Taiwan 28Dec13 to 02Jan14 – Day 1 XiMen-MaoKong-ShenKeng-WuFenPu

Taking a midnight flight, 28Dec13 1am, isn’t a joking. Need to forgo some sleep. Sitting beside a big size guy made it worse as he seemed to have a hard time fitting into the budget flight seat. His long legs made him extremely uncomfortable. He simply could not sleep and keep shifting his sitting position. Twist and turn from him had made the joining seats rock and shake. I could not sleep with all the rocking! When landed my eyes were swollen due to lack of sleep.

Wow, it was really cold the moment we step out of the airplane! It is 10 to 12C at the airport! Many people quickly took out their jackets to wear. I am so scare of cold quickly took out my winter jacket! After we cleared the custom, we look for the bus terminal which is located at basement 1. There are a few bus provider and 2 of them go to Taipei Main Station, 国光 and 飞狗. We took国光, it cost TWD 125 per person.

When we reached Taipei Main Station, is around 8am. We were hungry and bought some hot food from 7-eleven. We must be hungry, even the 7-eleven food taste good. 

It is advisable to buy the Easycard which can be used to pay for MRT, BUS and Cable Car rides.

We took the MRT to Ximen Station, and walk over to our hotel. Wow, it is just 5 minutes away. Very near the station! Good9Stay is located at a small lane, what an uncomfortable location. The reception is at level 5. The building looks run down. We thought the hotel will be as run down as the building. We reached level 5, the corridor look nice and neat. Hope the room is nice too. As it was too early to check in, we left out luggage at the reception counter. The staff is very helpful, gave us a map of XiMenDing, advising where the nice food around the hotel was. Behind the map was a MRT route map which was useful too.

 

Not to waste time, we head back to the MRT station to go to Taipei Zoo station. Well we are not going to the Zoo but to take the MaoKong Cable car to MaoKong. We were greeted by nice picture of animals on the wall when we step out of the MRT.

The cable car station is about 8 mins walk away from the Taipei Zoo Station. Fans of Hello Kitty, you would love this cable car station. Hello Kitty everywhere, even the toilet sign is Hello Kitty. The ride is about 15 to 20mins to reach the last station – MaoKong Station.

VERY WINDY the moment we step out of the station! There were some makeshift carts selling local food. We bought a local kueh / pastry and roasted sweet potatoes. The roasted sweet potatoes were nice as it was a source of warm for my cold hand and it filled my stomach. Hee hee.

Strolling along the road, get to see some tea houses and café. So nice to enjoy a cup of hot coffee or tea at an Alfresco café.

My friend, Kare Kevil, is a fan of ice cream spotted an ice cream banner, wanted to try the ice cream. The banners lead us up some flight of stairs before we were greeted by this black head doggie. At 10C will you eat ice cream? It is Tie Guan Yin tea taste ice cream, TWD80 for a cup. You must be thinking we were crazy. Surprising eating the ice cream did not make us feel colder; instead we were feeling quite normal. We thought we will freeze, nope not at all.

We took the cable car back down to take bus 236 in front of the cable car station to Shen Keng 深坑，Old Tofu Street. At the part we alight we need to walk further down the road pass 2 traffic lights before we reach Shen Keng.

Once you see this big tree, you are there.

Overwhelm by the food available there. There are all sorts of Tofu dishes. From BBQ, Braised, Boiled, Fermented Tofu, Soft vs hard Tofu, Smelly Tofu, and Tofu Ice Cream! It was a feast to the eyes!

Apart from tofu, there are Kueh, Beans, Mochi, Nougat, Brown Sugar Ginger Tea etc.

 

The Nougat from this shop is nice, it is less sweet compare to the normal nougat.

 Our lunch was a mixed pot. For those who dare to try smelly tofu, pig intestine and pig blood.

Took bus 660 from opposite Shen Keng back to MuZha Station.

Head back Good9Stay to put down all the goods (Nougat and Brown Sugar Ginger Tea) we bought from Shen Keng.

Finally we got to see our room. It was acceptable. I would classify this as a Homestay instead. There were 2 washing machines outside at the common area. The room was clean but not as clean as hotel.  TWD2800 per night for a big room.

Shopping time. We took the MRT to HouPiShan and walk about 5 mins to reach WuFenPu (Clothes wholesale market) . We settled for dinner at this small shop in WuFenPu, Weather was so cold at night, the sky turn dark at 5.30pm. The steam from the shop made us feel warm. We ordered steamed spicy dumpling, mixed dumpling and a hot and spicy soup. It was great to have hot food during cold weather.

With our loots, we head back to XiMen. Hungry again!!! Let hunt for food around XiMenDing, Ah Zong Mien Xian. For a small bowl cost TWD 45. This is one of the recommended foods to try if you are at XiMenDing at Night. 

 Have a good night rest.