March 2020 Taiwan Trip - Day 5 (Taipei - Bitan Scenic Area; Elephant Mountain; Taipei 101)

Rise and shine!

First stop of the day: Bitan Scenic Area. From Ximen station, we have to take the train to Xindian station. After exiting the station, you will just have to cross a road and you will be able to find the place.

It was a hot and sunny day when we went there. It would be shiok if the weather had been cold.

This looks familiar?
Common sight when you watch Taiwan dramas when the young couple go on dates on such swan boat. 

At the bridge on our way to explore the area before coming back to take the water bike (aka Swan boat).

We decided to go up the to the Hemei Peak Rest Area. We asked other people coming down, and they said it took around 15 minutes? 

But it sure was a long walk up since it's hot and sunny and the walk up is filled with lots of steps.

Finally we arrive at Hemei Peak Rest Area.. Tiring~

One side of the view at Hemei Peak Rest Area. Can you spot Taipei 101 in the far end?

The other side of the view at Hemei Peak Rest Area

After taking some rest, we decided to go down via the other route towards Double-Heart Plaza and to True Love Wharf based on the map. This time it was a downwards flight of steps, so it wasn't as tiring as the climb up earlier on.

But guess what? It was the wrong choice! Cuz this route towards the Double-Heart Plaza was a one way route. Meaning we have to climb back up the flight of steps we came down from, and then continue to climb down from the main route we took earlier on when climbing up towards Hemei Peak Rest Area!

We only found out when we reached the Double-Heart Plaza and the people there told us. They also thought that there's a route that can lead them back to the Bitan Scenic area from here. Haiz... Imagine how tired we were and happy that we were finally near to the exit point, only to hear this news. And looking at the flight of steps up, boy I nearly fainted. hahahah.

Nevertheless, we took a picture here first. Since we are already here.
Then suck thumb, make our way back up.

And then we rented the Swan boat, choosing the self pedal one where we get 1 hour of time on the boat.

And time to fill our stomach.

BBtea

Pizza and Baked Rice. Yummy!

And see what we saw. Someone bringing his skunk out for a walk! Cute much!

Does the skunk like papaya milk?
It sure does look like it. Isnt it? haha.

And next is to Elephant Mountain. 
Not sure if we are pretty adventurous that day. We still went ahead to climb the Elephant Mountain after the Hemei Peak and pedaling on the Swan boat. 

Beginning the climb

Not going to post the picture of us with Taipei 101. Our faces pretty much shag to the max. This climb up was real tiring. We should have come back on a separate day haha. 

And then we went to Taipei 101 for dinner and explore a bit before heading back to Ximending.

Bought my Sweet Potato Ball

And then I eat a bit feel that it's not enough, I went back to buy another packet haha

And before heading back to hotel, we also drop by Watson to get Salonpas. Our legs are in need of that. 

And mixing with this which I brought to Taiwan. 

That's all for the adventurous experience!

March 2020 Taiwan Trip - Day 4 (Taipei - Ximending)

And day 4 is to travel to Taipei. We decided not to take the HSR train to Taipei so early since the check-in timings at usually in the noon. So we managed to sleep in late before checking out and making our way to the HSR station. 

Buying tiger sugar on the way to take a bus to Taichung HSR station. 

Food~

Upon arrival, we proceeded to check-in at East Dragon Hotel which is just a few minutes walk from Ximen Station. The room was spacious and great! :) 

Thereafter we decided to just chill and spend time exploring Ximending area for the rest of the day. 

We saw a lot of slaw machines and capsule machines while at Taiwan! Here's one picture of me taken with the whole stretch of capsule machines! WOWWW

And cuz JS was craving for Mango Ice shaved. So here we are at one of the dessert shop. 

It looks good right? But then looks can be deceiving! It's super duper sweet that we didn't finish it. It's not the fresh mango (maybe cuz March is not their mango season), but it tasted like syrup kind. Disappointing much. 

Dinner before we explore night Market food

One of my "must buy" and "must eat" when at Ximending!
I think I had this every night during my stay at Ximending the last round I came. And this time, also bought this pretty much every night at Ximending. 

That's all about the chillax day at Taipei Ximending!

March 2020 Taiwan Trip - Day 3 (Taichung - Zhongshe Flower Market; Gaomei Wetlands; Fengjia Night Market)

And time to head to Taichung! After grabbing some food for breakfast, we are ready to travel to Taichung.

Arrival at Taichung.
From Taichung HSR station, you may take bus 160 to FengJia University. The journey will take around 30 - 45 minutes.

So the place we are staying at is at Mini Hotel @ FengJia. First time staying there, and even though it was okay, we didn't really like the place. For me, it's becasue the bed was located upstairs with a flight of steps whereas the TV was downstairs. So that part I didn't exactly like it. For JS, he didn't like it cuz the place is dark with not much lightings. 

Anyway, after leaving our stuff at the hotel, we then asked the receptionist for advices getting to the 2 places we wanted to go - Zhongshe Flower Market and Gaomei Wetlands. As expected, the places would be more accessible if we go by taxi. You can go by bus but you will have to change buses etc and it will be a waste of time on travelling.

So we chose to go by taxi and got the receptionist to help us get a taxi to our first destination ie. Zhongshe Flower Market. We then tried to check with the taxi driver and let him know the 2 places we are planning to visit and see if he can bring us instead of us rebooking taxis to and fro. We managed to negotiate and he agreed to bring us to the 2 places and then back to hotel :) 

First stop: Zhongshe Flower Market.
Not the first time I came here. But its the first time for JS.

Some of the exhibits below. Of course there were also some others. But I guess the place and exhibits were somewhat the same from the last time I went. Maybe a few new exhibits added.

When I force JS to take picture playing the piano but he don't know how to play hahahaah

And the next stop: Gaomei Wetlands. 
This place was requested by JS as he saw this place had good scenery view while researching on the places to go. 

I would have to admit that this place is worth coming! I like this place and we had so much fun here and took many many photos ~ And plus, the weather was cooling and great at that time we went. It's shiokness to the max!

And at the end, you may choose to walk in the wetland - which is filled with mud and also water level that's around your ankle only if you venture further out. The water was super cold when we went in - cuz of the cold weather. But it was an experience! I was also careful looking at where I was walking, since there's mini crabs around. But I guess they are so tiny that they might be more scared of us? hahaha! 

One of the photos we took! We took many many other photos and I am loving all the photos we took here <3 Not going to post them here, but I may share on instagram hehe.

And as it's getting late, it's time for us to leave. I will miss this place lots lots! 

Thereafter back at Fengjia, it's time for Night Market food at Fengjia Night Market! We ate some and brought some back to Hotel. 

And of course this papaya milkshake is not to be missed while at Taichung.

Oh, and this was also the time I received an email from Scoot that our flight back has been rescheduled to one day later -.-" No reasons given at all. I emailed them to check on the reasons due to the last minute change, but then till date (around 2 months already), I had not even receive any reply from them. 

Even though this means that we will have one more additional day to spend at Taiwan, I was not exactly happy of the sudden change cuz we will have to re-shift some plans (back in Singapore). We also had to request for additional day of leave. If we had known of the change earlier, we would have allocated perhaps one more day at Kaohsiung or what. But wells, since we only know of the change so last minute, we got no choice but to book for one more day accommodation at Taipei (since that's where we will be heading for the next day).  

Other than that, that's about it for Day 3 :) 

March 2020 Taiwan Trip - Day 2 (Kaoshiung - Pier-2 Art Center; Cijin Island; Ruifeng Night Market)

Started Day 2 with breakfast of course! Simple yet yummy~ Loving their milk tea the most. Why their normal milk tea taste so much nicer? 

Pier-2 Art Center
Getting there: Take the train to Yanchengpu Station. Exit the station via Exit 1, and it will just take you a 5 minutes walk. 

There's also other exhibits around the place. You just have to walk around and explore. 

And we ended up here: 

Based on the google map, we realised that we are pretty much near to the next place we wanted to go, since it's just one train station away. So instead of walking back to Yanchengpu Station, we decided to cross this field and walk towards the next station: Shihwan Station. 

Once we reached the Shihwan Station, we continue using google map to navigate to the Gushan Ferry Terminal, where we will take a ferry to Cijin Island. The ferry terminal is just a 5 to 10 minutes walk from Shihwan Station.  

Waiting to board the ferry

They actually had 2 separate lines - one for pedestrians and the other for bikes/ scooters. When we went, there was not much people, and we were the first in the queue to board the ferry. 

Just a short ferry journey to the other side.
This is where we are heading towards :) 

Small street selling various stuff

Crane machines are pretty much a common sight here. Here's one with "money".
Wanna have a try? HAHAH!

And walking further in, you can then see the beach! 

At first I thought we can just explore the place on foot. But JS convince me otherwise to try renting a motorise bicycle instead. Glad we did so, cuz this island is long and rectangle-shaped. So we actually ride to the end, and then still have to u-turn back. Cannot imagine if we had done so by foot... haha. 

And JS is super happy with his motor-bicycle :P

Some photos that we took: 

And we ended off at the Tunnel of Stars. I was actually very excited - thinking that it will be a tunnel with sparkling lights (like stars). So I was disappointed when I arrive at the place. It's just a tunnel that leads you to sea view and you can continue to walk on to see the lighthouse if you want. 

A picture taken - tunnel of light

And when we came out of the light, sexy guy? HAHAH. 
I don't know who is the guy. It just so happen~ 
I didn't even realise he was in my photo until I have a clearer look after that.

And once we returned the bike, we then went on search for food. 

Craving for some Lu Rou Fan

Second round after we took the ferry back. 

A random store we passed by, and it looks good so we decided to try it.

It was really good the mee sua! Thumbs up! I am already salivating as I am drafting this post. Miss the taste of their mee sua. The texture was just nice!

I ordered the Mee Sue with Intestine while JS ordered the Mee Sua with Oyster and Intestine

And time for dessert

Shaved Ice

The walls all filled with doodles. Reminds of the time where couples/ friends will write doodle that they are here with who and who on which date. 

And then we travelled to Ruifeng Night Market. 

The night market is just a short walk from Kaoshiung Arena Station.

And after walking around, we then buy food back to hotel to chill and eat. Night market street food is just yummy!  

And this shall end day 2 of our trip, and also the last night at Kaoshiung.