Ajah! Here’s the second installment of our Taipei Trip. The
itinerary for Day 2 was to visit temples, a day made especially for Jcel
because she loves temples.
But first things first, we just have to visit one of Taipei’s Landmarks which
is located in the heart of the City - “Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall”. Though
we have planned for Day 2 to visit temples, we just couldn't bare the
thought of missing out on CKS since it is one of the most recommended places to
visit. The good thing about Taipei is
that, even though it has a vast land area; you can reach any places by train in
a jiffy just like in Hong Kong. The CKS
itself has its own train station so it’s convenient and hassle free, definitely
an advantage for tourists and first timers.
The place is grand with two temple-like buildings facing each other
with a big clearing in between. As we were taking pictures and did our crazy
jumps, many would come up to us and asked us to take pictures of them. One
particular tourist wouldn't go away even after Jcel took a lot of
pictures of her (on her camera of course!); I realized later, she
wanted jump-shots taken. I became her photographer until she was
fully satisfied with the takes. Like I said, the place is grand. It's a
wonderful place to relax and enjoy the museums, exhibition halls and gardens.
Afterwards, we went to Longshan Temple but
we were put off by the large crowd. We cannot enjoy as we felt it was
inappropriate for us to be there while they were worshiping. We
walked around Longshan district instead and found an alley where old folks
hangout to drink tea and sell old stuffs. After going around, we felt the pang
of hunger. We wanted to try Taiwanese foods but apparently all they have
around that place are Taiwanese desserts, burgers, cafés and Yoshinoya. We
opted for Yoshinoya as we needed to energize ourselves after that long walk. I
distinctly remembered we actually had to drag ourselves to walk back to the
train station. However, going back to the train station was such a good
decision because that is where the “Longshan Temple Underground Shopping
Bazaar” is located (and yes that’s how long the name is!). If you’re into
shoes, it is the best place to be because firstly they are so cheap, we end up
buying 4 pairs of shoes and secondly, I can assure you that they are of good
quality.
Following that, we decided not to go to
any temples anymore. We figured it’ll be packed with people as well since it
was CNY holiday. Instead, we went to Ximending. When we got out of the station,
it felt like “Lost in Translation” scenario. The place was H.U.G.E – huge! What
more, it was a bit crowded. There were alleys after alleys of shops and
restaurants. They also have a block specifically for all cinemas. Our feet were
killing us at that time from all those walking, so we decided to rest – come
and behold Starbucks to the rescue. It was a three story building exclusively
for Starbucks all we could say was – WOW! After an hour of rest we decided not
to go around anymore.
But our adventure did not stop there;
Jcel and I decided to go to Taipei 101.
We arrived around 6:30 pm in New York New York but then it started drizzling but that didn't stop us. It was quite a long walk around 15 to 20 minutes depending on how fast you walk. This is the place where you mostly see a lot of foreigners (hence the name!) and high-end shops also, some random entertainments.
We walked all the way to Taipei 101 and arrived at 7:15 pm; fortunately the last tour is at 9:15 pm and our lining up time was 8:30 pm. We resulted to just sit and rest since our feet was already shouting in agony. But before we know it, it was already time to queue up. Though the line was long, it only took around 10 minutes wait and was moving constantly so you don’t feel the stress of waiting at all and the reason for this is the super hi-tech, super speed elevator.
When we got in, all the lights were off except for the small lights that felt like you were in space. I particularly remember us going up to 89th floor in less than 40 seconds because I was staring at the monitor. It was unbelievably fast! You wouldn’t feel the lift going up to 89th floor at all, it was that awesome! The Taipei 101 was the highest building in the world for 5 years until Dubai decided to build a much taller one. Though it was already night time, it was still magnificent to see Taipei in 360 degrees. Once up there, you will be given a handset that’ll guide you through out the tour. We bought souvenirs and sent our families postcards. Somehow, we forgot how it’s like to send a letter through mail because where the address was supposed to be written, that was where we wrote our messages. By the time we realized it, it was too late. We didn’t have anymore space to write down our address in HK. We had to squeeze it in. Two weeks later – we received our cards, and we thought it’ll never make it! Hahahaha
After Taipei 101, we were hungry but we wanted
something Taiwan-nesee. So we ignored McDonalds, Burger King, CPK and other
western restaurants that we in fact know we can eat n HK. So we took the
courage to walk back to New York New York again, this time it was
already 10-ish pm. For us walking back that path was longer than we have
projected. By this time, we were not only hungry, our feet were screaming for
us to stop walking. By the time we arrived near the train station hoping to
find a restaurant that serves Taiwanese food, the only shop that was open was
YOSHINOYA! After all that we've been through, we end up “again” in
Yoshinoya because apparently, they’re open 24/7. We just kept laughing and
laughing because it was as if fate was playing a trick on us.
After our meal,
we had no more strength to actually move. We wanted to take a cab, but were too
scared so we walked back to the train station and got home at around 12:30am.
So that’s our day 2 full of laughter and
pain from going around too many places in one day, but it was worth it and
another day for both of us to always treasure. :)
Here's our "another" epic-fail jump-shots
(hehehehe)
Click HERE for our Day 2 video on Youtube! :) Enjoy watching!
Till Next time! :)
Bex
