Revisiting Taiwan 2013

Our first visit to Taiwan was in 2009, yup, 4 years ago... and if I hadn't mentioned it on my previous post, it was horrible. We were totally turned off with the delayed flight (Jetstar), followed by the food. Perhaps our expectations were too high for it during the first visit.

Late Oct, early Nov, when Hualien experienced an earthquake of scale 6.3, we were there. Our second trip to Taipei, first to Hualien... We revisited Shilin Night market, Tamsiu Fisherman's Wharf and Eslite Bookstores... Everything was wonderful. The scenery, the weather and even the food...

We took our supper at Mc before setting off... shOoooooOOO~*

Our first time hanging around at the Taipei railway station and the main station underground mall (where our self proclaimed topo king, Mr Tay, actually hollanded). Believed it or not, I was the one who know the way better... UNBELIEVABLE O_O

First thing was to book for Taroko day tour for the next day, followed by cycling along the pacific ocean... Yes, the legendary ride and yet we did it wrongly...

You can miss the train but you CANNOT MISS THESE 公正包 in Hualien! Or your trip would have been wasted... or rather you would be wasted! Yes, seriously these buns had trashed Ding Tai Feng's xiao long baos... No joke! And they were sold in a steam basket of 10 buns at NTD 50!! (That's just SGD2++ for 10 buns, meaning each is less than 30cts?? WuhoOOOoo!!!)

We were so lucky... why would I say that? We stayed in Hualien for 3 days. First day was earthquake, second day was planned for Taroko and last day Taroko was blocked for a marathon. Spot us at the finishing line ^^

Taroko was indeed a beautiful place. For safety reason, we were advised to wear helmets when walking down certain zone of Taroko... Seriously, if a rock of size larger than a fridge fell on us, I didn't believe helmet could do much... so we prayed as we strolled down the lane of falling rocks...

Due to stupidity, we failed to buy return tickets early enough. So we spent our morning scrolling nearby of our hotel (Ocean Hotel. 2 thumbs up!) while waiting for our train to return to Taipei. Good exploration! Most importantly, we managed to get another round of 公正包before we left Hualien. BTW, 七星潭 is beautiful but we think that Gold Coast is even better ^^

Since we got to Taipei in the late noon, we decided to give Jiufen a miss and re-visit to the Fishman's Wharf. Brilliant decision made by Dear... We got to Ximending, Beijing 101, No, Taipei 101, Shilin Night Market, Eslite bookstore and the underground shopping mall.

To summarize all, this was a wonderful, exciting and unforgettable getaway birthday treat from Dear. We had fun gaining weights during those 5 days, while missing our 2 lovely girls who were left at home... BoohOOoooo~*