Wanderlust Dreams ♥: Love Taipei #1

This five days trip to Taipei was actually a last minute plan. We originally plan to go to Beijing at first, we even paid travel agent deposit to join a 5days tour to the capital city of China. Although people around us have been asking us to prepare a back up plan just in case Beijing trip get cancel last minute, we still have other options. I don't know why but both of us had been really relax on this, we were like, its fine if it got cancel, we still can go to HK to shop, no big deal, lol!

Well yes apparently the trip is cancel eventually. Reason was because there isn't enough people joining so it was forced to cancel. =.= And they only informed us about it like One week before the departure day. Freaking panic at the moment because due to the short notice, we have to decide and come out with another plan asap. By that time we don't feel like going to HK already coz we realized that it was a waste to spend five days there.

So we were deciding between Taiwan, Hang Zhou and Shanghai. Taiwan wins all the hand down because going to Hang Zhou or Shanghai is a little over budget for us, maybe next time. Yes so Taipei it is! Talked about this, I have to extend my gratitude to two people who made this trip runs smoothly for us. First is Carol who is so kind lending us her credit card. To reserve flight tickets online through Eva Airline, Hong Kong/ China Airline was such a pain in the ass. Unlike Airasia, these three airlines actually require the credit card holder to on broad together as well pffft dafug is this! Both Sin Mei & I have NO credit card and we were running ups & down borrowing people's credit card to reserve tickets but stupid airlines have so many unacceptable rules & regulation, we nearly fail to book any flight. Super panic but luckily we still left with one last option, which is Carol had to help us to sign a third party credit card authorization form at the airline center, and that has to be approved by the company at least 48 hours before we depart. =.= gan jiong. Thanks big time to Carol babi. <3

And obstacles have not ended at this part yet. "Accommodations" our second challenges.
Nearly all the budget hotels were fully reserved on our traveling period. Sial. I don't know why since it is not any peak season. Later did I know it was because Lady Gaga was having concert tour in Taipei, and Kim Hyun Joong was also there to meet his fans, so most of the hotels were reserved by their fans. Bad times. It was 5 days before our trip and we still had no idea where to stay yet. However, this second VIP to receive our big Thanks is my sister! Thanks for her effort and times, she successfully booked accommodation for four nights (First & forth night- Nihao@Taipei, second night- Rose Boutique Hostel and third night- Jiufen Jing Jian Hostel) I don't know how she did it when I tried and failed. Thank you thank you so much we love you! Big Hugs! <3

Everything settled finally. On Friday, we on board happily to embarked our journey to the land of food, finally.

To describe Taiwan, I would like to say it is a place where all the friendly people come from.
Its true! You will never have to worry about yourself getting lost in the city because everyone is so willing to help showing you the path, even when they are not sure how to reach to a certain place, they would actually stand by the road side and google map it for you. Some more they would bring you to your destination and make sure you reach there safely. lol! Taiwanese are all so friendly and helpful! Besides, their foods are so cheap and yummy, even their onigiri from 7-11 taste so good I actually had it most of the time, lol.

Enough of the windy words, lets pictures do the talking from now.

Boarding with Eva Air, it just takes 1 1/2 hour to reach Taipei from Macau. Just nice for an episode of variety show.

First night at Nihao@Taipei Hostel, located at a very convenient place - Taipei main station.

Clean and neat room, love how they keep the room so homey. The only flaw is we have to share bathroom with other floor mates.

Flight got delayed so we only able to visit one place on day one.

Which was Xi Men Ding 西门町, the infamous shopping district for youngster.

The Red House Theater 西门红楼 which has been keeping well since the Japanese era. Its one of the touristy spots in Taipei.

Inside of the Red House Theater.

Walked into the theater, there are some display of the historical structures and a cafe, and unexpectedly, there are several shops selling designer arts in there. Each and every of the shops selling interesting stuffs and all are originally designed by the owner themselves, so you cannot find the same products else where other than here. I love independent artists' arts, they're all very special, albeit they cost a little much, lol.

Especially this shop above selling all kinds of vintage design goods, its my favorite! I grabbed a phone case and a camera pouch here. Would love to revisit this shop again if I ever go back. :)

While waiting for my sis to finish class, we wandered around the shopping area. Found this must eat Taiwanese style fried chicken 盐酥鸡. It is fried chicken seasoned with basil, chilli powder and some minced garlic, very common snack in Taiwan. Heavy flavored but we just couldn't stop eating this. :)

Another must eat in Xi Men Ding, the popular 阿宗面线 Ay Chung vermicelli.

Its a stewed rice noodles with pork intestines and a strong smell of dried bonito flakes. Not bad, I think people who likes shark fin soup would love this too, it is more or less the same taste and texture.