Last Day in Taipei

Last Day in Beitou & Tamsui (Danshui)

 (and a little more of Downtown) 

After a long (but worth it) day trip to the Toroko Gorge, we decided to take the day easy by waking up late and heading to the hot-springs for a blissful and long-deserved rest :)  After waking up long after the sunrise, we took the MRT all the way up to Tamsui (end of red line) first to see the river, and walk around the district a little before heading down (along the same red line) to Xin-Beitou!

We were lucky to have a gorgeous sunny day for our last day (as the day before was rather gloomy)! It was perfect weather to walk around the river-side looking at the locals who also decided to come out to enjoy the beautiful day :)

After walking around the river-side, we checked out the town a little! We stumbled across this apparently famous shop for more sweet-snacks and mochii, and decided to finally do some souvenir shopping! (and endlessly snacking on the samples)

We bought this Danshui Cake, which is sort of like a asian version of a cookie! It's chewy, and not flakey despite its appearance and actually not too sweet! My friends who I bought some for also loved it, so it definitely makes a great souvenir :)

Pictured above is is my FAVORITE snack found in Taipei! The Brown Sugar Mochii and the Black Sesame Mochii was the chewiest and most delicious thing I had eaten in a while, and they are so much better than the cheap-version found in the street-snack shops! Remember to go into a proper shop and buy these! They are AMAAZING! 

Apparently the district's another specialty were what they called "Iron Eggs"... although they came highly recommended by couple of my Hong Kong friends.. I just could not get myself to eat these Blackened Eggs... eeks 

There's not really a lot to see at Tansui (formerly known as Danshui), but it's a great place to go to for a more relaxed atmosphere and stroll along the river! It's a bit far from downtown (45 min or so) so if you have a tight schedule it's not worth the time!

Aftewards, we just followed the red-line down a few stations to Beitou and switched to the Pink-line (for ONE stop) and arrived in Beitou! This was definitely a hot-spring district, and felt more like a small village in Japan rather than Taiwan!

Okay.. this might not have been the best destination to walk around on a Hot Day, as we were soon sweating and puffing, but we did manage to snap away couple of awesome shots :) 

After walking around for a while, we decided to check out the Public Hot Spring called the Millenium Hot Spring. It's really cheap, and although we were initially skeptical as to the hygiene and the overall-experience, it turned out to be really relaxing and not weird at all! It's very local (as I imagine most tourists head to the private spas/springs), and they had strict rules to keep the springs clean! (they had these 'officers' who would tell you off if you didn't wash your feet etc.) Oh and remember to bring your swim-clothes! After being done with the spa, we each had a peanut flavored ice-cream  :) mmmmm.... :)

The public hot-spring concluded our itinerary for Beitou, and we quickly made our way down the RED MRT line to  Yuanshan Station to visit the two temples:

TAIPEI CONFUCIUS TEMPLE AND DALONGDONG  BAO-AN TEMPLE  

I loved these two temples! They were a lot more impressive and enjoyable than the Longshan Temple. We simply just went around this mostly empty temple (maybe it was because we went right before sunset)... and soaked in th beautiful and ancient architecture as well as the atmosphere of serenity... :)

Although we wanted to stick around the temple a little longer, after skipping lunch for wide-ranges of snacks we stuffed ourselves with during the day... we decided to check out yet another street-market for some cheap quality food! :)

Mathias's last dinner in Taipei? Fried Chicken of course.

Hand made Egg-rolls! The smell of pure butter and sugar was so thick and intoxicating... that I just HAD to buy one to make sure it tasted as nice as the smell :)

After eating a quick-dinner, we found ourselves absolutely worn out... and despite our grand-plans to check out the night-life of Taipei for one more night... we decided to accept that our old aging bones needed some rest and went back to our hostel early :)

Despite it being arather spontaneous and last minute trip to Taipei, I think we ended up having more fun than we had expected to find here! Although it might not be packed with activities and sights like Hong Kong, Bangkok etc. It's definitely worth the visit if you plan out and search for sights like we did!

Also make sure you go OUT of Taipei and go explore the mountain side, the beaches, the coasts and the beaaaaaautiful countryside of Taiwan! Oh... and of course, make sure you bring extra-big clothes..as you will fill them up pretty quickly after a day or two  :) 

Day 3 in Taiwan: Taroko Natinoal Park (Gorge)

Taiwan Trip Day Three

After spending two days in Taipei, we decided that it was about time to take a day-trip out to the renowned beautiful mountains of Taiwan. We took the high-speed train from Taipei to Hualien which costs us 440 Taiwanese Dollars (15 USD)

 Taipei to Hualien* Tai Lu Ge or Zi Qiang(express train): The price is NTD 441 / person one way. It takes 2.5 hrs to 3 hrs according to different train types. * Ju Kuang: The price is NTD 340 / person one way. It takes about 3.5 to 4.5 hrs according to different train types.

After arriving at Hulien, we borrowed a scooter for a mere 400 NTD for the whole day! They didn't even ask us for a license... (which was a tad sketchy) but they did check ask for our Passport?
There are many stores/guys on the streets asking you to rent a scooter and i'm not sure if the price actually varies a lot or not... but we followed the advice posted on the Internet and went to the  Pony Scooter Rental, and although im no expert on scooters, It worked fine and the guy was really helpful and friendly!

It takes roughly an hour from Hualien to the National Park by Scooter (although we did get lost couple of times)... you can get a map from the Tourist Information Center next to the Hualien Station! After arriving at the National Park, there's maps along the road.. and we basically just went around the National Park on our scooter, checking out the key sights along the way! :)

As afternoon appraoched, the temperature began to drop and it got actually rather chilly! We soon regretted not packing anything lighter than a sweater as we found ourselves freezing against the wind.. It was a painful lesson learnt! 

Our self-made wind blocker in a desperate attempt to block the wind out.... Not sure if it worked or not but it did leave us with some hilarious photos!

Before we headed back to Hualien, upon exiting the park.. we took a little further drive up to see the cliffs by the Sea! It's not too much of a detour so it was definitely worth the time (even if we were slightly frozen by then.. )

Although many suggested that the Day-Trip is a little tough.. (in fact it was), I thought it was a nice day trip to be done in Taiwan (especially if you don't have too many days in Taiwan). 

I'd definitely be more interested in coming back to Taiwan for its beautiful coastlines and mountain side next time rather than the capital itself! Reading the tourist-guidebook of the region left me wishing that I had a little more time to spare to go on another scooter trip... But I guess that's a good enough incentive to come back to Taiwan some other time :)