The second day, mom and I looked nicer because we finally had our makeup on!haha..we planned to go Taipei 101 and walk around the shopping malls around that area but before that, we had a problem --> we need to find a money-changer BUT there is no money-changer in Taiwan! We asked the motel receptionist, and she introduced us to an "underground" basement currency exchanger in a spectable shop in 西门町. Some pictures taken before we set off for the day:
Before searching for the shop, we had an early lunch at a food stall nearby. We didn’t know what to eat and when we looked at the menu, the traditional Chinese character menu made my ordering of food a little bit tougher. Haha..Mum ate the 鲁肉饭 and I tried their 板条 (not knowing that it was actually just plain kway tiao soup with vege!) We also shared goose meat and their “gong wan” soup (which is actually meat ball soup). Frankly speaking, to me, their food is not as appealing as in Singapore and are quite oily too. The worst thing is they do not have CHILLIPADI. Sometimes they don’t have chilli sauce as well….-_-“”
After lunch, I tried their bubbletea, really much nicer than those sold here lor!
Yummy!
When we went to the “underground” money-changer, there was another guy before us in the small room. The lady who was in-charge looked very unfriendly and fierce, as if she is a gangster’s gf. Hehe..when it was our turn, mom and I were both very inexperienced so maybe the lady gave a very 看不起我们的 face. But when we decided to change a lot, her attitude changed and kept smiling and became very friendly and chit-chat with us. So practical wor~
We then took MRT from西门町 station to 市政府 station. Mum’s friend lent her their “Ezlink card”, which is called 悠游卡 there, so she didn’t need to buy the single-trip journey ticket. When I was buying the single-trip ticket, something round dropped out and I thought it was a coin~ I took it out and realized it’s not money so I put it back again. After another 2 sec, no card came out, so I took the round thing again and saw that it WAS ACTUALLY THE SINGLE TRIP TICKET! Hahah..I almost threw it away ok? I was quite amazed by it la..haha very sua ku~
As you all may know, Taiwan cars are left-hand drive, but I didn’t know they like to keep right and stand on the right, opposite from us, so those rushing would be walking on the left. For the first few days, we kept bumping into ppl and we got a bit frustrated but later on we saw the signs and realized….
The internal of their MRT is much more spacious than ours, and their barrier does not cover full length to the top of the ceiling. Their seating arrangement is different from us as well, and their priority seats are TRULY priority seats! (Unlike ours..) They tend to NOT sit those seats even when there are no elderly or pregnant people. So considerate of them..haha but hor come to think of it, leave it empty when there are no such people for what leh? Hahaa..Don’t tell me in the early morning everyone rush to work, you also leave the seat empty and cause everyone to squeeze standing and staring at the empty seat? Cannot be right? Whahaha~ I saw a few of them sitting, but they will immediately give up the seat if someone in need comes into the MRT.
I also realized the people in the MRT does not use electronic devices like mobile phones, play PSP or DSLite, or listen to MP3 and use notebook! They also don’t read books in the train! I brought a notebook and pen with me everyday so that I can keep records of what I bought and the prices as well. So when I wrote something in the train, people tend to look at me…Weird~
When we reached the outside of 市政府 station, Taipei 101 was not clearly in our sight. We took out the map and searched for it, and suddenly 2 different groups of TAIWANESE approached us to ask for directions! Hahaa..funny~ We told them we are also looking and we are not locals! There was a helpful lady who told us that there is a free shuttlebus at the spot we were standing and also a feeder bus as well. But if we choose to walk to Taipei 101, it would only take about 15 mins. Mom and I chose to walk la so that we can see the surroundings and experience also. I noticed their development is and construction is very slow. It should be due to their country being very big and harder to control.
We walked to Eslite 成品 and went in to take a look. Managed to take a few photos of the inside of the mall..looks like our Taka and Wisma, the more expensive malls. 星光三月 is also those more high-class shopping mall and since we didn’t plan to spend on those, we didn’t bother to shop in detail inside. Only walked and took some glances on the shops.
We saw Taiwanese new band 神木与瞳 holding an event at 华纳威秀 and took some photos too. Taiwan fans always very fortunate lor cos a lot of singers will have events at the very convenient places.
Went to their food court and they don’t sell SOFT DRINKS! They only sell tea and fruit juice and to us, those things do not quench our thirst at that moment.
Took many pics of the Taipei 101 tower. Haha since it is the most famous and significant figure in Taipei so I had to take more photos of it~
We also walked past the alley that a lot of Taiwan drama series film – like 恶魔在身边.
Hehe..then was soooo super thirsty (the weather was quite hot actually), and we came across a very big vending machine selling bottles of drinks featuring 桃子. There were also some basketball machine along the side..and there were more around when we continued to walk around Taipei the next few days.
Taipei 101 is really damn tall & there were many groups of tourist taking photos at the entrance & when we went inside, it was full of branded goods like Coach etc.
There was a very BIG area in the middle for dining ..really beautiful place. We went to a Taiwan souvenir shop and bought some stuff back for the colleagues and kun’s family. However, we didn’t go up the Taipei tower because we heard it’s not that cheap. Since we also went in the daytime, we thought of going back on Thursday during evening and see the scenery that time.
We were "caught" by a facial roadshow in Taipei 101 and the promoter was really sweet and helpful and patient. Hahaa…apart from that, she demo a lot of things and in detail and it really proved the products were very good. So after about 1 hour, we each bought a tube of exfoliating cream for the face and my mum bought something like a 4-in-1 cream for the face à total spend about S$270.00 haha but its really good la. We can email her if we want it again and she will mail to us. The product not sold in Singapore.
It was already quite late after dinner and we were really tired. So we went back to our motel and of course not without some shopping at 西门町 . And after resting enough in the room and putting our shopping stuff, we changed to shorts and decided to go find 小猪’s STAGE shop which is also around where we stayed. It was quite hard to find because it doesn’t have a signboard & you have to look out and identify the dark shop and their door with the STAGE logo.
Bought a few things for brother and didn’t get anything for ourselves though. Not allowed to take photo inside so I took outside lor :D
After that, we went to 华西街, which is a night market where there are many shops selling snake meat and they even do some demo. There were also many shops selling those Buddha pendant and black stones on rings and necklace and bracelet for good luck etc. The food there not very appealing again…the night market was quite big and very crowded! Some people even ride on their scooters through the squeezy alley to shop as well! Cannot believe it! Quite irritated too..haha
Dinner was only simple noodles again…haha..nvm just fill up the stomach will do.
Really damn tired by that time cos of all the walking…bought some carton drinks from their 7eleven to drink back in the motel. The carton drinks got the Taiwanese celebrities faces haha..
Then it’s the end of the second day…..damn tired..
P.S: We folded the blanket to form a thicker cushion under our back and requested for another pillow each.
There's still Part 3 -->
