The decision to visit Taipei was made in a span of 12hours. Mum texted me one afternoon to say that she had to clear some leave the following week and let's go on a short trip. And short, she meant 5 - 6 days.
We decided to skip Bangkok (our default shopping paradise) to explore Taipei - the land where most shoppers rave about. We heard that Taiwan would be scorching hot since it's July but really I was more interested in the summer clothing shopping. So Taipei it was.
I'm pretty impressed that we managed to book a hotel / inn as well as get flights that evening itself. For both flight tix (Cathay Pacific) + Hotel for 6D5N (Smile Inn @ Taipei Main Station), the total damage was $608/pax. For not flying budget, this price is totally acceptable in my POV.
 |
| Boeing 777-200 |
The flight was SUPER EMPTY. Even partnered with American Airlines for this flight. There were not many flyers. We could have the entire row to ourselves.
 |
| View of an Island on-route to Hong Kong |
 |
| Hong Kong from up above |
 |
| Clouds and Mountains |
We had to do a mini 1hr stopover at Hong Kong. But who really cares. I get to spend that hour long at Disneyland store.
I didn't enjoy my flight from HK to Taipei as much as the flight from SG to HK. For that short one hour flight, we sat the Boeing 777-300. Not great.
 |
| Boeing 777-300 |
 |
| Pork Fried Rice |
After 7 hours of flight (including that Stop-over at HK), we finally reached Taoyuan Airport. I was totally hyped up until I came to immigration. The young girl at the counter was so RUDE, it felt like she got baptized in Tom Yum Soup. I faithfully filled up every detail that the White Card required in English. But she frowned up at me and said in Mandarin " WHAT RUBBISH IS THIS!" pointing at the residence portion.
For your information, i wrote SMILE INN. Which part of INN does she not understand is a PLACE WHERE YOU FREAKING SLEEP! Does she not understand English? And does she do this to those who are non-Mandarin speaking?
To be honest, my impression of Taiwanese being all friendly and helpful went down a notch.
Anyway, Mum encountered her too and she wasn't pleasent at all. Somehow the fingerprint scanner and my Mum did not see eye-to-eye. And the lady and the counter kept asking Mum to scan her fingers 3 times before giving up and gesturing to Mum in a rude way to just leave.
We finally got out of the Immigration and as according to my research done.
1. Upon Arrival Gate, turn Left. Walk all the way down. You will see the escalator to the Bus Terminal on the right. Turn Left to buy a SIM CARD. I got the Zhong Hwa 7days unlimited 3G only at 500NT.
2. Walk back out to the escalator and you will see a row of Bus operators. We got Free Go as advised by my homework. Some people use the HRA but you will need to sit a shuttle bus. Too much transfer and Mum wants convenience. So Free Go it is.
 |
| Row of Bus Operators. |
And I tried to be patient and ask how should I go about if I want to buy return tickets. I read that we can purchase return tickets for the bus in advance. The response as follows.
Me (Rusty Mandarin): Can I buy the return Bus tickets?
Her (Frowning): There are many buses available there. You can buy when you want to come back.
Me (Rusty Mandarin): Exactly where is there? Taipei Main Station?
Her (Annoyed now): Once you get there, you will see.
Seriously, where is THERE???? Freaking TIMBAKTU? I gave up and went to the bus stand to wait for my bus. Also, according to my research, the bus driver will help you load your luggage into the lower compartment. LIE! We had to do it ourself. He just parked the bus and went off.
In my mind, I could seriously feel my Taipei-friendly-nice-people Radar dip even further.
The entire journey took about 1hour to reach. The driver alighted us some place away from the Taipei Main Station and we had to use Google Maps to navigate. I never felt so appreciative of my Google Maps.
I remembered reading that the Hotel is in a building with MacDonalds. Thank God we found this HUGE "M" sign. It was our guiding star to the hotel.
 |
| Smile Inn @ Level 6 |
 |
| Room |
 |
| Directions to Smile Inn (taken off their Website) |
But, it did serve it's purpose. We have a safe place to sleep at night. And a clean toilet.
The staff at the service counters were courteous too. Whenever we came back from our expedition, they would stand up and acknowledge us.
We didn't hang around long. Just parked our bags, a small toilet break and we're OUT TO CONQUER TAIPEI!
 |
| MRT Map |
Equipped with the MRT Map. Our first stop was HouShanPi (Wu Fen Pu Night Market). While taking the more comprehensive map from the station, we were approached by a local lady. She heard us talking about walking to WuFenPu and she very nicely offered to be our guide.
She explained that she was on her way there and could show us the direction to the Night Market. She also told me that the lanes worth visiting are Lanes 1,3,5 & 7. These lanes are those selling Korean & Japanese fashion. The rest of the lanes are just not worthed it.
 |
| Credit: KampongCityGal.com |
Mum wanted to eat first because she was hungry. So we decided to walk to RaoHe for the food. BIG MISTAKE. The walk was sooooo long. We wasted our energy walking for 20minutes. And yes, I had to use my Google Maps because we thought we were lost. The walking straight down the road seemed endless.
I was so thirsty the FIRST THING i bought was a juice. The walk really drained me. What I love about RaoHe is the food. Nothing but FOOOD. Don't bother trying to shop for clothes here. Nothing worth.
But the food. Good Lord. The food is really yummy. We ate and walked and ate more and walked some more.
 |
| Grilled Giant Sotong |
 |
| Cheesy Potato 70NT |
Filling stuffed, we were pumped with energy and all ready to conquer the often-raved about Wu Fen Pu. On our way to Wu Fen, we came across this exit right outside of RaoHe. Please take a train to SongShan Station and use this exit to avoid walking as much as we did.
To be honest. I was extremely disappointed at Wufenpu. There was NOTHING to buy. The fashion seems to involve lots of Tees. And these Tees don't come cheap. 400NT for a Tee? Come on. And I'm looking for work-ready clothes. Since we flew all the way to Taipei, we owed it to ourselves to at least walk a little. I did get a few cotton dresses for 200NT, but not much. Selection was so limited and I was as deflated as an airless balloon.
Mum finally suggested we head back after walking 2 streets because she was getting tired and it wasn't fun to not buy stuff. Mum lamented that if we can mix RaoHe's street food with Bangkok's shopping it would be indeed heavenly paradise.
Total Step count: 14,283
No comments :
Post a Comment