Travel Diary Part 2 || Taipei, Taiwan

So this year's Chinese New Year was spent here. I still prefer our Tokyo's trip over this because there was almost nothing fun to do in Taiwan except for all the food hunting and shopping. Obviously what am I even talking about, that's exactly the whole point of travelling. But it still felt like the trip was lacking something. It was my second time in Taipei since my last one in 2008. Fortunately, those famous tourist spots which I HAVE NO CLUE I've been there seemed so unfamiliar. If it wasn't for my memory-loss brain, I wouldn't have enjoyed this trip as much as I did. My brain actually remembered nothing. At the end of the day, it is good to be forgetful... sometimes?

Major throwback. ME AND BRO WERE SO TINY BACK THEN AW.

On the first day, after getting off the airplane in the evening, we headed to Ximending (西門町) a shopping district which is known as 'Harajuku of Taipei'. It was cold that day and by approximately seven pm, the sky had already darken and the festive lights were lighten up everywhere. Due to Chinese New Year's eve, quite a lot of shops were closed. Such a bummer but THAT DID NOT STOP US. And guess what? Six of us had our reunion dinner in a convenient store. A freaking convenient store, yes. We were like having a mini party, buying lots of packaged sandwiches, noodles, hotdogs and fruits just to eat at the countertop. This family is weird hahaha.

The next day, we came up with a colour code (reddd) because it was the first day of Chinese New Year. After resting for the whole night yesterday, the jetlag was gone and the fun began. Our hotel (B7 Journey) provided us breakfast every morning. As you can see, they were pretty delicious and I wouldn't hesitate if you give me a double-set. Anyway, our destinations today were Yehliu Geopark ( 野柳地質公園) and the Jiufen Village (九份). The sceneries were magnificent! And being able to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate while catching the sunset at the top of Jiufen was a cherry on top. After shopping for souvenirs, we got some Japanese food. 

Jiufen is known as the Santorini of Taiwan. I can kind of see the similarities but Santorini is in my bucket list!

The beautiful sunset.

On the third day, we went back to Ximending just for the sake of trying some famous hot soup noodles store. The queue was thiiiiiisss long. I'm not really into noodles but they said it's worth a try. There were street dance performances that day. Cool. Ximending has so many clothing stores which sell affordable sweaters and skirts. I can literally shop in one clothing store the whole day, try out as many dresses as possible and purchase them all. Stopped at a golden-themed cafe for lunch and there was this cute golden running, lying around the customers' tables and it was so tame! Me and bro ordered baked cheese with rice, some cheese&bacon sandwiches while mom and aunt sticked with their favourite mini steamboat. That night, we took a cab and wandered around Shilin Night Market. Night markets are popular with their authentic Taiwan snacks and it's like from the beginning to end of the line, you just have to EAT non stop. I didn't realize my camera's white balance was off the whole time until the next day *cries*, so the pictures' colour temperature was low. 

Me and the Lame Dad.

Day four gone by pretty quick with some cafe hopping and night market. I wouldn't forget my night market experience as a gas explosion happened that night just right behind us due to the excessive heat. It was a chaos. Perhaps, no more night market for us. Stopped at Galerie Bistro for teatime and pleaseee take a look at its settings oh my god so pretty. 

On the last day, we took the train from Taipei Main Station to Tamsui Station. There, we have the famous Lover's Bridge at Fisherman's Wharf (渔人码头) and Tamsui Old Street. We strayed around the 228 Peace Memorial Park and took a few shots before heading off to the station. 

I was taking a picture of the street then Dad suddenly froze cause he thought I was taking a picture of him HAHAHA

Grabbed a corn dog because they looked so heavenly.

These were during 2008. We had grown up so much since then :') 

That was the end of our trip. Time to go back and continue the rest of Chinese New Year holidays. I finally updated this short trip diary after months hahaha. All in all, it was a great one with the fam.