If you missed out Part 1 of Day 1, click on this link to be updated!
http://vanvanscully.blogspot.sg/2015/07/taiwan-2014-day-1-part-1-singapore.html
The plan was to place our heavy luggages in the hotel which was close to Taipei Main Station and then we could be free to roam around till Check-in Time at 3pm. The tricky part is that everyone starts to get way too exhausted before 3pm comes around. I'll have to devise a much better plan to deal with this problem - which happened twice for me - once in June and again in December.
First things first: YOUTHS OUT THERE!
Apply for the Youth Travel Card at Taipei Main Station - there are some perks which could be relevant - check their website for details.
Get Youth Privilege Travel Card 青年旅遊卡at Tourist Service Counter
present passport – apply for FREE to get discounts
[Kao Chi, Taipei 101, Miramar Ferris Wheel, Cingjing Farm]
Next up: Getting to the hotel!
City Inn Hotel has many branches - around Taipei Main Station alone - they already have 3! While the location of City Inn Hotel 1 is the best, the other 2 aren't too bad either.
DIRECTIONS:
From Taipei Main Station, head to the Breeze Centre, and exit onto Chengde Road Exit. Cross
to the left hand side of the road. Walk straight for 5 minutes. Once you pass McDonalds and
KFC turn left, and City Inn 3 will be on the right.
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| Waiting around at the Hotel Lobby area of City Inn Hotel 3: Taipei |
For more information on Taipei holidays such as flights and accommodation you can click this link which will bring you to one of my older blog posts about planning your trip to Taipei!
http://vanvanscully.blogspot.sg/2014/08/taiwan-2014-travel-itinerary.html
Once we were done depositing our luggage with the concierge and doing some check-in procedures (so that when we arrived later in the afternoon all we had to do was grab our key cards), we were ready to head off!
First stop: YONGKANG STREET for the foodie afficianados.
To get to Yongkang Street we had to first get back to Taipei Main Station.
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| Taking the main crossing to Taipei Main Station! |
I highly recommend getting the Taipei transport card which can be used for subways, railways, bullet trains and even buses! Saves you money, time and is so convenient.
DIRECTIONS:
From City Inn Hotel 3, turn right onto Chengde Road Section 1, and walk straight down for 5 minutes. Enter Exit Y7 of the Taiwan Underground Mall.
From Taipei Main Station, take subway and alight at Dongmen Station
(台北捷運信義線towards Xiangshan – 3 stops, 6 minutes)
Take Exit 5. Head south on Alley 148 Section 2 Xinyi Road信義路二段148巷 towards Alley 13 Section 2 Jinshannan Road 金山南路二段13巷 (100 m). Turn left onto Alley 31 Section 2 Jinshannan Road金山南路二段31巷 (51 m). Continue onto Alley 6 Yongkang Street永康街6巷 (72m) then turn right onto Yongkang Street 永康街.
LIST OF PLACES TO TRY AT YONGKANG STREET
鼎泰豐The
Original Din Tai Fung
No. 194, Section 2, Xinyi Road, Taipei | 台北市信義路第2段 194 號
Tel: +886 2 2321 8928 | Operating Hours: Mon to Fri: 10am – 9pm
Sat & Sun: 9am – 9pm
No. 194, Section 2, Xinyi Road, Taipei | 台北市信義路第2段 194 號
Tel: +886 2 2321 8928 | Operating Hours: Mon to Fri: 10am – 9pm
Sat & Sun: 9am – 9pm
高記Kao-Chi
Shanghai Cuisine Dim Sum
No. 1 Yongkang Street, Taipei | 台北市大安區永康街1號
Tel: 02 2341 9984 | Operating Hours: Mon to Fri – 10am to 10.30pm
Sat to Sun – 8.30am to 10.30pm
- 10% off with Youth Travel Card
- Famous for Pan-fried Bun 生煎包 but Xiao Long Bao 小籠包 is also good.
No. 1 Yongkang Street, Taipei | 台北市大安區永康街1號
Tel: 02 2341 9984 | Operating Hours: Mon to Fri – 10am to 10.30pm
Sat to Sun – 8.30am to 10.30pm
- 10% off with Youth Travel Card
- Famous for Pan-fried Bun 生煎包 but Xiao Long Bao 小籠包 is also good.
永康牛肉麺館 Yong Kang
Beef Noodles (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
No. 17, Street 31, Jinshan South Road Sec 2, Taipei | 台北市金山南路二段31巷17號
Operating Hours: 11am to 9.30pm
Order Wantons in Vinegar and Chilli Oil 红油抄手 and Beef Noodles 牛肉麺
No. 17, Street 31, Jinshan South Road Sec 2, Taipei | 台北市金山南路二段31巷17號
Operating Hours: 11am to 9.30pm
Order Wantons in Vinegar and Chilli Oil 红油抄手 and Beef Noodles 牛肉麺
思慕昔15號本館 Smoothie House
Outlet 1 (indoors, two-storey)
No. 9 Yongkang St., Da-an District, Taipei City 106 |台北市大安區永康街9號 No.9
Tel: 02-23958770 | Opening Hours: 11:00 – 23:00
Outlet 2 (outdoors)
No.15 Yongkang St., Da-an District, Taipei City 106 |台北市大安區永康街15號
Tel: 02-23418555 | Opening Hours: 11:00 – 23:00
Order No. 1 (Snowflake Fruits Mix with Panna Cotta 手工奶酪综合水果雪花冰 NTD160) or
No. 3 (Mango Snowflake Ice with Ice Cream 雪酪芒果雪花冰 NTD150).
Outlet 1 (indoors, two-storey)
No. 9 Yongkang St., Da-an District, Taipei City 106 |台北市大安區永康街9號 No.9
Tel: 02-23958770 | Opening Hours: 11:00 – 23:00
Outlet 2 (outdoors)
No.15 Yongkang St., Da-an District, Taipei City 106 |台北市大安區永康街15號
Tel: 02-23418555 | Opening Hours: 11:00 – 23:00
Order No. 1 (Snowflake Fruits Mix with Panna Cotta 手工奶酪综合水果雪花冰 NTD160) or
No. 3 (Mango Snowflake Ice with Ice Cream 雪酪芒果雪花冰 NTD150).
Our first stop was Yongkang Beef Noodles! No points for guessing what they're famous for.
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| A little shop but packed with customers from all over the world tucking into delicious, piping hot food! Go early to avoid the queue which was snaking by the time we finished our meal. |
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| Wantons in Vinegar and Chilli Oil 紅油抄手 which was highly recommended online - but I find to be so-so. Nothing spectacular. |
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| The famous Yongkang Beef Noodles which were fragrant, slightly spicy (only slightly) with tender beef morsels. |
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| This was surprisingly amazing. Daddy saw a poster of this on the wall and decided to order it - Pig Intestines with Glutinous Rice. Sounds icky but it was delicious. I wouldn't recommend it if you are afraid of "piggy smells" in your food, but I can HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to you if you love pig intestines. This was the best dish we had there. |
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| Dan Dan Noodles which my sister and I shared since it was just a little too early to eat. Nothing great but it wasn't bad. |
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| Compulsory happy smiles photo outside the shop which had a long queue at the end of our meal and off we went to another location! |
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| Just snapped a photo of the huge signboard for you so you can recognise this place! |
NEXT STOP: Kao Chi Shanghai Cuisine Dim Sum
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| The shop is close to Din Tai Fung and it is so grand, you won't miss it! |
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| Waiting upstairs for the arrival of our food - the atmosphere is classy and elegant. |
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| We ordered Xiao Long Bao - it wasn't spectacularly special - but it had a substantial standard. |
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| We tried to order other things on the menu even though we were so full - this is a salted egg custard bun otherwise known as Liu Sha Bao |
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| The bun was a little too thick for our liking though, and there was barely any salted egg taste within the custard. |
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| For dessert, an osmanthus cake of some sorts which could be better? It just lacked the taste of osmanthus within the cake itself - you could only taste it when you bit into the actual flower. |
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| A glass window at the first floor for people to look in as they walked past the shop. |
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| Would I recommend coming here? Not really. It is possible that we didn't order the right stuff, but nothing we ate was that great. You can give this a miss. |
NEXT STOP: Smoothie House 思慕昔
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| Smoothie House is famous for the shaved ice desserts! They taste amazing and are great for sharing. They are so popular that they now have two outlets and even have a call number for customers. |
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| A great view from the second floor. |
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| The amazing Mango Shaved Ice 雪酪芒果雪花冰 NTD150 - I loved this! Sweet and full of mangoes |
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| My family also enjoyed this Fruits Mix Strawberry Snowflake Ice with Sorbet 超級綜合草莓雪花冰 I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Smoothie House to get your sweet tooth fix along Yongkang Street! |
TAIPEI 101 - We made our way to Taipei 101 but decided that we were way too tired to go up to explore. We did take one customary tourist shot with the building though.
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| If however, you're packed with energy and decide that you want to go check out Taipei 101 - here's some directions on how to get from Yongkang Street to Taipei 101. |
YONGKANG STREET TO TAIPEI 101
Take subway from Dongmen Station to Taipei 101/World Trade Center Station
(台北捷運信義線towards Xiangshan – 4 stops, 6 minutes)
台北101 Taipei 101 Observatory
89F, No.7, Section 5, Xinyi Rd.,Taipei City | 台北市信義路第5段7號
Operating Hours: 9am to 10pm
Adult Entrance Fee: NTD500 but with Youth Card enjoy tour group rate on admission (NTD450)
Ticket Booth and entrance at 5th floor of Taipei 101 Mall
[Visitors in improper attire or slippers will be denied entry]
[Big Bags exceeding 297mm by 420mm not allowed – otherwise deposit in lockers for free]
From Taipei 101, we made our way back to the hotel to rest for the afternoon because we were all exhausted from the bad flight time. Here's some photos of City Inn Hotel 3 just so you can check out how they look like.
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| The entrance door with separated toilet bowl and shower cubicle. Its good for if you're sharing a room with someone - one can shower while the other takes a dump/whiz. |
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| They provide you with coffee and tea packets, water as well as snacks for your stay. |
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Spend all your evenings at Night Markets in Taiwan because there is no better place to do so. Where else can you indulge in amazing street food and exciting atmosphere?
Shihlin Night Market is a fantastic place for street food and great shopping! There's no doubt about the buzzing atmosphere there, and with local Taiwanese heading there, you can be sure that it is a destination you should include in your itinerary.
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| A rainy night doesn't faze us - we're more than ready for some nomming! |
City Inn Hotel 3 -> 士林夜市Shihlin Night Market
From City Inn Hotel 3, turn right onto Chengde Road
Section 1, and walk straight down for 5
minutes. Enter Exit Y7 of the Taiwan Underground Mall. From Taipei Main Station alight at Jiantan Station, Exit 1. (台北捷運淡水線, 台北捷運信義線 towards Danshui/Beitou Station – 5 stops)
Head north on Jihe Road基河路 (91m), then turn left to stay on 基河路 (230m).
*Shihlin Market Opening Hours: about 5pm-12am
minutes. Enter Exit Y7 of the Taiwan Underground Mall. From Taipei Main Station alight at Jiantan Station, Exit 1. (台北捷運淡水線, 台北捷運信義線 towards Danshui/Beitou Station – 5 stops)
Head north on Jihe Road基河路 (91m), then turn left to stay on 基河路 (230m).
*Shihlin Market Opening Hours: about 5pm-12am
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| The first stop is definitely Prince Cheese Potato! Its the shop right in front of the pedestrian walkway from Jiantan Station to Shihlin Night Market. Look at us queueing in the rain just to get our yummy potatoes. |
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| The professional in action! Watching this guy work is just fascinating! Its even better when there are a couple of them standing there, one dipping the potatoes in batter, one deep frying the potatoes and this guy who assembles these amazing potatoes! |
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| A picture of the shop front and its never-ending queue which stretches all the way till Neverland (nah I kid, pretty much till the next shop, because they are pretty efficient and quick in the preparation of their food). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! |
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| The glorious Prince Cheese Potato - I can't quite remember the name of this - but its basically the one that contains every possible ingredient the shop can offer. My family loved this so much we tried to recreate this at home. There is some seating available in the shop but not much. If you're game, you may choose to takeaway your potato and indulge in it as you walk around Shihlin. |
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| My family went absolutely insane buying spectacles at this shop. Bring along a person who is so skilled at bargaining that it will make your shopping that much more affordable. I alone bought a pair of no-degree glasses just because it looked good - and who am I kidding, I need spectacles with degreed-lenses! |
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| There are recognisable brand names along Shihlin, as well as independent shops which get their clothes from regular warehouses and such. You can't miss out the great street buys which you can attain at night markets. A good travelling tip I can offer you though is that if you can afford to, try not to do any impulse buying on the first night because there is probably a 70% chance that you will see it being sold for a cheaper price elsewhere. Take note of the price of the item, try to recall the shop location, and if it is cheaper you can always come back. A holiday to Taiwan should always be long rather than short because there is just so much to see and do. |
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| Shihlin houses its street food not just along the streets but in the basement food area as well which is packed full of food stalls with seating. My recommendation for stalls within the basement area are just simple takeaway morsels that are pretty amazing and unique. The first item I'd like to recommend is the Coffin Bread otherwise known as 棺材板. Why such a morbid name you ask? The preparation of this dish resembles that of a coffin. A thick toast is deep fried and the top is cut out to create a box. They then stuff it with ingredients and gravy, then cover the stuffed bread with the cut-out top. Watch my video below to check out the master in action! |
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| With the stuffings peeking out. Some of you may ask, what's so special about this Coffin Bread? Especially if you've had it before. What I found so amazing about this coffin bread is that even though we took it back to the hotel to munch on as a late night supper, it still tasted amazing. The bread wasn't soggy and was relatively delicious even when cold. |
Another item I highly recommend is the Da Bing Bao Xiao Bing 大餅包小餅 or in direct translation is a big crepe wrapping a small biscuit. It may look like nothing much, and sound like nothing much but it is absolutely amazing! A thin and amazing crepe wraps this flaky pastry and a topping of your choice. Watch my video below to see this dish being made. It looks rather simple but tastes absolutely amazing! My family was dubious at first but they were totally won over! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
SO MUCH TO EAT, SO LITTLE STOMACH ROOM~
Takeaways to the Rescue!
Takeaways to the Rescue!
My family literally brought food back to the hotel every night and just sat in the hotel lobby feasting on late night snacks and street food. We were the terrible ones hogging the lobby seats every night without fail >.<
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| Convenience stores were our favourite haunt before returning to the hotel! Look at this awesome takeaway holder my brother got from 7-11 just from ordering a microwaved bento set. |
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| Pretty handrolls from 7-11 - love how I can indulge in Japanese food all over Taiwan. |
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| My brother's bento set! Haha it looks a little gross in the photo but it was pretty good |
BIG BURPS AND TO BED WE GO!
Stay tuned to my next post where we had a foodie day out (they are pretty common in Taiwan) at Ximending and Raohe Night Market on Day 2 of our big family adventure!
Till then,
Fly Safe and Eat Happy,
V
Fly Safe and Eat Happy,
V
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