21st November 2014 - night
Reached Taipei Station. It was nearing Christmas, so there's a Christmas decoration inside the station. From the hostel map, our stay for the next few days was very near to the station. However, we went round and round and couldn't find the place. Finally, we asked a taxi driver outside the Cosmos Hotel, well, he told us we were right outside the building. We were stunned. Our accommodation was in a commercial building, right next to Cosmos Hotel. No wonder! We kept looking for Nihao Taipei, not realising that it's not a standalone building. We thanked the taxi driver and went into that building. The hostel (Nihao Taipei) rented a few floors in the building and converted it into rooms. Well, the properties in Taipei is more expensive, it's a good way to utilise the built up space.
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| Christmas decoration in Taipei Station |
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| Taipei Station at night |
The location of Nihao Taipei is very good. It's near to the subway station, train station and bus station, and one of the most important shops, the convenience shop. Me and CY stayed in one of the rooms (converted from office, I think) in the buildings. The neighbouring units were offices for some small businesses. That was the first time I stayed in this kind of hostels, interesting! We had our dinner with the instant noodle bought from the convenience store in the common area of Nihao Taipei.
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| common area of Nihao Taipei |
22nd November 2014
Woke up in Taipei. Our friends from Japan would join us for the rest of the trip. Since our Japanese travel mates didn't have any interests to visit the National Palace Museum, we decided to go there on our own on that morning before they reached Taiwan. But, first things first, the most important meal of the day, breakfast. CY owned a travel book on Taipei and we found out that a pao shop (老蔡水煎包) was near the hostel, so we decided to go there and have our breakfast. I bought brown rice milk and a vegetable pao. It's very nice.
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| 老蔡水煎包 - it's featured in a Japanese Taiwan Travel book |
Anyway, the least crowded exhibitions were the literature type, books, calligraphy, ceramics (especially the broken one). The crowded place was the one which exhibit jewellery, fine ceramics, the expensive, glittery types. Sometimes, we just stood besides a tour group to listen to the explanations of some particular exhibits. I think that's the benefit of joining a tour group, someone to explain the interesting aspects of some exhibitions (those not included in the abstract of the exhibitions). Anyway, camera and backpack was not allowed inside the museum. Before entry, we were instructed to put the backpack into the locker, so I was inside with the clothes on my body and a handphone. I didn't have a small bag to keep my passport and money. So, I left all in the locker. I felt weird and a bit insecure.
For the trip to National Palace Museum, the only photos I managed to snap were the outside perimeters of the museum. Hahahaha, I took so many photographs of the front gate of the museum. A lot of people visited the museum, and quite difficult to get one without a human being in front of it. I gave up!
For the trip to National Palace Museum, the only photos I managed to snap were the outside perimeters of the museum. Hahahaha, I took so many photographs of the front gate of the museum. A lot of people visited the museum, and quite difficult to get one without a human being in front of it. I gave up!
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| National Palace Museum |
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| National Palace Museum |
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| National Palace Museum |
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| exterior of National Palace Museum |
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| around National Palace Museum |
From there, we went to Ximending, a shopping street. We met our friends here, it's been a long time since we last met. The following Monday was a public holiday in Japan, so Miyoshi, Goto and Miki took one more annual leave to come to Taiwan. Ximending was lined with shops and food stalls.
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| Ximending 西门町 |
We had the famous Ay Chung Rice Flour Noodle. There's no proper table there, everyone just queue up to buy the noodle, stand or sit on the stools provided, and finish the noodle. The queue was shorter than I imagined. I bought the big size portion, it's just nice for me, not so full. Once I read an article about a very famous eatery, the business was very good and like this Ay Chung Noodle, no table was provided, some people suggested to the boss to add tables, provide wifi and renovate the shop, the boss just shot down the suggestions, then the boss told someone that if he did all the improvements, his revenue would suffer, because if there's table, WiFi and a comfortable environment, the customers would just spend more time in the shop without more spending, then his turnover rate would drop. If he maintains the business model, which the customers just have their food standing or sitting on the stools, the customers will leave right after having the meals and he will have the space for the next customer. It's very brilliant indeed.
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| Ay Chung Flour Rice Noodle in Ximending 阿宗面线 |
After noodle, I bought a traditional agar-agar from a street vendor. It's quite hard and not so sweet. Still ok. Then, CY and the gangs had the peanut popiah with ice cream. They said it was nice. Well, I refrained myself from eating too much cold stuffs, so I had to give it a miss.
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| food stalls in Ximending |
After that, me and CY accompanied our friends to their hotel to check in. Initially, when they reached hotel. it's not the time to check in yet, so they came to Ximending to find us. The hotel was really luxurious, it even gave a complimentary red wine. Then, we walked to the nearest MRT to go to the Rao He Street Night Market. It was near the newly opened Songshan MRT Station. Since it was new, the line was still free, we had to pay for the old line only.
We went to the Wufenpu Garment Wholesale Market first, there're so full of clothes vendors. It was quite cheap. However, some didn't sell to individual customers, they only sold in bulk. Anyway, I found one printed pants and bought it, it's only 100 NTD. So cheap! Goto bought more, she bought one printed pants and two printed shirts. It's really suited to her style.
We walked until reached Rao He Night Market. However, since the MRT line was free, there were so many people who used the chance to take a ride on this line and visited Rao He Night Market. It was choking with human beings. After we walked to a junction and left the night market halfway, we all decided not to go back there to visit all the stalls. It was too crowded, even I didn't have the mood to shop there.
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| Rao He Street Night Market |
We walked to the MRT Station. On the way, we saw a procession, I think it's a event from the nearby temple. It's quite big. Many people were following the procession.
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| Temples near Rao He Night Market |
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| MRT Songshan Station |
Anyway, we went back to our respective accommodations to have a good night sleep, I really walked a lot!
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