Taipei Trip Day 1

At about a month ago, Feb 13 in the evening, we were still wandering around Taipei 101 mall and maybe looking for something to eat.  We no longer went up to 88th or 89th floor of the building to get a spectacular view of Taipei since it was rainy at that time and the view from the top is foggy, according to the receptionist.  And so we decided to just hang around Taipei 101 and do some shopping.  Besides, it would be a waste of NT$450 if you will not get to see anything.

Yes, I was in Taiwan last month from Feb 12-16.  I celebrated Valentine's Day with my single girlfriends in Taiwan.  Its not really 5 days since the flight was evening of Feb. 12 and we are expected to arrive at Taiwan at 12am of Feb. 13.  Then our flight back was also evening of Feb. 15 and we are expected to arrive in Manila at 3am of Feb. 16.  This is my first trip for this year.  It is also my first International trip.

Upon arriving in Taipei International Airport, I can already feel that I was in another country. The weather is really cold.  Colder than what I used to when inside an air conditioned room.  I love it.  We were fetch by the van contacted by my friend.  He welcomes us as we aboard his van.  The van was high tech with GPS attached!  It was talking and informing the driver where it is headed.  Well I'm not so sure as the language is Chinese.  My friends had a little chat with the driver as they know some Chinese (both Mandarin and Fookien).  From the airport, it was about 45minutes drive to where we will be staying, King Shi Hotel at Ximending District, the fashion district of Taipei.

          

 Standard Room at King Shi Hotel

Our driver got a quite hard time in finding our hotel.  Well I wouldn't be surprised since our hotel does not look like a hotel at all.  The hotel only occupies 7th and 8th floor of the building.  The other floors are for other businesses.  We availed 2 standard rooms since we are 5.  I payed at around Php 4,000 for 3 days 3 nights stay to my friend, she did all the bookings for us.  Sorry I can't recall the exact room charge per night :)

Our itinerary for today is Maokong Gondola, Sun Yat Sen and Taipei 101.  Fist destination is the Maokong Gondola.  We need to ride the MRT from Ximen (Tucheng, Banqiao and Nangang Line or simply blue line) to Taipei Zoo (Wenhu or brown line).  We will be transferring trains from Zhongxiao Fuxing on our way to Taipei Zoo.  Their MRT is very high tech.   All are connected so you can reach your destination easily.  We opted to buy chips rather than a card pass.  It is more cheaper.  MRT rates are about NT$25 on the average but it is still dependent on your destination.  Buying chips is quite easy as there are instructions indicated.  Another thing that amazes me is how disciplined their people are.  There are designated waiting line which people strictly follows.  They waited for passengers to come out from MRT before going in. 

Travel time from Ximen to Taipei Zoo is around 30 minutes.  From the MRT, we have to walk about 300 meters to get to Maokong Gondola.  There are paw prints in the sidewalk with some Chinese characters written on it.  Walking down the streets, you can also smell that you are indeed in Taipei Zoo, if you know what I mean :)

Maokong Gondola has 4 stations: Taipei Zoo Station, Taipei Zoo South Station, Zhinan Temple Station and Maokong Station.  We skipped the first 3 stations and headed straight to Maokong Station.  It took us about 30 minutes or more. 

From the Maokong Station, there are a lot of tourist spots to be visited.  We just picked out a few.  There is also an information center where you can ask the distance from one point to another.  Bus service are also provided with a fee.  Since we're on a budget, we just walk.  But later we realized, we wished we rode the bus... we wasted some time walking :(  We were there from about 10AM to 5PM.  We ate at 2 different tea houses, visited some temples, went to the tea plantation, walk, walk and walk.  Its very tiring.  But we did enjoy our tea and street food! Yum!  Maokong area has also become real cold when it started to rain.

Of course we tasted their tea. Authentic!

This is very yummy with real fresh fruits!

Big serving of noodles from food court of Taipei 101. I ordered this via turo-turo language

Since we spent the whole day at Maokong Station, we skipped Sun Yat Sen as it closes at around 5PM.  We decided to visit it on our last day.  We went straight to Taipei 101 from our Maokong Gondola trip. We rode again MRT from Taipei Zoo (Wenhu line) to Taipei City Hall (Tucheng, Banqiao, Nangang line).

As mentioned earlier, we no longer went up to see the city skyline of Taipei as it was raining and even the receptionist informed us that there is low visibility of the city due to the fog.  Yes, it was still cold at that time.  The rain added coldness to the city.

So this is how my first day in Taipei went.  Tiring but enjoyable.  I really enjoyed the food and the weather!




Here's my post for Day 2 and Day 3.
 

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For some reason, I felt sad.  I should be happy and excited because I'll be leaving for HK tomorrow.  But I don't know.  I suddenly felt sad.  I feel like telling people close to me that I love them.  Am I gonna die?  Why do I have this feeling of saying goodbye? No, no, no. I can't think that way. Happy thoughts happy thoughts... I've got tons of things to do before my HK trip.  That's what I should be more concerned about.  Happy thoughts happy thoughts...

My First International Trip

No, it's not in Hong Kong.  It will be in Taipei, Taiwan.  I'm pretty much excited about it despite my sister's discouraging comments on this trip; telling me that it will just be a waste of money since there's nothing to do there in Taiwan.  Whatever.  I will still pursue this trip.  Besides, this will be my first international trip!

I've done a few researches and visited various forums to get an idea on what to expect in Taiwan.  First things first, the visa.  Wow! My first international trip and my first visa! Bongga!  Secondly, yeah, there's really not much to do in Taipei and most of the famous tourist attractions are the museums, temples and shrines.  Of course there's also the famous Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world.  But the pictures from my researches looked good and inviting.  What got me curious is that, as they say, Taipei is really a food trip.  I like!  I know you wouldn't believe that I like food if you see me personally, haha!  But I really enjoy trying out the food (specialty or famous food) of various places I've visited and will be visiting.  Since I'm quite Chinese, the taste of noodles and dimsum will no longer be new to me.  But I'm excited to taste a real, authentic Chinese noodles!!  I've read also other must try foods like the stinky tofu (they say it really does stink but taste really good. curiosity curiosity..), pineapple cake, mochi balls, milk tea and a lot more.  I'm really looking forward to taste these!  and lastly, Taipei is currently having their once a year event called the Flora Expo.  This event can already cover one day of our vacation.  At least we no longer need to worry much as to where to go.  I just hope I could see cherry blossoms in the event!

I'm really really excited about this trip! Aside from what I've mentioned above, I will finally experience a very cold weather!  I will get to wear my boots and a "winter fashion" outfit! Haha!  8-15 degrees Celsius... Not too close to winter but cold enough for the experience.  I'll be leaving this weekend and be back after Valentine's.  I'll be spending my Valentine's there with my single girlfriends!  

Please check my post on this trip:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 

Boots... after 2 days

Remember my blog post about boots, whether or not should I buy? Well, in just 2 days, I was able to buy one!  I'm really worried on how to protect my feet during my trip so I searched for shoes that can do just that, eliminating the sneakers/rubber shoes section.  I've chosen about 4 shoes but they don't seem to be worn with socks.  So when I was about to go home, I passed by Naf Naf in Cinderella Glorietta.  There's this one boots that caught my attention.  Unfortunately, they don't have my size but the SA convince me to try on their boots that is 2 inches bigger than my shoe size since their sizing is really small.  To my amazement, the size 9 boots fits perfectly!  I fell in love with it.  I took pictures and send it to my sister for her "approval".  And I even waited for my friend for her to see it and get her opinion.  Gladly, they both liked it and convinced me that it's already cheap.  With a few walks to see if I'll hurt my toes (fortunately not!), without hesitation, I bought it!  The price? Only Php 1,249 from the original price of Php 2,498!

I just used a cam phone so forgive me if the photo was too bright...

I am pretty much satisfied with my boots.  All the stuff that I'm looking for is here.  You can even wear it in two ways!  Love it! I'm now ready to travel!

Almost Free Meal

The best things in life are free.  But the second best thing is getting an item on sale or at a discounted price.  I was able to eat at Italianni's in Glorietta with a friend at half the price.  Since we are on a slightly tight budget, so we only ordered for a Tropicale pizza which cost Php 450 and no drinks, just water.  It already has 8 slices.  Divided to just the two of us will be enough for a snack.  Well, I think that was already my dinner.  4 slices each of pizza plus free servings of bread can really make your tummy full.  And how much did we pay?  Only Php 216!  It already includes the taxes and service charge.  So cheap isn't it?  Glad to have that coupon!  Unfortunately, only 1 coupon per transaction is allowed.  Since we used my friend's coupon to avail the discount, I can get to keep mine.  We'll be using it again maybe soon.  Good thing the coupon doesn't have any expiry ;)

Boots: To Buy or Not To Buy

Even if wearing boots has become a fashion trend here in the Philippines, I still am not eager to have one for myself.  Well, not exactly.  I own one, a faux leather ankle boots which I bought 3 or 4 years ago.  But I only got to wear it once.  I still feel awkward wearing it.  Maybe because my perception for boots is worn only during cold weather and Philippines is not one.  Yeah it can get chilly on the "ber" months until February but still it is a humid country.  No offense to those who love boots.  This is just me.

But now, I'm having second thoughts of owning another boots for myself.  My reason, I have two upcoming out of the country trips this month and they say the weather is cold.  Browsing through my shoes, I only have rubber shoes that can cover my whole feet.  I don't feel like wearing it as part of my outfit or get up.  I also have closed shoes like ballet flats but only my toes are covered.  It will be "unpleasant" sight if I wore socks with my ballet flats.  That is when I thought of getting boots just for this trip.  Yes, just for this trip.  Wouldn't that be expensive?  I mean I'll be only wearing it for this trip and for sure I don't have plans of travelling to a colder country anytime soon.  Now that's my dilemma, whether or not to buy boots.

Right now, I'm in search for cheapest boots I can find over the internet.  I have browsed through the malls and department stores and the cheapest I can find cost Php 2,000.  That's still expensive for me! Haha!  My budget is only Php 1,000 max.  Well, I can stretch my budget up to Php 1,500 but I prefer not too.  I'm even considering a slightly used boots! Haha!  Can anyone help?  I prefer a mid-calf length boots and suede material.  But whatever you may offer, I would gladly check it out.

I hope someone can reply soon as my trip is already next week!