Taipei Thoughts – Part I
This is a record of the Furrys’ (FurryMaisy & FurryHubby) holiday to Taipei last year. FurryMaisy’s one who forgets things very quickly, so a record of her travels here will help preserve memories of the trip.
Prologue
It all started one February evening:
FM : We haven’t gone for a holiday abroad for eons!
FH : ……… -_-‘ ………
FM : Are you listening to me?
FH : You pick a place then, somewhere near and inexpensive
FM : *drooling over pics of Jerry Yan* why don’t we go to Taiwan?
FH : *throws sceptical look* Taiwan?
FM : Good food and G-sized babes!
FH : Book the tickets now!!
And so a month later, we took the 1pm Jetstar flight from Changi to Taipei. FH summoned the magic holiday fairy (me!) to look for accomodations, research attractions and find ways to get there. Magic holiday fairy decided to just concentrate on Taipei and hit attractions reachable by Taipei Metro. Magic holiday fairy also summoned the travel agent wizard friend to book a hotel smack in the middle of Ximending, with airport transfer & a one-day tour thrown in for free. FH was happy with magic holiday fairy’s work.
Taipei here we come!
Day 1 : Are we there yet?
Airline meals, no matter how deceptively wonderful it looks on the colourful menu, is predictably disappointing when it reaches your seat tray. Notwithstanding the low air pressures in the air, the food will also shrink and any form of taste leaches out into the surrounding air. But the flight more than 3 hours, and FH’s tummy is tuned to growl if not filled every 3 hours or so. Still, $12 for an insipid-looking sandwich?! A hungry fool and his money are soon parted.
Touch down at around 6pm. Breezed through immigration & customs, and proceeded to the arrival hall hoping to spot a placard with our names on it. No such luck. Where is our ride to the hotel? Waited for over half and hour and still no sign of our ride. FH’s tummy is growling again, and a hungry man is an angry man. Where is our damn ride?!
Approached the information counter for help. We had the name & phone number of the travel agent’s Taipei counterpart, so the info counter personnel helped us contact them. After numerous phonecalls they finally got hold of someone and explained our situation to them. Apparently a bus was there to fetch us, but they had the wrong names on their sheet, and so they couldn’t find us. They quickly sent a taxi to pick us up, and we were finally on our way to Taipei.
Mister taxi driver was a very nice man, who enquired us about Malaysia, and the places we should visit. Helped to pass the time. Nearly an hour later, we reached our destination. We were told that our hotel is situated in an area inaccessible to vehicular traffic after 6pm every day, so he dropped us off at the nearest possible place, unloaded our luggage from the trunk, and pointed us to where we should walk; “50 meters straight from here”, he said. We said our thank-yous and proceeded in the said direction.
The hotel was really in the middle of Ximending! We quickly checked in, dumped our stuff in our very small hotel room, and proceeded downstairs to hunt for food.
Ximending may look like a vibrant and hip part of Taipei, but it is filled with old 4-6 storey buildings, mostly selling fashion, food, convenience stores (one in every corner!) and more fashion. Only a few streets are bustling; if you care to walk a little further, you will suddenly find rows of run-down shops, some boarded up, some only frequented by old men arguing politics. A unique mix of old and new.
Vibrant part of Ximending
Quieter part of Ximending
Saw a young busker showing off his vocal abilities. Looks like one of those idol wanna-be contestants in Taiwan singing contests.
Taipei busker
Stuffed ourselves with noodles from a nearby shop (noodles are delicious), found the famous A-Zhong mianxian, and smelly toufu! Well, I stuffed myself with smelly toufu, FH wouldn’t go near with a ten feet pole, haha! Satiated, we retire to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day.
A-Zhong mianxian
Smelly Toufu!
Tags: Danshui, Jiufen, Maokong gondola, Taipei, Travel, Ximending, Yehliu
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