6D5N Taiwan (19th - 24th June 2014): Day 5 & 6

(Read on Day 1 & 2 HERE / Day 3 & 4 HERE)


I'm finally down to the last installation of my Taiwan trip with the #brunchdategirls!

Day 5
We hired a driver for the whole of this day (for NT$4000 / S$170) because we wanted to travel to a number of places + the distance between each is really far.

Here's presenting to you our ever-so-friendly, helpful, caring, cheery and passionate 高先生，Mr Gao! He picked us up from our apartment and drove us out for breakfast before setting off:



Remember how I mentioned that not all Yong He stalls in Taipei are authentic?? Here's an example of a 'fake' one (Mr Gao didn't choose this, we did), almost everything sold here was not up to standards at all :(
Initially I was told there wasn't any 油条 left, but after some 'discussion' with the boss, the lady boss told me they were available already and I ended up eating a stiff and lao hong one -.-



Also take a look at this burnt 烧饼 which was really hard and tasteless. Bad breakfast experience boo:



Anyway after a long 40-minute journey, here we were at our 1st destination: 野柳 / Yeh Liu Geopark!









































Can you spot the Fairy's slipper?? ;)





It was scorching hot the whole time we were at Yeh Liu, but once we were out and on the way to our next destination, it started pouring crazily :(
Fortunately some of the areas in 九份 / Jiu Fen are sheltered, so we could at least walk around most of the food stalls conveniently:



Our first lunch stop, beef noodles! We were famished then because we didn't eat much for breakfast. Thankfully the beef noodles were really yummy!! :







Didn't exactly like these 小菜 (NT$30 / S$1.30) though because of the sauce. Tasted sour and weird to me:





Matcha lava cupcake:



Ice-cream Dorayaki! These were really good, especially with the Taro ice-cream even though I hate yam:





Yay, and my favourite Peanut-icecream Wrap (NT$40 / S$1.70)! The ones sold here were so much better than those from Shilin Night Market. So good we bought another one on our way back hehe. Omg I'm missing it already while typing this. Payment here is self-service, so you have to drop your money and get the change yourself:







Can't remember what these were. Mushrooms?:







Came across this shop which sells a lot of cat-related items like postcards and notebooks. They even have a housecat hehe so cute:







I didn't know they photobombed me >:(



Heard that the QQ yam balls from 阿柑姨芋园 were worth a try and they really weren't too bad:







Entered this narrow tunnel (to get some temporary shelter) and we were told that this was how people in the olden days get to their neighbours' houses:







After that, Mr Gao brought us to this old cinema to check out its history:





"Do you know how people used to advertise their shows? Here, take these." Mr Gao impromptu-ly passed these stuff to us to take a photo with. He even directed us on our actions hahaha so cute:









On the way to 十份 / Shifen, we stopped our vehicle by these mini waterfalls. It was still pouring but we insisted on getting down to take some photos since it would be a waste if we didn't:







And this was the highlight of the whole trip!! The rain reduced to a drizzle and here we were at the railway tracks to 放天灯 / release our Sky Lantern! :D Initially Mr Gao said we there was a possibility of us not being able to do it because the rainwater will just dampen the lantern, but we were very persistent to go there and try our luck:









Saw a sky lantern finally being released by another group of people. Our determination to wait paid off haha:





Apparently different colours of the sky lantern have different representations (I didn't know this at first and ended up writing my 1st wish on the wrong side hahaha oops):









Done with writing!! :D Read our wishes below hahahah:









We were ready!! It was such and exciting yet nervous moment hahaha:






Wanted to set some fireworks after that but we couldn't decide between the big & small ones (+we were scaredy-cats hahaha), so Bev became the guinea pig and tried the big one hehe:





Headed over to the hanging bridge nearby to set them! We were told to hold the stick firmly and not move when the pressure forces the sparks out. It was actually quite scary hahaha. Each stick releases about 8 shots.

It started raining again just before that and we only brought along 1 pathetic umbrella -.- So we did everything in the rain with the wind blowing at us hahaha what an experience omg:



Look at us hahahaha the 落汤鸡s:



Mr Gao dropped us off for dinner at 胡须张 / Hu Xu Zhang (he didn't want to join us for dinner), and here's a final selfie with him before he left! :(
For those who are interested in engaging him, you can contact his cousin Mr. 郑金聪 at 0917-807158 / jin016888@yahoo.com.tw to arrange! :)









We were really really hungry by then so everything tasted really good to us! We ordered additional 卤肉 because we couldn't get enough of it. We even bought packets of it home:



Our Raohe Night Market plans were cancelled because it was STILL raining after we were done with dinner, so we decided to have supper at the authentic Yong He near our apartment haha:



It was really a bad day to rain... but glad everyone was still so sporting! :)


Day 6
Our last day in Taiwan! :( Woke up early for brunch at Melange Cafe @ ZhongShan station:





The restaurant is huge, taking up about 3-4 units and each unit is separated from another:









Iced Fruit Tea (NT$160 / S$6.80) - this was basically Lipton tea with fruits, we didn't think there was anything special to it but almost every table ordered this. It was too sweet for our liking too:





The Matcha Latte was really yummy! The Hot Chocolate was so thick and chocolatey too:



Macarons (NT$50 / S$2 each):



Smoked Duck Salad with Orange Dressing (NT$200 / S$8.50) - the smoked duck pieces were thick and juicy, I loved the chewiness too:





Smoked Chicken & Ham Pizza (NT$140 / S$6):





Borkshire Ham Sandwich:








Melange Cafe
No.23, Lane 16,
Section 2, Zhongshan North Road

Mon - Thurs: 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Fri: 7:30pm - 11:00pm
Sat: 9:30am - 11:00pm
Sun: 9:30am - 10:00pm
Tel: +856 02 2567 3787


Went back to Ximending after that to settle all our undone businesses!

Yan and I were craving 阿宗面线 badly hahaha:



I didn't get to eat Tamsui's Jumbo ice-cream on our 1st day because I thought it could be bought anywhere :( Apparently not. Settled for Ximending's smaller version:











A disappointment because everything was mostly ice - so is the Jumbo one from Tamsui, I heard. This made me feel better.



This bottled milk tea from 7-11 was damn nice! There's White Coffee flavour too:



Yanning and I shared a chocolate ice-cream cone from 7-11 and it was soooo thick and delicious. No wonder the queues for the ice-cream at 7-11 were mostly pretty long:









Took the night flight back to SG with all our goodies!



Till the next trip together! :D