Taiwan Trip - Day 3

台北动物园 Zoo
When you are a tourist, you must act like one. Taiwan has just received 2 pandas, Tuantuan and Yuanyuan (what politically-sensitive names!) from China and they are now in Taipei's zoo. I wanted to see them, despite having seen them before in Singapore. So near, just go lah! To avoid the crowd, I positioned this leg in the middle of the week. The plan was to catch the zoo at opening hour and get ahead the panda queue. If the zoo were boring, get out, else continue till lunch time.

So we got up super early at 7am, had the hotel's breakfast and the cream puffs from last night to save time.

Support President Ma? Sorry, we are rushing to the zoo!

By 8.30am, we were taking the metro. It was still rush hour. Getting on the train at Ximen wasn't as breezy as yesterday. Before the train came, people were still queuing orderly. The queue was quite long, so we tried not to queue to see if we would get priority. But no, we did not, the train driver who stepped out to ensure people don't get kiaped at every stop, whom will obviously have seen us, also did not offer any help. So have to get in the line lor. Another thing I noticed was that although people queued, it still got chaotic when the doors opened, and worse when people first tried to wait patiently for people to exit, but when the stream of people never seemed to end, they started fearing being left behind and did what Singaporeans do right from the start. So much for queuing.

For the escalator, people kept to one side only, leaving the other for people in a hurry.

We changed train at Zhongxiao Fuxing Station to the Muzha line. The stations were all above the ground, giving us a view of Taipei outside the bustling city centre. It's a different look, more... tired. At least there's still a metro serving the zoo, unlike Singapore.

We reached the zoo at about 9.15am. Tickets were NT60 per head. The ticketing staff gave me free entry, yay! Save S$3!

No queue? 早知道 don't rush! A person at the entrance gave us our panda-viewing slot. Got a shock when I looked at our queue. 9.10am! Started liao lor?! I asked the person can extend or not, but she said just go. Wa siao lor, faster zoom! We were still without a zoo map, but fortunately, the panda enclosure was not too hard to find. There were less than 10 people lor! What happened?

The pandas were more active than how I remembered them to be. Constantly destructing chewing on bamboo, ripping leaves off like a satay. They even walk a lot!
When the morning heat got to them, they loitered around the door to their air-conditioned enclosure and knocked. So pampered!

GroupS of kindergarten kids started arriving. We soon got crowded out, but nevermind, we had already been with the pandas for a long time; Nobody chased us away.

The air-con play pen.

My siblings got hungry, so we went to McDonald's. My brother wanted to get a Big Mac and my sister wanted Fillet 'O Fish, but curiously, the only meat served there was chicken. McChicken, McNuggets, McCrispy... simply chicken only. I bought an iced latte to keep awake. Got a zoo map too.

Following the advice from Tripadvisor, we took the tram up to the end of the zoo. Well, we actually thought the tram would take us around like in Singapore, but everybody alighted. Ok. Tripadvisor said the zoo is built on a hill, so it's only sensible to start from the top and walk downhill. It was only now that we flipped our entrance ticket over to find the zoo map right behind.

Penguins that actually move. Those we saw during our last zoo trip in Singapore were inanimate.

Fitness corner in the middle of the zoo.

Macho mee!

Some ice-cream to fight the heat. The Meiji one lao hong, disappointing! The Duroyal one was delicious. Meiji ≠ yummy

One of the zoo's highlight, koala bear. No queue also, weird. Sleeping, boring.

Dead exhibit.

Drinks were cheap. First of all, there's the water cooler, then the vending machines charge normal prices, not a total 乘人之危　rip-off like Singapore's. Clean, handicapped toilets were everywhere. It's just the kids. Loads and loads of them everywhere. When it's time to take photo, the kids held the V sign and said "Yeahhh!". Wa even got standard pose lor. Perhaps Wednesday is some official kindergarten excursion day. There didn't seem to be any decent place for lunch, so we left at 3pm.


胡须张卤肉饭
We took the metro to Houshanpi Station. Had a hard time orientating ourselves. Tried asking a passerby where 五分埔 was, but she didn't seem to know. Only the second lady had a slight idea what we were looking for. We followed her direction of "keep walking until you see the temple". No food along the way. We were supposed to pass by 胡须张卤肉饭　before Wufenpu, but where was it? Bright orange sign wor... how could we have missed it? We crossed a road and were about to enter Wufenpu, when we turned around and I saw...

There it was! We were standing right there just now, waiting to cross the road, wondering where the hell it was! How blind could we get?

Lunch time! NT259. Damn hungry can! Frankly, I was quite disappointed. It's just rice with fat strips and gravy. Meat must order separately. The rice serving was quite small. I think I'm used to the more flavorful kuay chap in Singapore, so I didn't quite like this. We got a NT5 voucher for our next visit. That's like 25 cents lor! What a joke!


五分埔 Wufenpu
Grabbed 2 bubbleteas. Must control my liquid intake, didn't expect any usable toilets in Wufenpu. We crossed the road and a gust of wind blew my cap off! Walau dangerous lor!

Here we were, the legendary wholesale shopping belt that must be avoided on Friday to Monday! I'm not sure if it's a pedestrian-only area or not, but scooters would zoom out of nowhere, even trucks!

By now, we have noticed that the sales assistants liked to call all females 美女, regardless her age.

Somebody: 美女!
Me: (didn't hear)
Somebody: 美女!
Me: (looks up to see who she's talking to... and saw the person looking at me...!)

Must start responding to "美女" liao.

My sister concluded 古早 ≠ delicious

Got sick of shopping there after about 2hrs because it got repetitive. It wasn't as fantastic as imagined, for the same reasons as in Tianmu. Also, the clothes were far too trendy for the old-fashioned sotong and siblings. Somemore no trying, cannot get bottoms lor. We spent only NT1900 there. But I did achieve an aim - buy clothes suitable for a wedding! Wufenpu wasn't wheelchair friendly with the narrow roads.

Went looking for Raohe Night Market for dinner., but we came to Songshan Train Station first. Since we were here already, I thought we might as well check out the train tickets for returning to hotel later. Went to ask the guy at the information counter, but like not very helpful ley, he told us to check the schedule on the wall, which was all messy with hand-written Chinese words. I confirmed the timing, then we asked him whether a wheelchair could board that train. He said we could, just arrive 20min earlier. Ok... 20min is a long time lor... We were about to leave, when my brother suggested collecting the train tickets I booked over the internet now. Ya hor, good idea!

Then I went to the toilet at the train station. Scarily old, but still reasonably clean. Wonder what they were doing to the train station. Construction all around, and split into 2 parts somemore. Saw a biantai taking upskirt photo of a lady with a pretty backview at the crossing to our first night market in Taiwan.


饶河夜市　Raohe night market


There were a few stalls selling 胡椒饼 at the entrance. Almost wanted to buy, until we walked a bit more to see a stall with a snaking queue. THAT must be the real thing! Rule of thumb, follow the queue! My brother went to queue, while my sister and I looked at caps. One caught my eye. The lady boss claimed that it's from Korea and there's only one piece, so it's unique. I know they all say the same thing. Each stall bring 1 in (provided they truly bring only 1), 100 stalls can bring 100 in lor? It's NT500 ley... but I bought it because I like it! :D

Piping hot and yummy! Must try! Worth the wait!

Bought smelly beancurd from a random stall. Smelly meh? Only a bit of smell when you bite lor. Or we bought the wrong one?

Bought my first papaya milk in Taiwan. Too little papaya, not nice.

Very colorful and vibrant night market. So many different things for sale, not forgetting the shops along the streets. Even got face-threading, fortune-telling using birds and tarot cards. But the food, I wished I could have more. O, I really didn't see the same cap at other stalls, unlike a cube necklace I bought. Telling the truth, for once?

We decided to catch the 9.36pm train. Bought the tickets for NT18 each. We notified the staff, who showed us to the lift. At the platform, we thought we would see somebody who would help us, but there wasn't. Only a strange person in uniform carrying a board... transporting stuff via train? Only when the train came then we realized he's the guy, and that's a ramp XD He was running after us when we switched to a less crowded door suddenly. But anyway, my brother found it easier to just lift the wheelchair up. The train moved on pretty fast!

We reached Taipei Main Station in 7min. It's either metro or cab back. My brother picked the metro. But eh... we got terribly lost looking for the lift to the metro. Even went down to some creepy, musty-smelling basement. The signs were so not helpful, point ahead, but nothing there! Just when we were about to give up, we realized why nothing, because the lift was OUTSIDE the station!

Bought a giant Heineken from 7-11 on the way back. Back in our room, we killed mosquitoes again and closed the bathroom window. I figured　ｔｈｅ　ｃｈａｍｂｅｒｍａｉｄ　ｌｅｆｔ　ｉｔ　ｏｐｅｎ　ｏｎ　ｐｕｒｐｏｓｅ　ｔｏ　ａｉｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｂａｔｈｒｏｏｍ　ｂａ，　ｏｒ　ｅｌｓｅ　ｉｔ　ｗｏｕｌｄ　ｔｕｒｎ　ｈｕｍｉｄ　ａｎｄ　ｓｔｉｎｋｙ．　Ｂｕｔ　ａｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｅｘｐｅｎｓｅ　ｏｆ　ｍｏｓｑｕｉｔｏｅｓ　ｅｖｅｒｙ　ｎｉｇｈｔ．．．　ｓｉｇｈ．．．

Bathe, channel-surfed, drank and slept. Another early day tomorrow!

Taiwan Trip - Day 2

Ximending
Woke up late. Supposed to set alarm for 6.30am to catch National Palace Museum at opening, but turned out nobody did. Reshuffled the schedule to go Toilet Restaurant at opening instead.
Our breakfast of egg and ham sandwich and fruit juice hanging at the door.

It's still breakfast time, so I suggested looking for the recommended 桃源街牛肉面 nearby. It was then we realized that we stupidly forgot to take a map at the airport -____- Remembered to apply for YTC, but forgot about the most important thing lor! No maps at the hotel either. The receptionist advised us to take from Ximen station. So we tried to find 桃源街 based on my fuzzy memory of the hotel area on Google Maps, but got lost. Even asked a food shop, but they also didn't know where! Win liao! Gave up lor.
Our hotel. Our room is on the second storey, windows on the left.

Looking at the strong sun, I thought I could tahan the day with my can-fight-the-Singapore-cold outfit, but apparently strong sun -> hot day rule is not universal. Had to send my brother back to the room to retreive my jacket.

The streets resembled that of Chinatown, or more of KL, as my brother put it. The pavement is generally smooth, save the mini-speedbumps between units. No speeding, elseI would be flying.

Making a decent living.

Garbage truck that plays Beethoven's Für Elise when it arrives.

The empty streets of Ximending in the morning. Perfect for cabbies looking for a snooze.

Ximen Station is so well-equipped! It has a Visitor Information corner stocking all the offical maps and brochures about Taiwan in different languages.

Didn't see any Ezycard vending machine. Had to trouble the sianed guy at the station control. He didn't offer me the half-priced handicapped ticket :( But their metro is very cheap already lah, nevermind.

Destination Toilet Restaurant @ Shilin! So we headed to Jiantan Station, changing train at Taipei Main Station.

Taipei Main Station is HUGE! It would have been more straight forward if we were taking the escalator, but alas, the lift was a distance away. Gone were the days when changing lines meant walking 10m to the opposite platform. The lift doors were SLOW, took 10s to react to the close button!

So many commuters pass through this station that they have a whole level dedicated to Lost and Found LOL!

People queue up to enter the train. One even offered my brother a seat even though he obviously doesn't need one. So nobody sat down in the end lah, so awkward lor.

An unmanned shop in Jiantan Station.

Free bicycle parking outside the station. What a cool idea!

Toilet Restaurant
My sister was supposed to research everything regarding the Toilet Restaurant, but apparently, she didn't know the next step after the metro part lor. But no worries, I knew, because I didn't think she would research into such detail :P But my detail also not very detail lah, just find the right road, orientation, and keep walking until we see it haha!

Shilin's streets were even narrower than that of Ximending's. Shops everywhere, but not the kind that would catch our attention. Anyway they were mostly still not opened. Found that dustbins were non-existent. Do Taiwanese hold on to their trash forever?

We were walking for a really long time, long passed the KFC we were supposed to see, until it seemed we were reaching the end of the row of shops. WHERE?
Found it!

11am already, but still not opened lor! Had to rot outside. Damn sian. What a bad start.

The colorful and cheery deco.

Behind the cuteness, this restaurant had the worst ergonomics I have ever come across. With the deadly combination of substituting the table with a sink and having an unmovable toilet bowl as a seat, I could not put my legs under the table. If I sat up straight, I would be too far from the table. If I bent forward, it would strain me soon. Argh.

Hot tea served in a toilet bowl (glad it isn't urine, or else the source is really ill), cold drinks in a urinal. The urinals are huge! The drinks are delicious.

My pasta. Ok lah. The soup was all starch and milk, so I didn't waste my calorie quota on it.

Curry rice for my siblings. Looks like puke.

Our GIGANTIC desserts. Constipation and bloody stools. But the ice below don't have syrup lah. Never knew the 小曼头 biscuit go very well with ice-cream.

The lunch cost NT855. Targeting students.

Kobayashi Optical was screaming "up to 50% off for its anniversary celebration", so we popped in to find cheap contact lenses. There were, at 34% cheaper than Singapore for Acuvue! The staff served us tea and even gave my sister a free degree check. Now, that's service!

It was only after we stepped out of Kobayahi that I noticed the street was full of optical shops, all screaming discounts.

There was a large lottery shop on the same street, must look!
Our bet by quick pick, for the uninspired. Came with the angpow.


国立故宫博物院 National Palace Museum
From Google Maps, National Palace Museum looked close to Shilin, so I suggested taking a cab there. During the journey, there would be a warning about approaching speed cameras. Wonder what cool system that was! Sure enough, the journey was only NT135, worth it since our boarding and alighting points were both far from the metro station. The tickets to the museum was NT80 per head, half-priced with Youth Travel Card.

We went through every single room to get our S$4 worth. Strangely, the highlights - 翠玉白菜 and 肉形石 were enjoying peace. Totally different from my mental picture of rowdy China people surrounding them. Good lah, I can admire longer!

Clean and modern, just got crowded when groups came along. Very handicapped-friendly, with spacious lifts serving every floor. A really economical leg, even drinks are free! There were water coolers dispensing hot and cold water, but on the ground floor only. Actually, we couldn't get other drinks even if we wanted to, because I think the other places with drinks were the restaurants and cafes already.

The exhibition halls closed at 5pm, so it's time to take a look outside. It's sunny, the kind of sun that would melt us in Singapore, except it was very windy and the wind was FREEZING cold (by my standards). Wonder if it's the remnants of the sandstorm or what, sand got into my eye :\

People practicing 法轮功 on one side...

And lady taking glam pictures on the other side.

Lots of space and China-China buildings. That brown "vase" is a dustbin.

Time to go. No taxi-stand in sight, so we asked the customer service. I don't know why, but we were communicating in English. Her English was ok, but I wished we were using Mandarin instead as it would be easier for her (and us). When she realized we could speak Mandarin, we had a good laugh about it. We wanted to ask for a number to call for a cab, but guess what, she offered to call one for us, and it's free! Our cab came, but the cabbie was grumbling that he should have been told that there's a wheelchair because his boot might be too small. Anyway, it was fine after some securing.


天母 shopping
Tripadvisor described 天母 as a district with cheap shopping and international dining.

The cab dropped us off at 中山北路7段， 天母新村 roundabout at my request. We walked back down the road that we came up from. Objective is to stop at any shop that fancied us. We walked... and walked... but the place looked quite dead ley... sure got shops or not? Supposed to have factory outlets lor... The pavement also very bumpy due to the old trees' roots wreaking the area.

Unexpected find - P.S. Bu Bu, a car themed restaurant featured in 流星花园. But heard the food so-so only, so didn't try.

Here's how a Taiwanese parking ticket looks like.

Finally reached our first shop!
This was featured on Mediacorp's 省钱王. At first it looked like a kids' wear shop, until we started digging... and spent quite some time in it. I found a BCBG Max Azria top (which I later found to be brittle and requires dry-cleaning) and a Polo Ralph Lauren top. My sister got a thick jacket, which I would later wear for the rest of the trip. Blew NT1530! My brother was appalled. First shop only, later how?

Spotted a bird's nest. So crowded.

Entered a few more shops, but didn't buy anything most of the time. The designs were not suitable, price-quality-design do not correlate, or can find in Singapore. The sky fell dark and it's time for dinner. Now we had a problem. We couldn't recall seeing anything we wanted to eat. There's Swensen's, Haagen Daz, Diamond Tony's, some unknowns... but don't know why just don't want to eat. There was supposed to be a famous 宋江馅饼 at 天母北路2号, but also cannot find?! Argh. But anyway, we couldn't be having that for dinner. Passed by a Hello Kitty shop and my sister insisted on going in to find someone a gift. It's a shop I wouldn't want to be caught dead in, and spending your holiday looking for a gift? That's silly.

So in the end, we settled for a Shanghainese restaurant a few units before the Hello Kitty shop. Of course we checked the price before stepping in hehe.

We don't usually order greens in Singapore, but we now we must prevent constipation on holiday. I decided on 豆苗.

We got a shock when this was served. So different from the taugeh-like thing I associated the name with, that I asked the waitress if this was indeed the correct dish. Taiwanese 豆苗 is huge lor! Don't know what kind of bean! A very oily dish, dripping oily.

My brother's fried noodles.

I'm so cold that I must have soup noodles. The noodles' texture not so good ley, felt like they were melting. The serving was so big that I couldn't finish it.

My sister ordered something that sounded dry, but got served soup noodles instead. The waitress confirmed that it's the correct dish and my sister got grumpy. This dinner was really full of surprises.

铁板豆腐 Our must-order if it's on the menu.

Complimentary dessert. Probably because it's nearly closing time. It's so sweet, it must have been evaporating in the pot since morning.

Walked more after our dinner. The disciplined Taiwanese sorting their trash in those blue containers. Can Singaporeans do that too?

Went into this shop selling cream puffs.

Many different flavors, like chocolate, chestnut... but so-so only lor, like normal cream puff with some flavor haha., nothing wow. We found one of the puffs empty, so the boss gave us another free. Then we realized that the filling was actually in a corner, deep below... :X

Then we hailed a cab from the street to go back to our hotel. The cabbie told us that in Taiwan, not only there's no booking charges, you even get discount for calling a cab! Hey how come Singapore cannot! He took us down 忠孝东路, where we saw the bridal studios and shopping belt. They look happening even when they were all closed. The trip was only NT310. I imagined it to be more as I thought the distance would be long.

After a day of drinking from a water dispenser without any ill effects, we figured Taipei water is safe. We shall consume the boiled water waiting for us in our room every night from now on.

The moment we stepped inside our room, my brother smacked dead a mosquito. When we were about to start bathing, we found the bathroom window open. Wa luckily we saw it lor...

Bathed... channel-surfed and slept.