Day 8: Last day in Taiwan

We had a very late night (shopping in Shilin night market till 2am!) and only managed to wake up around 11am or so. Our last day in Taiwan today!! Nothing much was planned for today … Just got to make last min purchases (e.g. beauty products, food, etc), return to hotel earlier and pack our luggage to catch the morning flight to Hong Kong tmr =)

SY and her beauty products – Beautiful Diary Masks

The complimentary soft toys from the souvenir store at Shilin night market (cos we asked for it, hahaha)

Beautiful compact mirrors as souvenir for the ladies

Late lunch at the food court found at one of the many shopping malls in Ximending. There’s set meal promotion (main dish plus soup/bread), priced from NT100 to NT150. Look and feel is kinda like our food court here…

Outside Ximending station and the buildings around it. Just look at the crowd on a Saturday night… Argh!

李儀餅店 at Taipei Underground Rail Mall. This shop is famous for its freshly made 綠豆沙餅，咖哩酥，鳳梨酥 and only SY bought them cos she’ll return to Singapore earlier than us as you would need to consume these pastries within a week.

Dessert stall in Ximending, famous for its yam products. SY bought yam paste for supper…

… while Emi bought crispy chicken.

All in all, it had been a great, fun and exciting sightseeing cum shopping trip to Taiwan! I would have to visit Taroko Gorge and Alishan on my next trip... which would be at least a few years down the future, hahaha =)

Day 7: Ximending, Xinyi

We woke up slightly late as we stayed up till 2am to watch the many interesting variety / entertainment programs on TV… =) Planned activity for today – Check out Taipei’s main shopping districts, Ximending and Xinyi.

Ah Zhong Mee Sua at Ximending

Sharing a bowl of mee sua with chewy oysters, NT60. Yummy.

Lunch at one of the many eateries found around Ximending. Emi with a plate of fried toufu…

... AH with a plate of fried carrot cake and SY with a plate of oyster omelette

Cosplay maid-themed restaurant with young sweet waitresses all dressed in maid uniform. No photography allowed, so we did not check out the place.

After shopping for a few hours, it’s time for a tea break! We made our way to Er Mei Ice stall (near Ah Zhong Mee Sua stall) and it took us quite a while to finalize our orders as there are so many choices to choose from. Prices range from NT100 to NT150.

Overall, Ximending is the place where the young and trendy gather, buy their clothes and go to the movies. It is a very lively and crowded place on weekends and definitely a great place for people watching as there are many eateries around.


We packed dinner back (delicious pork ribs rice from a stall near Modern Toilet Restaurant, NT80) to hotel room so as to catch 娱乐百分百 and to put down our shopping before proceeding to the next stop on our list - Xinyi district. Taipei Convention Hall, Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei 101, Taipei City Hall, and various shopping malls and entertainment venues can be found at Xinyi, the most modern cosmopolitan district of Taipei.

Singkong Mitsukoshi (新光三越)

New York New York

Taipei 101

Entrance to the observatory, but alas, we got here too late and it’s closed.

Sparks. We wanted to check out this very cool and hip clubbing venue (NT500 for 2 drinks) but to our horror and inferior self-esteem, the ladies inside the club were all tall (at least 1.7m), slim, with long legs, fair, pretty, dressed sexy, etc… unlike us!! (re: you can see what we wore for that day lor…).Gotta give this place a miss =(

As it’s pretty late and most of the shopping malls were closed, we decided to return to Shilin night market for snacks and more shopping… Got more shoes, clothes, souvenirs, etc… and only left the area when the market closes at 2am, hahaha…

BBQ smelly toufu, which tastes much better than the fried version which we ate on the first day

Day 6: Modern Toilet, Wufenpu, Rouhe Nightmarket

Day views of the city from our room

Emi and the big ceiling-to-floor window

That comfy sofa had been SY's bed for the past 2 nights... All packed and ready to go.

Entrance to Tuntex Sky Tower

We made our way to Zuoying KMRT for the return THSR train back to Taipei. There was a special promotion - buy 3 tickets and get the 4th one free - and since there were 3 of us already, we got someone in the queue to share the deal with us and split the cost... hahaha... NT950 per person, slightly more expensive to return to Taipei cos it's considered peak season for the month of July =(

Railway lunch box + drink (NT140) bought from the food cart on board the train... We were rushing to catch this train and hence there wasn't time to us to pack lunch.

Views from the train traveling from Kaohsiung to Taipei

We reached Taipei pretty quickly (cos the THSR train is super fast!!), made our way to Ximending and checked into our hotel - Red Cabin. Cost: NT1,530 per room per night, inclusive of additional charge for third person and free Internet access (via own mobile device). No breakfast though... But I must say the location is very good; we were just a stone's throw away from Ximending shopping area.

Interior view of the bedroom. Tiny double bed which can only fit 2 people; luckily, we had a mattress for the 3rd person.

Big attached bathroom. I believe someone had designed the room wrongly, hahaha... Should be bigger bedroom right??

We deposited our luggage and proceeded for lunch at the nearby Modern Toilet Restaurant, one of the themed eateries found around Taipei =)

Exterior of Modern Toilet. That's a big potty!

Such a cute toilet bowl to puke into!

You can to sit on a stylish acrylic toilet (lid down) designed with images of roses, seashells or Renaissance paintings.

Toilet-themed souvenirs for you to bring home

We get to dine at a glass table with a sink underneath. Colorful tiles covered the walls and you get the feeling of dining in a bathroom. Interesting.

Our order: Shaved ice with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, jelly, waffle sticks and coco crunch. NT100. Food looks yummy and edible though, hahaha...

Erh, it looked a bit disgusting now, hahaha...

After dessert, it's time to shop at Wufenpu - one of the largest clothing markets in Taipei. Direction: Take the Bannan line to Houshanpi station and go out Exit 4. The market is a five-minute walk from the station along YongJi Road.

Formosa Chang (Beard Man) restaurant near Wufenpu where we had a small bowl of delicious braised minced pork rice each. NT$30 (during tea time special)

Wufenpu stocks a range of garments that caters to all ages (particularly women's clothing) and over here, you can find the latest street fashions at very affordable prices. Definitely a very good place for shoppers like us!

After walking through the many many streets within Wufenpu, we proceeded for dinner at the nearby Raohe Street Night Market. It was raining very heavily and most of the food stalls at the night market were closed... Arghh...

At Rouhe Street Night Market on a rainy night

Spicy mee hoon soup.

Black pepper pork bun, NT45.

Oyster omelette, NT50. Very different from SG's version lor, it's kinda gluey...

Herbal pork ribs soup