.Kendes Travelogue.: 7D6N TAIPEI TRIP

DAY 3 of our Taipei Trip 15-21 June 2013.

Today's Breakfast menu is Mcdonald Big Breakfast Set.

Their Mcdonald's menu are similar to SG except they have Pork Burgers and its much cheaper!

The portion is similar to SG too unlike the Baby KFC Meal we had ytd.

Its Monday today, and in Taipei, quite a few attractions closes on Monday, so to be safe, our itinerary for today will be to Shifen （十分） to release Sky lanterns then to Jiufen （九份） to shop.

From Ximending, if we want to get to Shifen, i believe there's a few way but the simplest way would be by train.

From Ximending MRT station, we took the MRT to Taipei Main Station, before buying a Train Ticket at the TRA (Taipei Railways Administrator) counters to Rueifang 瑞芳 Station. The train from Taipei Main Station to Rueifang station takes around 45min and its super packed so don't expect a place to sit.

The tickets to Rueifang station cost 49NT per person.

After arriving at Rueifang Station, we have to top up the fare difference at the Fare Adjustment window on the station platform to get our train tickets to Shifen.

From Rueifang to Shifen station, its another 30minutes and luckily for me i managed to get a seat on board the train to Shifen, haha. so happy no need to stand liao.

waiting for the Train to come at Rueifang station.

En-route from Rueifang to Shifen, i fell asleep and amidst my stupor, i heard the PA announcing its Shifen, so i jolt Angry Smurf awake and we ran down the train, end up, the announcement is probably saying next stop Shifen. LOL. and so upon realising my mistake, we ran back up the train and continue our journey to Shifen.

Upon getting down the train at Shifen, beside the railway are alot of shops selling specialties of Shifen, all the postcards which you can buy and post back to yourself, all the sky lantern shops which you can choose to buy your Sky lantern from.

The shops are located right beside the Railway track, so when the train comes, you can feel the gush of wind as the train passes you by. its that close!

The suspension bridge

Take picture first. :P

We bought our Sky Lantern from the first shop we saw, an almost empty shop that sells Sky Lanterns and miniature Sky Lanterns display only. Its only 100NT for a Sky Lantern and the prices across the shops are mostly standardized.

After paying for our Sky Lantern, the auntie clipped it up on the rack beside the railway so that we can write our wishes on the Sky Lantern before releasing it.

A Sky Lantern is also know as 孔明灯.
It is like a small version of hot air balloon with opening at the bottom where a small fire is started to let the hot air in to enable the Sky Lantern to rise.
Other than in Shifen, another place where people can go to release Sky Lantern is at PingXi.

Writing our wishes on our Sky Lantern.
We got one with 4 colours on the 4 sides, referring to the poster outside the shop, apparently different colour meant different things.

Firstly, write on the pink side which symbolises Love.

This green side is for Career.
so write down what i wished for at work. haha!

Blue for Wealth
Since for wealth, shall write down my favourite 4D number!

White for Health
So wish the people important to me to be healthy always and forever.

After we had finished writing on our sky lantern, its time to release them.
We released them on the railway tracks directly.
The auntie helped us to light up our sky lantern, so while waiting for the lantern to be filled with hot air, take some photos first.

YAY! fly liao.... May all our wishes come true.

After releasing our sky lanterns, we spent some time in the shops buying souvenir and postcards to mail back to ourselves, i remember my fren Tingting telling me to take note of the train timing because if one leaves, we need to wait almost 2 hours for the next one to come... i saw a train pulling into the station but i didnt really rmb what Tingting told me. Buy things that time always forget things one. After shopping, only did i recalled what she said, so we went to the Train station counter to check the next train timing, and its 2 hours later! no choice lo... Now got more time to shop liao! LOL.

zzzzzz

Walked over to the suspension bridge since we had so much time, did not cross over to the other side as the bridge is real long, and there isn't anything at the other end.

While waiting for the next train to come, we wanted to walk over to Shifen Waterfall, but i didnt know how to go. Asked the lady selling Pop Soda, she said its abt 15min walk away. Didn't wanted to venture too far in case we lost our way so we decided to just stay around the train station area.

Their train all beautifully painted.

Have some ice cream while passing time.

After walking around and eating ice cream, we felt that 2 hours is too long a wait, so we tried to go down to the main road thru the slip road at the side, but its too far away and the taxis there are mostly waiting for their passengers which they ferried over from other areas... so we hacked the plan of hailing a cab and continue to wait for time to pass!

Finally, after a long wait sitting outside a shop in the train station. the train back to Rueifang finally comes into the station. we boarded the train HAPPILY and proceeded back to Rueifang to continue our journey to Jiufen.

At Rueifang, there are buses to Jiufen, but we chose to take a taxi up so that it will be more comfortable and faster. Its expensive to take a cab up. The short 10min ride cost us 200-300NT if i didnt remember wrongly whereas the bus ride maybe less than 50NT for 2 person.

The last time we came to Jiufen with the tour in 2010, we ate at this super nice and crowded 卤肉饭 shop.
When we reach, we are already very hungry, so we walk around where we remember the shop is located but couldn't find it, so we just ate at another shop selling 卤肉饭. its not bad too. Especially the 卤蛋 and braised vegetable. The shop is located near the entrance of Jiufen Old Street, along the first turn.

After lunch, its time to go shopping! weeeee...

The very popular auntie selling sausages

Took a break after a while of shopping at a cafe at the edge of the mountains. beautiful view definitely...
The entrance to the cafe is via the toilet area, a ulu ulu almost empty compound with a few Kiap Bear Bear machines.

Angry Smurf have his afternoon dose of caffeine while i have my beer.

Went out for a smoke while Angry Smurf continue enjoying the aircon inside the cafe.

After a few hours of shopping in Jiufen Old Street (buying mostly snacks and jellies), we took a cab back to Rueifang train station to take the train back to Taipei Main Station.

Taking a taxi back Ximending is definitely a NO NO. the uncle quoted us 1000NT to bring us back from Jiufen to Ximending.

By then time we reach Ximending, its time for dinner already, no idea and no craving of what to eat so we settled for this Curry House. Nobody de but the food not bad. quite nice.