Taiwan 台湾 2012; summary and 8D7N itinerary

OH MY!!

How do I even start.. 8 days 7 nights, 1200 photos!

And I still don’t know where to start from. I’m guessing I would probably take 6 months to do up all the posts. Especially when I want to ‘write’ in Chinese. Let’s be honest, I can’t write in Chinese. So I’ll be going around www and copy paste the words, whereas I would write in Pin Yin (IF I know how to read)

Along North Coast drive 北海

Taipei 101 台北101

But in a nutshell, here’s where we went, our whole 8d7n itinerary. We actually wanted to spend half of the trip outside Taipei first (u know, before all the shopping begins and our luggage are too heavy) Then slowly move the way up to Taipei. So we went to Hualien straight, it’s about 2-3 hours away from Taipei, depending on which train you take. Taroko Express TRA will take u there in about 2 hrs 10 minutes, but the ticket sells out fast. You either book earlier and pray AirAsia don’t delay if you’re like us, going straight. Or, spend a night in Taipei then move to Hualien.

In most places of Day 3 and Day 4, some people can do it in ONE day with a local driver. But because we spent the entire morning travelling from Hualien to Jiufen, AND the sun sets at 5.30pm, it doesnt really leave us much scenery to enjoy. Hence, we had to split in 2 days. And on the 2nd day, we headed back from Jiufen to Taipei by taking the local driver. Trains and luggage, don’t really go well. If you need contacts of the driver, you can email me instead.

Chisingtan Beach 七星潭 <3

Taiwan 8d7n Itinerary

Day 1: KL, LCCT > Taoyuan Airport  臺灣桃園國際機場 > Taipei Main Station 台北火車站 > Hualien Train Station > Sunrise Hualien Minsu 花蓮日之出民宿

Day 2 (in Hualien, 花蓮): Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園 (we spent about 5-6 hours inside Taroko itself), Chisingtan Beach 七星潭, Hualien City for food, Zi Qiang Night Market自強路夜市

Day 3: Hualien Train Station > Ruifang Train Station 瑞芳車站 > Shifen Waterfall 十分瀑布, Shifen Old Street for Sky Lantern 十分老街 (放天燈)> Check in Windsor B&B in Jiufen 温莎堡民宿 > Yin Yang Sea 陰陽海> Golden Waterfall 黃金瀑布 > Jinguashi 金瓜石> Jiufen Old Street  九份老街

Day 4: Check out > Along North Coast drive 北海 > Jin Shan Old Street 金山老街/ Jin Bao Li Old Street 金包里街 > Yeh Liu Geological Park 野柳地質公園 (suppose to go to Yang Ming Shan and Beitou after this, but we skipped and went to Dansui instead)  > Danshui Fishermans’ Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭 > Danshui Old Street 淡水老街 > Driver sent us back to Ximending, Check in Hotel Via, Ximending 西門町 > Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

Day 5: Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice 金峰魯肉飯 > Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall  國立中正紀念堂 > Yong Kang Street 永康街 > Ding Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 and Smoothie Ice 思慕昔15號本館 > Miniatures Museum 袖珍博物館 > Sogo 太平洋崇光 (and got a very expensive, if not the most expensive pair of shoe ever in my life, to date) > The Red House Theater 紅樓劇場> Feng Ma La Hot Pot 瘋麻辣頂級鴛鴦麻辣火鍋

Day 6: Ay-Chung Flour Rice Noodles 阿宗麵線 > Xin Bei Tou Hot Springs Park 北投溫泉親水公園 > Geothermal Valley (Hells Valley) 地熱谷 was closed!! dammit > Puji Temple (普濟寺) > McD taro pie > ATT 4FUN mall > LOVE Sculpture > Taipei 101 台北101 > Azabu Sabo Japanese Restaurant in Hankyu 麻布茶房 > Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki in Bellavita 青木定治旗艦專賣 > Eslite Dunhua 24hr bookstore 誠品敦南店

Day 7: Fu Hang Soy Milk 阜杭豆漿 > Raohe Rainbow Bridge 彩虹橋 > looking for youbike rental. failed. > GPG Coffee Cafe (must!) 豆工房 珈啡館 > Wu Fen Pu 五分埔 opens only at 1pm.(we didn’t buy anything. damn, i allocated 4-5 hours here, but we had nothing to do after 1 1/2 hrs so we went back to the city.)  > Sunny Hills 微熱山丘 > Secret Location because it’s a secret > Ximending 西門町 > Sushi Express 爭鮮迴轉壽司 > Ci You Temple 慈佑宮 (BUT it was closed for renovations dammit again) > Raohe Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 > Eslite Dunhua 誠品敦南店 again

Day 7 was a hit and run day, because my friends wanted to try Youbike, and we had soooo many obstacles, machine spoil, not enough bikes, wrong machine, only open on weekends.. damn. we took cabs, walk and in the end, didn’t get any Youbike. And most people say Wufenpu opens at 11am. no, please go after 1pm.

Day 8: McDonalds > wanted to go rent youbike from the city BUT failed again because there wasn’t any registration counters for new bikes, the nearest counter is in Raohe, the one we went to on Day 7 but wasn’t working. so we gave up the thought of using youbike > Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall 國立國父紀念館 > R9 Cafe for Honey Toast. 蜜糖吐司 > Check out > Tao Yuan Airport  臺灣桃園國際機場 > KL

Okay.. of course, I didn’t write everything we ate. There were some hits and misses with food, save that for another day I guess. All these chinese characters are driving me crazy. Pictures please.

ootd#day 7, Banana Player shirt (it’s banana starwars!) and made in japan edition tigeronisuka.

 

Bento dinner in the train from Taipei Main Station to Hualien.

Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園

Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園

Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園

Kiss my Prince frog hahaha in

Coffin Bread in Zi Qiang Night Market自強路夜市

 Sky Lantern in Shifen Old Street along PingXi rail track 十分老街 (放天燈)

Jinguashi 金瓜石

View from our room in Windsor B&B, Jiufen 温莎堡民宿

Best breakfast, in terms of ambience. (included in our stay in Windsor B&B 温莎堡民宿)

Peanut Brittle Taro Ice Cream Cilantro Poh Piah Wrap 花生捲加冰淇淋 (Must eat in Jiufen!)

 

Yeh Liu Geological Park 野柳地質公園 for the Queen’s Head 女王頭

Danshui Fishermans’ Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭

Ah Gei 阿給 and Fishballs in Danshui Old Street 淡水老街. I think Ah Gei 阿給 is authentically from Danshui 淡水..

Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice 金峰魯肉飯

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall  國立中正紀念堂

Ding Tai Fung 鼎泰豐

Our Naive Banana Player shirt which we got outside The Red House Theater. Hehehe

Feng Ma La Hot Pot 瘋麻辣頂級鴛鴦麻辣火鍋

Xin Bei Tou Hot Springs Park 北投溫泉親水公園

View from Taipei 101 台北101

LOVE sculpture infront of Taipei 101

Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki in Bellavita mall. Closes at about 9pm. Only take away some stuffs.

Ay-Chung Flour Rice Noodles 阿宗麵線

Fu Hang Soy Milk 阜杭豆漿

Sunny Hills 微熱山丘

Pepper Pork Bun in Raohe Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市

Stinky Tofu 臭豆腐 in Raohe Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市

Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall 國立國父紀念館

R9 Cafe – A MA ZING! See the coffee is smiling. AMAZING!

Hello Kitty Check in Counter in Taoyuan Airport

Wwooohh.. That’s quite abit isn’t it? I don’t know when I’ll be posting any individual postings abt this trip, because, I haven’t write anything about the HK trip, and I’m heading there again in Jan 2013. 😛

Anyway, Taiwan is absolutely beautiful. It has very beautiful scenery and it is well protected and kept. They are quite strict, especially in Geopark.. Trust me. And Taiwanese are generally very friendly people. We have people coming to us and ask us if we are looking for something / some shops when I was walking with some papers. And to move around the outskirts of Taiwan, I would recommend to get a driver. That way, it’s easier to move around cause transportation may not be as convenient as in Taipei itself. With picking drivers, get contact from friends, or maybe check with the B&Bs if there’s anyone to recommend. I would say, in Taipei city itself, it wasn’t as interesting as the outskirts. So if the next time I ever go back to Taiwan, I’m definitely going to the outskirts!!

PS * I’m not a travel agent, the self planned itinerary is up there. So you can take it as a reference guide, please don’t ask me to plan your trip.

Cheers!

9 thoughts on “Taiwan 台湾 2012; summary and 8D7N itinerary

    1. almost the same menu, but it’s 1 michelin star there and taste so much better, service really good and efficient and slightly cheaper. Even the toilet attendant is so professional.

  1. woots i went hualian, shifen, and jiufen too! agree with u on the hospitality of tw pple. so amazing and diff from sg (not sure msia). and that reminds me i still have more TW and also, korea photos to upload…HA!

  2. love your photos…going next month and now am excited to go!!! Your info is super
    helpful. Going to check out your Hong Kong blog next cuz we are going there also.
    Thanks much!

  3. Hi, I was googling about free & easy itinerary in Taiwan and I found yours suits me & my hubby. I have few things to ask you for further planning on my schedule.
    – Do you book the hotels on your own?
    – Can you provide the driver’s contact? Is the taxi fare costly or you would suggest to take the driver instead? How do the driver charge?

    I am sorry for asking so many question but I hope you can help me as this is my first time going Taiwan. 🙂

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