Monday, November 30, 2015

Day 3 Part 1 Taiwan Trip (Feb/Mar 2015) - Taichung (Labixiaoxing Exhibition) | Taipei

The highlights for today is to go to the Labixiaoxing Exhibition which is around 5-7 mins walking distance from Taichung HSR, and thereafter taking the HSR for Taipei:) The plan is initially to deposit our luggage at Taichung HSR station at their Coin Operated Lockers. But when we arrived at there, the lockers are already fully taken up and we have no choice but to tug our luggage along to the Exhibition. With our luggage getting in the way, we are taking a longer time to walk to the exhibition:(


Labixiaoxing Exhibition

Greater Taichung International Expo Center
台中市烏日區高鐵五路 161號 (高鐵三路入口處)

I am not a fan of Labixiaoxing but am willing to come for this since my friend is interested in this. And also this exhibition is not always there. This exhibition is only held at Taichung from 5th Dec 2014 till 15th Mar 2015. 




The signboard!! Can't say how happy we were when we saw the signboard. Means we are nearing the place after walking in the hot sun and with our luggages!! 


Entrance Tickets - NT200 for students:)

Some of the photos as shown below:






That's all folks on the Labixiaoxing Exhibition! 

Next, we have to walk back again to the HSR station. Journey from Taichung to Taipei will take around 1 hour. Perfect for catching some rest:)

Saw the queue for the lunch set. Since we are here and yet to have lunch, might as well give this a try. 






The view while in the HSR



As our hotel is at Ximending, near to Ximen station, we decided to take a train from Taipei Station to Ximen Station (1 stop away). Pretty convenient:)



InHouse Hotel

No. 107, Xining S Rd, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108


Map based on the Name card we got at the hotel 






Time to get out of hotel for the next part of our day - which is to Danshui then followed by Shilin in the night. My feet was hurting due to the heels and in the end, I decided to change to slippers in the cold. Haha. 


Stay on for the next part of updates in the next post:)


Sunday, November 29, 2015

Day 2 Part 2 Taiwan Trip (Feb/Mar 2015) - Xinshe (Xinshe Castle + Mushroom Garden + Carton King Zoo) | Miyaharu | FengJia Night Market

Continuing from the earlier post....


Fourth Stop: Xinshe Castle
No.65, Xiezhong St., Xinshe Dist., Taichung City 426
Entrance Fee: NT250

During the researching process for our Taiwan trip, stumbled across this place - European castle-like place and have been rather excited to come here. I like places with nice scenery and views:) 


When we arrived, the weather had started to turn rather hot and sunny. Sun blinding our eyes and all, and the place looks rather ordinary to us. At first we were saying like how the entrance fee is expensive then the rest of the places but the place is just so-so. And with the hot weather, we kind of regretted coming to this place. But wells, since we already paid for this, might as well still explore around and take photos. It was not until we went back and look through the photos that we were shock at the beauty of it. I guess looks can be deceiving? haha. 














































Loving the mysterious beauty of this place~ 


Fifth Stop: Mushroom Garden
No 2-1, Xiezhong Street, Xiecheng Village, Xinshe District, Taichung City







Deep Fried Mushrooms - NT50! We even got a mix of some Crispy Salty Mushrooms. So we get to try both:) Super nice and crispy!


Mushroom Sausage - NT35

I am not really a fan of mushrooms. Not that I don't eat. But rather I will not crave for that either. The Mushroom sausage was okay though. But I find the Deep Fried Mushrooms nice! The Mushroom sausage was okay though. However, be sure to drink lots and lots of water after having that since it's very very heaty:)


Sixth Stop: Carton King Zoo
No. 1, Lane 281, Section 3, Xitun Rd, Xitun District, Taichung City, Taiwan 407
Entrance Fee: NT200 which you can use to offset with your purchases there

Last stop of exploring the Xinshe area! 
Over here, You can get to take pictures with the world famous monuments. And something interesting about this place, is that everything is made out of cardboard!! Even the chairs in the restaurant is made out of cardboard! Interesting much? And also, be sure to also drop by their souvenir shop. You might find something interesting over there. Anyway, some photos taken there are as follows:

Picture taken at the entrance:)







Make a wish~















And so this marks the end of our tour of Xinshe! Before heading back to hotel, we went for Ice Cream at Miyaharu! 


Miyaharu
No.20, Zhongshan Rd., Central Dist., Taichung City 400
Operating Hours: 10am - 10pm

We actually asked the driver previously if he is okay to drop us there for ice cream before sending us back to the hotel which he agreed. 
But if you are planning to travel there on your own, don't worry, this place is pretty accessible based on our previous research on getting here. We just have to have backup plans in case the driver is not agreeable to drop us there or something. The place is actually quite near Taichung Train Station (3 minutes walk away). From Taichung Train Station -> Zhongshan Road -> Miyahara Eye Hospital.

Initially when my friend told me she wanted to go for this, I was thinking "huh? Eye Hospital?". But after much research, this place was actually previously an eye hospital during the Japanese occupation. And thereafter this place was renovated and converted into a store selling pastries and desserts.

But beware, don't say you have not been warned. The queue is really long! We queued for around 15 minutes or so if not wrong. 


Their Menu. 




Special Names for their Ice Cream flavours


Their CNY specials
  
Our Ice Cream! :)
After purchasing the Ice Cream, we came out and saw people gathering outside, standing around and eating their ice cream. We did the same. But as the weather was starting to get very cold with the wind blowing at us, we are pretty much shivering while we eat the ice cream! Double-coldness! One thing good is that the ice cream won't melt that soon given the cold weather. 



 And finally after a long day, we are back at our hotel!!


Photo taken with our driver! Really good experience with him around telling us about things we do not know about.

After a quick rest, we are out again to FengJia Night Market. Last night at Taichung so we just have to shop around since we did not managed to shop the day before due to the late arrival.

And the main thing we have that night is Stinky Tofu.


Stinky Tofu!








My First try at Stinky Tofu! This was pretty acceptable to me. But some people say the smelly the Stinky Tofu, the nicer it taste. Is it true? But not sure if it's stinkier than this, I dare to eat anot. haha.

Hate to say, but this was our last night spending at Taichung since we will be travelling to Taipei the next day morning:(