Colour *WeiShi* Green...: My Taipei Trip (Day 2)

Finally, Day 2 arrived.. We had a good rest at the hotel the night before and were all set for the long walk ahead.. I initially thought that walking from Ximen to Raohe Night Market (equivalent to from Queenstown area to Kallang) should be quite alright.. hahahah… But but… I was a little wrong.. =P Not that I’m not up to it, but I belittled the distance.. haha! Walking under the blazing hot sun + da yi ma + wearing black dress (I deserved this.. haha!) made the whole walk never-ending~

The streets were quiet and serene.. makes me wonder how it's like living in Taipei... haha!

So, we started out early in the morning.. At around 9.30am and walked aimlessly around ximen ding to find a ‘zao can dian’.. haha! To my horror and disappointment, we couldn’t find any! =P

They were either closed or hidden.. haha!

But thankfully, we managed to spot one small JSP ‘zao can dian’ in one corner.. We settled our breakfast there before we embark on our long long journey ahead…

I had some egg roll with pork floss, and he had his ham and egg sandwhich..

The sweltering heat made it a little hard to enjoy breakfast as I was perspiring all over while eating.. haha! I know I’m spoilt.. I love my aircon… =)

Then, with our stomachs filled, we started our trek… from Ximen to Hou Shan Pi (Raohe Night Market)… on foot!

Look! Carrefour~~ If I rem correctly, I spotted around 3-5 Carrefour in Taipei =)

We walked along the lanes and shop houses, and we fully immersed ourselves with the surroundings.. Local sights and sounds made me feel like a local Taiwanese.. I can so imagine myself living in Taipei.. Life is so simple and carefree~ I wondered what I will be working as if I were to live in Taipei.. Normal OL? salesgirl? (they are everywhere, since retail service contributes significantly to their economy)

We posed with bus stop signs and everything we see along the way =)

Silly tourists posing at the bustop~

Finally, after ard 45mins of walk, we saw CKS Memorial Hall! The magnificent architecture was spotted from afar… Naturally, we were elated as we finally reached one of our pit stops.. haha! All thanks to self-timer function, we managed to take a few pics together…

We excitedly charged towards CKS Memorial Hall with quickened steps.. almost like flying.. haha!

We sighted our next challenge and started to melt (more for me) upon thinking about how much effort and endurance we need to climb up the endless flight of steps under the merciless hot sun!

*help*

But fear not.. We are all prepared to chiong~~~~

It was really vv hot…. I was started to turn red and burnt.. haha!

And we finally made it.. For me, I chose to climb up as fast as I can so that I can escape and hide under shelter as soon as possible.. haha! Persevere~ That’s what Cedar Girls’ taught me…

After CKS Memorial, we trotted off and continued walking towards Zhong Xiao Dong Lu….

But first, we needed a break… We bought some refreshing beverages from 7-11 to quench our thirst! =)

Look at the wide selection of teas and fruit juices~ Why can’t our 7-11 be like theirs? But sadly, I couldn’t find the rose tea I fell madly in love with 2 yrs ago here in Taipei.. *where are you~~~*

And we continued our trek~ I was slightly baked at that time.. haha!

*hot, hot, very hot*

We soon reached Zhong Xiao Dong Lu… Section 1… the start of the long stretch of ZXDL…. haha! We were ecstatic when we saw the road sign but we know that we are far from our ending point.. haha! Endure endure endure…….

*Claps!!!!*

We continued the walk and observed the sights and sounds along the way.. The buildings got more and more commercialised as we walked (since we are heading to their 'orchard road') We saw less of the housing estates and shophouses gradually...

*sing along with me: xiao jie xiao jie, this is my namecard....... This is a song by Jacky Wu, which mentioned SOGO at zhong xiao dong lu * hahaha!

Once again, we reached another pit stop! (it’s almost like amazing race.. We are racing against time as well ya~) haha! I let out a triumphant cheer when I saw SOGO… It was no easy feat k~ hahahaha…

We went up SOGO and saw this picturesque view.. Had to capture it down..

At this point in time, I was happily soaking in the wonderful aircon.. haha~ Starring happily at those stuck under the horrible weather.. haha! =P btw, those yellow cars you see are their taxis.. affectionately known as “xiao huang” = Little Yellow.. hahaha!

Happy~ Auntie spoil picture *kick* I think she is pointing her middle finger.. hahaha.. tsk tsk =P

We walked around the mall to enjoy the air con and.... I found small food! at their supermarket, but I didnt buy any coz they cost the same as in Singapore.. haha… And and, we had their egg pudding! What a way to enjoy after walking for such a long time =)

*Real Yummy*

With no time to waste, we went in search of the hello kitty cafe nearby… hidden somewhere along the lanes.. Sadly, it was tea time when we reached, the queue was horribly long… The best we could do was to take a picture with the entrance for memory sake *sob sob*

Look at their cakes!!! So exquisitely crafted~ makes me want to work in their bakery.. How can I not be happy making cakes shaped like the world’s cutest cat everyday?? =) Maybe I should start my own bakery.. haha..

Bye bye Hello Kitty~ Till we meet again…… *I promise*

Stomachs started to growl and soon it was lunch time! Time check: 3.30pm…. We happen to chance upon this ulu ulu korean restaurant at some shopping mall… And it’s cheap and nice too! less than 10 bucks for korean bbq.. right in front of our eyes =)

We had our stomachs filled before setting off… Next stop: Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park~ Feeling recharged, we started our walk again.. hahaha.. Almost half a day gone..

Getting friendly with Mr Sun.. I wanted to sit on his lap, but I think I will be locked up in jail, decided not to in the end.. hahaha!

Taipei 101 was just beside the Memorial park too… Look how small the humongous 101 building became =P

It was too hot.. I had to take shelter every now and then… haha! Bye bye SYS Memorial Park, we skipped to our next destination soon after.. no time to waste~

We walked along Xinyi.. but skipped all the well-known shopping malls coz we were heading to a more important shopping street (wu fen pu).. It will be tragic if I were to miss it.. haha!

Along the way, we spotted this local street market, that sells everything from food, meat, fish, flowers, birds to daily necessities…

After a relaxing stroll at the local market, we finally reached Wu Fen Pu at around 6pm =) Crazy shopping starts!!!! While the crazy nightmare starts for Mr Koh.. hahaha.. My heaven, his hell... =P

Total damage: 1 top… After 3 hrs of miserable shopping for Mr Koh.. hahaha! Poor thing, he can only take pictures of girls (his favourite hobby when I start to shop)…. =P

By then, we were all tired and smelly from all the perspiration~ started to feel hungry again.. haha! I felt more like a pig than a queen as I recall my trip.. All I remembered was finding food and drinks all the time.. haha! Did nothing intellectual during my whole trip..

We walked another 30 mins to Raohe Night Market! How nice~ We were almost exhausted by the time we reached there.. but were glad that we have survived the day.. Now, it's time for us to enjoy our dinner! *pat on our backs* Raohe still looks and feels the same.. Nothing much changed as compared to 2 years ago.. haha! The store which I bought a bag for my mum from, 2 years ago was still there.. I still recognise the stall owner.. haha! It was like de javu~

The bustling street of Raohe =) far cry from our usual Pasar Malam

Enough of roaming, we quickly found a seat and had our scrumptious dinner! hahahaha... I had this 2 years ago, but I still want to have it again =) But since we had plans to save our stomachs for other goodies along the way, we shared the braised pork rice and the herbal lamb soup... *slurp*

After dinner, we went in search for the famous Shui guo bing! Fruits galore… I love the fresh fruits…. I was craving for it weeks before I reach Taipei.. haha! Yummy~~

Oh ya, I did not forget my favourite hobby when I was there.. haha! I shopped too~

Soon, it was time to head back to hotel for a GOOD rest…. And the best thing was, we took the METRO back! woohoo~~ hahaha!

It was tiring trying to blog this post.. can you imagine walking all the way from Ximen to Raohe? haha.. Though extremely tired, I proud to say I’ve conquered this long walk.. haha! What do I gain from all these walking? Hmm… I get to feel and see the less-vibrant and commercialized side of Taipei… Something different from the usual travelling where I only get to see the glamorous side of a country/place…

Back to Ximen Ding… We bought XXL hotdog to savour on our way back to the hotel =)