. It was merely an 8 mins ride to Chang Kai Shek’s Memorial Hall Station. Taipei’s 捷运 or MRT is very similar to Japan’s transportation system. The machines for the purchase of train tickets even look similar, except that the cards that it issues are similar to the transitlink cards that we used to have. We purchased the one day pass, which cost NT$150 since we have to travel within Taipei for quite some distance.

At the memorial hall train station, the interior looks very beautiful. It even had a tastefully done passage leading to the exit. The passage was full of art paintings and we stopped by to pose with the pictures. Thereafter, we started to walk towards Chang Kai Shek’s Memorial Hall. Along the way, we saw the National Concert Hall and Theatre Hall, which flanks the Memorial Hall. They are of old architectural Chinese design and look very majestic and beautiful, really different from our own Victoria Concert Hall.

Passage leading to CKS Memorial Hall

Upon reaching the Memorial Hall, we happened to chance upon the changing of guards’ ceremony. Even though there was no music, the guards seemed to have a sense of rhythm taking place in their own mind as they slowly march slowly but steadily up the staircase leading to the gigantic statue of Chang Kai Shek.

Nekki was commenting that the ceremony is merely to cater to tourists as their marching and hand signals look very exaggerated and flowery. Soldiers in normal parade do not normally march in that way. Nevertheless, it was quite entertaining. After the ceremony, we took a few photos of the statue and it was off to hot spring in Beitou. We were too lazy to go to Martyr’s Shrine and the National Palace Museum hence we didn’t fulfill that part of the itinerary.

Initially we had some confusion over where the hot springs are. We arrived at Beitou station but the young lady who was at the hot springs’ helpdesk advised us to go to the next station, which is Xinbeitou whereby there are more hot springs. But upon reaching there, we don’t see any sign posts for free shuttle buses to hot spring resorts.

Since Zim had told us earlier that his group (he, Key and frens) had alighted at Beitou station last time, we went back to Beitou station again. This time, we went back there again and asked the young lady to help us call up the various resorts whereby free shuttle bus is being provided. We settled upon Lotus Hot Spring Resort as it costs the cheapest (S$25 for 80mins). Thanks to the young lady’s help again (Taiwanese people are very helpful), she called the shuttle bus to arrive within 8 mins.

The resort looks very nice and private rooms were provided to us. It was pretty relaxing to soak in the hot water although I got dizzy within a few minutes before I have to get out of the water. I still preferred Japan’s hotsprings whereby there is more variety of different types of water to choose to soak in.

After that, we took the捷运 to Danshui, which is merely a few stops away. I was getting very hungry so before I alighted the train, I bought some sushi to eat. There, I saw fillings in the form of Hello Kitty (sooooo cute!)

We reached Danshui at about 1pm. By then I was terribly hungry, and could feel my gastric problem starting to act up again. Hua and Ru wanted to walk to 老街 first, because the street might have sold food that we could take for lunch. However, it ended up that the street mostly sells 铁蛋 (which tastes a mixture of sweetness and sourness), 草莓葫芦 and stuff which are not very suitable for a fulfilling meal. Thus, we went to Yoshinoya to eat. I ordered chicken teriyaki set which was much cheaper than that in Singapore. For a set meal that costs S$ of 4 plus, we can get to choose our own side dish: kimchi or Chinese pickles. The ice lemon tea (the cup was the same size as medium) also tastes great too! Not too sour and not too sweet, just the perfect combination. Nekki ordered salmon bento set, while Hua and Ru ordered udon and beef combi set.

After that, we went back to Danshui老街 again. This time, I bought guava whereby the flesh is reddish in color (it tastes very sweet and soft, unlike those in Singapore) and草莓葫芦. I was a bit shocked to find a big red ant stuck to one of the strawberries. Luckily the uncle agreed to let me swap with another one. The street is smaller than that of Huaxi, but more bustling than the latter as many youngsters love to go to the area. But that is merely the老街. The surrounding areas are full of shops selling lots and lots of food and all sorts of stuff i.e. bags, shoes, hats, watsons, 7-11 etc. It was quite impossible to walk into every shop within 1 day. Hence, for most of the shops, we just looked in.

At about 3plus, we decided to make our way there to the Lover’s Bridge so that we can catch the sunset. We chose to take a ferry there since it only cost S$2.50. The ferry ride was quite exciting, as the ferry was traveling at high speed. It was extremely cooling, with a little bit on the cold side as the wind was quite strong.

When we reached Lover’s Bridge, we could see that there’s a crowd of people gathering there. We soon learnt that there were people filming a music video on the bridge. Unfortunately, they were not known stars like Jay or Yang Chen Lin. However, the male and female leads were quite good looking hee (I think Taiwan has lots of shuai ges and mei nus) As it was cloudy, we didn’t get to see the beautiful sunset. Hence we took a bus back to Danshui station, where we bought some bread for tomorrow’s breakfast.

When we took the train at 6pm, it was the rush hour for the Taiwanese, hence it was pretty packed. The aunties and uncles were pretty rude and they would push their way in or out of the train doors. It was a pretty horrible experience to take the train during rush hours ah.

After we arrived back at Ximending, we went to 飞天麻辣火锅 (it is only 2 mins away from our hotel) to eat the buffet for only S$16. We chose 3 soup bases which are kimchi soup, clear soup and the mala soup. The kimchi soup is good as it is not so spicy and yet flavorful. We were able to choose the food to cook, which include noodles, bean curds, fish balls, vegetables, etc. So we kept taking and eating the food until we are full. We also found that ice creams were free. Nekki and the rest ate lots and lots of ice-creams (an average of 3 cones each). I could already see Nekki’s stomach growing bigger and bigger hee. After that, it was OTOT. Since we had to wake up very early in the morning for the next day as we need to reach Taipei Main Station by 7am, Nekki and I walked around Ximending shopping area (we bought XXL chicken chop and 奶茶again!) for a short while before we went back to hotel to sleep.