The next adventure begins! I am so thrilled to know that i am going to Taiwan. I went there on the mid of September last month. I have never imagine to travel to Taiwan before and never think about it because it doesn't appear in my mind. Luckily, AA advertisement was passing by and having a sale to Taiwan. The return ticket was super cheap. It was RM512 only. I immediately informed my travel buddies to try new travel adventures. They immediately agreed! So we booked our tickets on the spot. We bought our tickets 4 months before the trip. As you guys know, i am a bagpacker style traveler. We always go travel without any travel agent. We like to explore a country by our ownself. Well of course, we need to study the country that we will be visited everytime. To travel without any travel agent is the most adventurous thing to do. That is what we always do when we go to travel. We do our own plan, itinerary, budget plan and many more. For your information, we will be stayed in Taiwan for almost a week. I will be missing and out of radar for few days. We choose to explore Taipei. As you all know, Taiwan is part of republic of China. However, no Visa is needed for Malaysian but you need to fill in an arrival card on the flight before touchdown to Taiwan. It took 5 hours journey from Malaysia to Taipei only. The is no time difference between Taiwan and Malaysia.
The moment our plane touched down in Taipei, the universe seemed to whisper, “Welcome, your adventure begins now.” With determination in every step—and maybe a little excitement buzzing in your chest—you marched out of Taoyuan International Airport in search of our first quest is EasyCard acquisition, the sacred artifacts of Taipei travellers. It will be used for the public transportation and convenience store in Taipei. You found them like a champ, right by the airport MRT area, ready to unlock the city. For your information, if you register the card you will have chance to win a big prize. Just go to the nearby booth to redeem the prize if you are lucky enough. However, i am not a lucky girl. Therefore, lets get off to the MRT as soon as possible without waste any time. With our new gear equipped, we hopped onto the Airport MRT, the sleek purple express line shooting you straight into the heart of Taipei. Feeling like you were entering a high-speed portal to destiny. Taipei is a modern city in Taiwan. I rode the airport MRT into the city, watching skyscrapers rise like quiet promises. The city lights blurred past like streaks of neon destiny as we arrived at Ximen Station, where our first base—Tomorrow Hotel—awaited us. We purposely choose this hotel because the hotel is very near to all places and near to MRT station which is very convenient to reach anywhere. We checked in the hotel and keep all our luggage there. We rest for awhile and get freshen up. Then, we find some food for our late dinner because we reached Taipei almost evening. We tried to find Halal food until we reach to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. We stopped by. As we stood under the massive archway, we felt a stillness settle around us — the kind of silence that feels like someone is watching… but gently. Patiently. The archway gate was so massive and extravagant. White marble, towering archways and a vast courtyard greeted like a scene straight out of a majestic epic. We wandered through its peaceful grounds, soaking in the grandeur that contrasted Ximending’s chaos. We spend time there about 40 minutes to enjoy the night view and colorful lights there. After dinner, we took MRT to go back to our hotel area. Street food smoke curled into the air, LED screens flashed across buildings and crowds pulsed like a living river. Night fell, and only one thing made sense—Ximending Night Market. We dove into the maze of stalls, armed with cash (as the sacred rules demanded), hunting down bubble tea, snacks and treasures. With a satisfied belly and a heart full of excitement, we returned to our hotel, thinking. We walked around the Ximen area which is near to the famous and instagramable Rainbow Road. Yeap, our hotel is just a 1 minute walk to the Rainbow Road. At night, the area is full of basking people that entertain any people passing by there such as singing, dancing and many more. We watched the performances for a few minutes and get back to our hotel. Not much exploration for the arrival day because we were tired from the long flight journey and the MRT chaos. We also did supper at the hotel because we bought ramen for each. We ate and yapping at the hotel's lobby for awhile. Then, we sleep peacefully and comfortably that night in the hotel.
Morning came with the aroma of Ximending streets. We woke up early and get some simple breakfast snacks before begin our adventure today. We were pretty excited for today exploration because the places that we will be visited were amazing and famous among tourist. First, we explored Rainbow Road and passed the famous Red House. The famous spots during day time was so pretty and vibrant. Not many crowds in the morning so we have that entire spots by ourselves. Next, we continue to greet the city awake before heading for one of Taipei’s legendary experiences: Beitou Hot Springs. The recognizable hot spring in Taipei. The MRT whisked us to Xinbeitou Station. We have to pass several MRT stations to reach there. Then, we walked around 7 minutes to get to the hot spring's entrance. During the walk, we also passed by the famous timber design of Taipei library which have hot spring river beside it. Damn beautiful! We walked to the Thermal Valley first witnessed and experienced the thermal with our own eyes. It was mindblowing. We were so amazed. We could see the smoke of the valley and feel the heat. But the spring water is kinda green bluey in color which is nice. We spend time there for 30 minutes. Then, we walked back to go to the Beitou Hot Spring Centre but the it was a rest hour so they close for 30 minutes. Without wasting time we check in to the nearest hot spring musuem which has free entrance. We explore and get some informations there. Some of the staffs there also amazed with us because we could speak some mandarin language. We said that we are Malaysian and Malaysia has many races including chinese. So some of us could speak basic mandarin too. We talked with them for a few minutes and off to the hot spring. The time has come! We bathed in relaxing geothermal waters like royalty, steam swirling around us. We visited Thermal Valley, a mystical cauldron of emerald-green heat that felt like the earth itself was breathing. After done with the hot spring area, we headed to grab our lunch to fuel up our belly. We planned to go back to our hotel to change and fresh up. Back in the city, our spiritual side called—so you stepped into the serene Longshan Temple. We went there by MRT. It is quite near to the MRT station with 6 minutes walk. Longshan temple is very unique and has a beautiful man made waterfall in it. When we reached the temple, they just started the prayer and we could see their prayer ceremony. Then, we followed by the historic charm of Bopiliao Historical Block. It is pretty close with the Longshan Temple. We walked there and enjoy the historical buildings there along the Bopiliao road. We wandered around and see the interesting architecture there. However, the grand highlight awaited:Taipei 101 at sunset. Yes, we have secured the ticket at Klook so that we don't have to fight with other tourists. I am so excited for this moment that i have been waiting for so long to see the one of the tallest skyscraper in the world. The Taipei 101 design is awesome! i love it. For me, it looks like lantern. The elevator was so fast that it could reach the top level in few seconds. As we ascended to the 89th floor, the sun dipped behind the skyline. The tower lit up in rainbow colours—just as our itinerary foretold—and the city glittered beneath us. The city stretched below you. The sky turned golden. It was a moment of awe, standing atop one of the world’s tallest towers, feeling tiny yet infinite. As an engineer, I always curious to know on how the stability & firmness of the skyscraper been handled. For Taipei 101, a big massive heavy duty round ball have been installed at 82th floor to balance the load and stability. It was so big like it would take 2 and a half storey. We spend time for 2 and a half hours here to enjoy the skyline. At night, we continued your gourmet adventure at Shilin Night Market, battling crowds and stuffing yourself with wheel cakes, tanghulu, fried squid and everything delicious Taipei had to offer. Then we straight to night market, where we once again destroyed every food stall that stood in your path. You didn’t choose the snacks. The snacks chose you. Our bellies were so full and enjoy every bit of the food there. That day end with happiness and memorable moment ever. The next day adventure will be more exciting because we stayed and explored new city.
The next day, we checked out our hotel and went to the nearest Watson to buy some stuffs to bring to Shifen and Jiufen. We made our way to the legendary Pingxi Line, hopping from Taipei Main Station → Ruifang → Shifen, following the ancient traveller’s route. This was our first time to ride a train at Taiwan. This train will connect us from one city to another. We were so excited and thrilled. The train will go to Ruifang for 50 minutes and we need to take another old school train's design to Shifen for 20 minutes. We really enjoyed watching the view while in the train. The train has a traditional touched. Shifen Old Street greeted us with railway tracks running straight through the heart of the town. We hopped off from the train and straight to the Shifen old street. I love the street shops here. Variety of things, stuffs, soviniers, snacks and Taiwanese food. We've tried the taro ball, peanut ice cream roll, batter seafood, tanghulu, chang's beef noodle, big grilled mushroom and Taiwan tea. We walked around the train station to see the sky lantern activities. There are variety of lantern that you can choose. We saw many tourists released a sky lantern into the heavens—sending their wishes skyward as the lantern drifted into the misty mountains. It was magical. Maybe even emotional. Then came the thunder of cascading water—the magnificent Shifen Waterfall. We took a 20 minutes walk to the famous Jingan Suspension Bridge to go to the waterfall. We need to walk through the forest and pass through many streams, river and train trails. Surrounded by lush forest, the roar of nature echoed around you as you stood at the viewpoint in pure awe. We stop for awhile to enjoy and mesmerized with the beautiful waterfall and have a tea break. A lot of shops around the waterfall. Enough with the Shifen exploration, we went back to Ruifang and took train to go to Jiufen district. From there, we journeyed to the mountain village of Jiufen, the town that inspired Spirited Away. After arrived the Jiufen station, we took a bus just opposite the station to go to Jiufen Old Street. I can't wait to go there because the view there is amazing and famous shooting area for the famous movie Spirited Away. We climbed steep stairways, checked into H&Jiufen Longmen Inn and wandered through ancient alleys glowing with lanterns. Yeap, this old street has so many stairs, please bare in mind. We checked in to a lovely hotel and get free teatime complimentary session with overlooking view of Jiufen and the nearby sea. We felt like living to the fullest. Then, we rest and freshen up before start our twilight exploration. At twilight, Jiufen transformed. We went to the popular spot which is A -Mei Teahouse and explore the Jiufen Old Street. Many type of shops here. The A-Mei Teahouse shone like something out of a fantasy tale, and as we sipped tea and watched the mountain mist roll in,felt like you’d stepped into another world. Then, we bought some street food which is my favorite snack in Taipei, the big grilled mushroom. Love love love!! At midnight we were chilling and ate hot noodles at the hotel's rooftop garden while enjoying the cold & colorful night view. We slept peacefully that night.
We woke up early to catch the sunrise at Juifen. It was beautiful with the bright blue sky. Then, we went to bath and get ready to see Jiufen in daylight before head back to Taipei. We took some photos for memories. For next activity, we left our peaceful Jiufen inn and made our way back to Taipei. We went to nearest bus stop and took public bus to go back. First, we checked in to a new hotel at Taipei to keep all our luggages and proceed to our activity. There was one mission: conquer Elephant Mountain or XingShan Trail. The trail was steep, but we—with camera, water bottle and unbreakable spirit—climbed like a hero ascending to glory. Along the journey to the gate entrance of the mountain we could see the Taipei 101 which is very damn pretty close to our area. It look so huge and tall. Then, we continue to climb every stairs that have in the XingShan trail to reach the top. At the top which is 184m peak, Taipei stretched before you, crowned once again by Taipei 101. It was beautiful. And we earned it. From here, you can see the overall Taipei district. The climb was amazing and worth. That night, we experienced yet another iconic Taipei feast—Raohe Night Market. Street lanterns glowed warmly overhead as you sampled pepper buns, Taiwanese dessert ball, squid grilled, sweet potato balls, big grilled mushrooms (my favorite!!!) and anything that smelled too good to walk past. We really satisfied with the food we had. We bought some snacks to bring back to our hometown too. Tonight is our final night to stay in Taipei. Before back to hotel, we strolled around the city to see Taipei at night and the skyline there. Love to see the lightings and colorful LED lights on the Taipei 101.
Alright. The final morning of the day. Pack our stuffs quickly and grab some breakfast at nearby 7Eleven at the corner of our hotel. Then next to our final activity. Our final morning took us to the otherworldly landscapes of Yehliu Geopark. We brought all our luggage and kept all in the luggages storage at the MRT station. We need to take bus to go there. So we went to the Taipei Bus Station to take the public bus to go to Wanli district. The journey was around 1 and half hour. Yehliu Geopark has all kind of rocks shaped like queens, mushrooms, candles, and strange sculptures carved by nature over millions of years… it felt like wandering on another planet. We were kinda shocked to see the view. It is mind-blowing and too amazed. Yehliu Geopark is just beside the wide blue ocean with the nice deep blue ocean, white waves and windy. Very unique and beautiful. Words can't described. With the beautiful weather and clear blue skies give a bonus! We took a lot of photos and videos. I love to see the rocks shape, design and unique texture. Seems like man crafted but actually those were naturally crafted by the ocean and wind few hundreds years ago. I'm speechless. But I really really enjoyed here. No regrets. Too worth it. Please don't skip this geopark if you come to Taipei. As the afternoon end and almost to evening, we took a bus to go back to Taipei. We made our final journey back to the airport using the Airport MRT Express Line, reflecting on every magical moment Taiwan gifted you. I love Taipei! The city so clean and nice. The city faded behind the horizon as our plane lifted into the sky, and I whispered to myself: will come back soon but to other part of Taiwan. Deep down, i knew—i’ll return.
Do visit to my travel photos in my Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LIMIPHOTOGRAPHY) to see my journey to Conquer Taipei.
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