My Taipei Trip (Day 3)

After a good rest, we woke up early on Day 3 too… I woke up with mixed feelings.. Coz I had so much fun the past days… and now I’m in the middle of my trip.. Another 1.5 days and I’m heading home to Singapore *Awww* It feels real good to go on a trip! Really~ No worries, no stress… Just be merry and enjoy!

At some points during my trip, I so want time to stop you know.. I took so many pictures, of every little random thing coz I want to capture everything I see… Since I can’t bring everything back to Singapore, the best I could do is to take more pictures, and hope my memory doesn’t fail me as I age.. haha!

So back Day 3… First stop, was to fill our stomachs, so that we have enough energy to fuel our day =) As usual, it was difficult to find a local breakfast joint to have our breakfast.. The streets were quiet and empty.. Seems like we were the only ones away… I wonder where the other tourists were..

Mr Koh found his shop at XMD.. haha!

… and so, in the end, after much walking, we gladly settled for Mc Donalds.. haha! How boring right? And what’s more, we had egg mc muffin.. All’s the same, and the only difference is the price! Haha.. It’s nice anyway, having something familiar in a foreign land =)

We continued touring around the empty XMD after breakfast, before we head to the metro station to start our plan for today! hahaha...

The plan for today was to travel to Xin Bei Tou to visit the renowned attraction: Geothermal Valley, Danshui, and also HuaXi Night Market.. The thing I like about this trip is that though I’m really tired at the end of each day, I see and experience a lot more than merely just shopping around and getting heaps of cheap buys at the end of the day..

We decided not to kill ourselves and took the MRT to Xin Bei Tou =) It was a pretty short journey which lasted for around 35 mins? There about~

We transited at Beitou Stn to reach Xin Beitou stn.. reminds me of my schooling days, just like how I stopped at Jurong East to transit to Boon Lay..

In no time, we alighted the comfy metro and stepped out to be baked under the hot sun again.. haha!

To make sure we were well hydrated for the walk ahead, we went to a nearby supermarket to buy some beverages and snacks.. to munch along the way.. haha! It’s important to drink more water ya.. under such horrible weather~

We were initially lost coz due to our adventurous spirit, we wandered off too far in the wrong direction.. haha! Thankfully, I have a vv good human GPS with me.. 24/7! Hahaha… who led us to the right direction in no time.. =)

We walked up the hill, hiding under the trees for some shelter and shade =) Then we stopped at a pavilion located along the way to the Geothermal Valley.. I read so much about the valley, looks vv impressive in picture.. with steam sprouting out from the hot spring valley.. haha.. I was looking forward to it!

We took a quick rest at the pavilion and continued the walk soon =)

After a long walk……. And by then, blisters started to appear under my soles.. coz of too much walking and the most saddening thing was, CLEO (name of my crocs)! She failed me… failed to protect my soles.. haha..

We finally reached the renowned attraction after climbing this endless flight of stairway, and some twists and turns along the way.. I was pretty disappointed.. horrors of all horrors, we could not even recognize what was in front of our dear eyes.. hahaha!

Even a local tourist had to ask us for directions to the Geothermal Valley, when it was right in front of us.. It was beyond recognition, and there was no sign to indicate whether what we saw was the famous attraction… haha!

There was no steam.. But a pungent smell of sulphur (as explained by Mr Koh) lingered around the hot spring.. haha… The water was blue??? I don’t get it.. haha.. and it looked more like a swimming pool to me.. than a hot spring.. maybe it’s the weather that made the steam hide away.. haha..

But nevertheless, to make sure we remember that we once came here, we took a shot with the hot spring! =)

We went for our hot spring at this ulu ulu place.. haha.. It was nothing glamorous to talk about, but it was cheap! It was nice to take a refreshing bath before we continued with the walk downhill.. =)

Next, we made our way down hill towards the metro station.. Time for Dan Shui! Haha.. but first, we need some desserts from 3 Brothers to cool our bodies from the heat! I was always craving for desserts, tea, water during the trip coz it was really too hot to tahan! Hee!

So we ordered the Fruits Snow Ice.. hee! Fruits galore again~~ *drools* Though I wished it was bigger.... haha!

We quickly proceeded to Dan Shui for part 2 of our day 3 =) It was a short train ride of 10 mins.. Dan Shui was like this indescribable beauty, with a tinge of tranquil and serenity~ Very attractive, especially in the evening when the sun is setting =) haha! You can’t find a similar place like this in Singapore..

This was taken while in the metro... Nice isnt it? Very local...
We alighted at Dan Shui Station and walked around the famous Lao Jie = old street.. pretty famous among the locals and tourists..

Posing outside Dan Shui Station…

We went in search of Lao Jie soon after.. And it helped that we could read chinese words.. haha! If not, we would not have been able to find the places we wanted to visit during this trip..

We got a little lost along the way, as usual... hahahha! But we eventually found the place.. Being lost has its joys too... haha! We often wandered to places which offered interesting stories and ... haha!
We walked around Lao Jie and we suddenly remembered we forgot to have our lunch.. haha.. It has been a long morning and afternoon! How could we forget lunch.. hahaha…

We walked along the lanes of lao jie and had their famous ‘Ah Gei’ and fishball soup.. hahha! I love the Ah Gei.. It’s actually glass noodle wrapped inside a big tao pok (I think) and fishcake top.. hahaha.. complicated =p but it tastes nice!

We had ice cream for desserts… haha~ It costs around 50 cents Singapore dollars only!

We then continued to walk around Dan Shui till sunset..
Dan Shui is beautiful… Especially during sunset…

It was still pretty bright and hot then…

Naturally, this is the best time for Mr Koh to take more pictures before night falls… =)

We strolled along the streets of Dan Shui and came across from childhood ‘hoop’ games.. haha! Seeing that we had some money to spare, we decided to give it a try.. afterall, we don’t see much of these in Singapore anymore..

Being a born shooter (haha! I’m joking~), I managed to throw the hoop over 2 cute figurines! I screamed for joy when I managed to hoop 2 of them.. Mr Koh hooped 1 slightly bigger grandma figurine, but the auntie mending the stall said that we should aim the can beside the figurine and not the grandma instead (we later realized that the bigger toys on the steps had cans beside them).. haiz! we could have gotten 3.. but nvm =)

Scenic view as background..

We even got a local to help us take a picture.. haha..

As advised by my colleague, he was telling me that we should take a ferry to Ba Li to catch the lighting up of Lover’s bridge at 7pm.. haha! We hurriedly bought ferry tickets to Ba Li as the skies were gradually turning dark..

The tickets were pretty cheap.. Less than 2 bucks..

Distance is like from vivo to sentosa.. haha!

Reached lo!

We were pretty excited, fearing that we might be late to catch the lighting up… haha! We were utterly disappointed to know that there is no way we can see the Lover’s bridge from Ba Li with our naked eyes.. haha.. Lover’s bridge was nowhere to be found!

In the end, using Mr Koh’s powerful 18X zoom, we managed to console ourselves with this pic.. at least we ‘saw’ the Lover’s Bridge… Haha! It was reallt far far away.... From where I stood, I could only see a bright point of light.. I couldnt even see the bridge... =P

Haiz! Should have gone to Yu ren ma tou to see Lover’s Bridge light up…. It’s nearer… but it’s ok, Ba Li looks just as nice to relax and enjoy the sea breeze~

Nevertheless, we had a relaxing stroll at Ba Li and had some childhood drinks.. there’s this metallic marble stuck at the cap, and all you have to do is to push it down, so that it creates an opening for you to drink.. The knocking sound of the marble inside the glass bottle was pretty cute.. haha!

We headed back to Dan Shui after that coz we still had plans to visit XMD and another Night Market..

We left our bags of food and barangs barangs bought at Dan Shui at the hotel and dashed to XMD.. haha!

We had delicious BBQ pork on stick (bought from some illegal pushcart) and Ah Zhong Mian Xian! =) always so nice… aww…. I’m drooling again.. =P

*YUMMY*

Then… we went to the disappointing and deserted Hua Xi Night Market.. The only thing I like there was the sweet potato balls.. =) Very nice! They call it ‘di gua qiu’

We played basketball too! hee… and soon.. we started to see shops closing.. it was barely 12 midnight and stalls started to close.. =P Such a letdown! But nvm.. We still have a long day ahead on Day 4..

Huaxi Night Market was abit of a letdown.. but wells, as least we could head back to hotel abit earlier to rest... haha!

We retired for the day and headed back to the hotel for a good night’s rest… =) *hotel sweet hotel* haha!

Stay tuned.. Day 4 coming up!