Tour of Northern Taiwan

One Relaxing Day in Taipei

August 22, 2016 (Monday)

MOR's conference didn't start until late in the afternoon so we had half a day to do things on our own. After waking up we went down to the basement for our complimentary breakfast at the hotel. They used to give out coupons to redeem at the Dante Restaurant downstairs for a breakfast set or get drinks and bread from the 7-11 across the street but now they have a new set up in the basement. Buffet style breakfast is now being served where it used to be Base. Breakfast including Chinese style congee, some kind of fried noodles, vegetables, steamed buns, etc. There was also a small salad bar which was quite good and fresh. All I cared about was the fresh bread that I can make toast for myself and then a nice cup of coffee, the coffee was just OK though. The salad was a good addition to my simple breakfast. It was quite crowded this morning, not sure why. The rest of the week was much better. Food was not bad, simple but fresh and the servers were all very polite.

Din Tai Fun--Taipei 101

After breakfast, we went back up to our room for some relaxation, watched a little TV, and I did some laundry. Then we headed out to take the subway to Taipei 101 for an early lunch at Din Tai Fung. It was around 11:00 when we arrived and there was already a long line of hungry people waiting to get in. Our number was called after 20 minutes wait, at least we were waiting inside the air-conditioned mall, so it wasn't that bad.

Open-kitchen where you can see the famous 'shao lung bao' being prepared.

We came here mainly for the 'shao lung bao', which we had two orders of the regular ones. The bao were delicately done with 18 folds with juicy meat wrapped inside a very thin wrapper.

Oh, my, look at the juice inside!

We also had one order of the crab meat ones. Amazing!

One order of the fried shrimp dumplings, excellent!

Yes, it's a little expensive but it was definitely worth it to enjoy Din Tai Fung once in a while.

We have had meals at Din Tai Fung Arcadia and Hong Kong and there is really a difference.

We walked around the beautiful 101 mall, checked out what others were eating at the food court, and tried the free samples of the many delicacies there before taking the subway back to the hotel. While at the main train station, we checked out the train schedules to give us an idea of what's available when we need to go to Tainan on Saturday. Then we spent the afternoon just relaxing in the hotel room.

MOR's 5-day conference was being held in Xindian, which means he had to commute everyday to and from there. For the first day, I accompanied him to the conference location just to make sure that he knows his way around. Then I came back to the hotel and met ChC for dinner.

We decided that we will just have something simple and a bowl of chirashi (bowl of rice topped with different fish/seafood and vegetables) sounded just right. I have read on someone's blog that there is this Japanese restaurant just around the corner of the hotel and it should be inexpensive for a simple meal. 

Menu, in Chinese only. I don't even know if this restaurant has an English name.

Self-service all you can have miso soup and green tea.

My bowl of chirashi with salmon, tuna, and one other kind of fish.  Nothing spectacular but good value for the price of $150 Taiwan dollars (about USD $5).

MOR did not come back until after 10:00, and that was his schedule for that whole week, poor thing! 

One-Day Tour of Northern Taiwan

August 23, 2016 (Tuesday)

A few years ago, we found a flyer on the reception counter at Hotel Flowers and had the staff booked a one-day tour of Northern Taiwan for us. It turned out to be a decent tour which did not cost us an arm and a leg. We figured that while MOR was attending the conference, ChC and I should go on this tour since he has not been to these places before. Again, we found the flyer of the tour and the reception desk clerk happily booked us on this tour. The cost was NTD $1000 pp, which is like $32USD. Not bad for a one-day tour and it will take us to places like Yehliu, Jiufen, Pingxi (Shifen), etc. which would be difficult for us to get to using public transportation.

We were told to wait in the lobby at 8:00 for the pick-up and sure enough, right on the dot, a lady came in and told us that we would be going with her. To our surprise, we were the only two going on this tour that day so we had a private tour for the whole day. Our guide and driver, Sophia, was courteous and professional. I asked her if it was OK if we skip the tea shop visit which I remember we went last time. I told her that we would not be interested in buying tea and it would be very awkward that we go in and go through the whole thing without buying. She thought about it for a moment and said it was OK. Then she asked about the pineapple cake shop and I said that one is fine because we should be able to buy something there.

On our tour with Sophia, our driver and guide for the day.

Yehliu Geo Park

Our first stop was Yehliu Geo Park on the northern tip of the island near the city of Keelung. This is a popular stop for tourists from mainland China. When we arrived at 9:00am, I thought there should not be too many people at that early hour. Little did I know that there were already busloads of tourists there at the site.

Sophia helped us purchase our tickets and then showed us the way to go around the site. She also explained the important rock formations that we should see before letting us go on our own. 

Many interesting rock formations along the coast.

Supposedly an elephant, a hippo, and a turtle.

The most famous "Queen's Head". This is the most photographed piece of rock in the park and a 'must do' for visitors from China.

"Please do not touch the Queen's Head, Please form a line for photograph."

We did not need a photo with the 'Queen' so we skipped the line.

The line was not too bad, really, with fewer Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan since May.

"Fairy's Shoe"

After about an hour, we came back to meet Sophia at the parking lot.

Jiufen

Jiufen is a little town up on the hill made famous by a Chinese movie a few years back. It was really just a quiet mining village that turned into an inspirational gathering spot for artists and writers after the mines closed down. All of a sudden this quiet village became a tourist attraction just because of the movie. Jiufen old town is mainly a narrow street with many stores and restaurants, quite interesting to spend a couple of hours. Sophia gave us a hand-drawn map which showed us where to meet up with her when we are done. Then she dropped us off near the entrance of the old town.

First thing for us was to go up to the observation deck by the roadside for a panoramic view of the coast. 

Looking at the Keelung direction.

Beautiful!

I remember that Presbyterian Church there.

Looked like a trail leading up to the top of the hill.

Entrance to the main street in old town Jiufen.

Let's begin our food adventure!

First thing I got was the dripped ice coffee, delicious and cool for a hot day.

This store is famous for their ice cream puffs, freshly baked cream puffs stuffed with ice cream.

ChC really enjoyed this.

Ice cream/peanuts wrap

Good!

Looking down the hill at the end of main street.

We settled here for our lunch.

Meat ball soup and braised pork rice. Not too bad!

Shao Lung Bao, definitely not Din Tai Fung. You can tell that these were mass-products, machine made. What disappointment!

Quite a lot of visitors on this main street.

We were to meet Sophia at the bottom of this stairway, which is made famous by the movie.

This tea house is popular among Japanese tourists.

A fake bus stop.

replica of a mine

sculpture of a miner

Ah Mei Tea House

Old movie theater

A store with a big cat on the roof.

It was kind of fun exploring this old town enjoying the food and the nostalgic feel of the place. 

We were to meet Sophia around here, at the tourist information center at the bottom of the stairs. 

Pingxi (Shifen)

Pingxi was also a mining town years ago and Sophia told us that most people living in this town belong to the same family that came from mainland China many decades ago. It became famous just in recent years for their lanterns flying activities. Tourists from Korea, Japan, and other Asia countries flock to this place for their lanterns flying experience. We had no intention in flying a wishing lantern because I believe that God knows our every need. All we have to do is to humble ourselves and pray. We just wanted to see what other people would be doing there.

Stores along both sides of the train tracks sell colorful lanterns for people to write their wishes on before flying them up to the sky. This would be much more beautiful and interesting to see in the evening.

Ooops, the train is coming! Everybody moved to the sides.

Then we went to cross the swaying bridge to the other side of the river.

Quite a long bridge but there is really nothing on the other side, just some local residences.

Back to the main part of town. Here is the Shifen train station right next to the train tracks.

Platform across on the other side.

One more picture of someone flying their lanterns up to the sky. We were told that they do recycle these lantern frames after they drop back to the ground.

Taipei Martyr's Shrine

We left Shifen and made our way back to Taipei city. Our last stop would be the Martyr's Shrine in Dazhi, near the Keelung River. I remember being here forty some years ago in 1970 with mom and dad and I was awe struck by this huge place. The shrine was built in 1969, which means we were here only a year after it was built. This is home to around 390,000 spirit tablets honoring the fallen Kuomintang soldiers who sacrificed their lives during the War of Resistance against Japan and the Chinese Civil War with communist China. It is a solemn and impressive place to be. Most people go there for the hourly changing of the guard ceremony but it's worth it to walk around the grounds and check out the shrine if time allows. Apparently, all the guides know the exact time of the ceremony and we were dropped off at the front gate at around 3:15. Soon enough we noticed that something was happening up near the main shrine.

The main entrance building leading up to the main shrine.

Guards marching down from the main shrine.

Marched toward the main gate for the ceremony.

Impressive!

After the Martyr's Shrine, we were taken to the pineapple cake store where we were to buy Taiwan famous pastry-pineapple cakes. We were served many different samples of the various pineapple cakes plus other snack items as soon as we arrived. It was very difficult not to buy anything since we were the only two on this tour. We bought a couple of boxes just to help Sophia get her quota filled. We still have a couple of weeks of traveling before going home.

We made such good time that we ended our tour a little too early. By the time Sophia dropped us off at the Shilin Night Market, it was not even 4:00pm yet. She told us to find a place to sit and wait for the night market to open. We were kind of tired by now and really did not want to stay around too much even though Shilin Night Market is one of the main tourist attractions in Taipei. After walking around the quiet market a little, we just bought a couple of chicken fried steak from the famous Hot Star and then took the subway back to the hotel. We should have eaten the chicken right there when it was still hot because by the time we got back to the hotel the piece of fried chicken steak became a little soggy. The huge piece of chicken was so big that it took care of dinner that night.

Hot Star Big Chicken Steak. Now available in Los Angeles (Rowland Heights).

Shilin Indoor Night Market

Chicken Steak

We had a good day on this private tour and ChC enjoyed the places that we visited. It was really worth it for the price as we traveled in an air-conditioned van in comfort with a private driver and guide. It would be difficult for us to find our way to these places using public transportation.