going taiwan soon. hopefully the weather is kind to me

Never go xi men ding on Monday night. All shops closed zzzz

at taichung HSR now. going back to malaysia soon will blog every thing about my trip here.

some info over here seemed quite outdated already. lol.

freaking hot. hit 37 degrees in taipei. it's like a sauna on the streets man!

yeap sun moon was lake nice yesterday. very cooling and windy. but taipei was crazy! malaysia weather feels so nice now

stimix! can put this in first page?

Taipei Trip 2012 - Summary
*this post will be continuously updated*

From the 2nd of July to the 12th of July I was at Taiwan, mainly to attend the Asian Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (3/7-8/7) in Taipei. For the other days i either travelled with my friends or alone. It was really an eye opener while travelling all alone to somewhere so far away from home and it has indeed taught a lot of stuff that you can never get while staying in your comfort zone back in your home country.

What I liked best about Taiwan was not its food or scenery, but their people! Maybe it's just me but everybody that I have met at Taiwan has been really nice and polite to me, especially to those strangers on the streets, cab drivers, train station, restaurant, etc. Maybe its due to the fact that I'm a Chinese and able to speak their language fluently helps a lot in getting this type of treatment. I have heard many people praising the Japanese for their politeness but never Taiwanese, weird. Anyway, the thing that I disliked the most was the weather! At an average of 35-38 degrees Celcius it's even hotter than Malaysia! Having said that, I am very thankful that during the 2 weeks that I was there there was no rain when was I doing my visits.

Okay enough talk! Moving on to my itinerary. I will try to blog each place that I went to in detail as all the English blogs that I've read prior to the trip seemed to be a bit out dated and I hope to give my readers a more up to date information. hehe.

Places that I've went in chronological order:

Taipei (台北)& nearby
1. Leopard Garden Hostel (Xi Men Ding 西門町)
2. Taipei Main Station
3. Jiu Fen (九份)
4. Hello Kitty Sweets Restaurant (Taipei)
5. Tamshui Streets (淡水的街)
6. Little White House (小白宮), Aletheia University (真理大學), Fort San Domingo (紅毛城)- [Tamshui 淡水 ]
7. Tamkang High School (淡江高中) - [Tamshui 淡水 ]
8. Tamshui Fisherman's Wharf & Lover's Bridge (淡水漁人碼頭&情人橋）
9. East Taipei Holiday Inn
10. Shenkeng Street (深坑路)
11. National Palace Museum (台灣故宮）
12. Taipei Expo Park (Pavillion of Taipei & Pavillion of Dreams)
13. Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
14. Ping Xi (平溪)
15. Mr J French & Italian Restaurant @ Taipei Medical University （臺北醫學大學）
16. Area around Taipei 101 (台北101)
17. Taipei 101 (台北101) Observatory Deck
19. Shih Lin Night Market (士林夜市)
20. Babe 18 Night Club


Hua Lien (花蓮)
1. HuaLien 11 Hostel
2. Hua Lien Nightmarkets (Nan Bin Garden 南濱公園夜市 & Zi Qiang 自強夜市)
3. Taroke Gorge Tour (太魯閣一日遊)
4. Qi Xing Tan Beach (七星潭海滩)
5. Hualien Local Products & Train Station


Taichung (台中)
1. Journey to Taichung & Tomato Rooms
2.Feng Jia Night Market (逢甲夜市)
3. Taichung High Speed Railway （台中高鐵）


Nantou (南投)
1.Arrival at Sun Moon Lake (日月潭）& Harbor Resort Hotel (碼頭休閒大飯店）
2.Cycling Around Sun Moon Lake. Story of my life
3.Bamboo Garden & Wen Wu Temple (文武廟) (Sun Moon Lake)


Taoyuan (桃園)
1. Taoyuan International Airport


Money Spent (not exactly very budget conscious though =P)
1. Air Tickets with Air Asia. Booked 2 months before the flight. RM942 (including 15kg luggage to & fro, Nasi Lemak Meal to & fro)
2. Accomodation (Leopard Garden TWD980, Hualien 11 TWD1000, Tomato Hostel TWD1050 & Harbour Resort Hotel RM233.51)

This post has been edited by zstan: Dec 17 2013, 12:28 PM

Taipei Trip 2012 - Leopard Garden Hostel (Xi Men Ding 西門町)

*more pictures at my blog*

After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport, I proceeded to the bus terminal to buy a bus ticket which costs 140NTD by the Free-Go (飛狗) Bus Company which brings me and my friends to New World Hotel which was located in Xi Men Ding. After a 5 minute walk we arrived at our hostel, Leopard Garden Hostel.




Basically this hostel is a backpackers type of hostel. Many people from all around the world can be found here. During my stay my neighbours were from Hong Kong & Sweden. Didn't really talk much to them though. I booked this place with Hostel World and got quite a good price.



The room that I got was really really small. There was literally no place for me to put my luggage even though the room was meant for 2 person.



Other facilities include a common living room with a TV, Wi-Fi, washing machine, microwave etc. which is a real convenience if you are staying for a long period of time.



Location wise, this hostel is about 10 minutes walk to the Xi Men Ding MRT station, which is pretty reasonable. However, there are many roads here and it is quite easy to get lost, so be sure to memorise your roads well when you go out and travel

This post has been edited by zstan: Dec 17 2013, 12:30 PM

the hostel i just posted above lol

Yes you have to get off the train at Taipei main station to change trains to switch lines.

Taipei Trip 2012- Taipei Main Station

*more pics at blog*

After we settled our accomodation, we walked to the Xi Men Ding MRT station to head to Taipei Main Station as we wanted to get to a train to Jiu Fen.




For our convenience sake we bought a Easy Card (minimum value 500NTD) or more commonly known in Malaysia, a Touch n Go card. This card can be used at all train stations, buses as well as 7-11 convenience stores (T&C applied of course).


Easy Card by zstan, on Flickr



Taipei Main Station being the main hub of transportation in Taipei houses the Taipei Metro Line (MRT 捷運), Taipei Rail Adminstration （火車）, Taiwan High Speed Rail (高鐵) as well as the Taipei Bus Station. Be sure to get familiar with the terms otherwise you are screwed when looking for the correct place to go to. This station is also next door to a couple of shopping malls and some underground ones, making its area very very vast and quite easy to get lost if you don't know your way. As a golden rule, ask a passerby whenever in doubt. Most of the time they will be glad to ask you, or direct you to someone who knows better.

Taking the train (Not MRT) may be quite a challenge. First of all you have to know what is the last destination that your train will be stopping. I believe this is the same concept in other parts of the world. But having all the names in Chinese just makes it very much complicated. Not forgetting that there are so many different platforms to get on as well.Those who can't understand chinese will find a very hard time reading the timetable. Then there are the express trains (自強號/營光號), and trains which stop at every station (區間).




But once you get the gist of it, it will be quite easy to move around.

This post has been edited by zstan: Jul 16 2012, 01:39 PM

Jiu Fen (九份)

*more pics at blog*


There are many ways to reach Jiu Fen, either by car, taxi, bus or train. We opted for the train. To get to Jiu Fen you'd have to take a train to Rui Fang Station (瑞芳) first from Taipei Main Station first. Board the one that says going to 蘇澳.





Once you reach Rui Fang station, there are many options to go to Jiu Fen. But since it was already rather late we opted to take the cab which costs a nett price of 180NTD.



Most of the shops were already closed when we arrived around 8.30pm (( Hence there was nothing much we could do but to enjoy whatever shop that is still open and the night scenery.




Yam pastries! This is nice if you enjoy sweet yam.

Besides all those shops, Jiu Fen is also famous for its many tea houses. Unfortunately, at 400NTD per person we didn't try any of them. :/



Last but not least, a night shot of the town from above!



This post has been edited by zstan: Dec 17 2013, 12:30 PM

Ximending will be the ideal place as it is nearest to the Taipei main station. Convenient for you to move around. Songshan Is also ok but the occasional sounds of jet engines may be annoying. Xin Yee is best if you like to enjoy the city life but the accommodations there may be the most expensive.

Xi Men Ding (西門町)

*more pics at blog~*

Before I actually boarded the MRT to Taipei Main Station I walked around Xi Men Ding for awhile.





When I returned from Jiu Fen that night, I planned to re-visit the shops around Xi Men Ding but to my utter disappointment all the shops were closed!! And it was only 11pm! Maybe it's due to a Monday night but this is quite ridiculous :/ Maybe my expectations were too high and my comparisons of this place with Seoul and Bintang Walk at KL was off.



For my breakfast the next day I went to this burger shop nearby my hostel before heading to East Taipei Holiday Inn hotel to register myself for the symposium. This kind of shops are quite common around Taiwan for people to get their breakfast.



This post has been edited by zstan: Dec 17 2013, 12:31 PM

i would be more worried about the typhoon

not sure about that. there were rumours about the typhoon coming while i was there.

Hello Kitty Sweets Restaurant

My next destination was Hello Kitty Sweets Restaurant! The whole restaurant along with the delicacies are designed with Hello Kitty as the theme. I first saw the photos of this restaurant from a friend and decided to have a look.



To go to this restaurant you will have to take an MRT to Zhong Xiao Fu Xing (忠孝復興) station (blue line). You will arrive in the Sogo shopping mall. Then exit at the first floor (make up department) and try to ask around on how to get to the restaurant. Be sure to come early though otherwise you would have to queue!



efore you enter the restaurant the supervisor will tell you that you have to spend a minimum 300NTD per person to dine in. And you are only allowed to be in the restaurant for about 45 minutes. It's a bit pricey but the experience was rather good. Though it should be noted that the food is very average and is only nice to see, nothing more.







My friend and I ordered the dessert set which consists of a Hello Kitty shaped pudding, the dessert of choice and a drink. Not too over-priced actually.





This post has been edited by zstan: Dec 17 2013, 12:40 PM

thanks for your support

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Tamshui Streets (淡水的街)

After the hearty meal I went on to take an MRT to Tamshui 淡水. The journey was about 40 minutes from Taipei Main Station.





After strolling around I went to visit the streets nearby. Over here you could find many shops selling food, clothes, shoes and many other stuff! I bought 1 shirt and a pants from Hang Ten. Buy 1 free 1!

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Added on July 18, 2012, 12:21 pmwell their restaurants are full by 12pm so it's a bit hard to maintain the quality la

This post has been edited by zstan: Dec 17 2013, 12:41 PM

some of the days seem really tight. hopefully your friends and you can tahan the schedule la

Taiwan Trip 2012 - Little White House (小白宮), Aletheia University (真理大學), Fort San Domingo (紅毛城)- [Tamshui 淡水 ]

After walking around the streets and some shopping I headed back to the MRT station to board a bus for my next few destinations.



My first stop was the Little White House. Get off the bus once it says Next Stop: 小白宮. Then climb up the following flight of steps and should arrive at the door step. Again, when in doubt, ask passer-bys.





Basically this place was built when someone from the West conquered Taiwan long long time ago and this was their base. Not a must visit place although the building architecture is rather interesting.





Most of the tourist areas have stamps for you to chop on your brochure or whatever paper that you carry as a souvenir


Moving on to my next destination, which Aletheia University (真理大學) and Fort San Domingo (紅毛城). If you look at this picture you can see that all these places are actually nearby each other.







This post has been edited by zstan: Dec 17 2013, 12:41 PM

DAy 2 n 4 i guess. you also put a lot of places to do shopping in your itinerary. be sure to plan your shopping time properly otherwise your whole day can be gone just like that

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Tamkang High School (淡江高中) - [Tamshui 淡水 ]

My last destination in that area would be Tamkang High School, which is popularly known as Jay Chou's former secondary school and the place where his film 'Secret' was filmed! Being an avid fan of Jay Chou's music since I was 13, getting to the scene of the film was really exciting!


picture from google








Picture from google


The very same building!!! *screams*



wooohooo. Mission accomplished! XD The whole school was still very well maintained and the interior design is really really nice. Renovation works can be seen to further strengthen this already very old building. Hopefully this place can be maintained for many years to come.

This post has been edited by zstan: Dec 17 2013, 01:21 PM