On the way there, we noticed that there seemed to be alot of children of all ages out and about. It's a Friday morning, why aren't they in school? Apparently it was the FIRST DAY OF SUMMER HOLIDAYS.
OMG...
Little kids were out for their school outings, teenagers going on short trips with their friends, parents taking their kids to nearby cities for fun. So all sitting seats for the train were SOLD OUT. Only standing seats were available, but it was a 40 minutes ride, so we tried our luck again by going to the actual Taipei Train Station. I've seen it on the outside, but I've never been inside before!
Well, it's the same response, sitting seats sold out, only standing seats. Then I decided, we're tourists! We can't let this little setback stop us from going to our destination! So we just bought tickets for the next train out to Ruifang (Jiufen stop). The only problem was... the next train arrives in less then 10 minutes!!!
OMG, we were planning to buy yummy breakfast to eat on the train, but now we only have time to sprint to the 7-eleven and grab anything that appeals to us. Long queue at the cashier! Argh! After payment we still had to look for the boarding platform. Where is it? Where is it? We were in such a rush that I didn't even have time to take a picture of the train.
It's not as squeezy as I expected, but of course, having cushy seats would have been even better. -_- So as the train moves off, Sis prepared some yummy 饭团 (rice dumpling) from 7-eleven while I drank my iced coffee.
Actually it's not so bad, we ate, drank, chatted, listened to music and admired the view outside. Before we know it, we've arrived at our destination! It's just like a very long MRT train ride!
When we've arrived, we walked across the street outside the train station and took a bus up-hill. Sis said that they've changed their crappy buses to these brand new, air-conditioned ones. You can even pay with the Easy Card (equivalent to our EZ Link Card). We took the front row seats, so we got a full view of the precarious ride up the narrow hills. It's like a scary roller coaster ride uphill. Many times I was sure the giant bus was going to hit the walls or cars parked at the side, but the bus driver just swerved pass them by mere inches. 历害, 历害...
Finally we were there!
The place was awesome! It was just rows and rows of shops selling food, drinks and interesting souvenirs. One of the first and also my favourite buys was the family of cats. At first I didn't know where to put them, but Sis suggested that I put them on my fish tank at home. Which was a marvelous idea! Look how cute they are!
We also bought interesting porcelain flute originated from their aborigines. Since it was near to Sis's birthday, I paid for hers as a present. :)
Oh I just love their winter melon drink. Best drink on a hot day! You can even buy them home! Just melt the blocks of concentrated melon drink (see at the back?) and you can enjoy the drink at home! So I can't resist and bought 3 packets. I should have bought them on the way back, as it was SO HEAVY, it's like carrying 3 packets of bricks! Thankfully I bought the recycled fabric bag Sis gave me, saved my hands from alot of pain!
The stall next to the winter melon drink was selling Taiwan sausages. Sis was trying almost every Taiwan sausage stall we came across. I'm not crazy about it, so I didn't really try. But the stall was selling wild boar meat sausage, and I heard it was quite good, so I took a bite when she offered. Oh my... IT'S DELICIOUS! Usually Taiwan sausages tasted a little sweet and artificial, but this one tasted like, like a sausage! It's moist and yummy, and delicious! Haha...
Came across something interesting. The dude would shave a GIANT block of peanut candy with a wood shaver and add it to ICE CREAM and wrap with popiah skin.
Awesome! So interesting! I was all excited until sis told me that it's a pretty common snack, you see it everywhere. -_- Wet blanket...
Another interesting snack, grilled abalone mushrooms. I thought that it would be dry from all the grilling, but when I bite into it, there was an explosion of juices inside my mouth! Yum! And it's a little spicy too!
It's not all food, there were lots of shops selling interesting clothes, handicrafts, souvenirs and also accessories! The shop that sells adorable figurines of Taiwan's aboriginal tribes also sells cute little earrings. We bought a few!
By then the narrow streets were starting to get crowded...
One of Jiufen's famous eatery is Lai Ah Mah's taro balls. I've always seen people eating taro balls on TV, so I wanted to try it.
Well, it's quite refreshing, we chose the mixed flavours with green bean soup base. I find the balls a little tasteless actually, like balls of chewy jelly. Only the sweet potatoes one tasted like, well, sweet potatoes. Because it's cold, it's a great treat on a hot day. We were quite lucky. Sis said that when she was there with her friends, they would be all sweaty and sticky. But we didn't even break a sweat, thanks to the sunny yet cool weather that day.
After awhile we came to an area that had several tea houses and cafe overlooking the pacific ocean. We ate so much that we couldn't think about lunch, but a nice cup of tea and a place to rest our feet seemed like a heavenly idea. There were air-conditioned ones but I kindda like the open-air type. So we enjoyed our coffee while listening to the insects chirping and the soft music played by the tea house. Definitely a great way to relax our senses from all the hustle and bustle of the main street outside.
Since we're resting, it seemed like a perfect setting for some music! Even though there were other customers at the next table, I gave my flute a try. :)
Haha, thank you, thank you...
With our feet rejuvenated, we started to head back. On the way back, Sis was busy looking at some fengshui stuff, so I finally got to eat my stinky toufu! Yumz... my 1st one for this trip, because sis wasn't too crazy about it.
After a few more stops, we got back to where we started and waited for the bus down. Unfortunately there was SO many people that we had to wait for SOoo long! Finally a bus came, it was a direct bus to Taipei, so we thought it would be great to have a ride all the way back to the city. But we regret that idea when the bus took off.
The stupid bus driver packed the bus with too many people, we barely had any space to hold on. Thankfully we were surrounded by ladies and not stinky or lecherous men... Worse, the driver was so reckless! He was speeding and swerving and braking so hard, all of us standing passengers were struggling to hold on to our dear lives! It was so bad, our palms were all red and sore by the time we reached the foot of the hill. Even though we weren't going downhill, the stupid driver was still driving the same manner! No way we're going to sit in this kind of bus all the way to the city, so we alighted at the train station.
The train ride back was just as eventful. We were thanking our lucky stars that the ride back wasn't as crowded. We even got seats! So we were enjoying the air-conditioning and about to doze off when the announcement came on. The train was terminating at the next station and we had to take some other train. WTF?! No wonder not everybody rushed onto the train just now!
When we got off, the locals just automatically moved on elsewhere, leaving the tourists looking all dazed and confused. We had to move to another train platform that indicated "Taipei" and hope that the oncoming train would bring us back to the city! So we got onto the train and relaxed again as the train trotted on. It was more crowded on this train, so we had to sit separately.
Sis was asleep and I was listening to my music, suddenly I looked up at the flashing digital sign on the train door saying "Taipei City". Our stop!!! I quickly yelled at Sis and we scurried off the train, only to find out that it was the WRONG STOP! Taipei City was the NEXT STOP. Oops... So we asked the staff how to get back to Taipei city and he said just take the next train on the same platform. Luckily it wasn't too long before the next train arrives. Haha... so malu~
It was already late afternoon when we got back to the hotel. We washed up and rested for awhile before heading out to dinner. Tonight we dine at 干杯Bar. Unfortunately, since it was a Friday night, the place was fully booked, so we put our name down and headed to a nearby Haagen Dazs to hang out.
So shiok, the place was so nice and tranquil, and we got window seats and free wi-fi! Of course, since we're there, we ordered waffles and ice-cream. Haha... dessert before dinner! It was so relaxing I was about to doze off. But we have one more stop, Ganbei bar!
It was great! They only got counter seats, so it's very cosy. Plus the staff are all very cool and friendly. So if you like BBQ food, beer and hanging out with good friends, Ganbei bar is a must-go!
Kill of the day...
No comments:
Post a Comment