Itinerary

1. National Palace Museum (故宫博物院)
2. Shilin Night Market (yes, again)
3. Ximending (yes, again, too)

Today is the last day of touring before we depart to the airport tomorrow. To be frank, we were a bit running out of ideas as to where to go for today. We were put off the hot spring baths due to the wet weather. We were pretty disillusioned with the night markets, and the wet weather didn’t make Yang Ming Shan (阳明山) National Park too appealing either. We were also not sure if there would be the ceremonial changing of guards at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂), or whether we would be in time, as there are specific timings during which the ceremony would take place.

We finally settled on the National Palace Museum, partly for the ancient artifacts, and partly for the shelter. (At last, one place in Taipei where we didn’t need to hold umbrellas everywhere we go.)

National Palace Museum (故宫博物院)

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Itinerary

1. Jiufen (九份)
2. Ruifang (瑞芳)
3. Pingxi Railway Station (平溪火车站)
4. Shopping at SOGO

We had the kind guidance from the staff of the cafe opposite our hotel last night, where we had dinner, to the directions to our destinations for today. There are two ways in which we can get to the places – by train or by bus. We chose the bus route which can be most conveniently taken at Zhongxiao Fuxin (忠孝復兴) MRT station.

View from the Bus Stop at Jiufen

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Itinerary

1. Check out Wedding Shop
2. Danshui Old Street (淡水老街)
3. Fishermen’s Wharf (渔人码头)
4. Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)

We were greeted with a clear sky this morning. Our destination for the day was the northern part of Taipei, basically the Fishermen’s Wharf (渔人码头), Danshui Old Street (淡水老街), and the Shilin Night Market (士林夜市).

Before starting on the tour proper though, we wanted to check out a shop selling wedding items recommended by a friend.

[kute] Wedding Favors & Invitation

Itinerary

1. Miramar Entertainment Park (美丽华百乐园)
2. Wufenpu (五分埔)
3. Raohe Night Market (绕河夜市)

Taiwanese version of Big Breakfast

It was MacDonald’s breakfast today before the touring. Our aim was to cover the Ferris wheel, the commerce district for wholesalers (read shopping heaven for girls) at Wufenpu (五分埔) and the Raohe Night Market (绕河夜市). This is quite economical in terms of time as they are all located on the east side of Bannan Line (板南线) of the MRT network.

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ItiNERARY

1. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall (国父纪念馆)
2. Taipei 101 (Skyscraper)
3. Hello Kitty Cafe
4. Window Shopping in Sogo
5. Hwahsi Night Market (华西街夜市)
6. Ximending (西门町)

Ximending 西门町

We were greeted with dark clouds this morning. A quick check on the Internet told us that we can expect rain the whole day for today and the next three days.

Bumper. Looks like we were simply lucky yesterday was sunny the whole day. To think I was complaining it wasn’t cold enough. Sheesh…

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Today is the first time I’m in Taiwan. I will be in Taipei for the whole of the next six days.

Itinerary

1. Arrive at Taoyuan Airport.
2. Take bus to hotel in Ximending (西门町). (Takes about an hour and a half.)
3. Check-in to hotel & late lunch.
4. Tour Ximending (hotel is located in the district, so no travelling is needed).
5. End of day.

My girlfriend and I reached Taoyuan International Airport at around 12 pm after departing Singapore at around 7 plus am. We finally cleared the custom at around 12.20 pm. Fortune would have it that we were just in time to catch the 12.35 pm FreeGo bus to reach Ximending.

Freego Bus Service Counter

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Sometimes, things just happen. Just at the end of the work day, my colleagues were talking about this thing they called “Law of Attraction”. Not sure where they got it from. What they were referring to is that when one thing of a nature happens, it seems usual, even natural, to have another event of a similar nature occur as well.

Take for example, when we were taking the lift as we knock off work, we were teasing one guy among us about him leaving his motorbike keys in the office as he dug around his bag trying to look for it. It then happens that another lady (a stranger) who was also in the lift with us turned back after exiting the lift shortly, seemingly to return to her office to get something she had left behind. (One person searching for his keys lead to another person remembering something she left behind.)

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