Date: 19 September 2017 - 24 September 2017
Season: Summer
Temperature: Around 27 - 33 degree Celsius.
Number of people: 8 people
Accomodation: Airbnb homestay
Transport: Bus, MRT and one day of van rental.
Average conversion rate at this date: 1000 TWD = RM145.90
Day 1.
- Basically our day one end with us arriving Taipei city to our accommodation location.
- But we manage to get to eat our supper at Taiwan Niu Beef Noodle.
- Our accommodation is like 10 meter within this location.
Day 2
- We started off by eating our breakfast nearby our stay.
- Then we continue our journey to yangmingshan. It's like a national park. There are few ways to go to yangmingshan. Bus is cheapest method. Bus station usually will have a clear notice on how to go yangmingshan. If you have extra money, just take cab or uber. It will be faster and more comfortable.
- This is the map in yangmingshan national park.
- We went to stop number 7, where we can see the smoke coming out from hill.
This is the entrance to start hiking.
Remember don't wear slippers. Hahaha.
- Readers, if you are reading this and planning your Taiwan trip, you MUST go to the top! The view will be spectacular and you will definitely not regret it! But it will require some will power and good stamina. You have to be physically fit. If not, I advise you start working out now. You can go to get some home made ice cream after the hike too. It will taste a lot better when you are tired.
- There are more several stops in yangmingshan. We went to niunai pond and lengshuikeng. You are free to visit anywhere you want.
They have this cute pinyin on their direction board. Shouldn't it be milk pond or niunai hu?
Ok, this one is very straight forward, leng shui keng.
- We went to tamsui old street for some food first. They got some nice crispy bak kwa selling it at TWD 200 each packet but if you buy 5, they give 2 for free. So basically it's 1000 for 7 packets.
- Next, Shihlin night market at night. Plenty of food and things to buy. Remember to try out their famous sausage and chicken chop
Day 3
- Started the day with breakfast nearby.
- We rented a van for 8 people (Mercedes brand van) but it is quite small and packed. Not comfortable at all. At the cost of TWD 5000 for 8 hours. (Later on we find out, other people charge at lower rate, with more comfortable van ... VW brand at TWD 5000 for 10 hours. If any readers want the contact, just comment on this post.)
- We go straight to Yehliu geoparks. This place main attraction is the Queen's head. The rock that looks like the Queen's head. (You have to walk a bit to see her)
This is it. You have to queue there to take picture with this queen's head. Sounds like she is main player here.
It tastes really good at this hot weather (33 degree celcius). Most of us, share one bowl with 2 people, while I eat one bowl alone. Hehehe.
Homemade meatball. This is a must try in jiu fen too.
The popiah skin with ice cream and peanut in it. Taste real good too.
- After the short walk in jiu fen, we went to shi fen. Shi fen become famous after the movie 那些年，我們一起追的女孩 being aired worldwide. So we go to release some lantern there, like how it's done in the movie.
My brother said "You said health is the real wealth but your point form there write earn more money first then only write stay healthy". Yeah, it contradicted. Hahaha.
Bye bye 200 taiwan dollar.
- We went to Raohe night market after that. This is the place I spent the most money (Bought 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shoes, souvenirs, food and drinks). There is one thing you must try here. The Aiyu Jelly. It's the greatest I have taste until now.
You can ask the auntie to add the boba pearl.
It is made in big size, then the auntie will use the big round head spatula to cut it into smaller pieces.
Day 4
- We have a more free and easy day on day 4. First we went to some highly rated breakfast place. 五湖豆浆. The review is 4.3 over 5.0 from google. I would have to agree with google review this time. It really serves good breakfast.
Their soya bean is homemade and fresh. Taste really good that I had to have 2 glasses.
They basic food is just few but the way they wrap it together become another food makes them have more variety.
- We went to zhongshan memorial park next. You can do a lot of things there like taking picture, watch a team of few people doing some drills. Going further into the museum got a place for you to practice your brush painting.
The park got all the nice building that you can only see from tv most of the time.
Everyday at certain hour, they will do this drill.
- We went to Lao Wang restaurant for some nice beef noodle at reasonable price. Some people might consider another beef noodle restaurant that had been promoted by celebrity before but it is too expensive. Starting from 200 taiwan dollar which is about RM30
:'-(
This is the restaurant.
I would say the soup and the beef is totally awesome. The noodle is quite normal but the portion is very big. Definitely more than enough for those who eat a lot.
- Of course we don't stop here. We went to eat Mango Snowflakes. Located not too far from Lao Wang and definitely worth the walk.
Very easy to find it.
I ordered mango snowflakes with panna cotta. Cost 210 taiwan dollar. Shared it with a friend because of the big portion but actually I can finish it alone.
- After this snowflakes, we went to the underground shopping mall. Be careful when you buy here. Some stuff is being sold at higher rate than other place. You can go in from Taipei Main Station for this underground shopping mall.
- We went to ximending night market after that. I didnt manage to get any nice picture there because I am busy looking at iPhone 8 that had just been released in Taiwan on that day. See here for some update that I got from there.
Day 5
- From 8 people, 3 of us agreed to wake up at 6.30am to go xiang shan (elephant mountain). But only 2 manage to wake up on time and really go. This xiangshan is tougher than yangmingshan because each step is very steep. Be prepared and bring water because you will definitely need it. It will definitely worth your time.
This is the map. You can don't need to go all the way, because the best view only like half hour hike. The rest is just hiking trail.
(Do note that there is one uncle that will hike here everyday in reverse mode. He is quite famous in Taipei, I believe it's because of social media, maybe a certain website had wrote about him before. We stopped by when some local hikers asked, is it him who hike everyday in reverse mode, he said yes. He also mentioned hiking in reverse mode only pressure ur leg 20% of original pressure, make u less tired and your leg can last longer. You also have to keep looking back make u alert all the time, reducing the risk of getting Alzheimer's)
This is the view from the middle.
When you reach another milestone, there is one big rock, you can climb onto it and take picture. But it's quite dangerous because there is no support to hold onto. Be careful if you wanna take this kind of picture.
- After the hike, it's only about 9.30am, so we meet up with the group at Beitou to go for outdoor footspa that is free. Many aunties and uncles sit there to rest. It's like a healing fountain, that regenerate your hp after walking whole day long.
- The party splitted into 2 groups, the hikers and the shopper. The hikers went back home to shower and the shopper went straight to 101 tower. We meet up again at 101 tower and continued our picture taking.
There are no other way to take 101 tower picture in full unless you are at a very far place like xiangshan where you can see it in full, so this is the best way.
- Went to Raohe night market again at night to continue shopping, some of us went to Shi Da night market.
Day 6
- This is our last day, but we managed to wake up on time to go church. New Life church, a well known church for a lot of celebrities and artist there.
- We are quite lucky to see Huang Mei Zhen (Jane Huang) and Ah Qing (FIR main guitarist) on stage sharing their testimonial.
- We asked the helper in church where is the best place for lunch nearby, they suggested 大宅门乾锅鸭头. So we went and eat to our heart content since it's our last day here.
Ordered the normal 3 in one. Got chicken, charsiew and siuyuk.
- We sit in McD until our transport arrive and fetch us to airport.
Summary of this trip
Number of people going: 8
Number of people coming back: 8
Number of people sick in Taiwan: 0
Number of people sick after coming back: 1
Number of people got darker skin after coming back: 8
Total amount spent: RM 500 (flight) + RM 350 (homestay) + RM 1900 (expenses) = RM 2750 but I have leftover of around RM150. So my total amount spent is only RM2600.
My advise is if possible, try not to go during summer season. You will feel like staying in your homestay or hotel only because it is really hot. Everytime I step out, I really feel like going back into the homestay right away.
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