Taiwan 2017 Edition
Today I am bringing you and me back to 2017 when I traveled internationally for the first time to Taiwan. I had the other 2 companions on this trip. We chose to fly there in November hoping that winter would start with no more rain. How smart we were...
Turned out it was drizzling since day one 😂😂
Day 1
We landed in Taiwan quite early. We took a bus to the hotel in Taipei and left our bags there. Then, our first destination to Houjong the Cat Village started! Once we stepped out of the train, it rained HARD. Even though I had an umbrella, I ended up getting a poncho and wandered around the town under the rain. We definitely looked like a pile of moving wet trash bags lol. Too sad that it was cold and wet so there were not so many cats around. Not as we expected, great!
After that, we took a train and a bus to Juifen, the Spirited-Away-Inspo-Scene. It was for sure a tourist attraction so we expected a lot of people there but the rain made it a lot worse. However, we managed to get around the town for a couple hours. The way back was like a scene of Silent Hill with all the fog and rain.
We got back to Taipei (safe and sound..) to meet up with a friend of my friend. As he is Taiwanese, he took us to a well-known hotpot place for dinner. Yum!
And that was pretty much for our first day.
Day 2
I woke up getting sick in the morning. URGH. Not that I didn't see it coming because I definitely caught a lot of the rain yesterday. But it was terrible as I got a sore throat and my nose hurt when I breathed because of the cold and wet kind of weather here.
But the show must go on! The first plan was to get breakfast at the fish market. If I remember correctly, we walked from our hotel for 20-30 minutes until we get there. My fragile nose and throat didn't like it as much I had to wear a mask to prevent the cold air.
So you can imagine that I looked like this pretty much for the rest of the trip. I took a mask off only when I took photos because #doitforthegram DUH.
Once our tummies were full, we started our journey to the first destination of the day, Shiding. Our original plan was the Thousand Island Lake with all those mountains and rivers... but we ended up at the terminal bus station at Shiding Old Street instead. LMAO. We were pretty sure we followed the right direction. However, we were too cold and too confused to move forward...
And I swear there was literally no one (and by this, I mean no tourist, like us lol). We warmed ourselves up in a cute cafe until the rain stopped for a few hours. Then, we just hung out around town. It was a quiet day in a very small town but super cozy. I would say that this place is still my favorite spot by far from the whole trip. I love the vibe, the surroundings, and very friendly people there.
After that, we left to Xiemending area for dinner and shopping at a night market. At this time, I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to because of my sickness. It was SO cold at night. People also smoked in public everywhere and my nose and throat could no longer take it. I didn't get anything from the market at all. And I passed out real quick after a quick hot shower in the hotel.
Day 3
Today was my turn to lead everyone to the Monster Village and the Rainbow Village in Taichung. Let me make it clear here that my friends and I were super laid back when it came to plans. We just did whatever we could do within our time and budget. So we decided to take a speed train to Taichung. And no doubt, the ticket price was super high as we didn't book it beforehand 😂 But hey, it isn't like we will stay here forever 😉
After we came back to Taipei, we went to the other night market which we stayed until all shops were closed! We enjoyed this night market more than Xiemending one as there were fewer people. So we didn't have to squeeze in to get around and could take time to shop.
Day 4
It was drizzling all day. We went to Lhongsan Temple in the first place. Then we met up with my friend's friend again in Huashan 1914. The place was very artsy with all of the creative vibes. Even though it was a wet and cold day, we moved from place to place mostly by walking. We then moved to Jimmy Liao's Moon Bus and walked ALL THE WAY to the Elite Book Shop. You can say that today was a creative-artsy-vibe day :)
But lastly, we can't talk about Taiwan by not mentioning of food! I wouldn't say I liked the food there but it wasn't bad at all. Taiwanese food tended to have a plain flavor (which was healthy) while I prefer the variety of flavors like spicy, salty, and soury. The only thing I still feel so regret is that I was too sick to enjoy the milk tea either hot or cold :(
After all, I enjoyed my time there. In my opinion, Taiwan (at least in Taipei) is pretty much like Bangkok but more of a well-developed version lol. It was easy to get around. You had pretty much everything you needed. The people were so nice and kind and willing to help as long as we came up to them. Thumbs up to Taiwan!
Turned out it was drizzling since day one 😂😂
Day 1
We landed in Taiwan quite early. We took a bus to the hotel in Taipei and left our bags there. Then, our first destination to Houjong the Cat Village started! Once we stepped out of the train, it rained HARD. Even though I had an umbrella, I ended up getting a poncho and wandered around the town under the rain. We definitely looked like a pile of moving wet trash bags lol. Too sad that it was cold and wet so there were not so many cats around. Not as we expected, great!
After that, we took a train and a bus to Juifen, the Spirited-Away-Inspo-Scene. It was for sure a tourist attraction so we expected a lot of people there but the rain made it a lot worse. However, we managed to get around the town for a couple hours. The way back was like a scene of Silent Hill with all the fog and rain.
We got back to Taipei (safe and sound..) to meet up with a friend of my friend. As he is Taiwanese, he took us to a well-known hotpot place for dinner. Yum!
And that was pretty much for our first day.
Day 2
I woke up getting sick in the morning. URGH. Not that I didn't see it coming because I definitely caught a lot of the rain yesterday. But it was terrible as I got a sore throat and my nose hurt when I breathed because of the cold and wet kind of weather here.
But the show must go on! The first plan was to get breakfast at the fish market. If I remember correctly, we walked from our hotel for 20-30 minutes until we get there. My fragile nose and throat didn't like it as much I had to wear a mask to prevent the cold air.
So you can imagine that I looked like this pretty much for the rest of the trip. I took a mask off only when I took photos because #doitforthegram DUH.
Once our tummies were full, we started our journey to the first destination of the day, Shiding. Our original plan was the Thousand Island Lake with all those mountains and rivers... but we ended up at the terminal bus station at Shiding Old Street instead. LMAO. We were pretty sure we followed the right direction. However, we were too cold and too confused to move forward...
And I swear there was literally no one (and by this, I mean no tourist, like us lol). We warmed ourselves up in a cute cafe until the rain stopped for a few hours. Then, we just hung out around town. It was a quiet day in a very small town but super cozy. I would say that this place is still my favorite spot by far from the whole trip. I love the vibe, the surroundings, and very friendly people there.
After that, we left to Xiemending area for dinner and shopping at a night market. At this time, I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to because of my sickness. It was SO cold at night. People also smoked in public everywhere and my nose and throat could no longer take it. I didn't get anything from the market at all. And I passed out real quick after a quick hot shower in the hotel.
Day 3
Today was my turn to lead everyone to the Monster Village and the Rainbow Village in Taichung. Let me make it clear here that my friends and I were super laid back when it came to plans. We just did whatever we could do within our time and budget. So we decided to take a speed train to Taichung. And no doubt, the ticket price was super high as we didn't book it beforehand 😂 But hey, it isn't like we will stay here forever 😉
 |
| Somehow we matched the color theme of our outfits today, unintentionally though! :D |
After we came back to Taipei, we went to the other night market which we stayed until all shops were closed! We enjoyed this night market more than Xiemending one as there were fewer people. So we didn't have to squeeze in to get around and could take time to shop.
Day 4
It was drizzling all day. We went to Lhongsan Temple in the first place. Then we met up with my friend's friend again in Huashan 1914. The place was very artsy with all of the creative vibes. Even though it was a wet and cold day, we moved from place to place mostly by walking. We then moved to Jimmy Liao's Moon Bus and walked ALL THE WAY to the Elite Book Shop. You can say that today was a creative-artsy-vibe day :)
And that was pretty much my experience in Taiwan. In the very early morning of the next day, we just took a train to the airport and flew back to Bangkok safely.
But lastly, we can't talk about Taiwan by not mentioning of food! I wouldn't say I liked the food there but it wasn't bad at all. Taiwanese food tended to have a plain flavor (which was healthy) while I prefer the variety of flavors like spicy, salty, and soury. The only thing I still feel so regret is that I was too sick to enjoy the milk tea either hot or cold :(
After all, I enjoyed my time there. In my opinion, Taiwan (at least in Taipei) is pretty much like Bangkok but more of a well-developed version lol. It was easy to get around. You had pretty much everything you needed. The people were so nice and kind and willing to help as long as we came up to them. Thumbs up to Taiwan!
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| I took #doitforthegram very seriously no matter how sick I was 😁😁 |
Would you visit Taiwan again if you could?
ReplyDeleteSure thing. But with my limited budget per year, I would rather visit somewhere else first :)
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