We spent a total of 5 days in Taipei, visiting various Night Markets every other night except for our last day in Taiwan.
I planned in Mao Kong Gondola Ride in Taipei, thinking that it would balance our stay in Taipei with not just shopping but also to immerse into their local culture - Tea drinking with scenic view - but it so happens that the very day we planned to take the ride was the day they start the maintenance of the gondola. I was quite disappointed because there were a lot of positive reviews about it and I've been to Taiwan thrice but never had a chance to sit the gondola. This only tells me that I need to go to Taiwan again *giggles*.



This was our breakfast in on our final day in KenTing. Personally, I love this milk from Ken Ting. Bought 3 bottles of it for SGD4+ only!
It's on par with Meiji's Low Fat Milk (My favourite fresh milk brand).

We embarked on our journey to our final stop in Taiwan - Taipei - at around 9am.
As I've mentioned before, Minimi Inn provides transport from KenTing to the nearest HSR station which is Zo Ying.



The HSR was pretty empty so we practically own the whole cabin to ourselves.
We took a 2 hours + ride from Zo Ying to Taipei Main Station where we can then switch to take Metro (MRT) to our hostel.



I love it when they have this small area for us to put our luggage.



We packed 关东煮 (If I didn't remember the name wrongly) from 7-11 as our lunch.




I think the blue net is really innovative though it doesn't look as presentable as a plastic bag (To me) because it's way too holey and it reminds me of fish nets.
Yet, this is a very practical innovation. *Nods head*







We stayed in Citybear Hostel and when we arrived in Taipei, it was raining. Not a good sign but a good experience to lug our extra heavy luggage for 15 minutes with 2 pieces of luggage per person and an umbrella on hand. There wasn't any pavement for pedestrians so we were walking on the road that was meant for vehicles. In Singapore, we have pavements built for us to walk on but in Taiwan, even in Taipei, they still have places where they to have walk on the road right beside the vehicles, as if the vehicles are human body. Great experience walking alongside vehicles for the whole 10 days in Taiwan, treating them like human bodies with steel skin (?)



The picture above was taken using my phone and that is our mega small budget room that only has space for either our luggage or us. There will never be enough space to house both the luggage and us. Of course there are a lot more better budget hotels around in Taipei but we so happened to book this really small one. It is situated at Taipei Cityhall Station where Taipei 101 is. One really good thing about staying in this hotel - there are a lot of excellent food stalls around. Whichever lane we walk or whichever mall we enter, lots of good food follows. Breakfast shops, bakeries, hot pot, Japanese cuisines, frozen yogurt and many more. We didn't even have the time to try out all the eateries despite spending a whole 5 days, close to 6 days, in Taipei.

Temperature at Taipei: 23 to 24 degrees



The sudden urge of wanting to be an explorer led us to a western food store. We decided to be a little adventurous and cut from lanes to lanes, trying to find alternative ways to their MRT station. There were a lot of food stalls around the lanes that we cut through. As we turned to a corner, we stumbled upon this particular western food stall. The stall definitely is an eye-catcher because it was in red. Quite a prominent shop considering that most of the shops beside it were in dull colours. This place has a lot of newspaper recommendations which they displayed it on their walls. Since there are so many positive recommendations, why not? We were being taken to the second storey, which was extremely cramp.



While waiting for our order to arrive, we were being told my kind Taiwanese that garlic breads, soups and drinks are all free of charge. Yes, free of charge! We can take as many garlic breads as we want. It's not those soggy garlic breads that they have already toasted and left it there for us to take. They provide plain white breads which we were then given a choice of either garlic spread or peanut butter to go with it and then toast them and have it fresh! Just take as much as you need with zero charges. This is definitely a good thing for travellers like us - budget travellers.




It costs around SGD9 for the western food with thick spaghetti. It was a generous portion that comes with a bowl of salad as well. We were both astounded as we actually found such good meal that was extremely affordable. The chicken and beef are so tender and succulent. The sauce goes really well with the meat.

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We wanted to explore the area that we stay in so we decided to explore around the places near the MRT stations. We headed to Xin Yi District Area where all the high-end shops are situated at. It has a shopping mall that resembles our Takashimaya and being foodies, we started off from the basement level - Food.





My eyes immediately caught a frozen yogurt shop which so happens to be Tutti Frutti (Which I believe has only franchised a stall to Singapore which is situated at Clementi). A little information about Tutti Frutti - It works just like Sogurt where everything is in DIY style from the amount of froyo you want to what toppings you would like to have and the amount of toppings you want. You then pay according to the weight. We were both overjoyed and exclaimed, almost together, that we should definitely have a cup of it since we're both fans of frozen yoghurt. They were having a special sale strategy. We were to guess the weight of our frozen yoghurt and if we got the exact weight, we can have the yoghurt at NT1 (SGD 4 cents)! Even if you fall out of the range, you will still get either 40% off or 20% off depending on how off you are from the weight of your yoghurt. I was 1 gram away from the exact weight! Such a pity! Well, at least I got 40% off! A cup that usually costs $5.70+ in Singapore, costs around $2+ only. Taiwan should keep having such good deals man.




I set out to Taiwan to have a piece of donut from Mister Donut because I've been missing their donuts ever since my previous trip to Taiwan. They no longer have the Green Tea Bear-shaped Donuts which made me rather disappointed.

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Eslite Bookstore that resembles a lot like Kinokuniya just that it's at a larger scale - 5-storey building. They sell quite a fair amount of Japanese products and books just like Kinokuniya. Taipei's shopping and food area is pretty much influenced by Japanese culture which makes me feel like I'm back in Singapore again.






I bought a few rolls of Washi tapes, which was very unlike of me if I were in Singapore because I find them really expensive. This time round, I was actually very happy with the purchase because it was in the edition of Taiwan's culture and some were in fairytales version with a further 20% off. Discounts plus special edition, why not? Hahaha!

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There is an Udon stall, also at the basement level, where the queue for it was a little over and most of the people seated had a bowl of udon from this stall. One of the days in Taipei, we had this for dinner. It was one of the best dinners we had in Taipei. It was better than expected and we didn't have to queue for long before it's our turn.






This Shi Fu is really passionate about his job. He works as early as 10am till 10pm and he has never once not smile to serve every customer. He made me realise that as long as you are passionate about your job, it doesn't matter how long you have to work because it's where your passion lies that drives you to give your best for it. I am awed by his working attitude. Excellent service attitude.







Frankly speaking, I have no idea what I have ordered for myself but I just ordered anyways since it looks appetizing. I did not regret my order because the meat was so tender and rich. I love the egg that usually only authentic Japanese Udon/ Ramen stall would serve - yolk is half cooked but egg white is fully cooked. Soft and fresh.



Their noodles are hand made and every procedure was done properly to ensure good quality noodles were being served. I sincerely hope this Japanese Udon stall will decide on franchising to Singapore. Each bowl costs around SGD10 which I think is worth the money for the quality and quantity. Jing En was literally crazy over the udon that she never stopped commending on how delicious it was. I've never seen her commending on something so much so this udon stall is something you must try when you're in Taiwan!




This is just me and my craze over cute things that I couldn't resist. It's a Japanese cake shop that sells adorable cartoon characters like the one shown above - Miffy. I told Jing En that no matter what, I will have to buy one of these cakes to try before leaving for Singapore. The quality of the cake is actually quite low. The fruits in the cake aren't fresh at all. I got deceived by the presentation of the cake but I think I'm quite fine being 'cheated' this way because I wouldn't even consider it a loss when I have this cute cake in my hands. Willingly 'cheated' hahaha!




We visited a few 夜市 which includes Wu Fen Pu, Shi Lin and Shi Da.
Frankly speaking, there's nothing much at Wu Fen Pu even though it's where people say you can find the cheapest clothing given that it's all whole sale  We did not find anything we want there. Keep in mind that when you shop at the Night Markets, remember not to buy anything until you've walked the whole night market. As you walk down the night market, you will realise the price gets cheaper and cheaper. I don't have a lot of photos to offer because I find it too troublesome to bring a camera along when I shop.