*Disclaimer: This is not an official travel guide so opinions, reviews and instructions are subjected to biases, memory lapses and the occasional side-track rambling.*
FOOD WE ATE:
(Those with ** are my absolute faves!)
1. PAPAYA MILK TEA (木瓜牛奶 mu gua niu nai)**
This was used to be called Beihui Papaya Milk (北回木瓜牛奶), but they changed the name. My guess is because this brand is going global, so they wanted to have a name that is easier to recognize on an international level. However, the quality remains the same. SOOOO GOOOOODDDDDD and refreshing! A MUST TO TRY! You can decide on the sugar and ice level. 50% sugar level and normal ice suits me just fine.
Location:
No. 130號, Kunming St, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108
(Nearest MRT Station: Ximending)
Opening Hours:
Daily 10am-11pm
2. AH ZONG FLOUR-RICE NOODLES (阿总面线 ah zong mian xian)
Honestly speaking, I thought that this street food is really just average. Slightly overrated. But for those new to Taipei, do give this a try at least once and decide for yourself if you would want to go for seconds (:
Location:
No 8-1, Emei Street, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan
(Nearest MRT Station: Ximending)
No. 8-1, Éméi St Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan
臺灣臺北市萬華區峨眉街8-1號
Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri (1030am-1030pm)
Sat & Sun (1030am-11pm)
3. TIAN TIAN LI STEWED PORK RICE (天天利美食坊 tian tian li mei shi fang) **
PLEASE, PLEASE TRY THIS! It is SOOOOO GOOOODDDDD! My friends have tried other stewed pork rice, but this one seems to be the best, by far. It is not too oily. This stall does it well and does it right. Do give it a try and order it with the egg! Also, try the fried oyster (3rd picture), its pretty good too! (: The fried oyster is the first one on the left column (1st picture showing the order chit) Although I must warn you! The stall gives off an unpleasant pee-like smell, but once you sit inside for long, it wont bother you anymore and the food definitely makes up for it!
Location:
No. 32, Hanzhong Street, Da-an District, Taipei City
(Nearest MRT Station: Ximending)
台北市大安區漢中街32號
Opening Hours:
Not too sure :/ My best advice is to go there for lunch or dinner. It should be normal opening hours! (:
4. FRIED ICE CREAM **
I MAD LOVE IT! Its so yummy! This is my second time having this awesome goodness! My first time was when I came for a cheer competition last year in Dec during the winter and discovered it. Crispy on the outside and ice-cream (choose your own flavour; mines ALWAYS vanilla!) on the inside. Perfect to grab all year round, be it during winter or summer! (:
Location:
Shilin Night Market
(Nearest MRT Station: Jiantan)
5. WAFFLE (松饼 song bing) **
Yay! I love waffles. Be it overseas or back in Singapore! I got this at Shida Market. But I think that you can get it almost anywhere else. I know Raohe Night Market also sells this, so get it on the go as you shop! So yummy! (:
6. FRIED MILK (炸鲜奶 zha xian nai)**
When asked what's my most favourite Taiwanese street food by my Taiwanese friends, I would say Fried milk without a second thought. It just melts in your mouth, steaming hot but oh-so rich and oh-so-good! This fried milk can be found in several places such as Shilin Night Market and Raohe Night Market. GIVE IT A TRY! (:
7. CHICKEN CUTLET (新竹家鸡扒 xin zhu jia ji pa)
I have tasted many chicken cutlets be it in Singapore, or Taiwan. There's the famous Chao Da Da Ji Pa (超大大鸡扒) which serves huge, uncut pieces of chicken cutlet slices. But this one, my dear readers. Is the best I have tried so far. Recommended by one of my Taiwanese friends who lives near Shilin Night Market. This Ji pa is moist upon first bite, making it soft and easy to chewy unlike the dry ones that you may come across at times. The batter is not too sweet but tasty and juicy. DO GIVE IT A GO!
As you exit from Jiantan MRT Station and cross the huge junction to get to the night market, the stall will be found near the fringes of Shilin Night Market before you enter the streets.
Location:
Taipei Shilin District, Ji He Road, No.1 The small front stall
(Nearest MRT Station: Jiantan)
台北市士林区基河路1号前小摊
Opening Hours:
Daily 3pm-1am
8. THE RANDOM CHURRO
Because. Thats just how it is. Who really just eat Taiwanese food when in Taiwan? We eat what we like! :D Although I didnt even get to finish it because my friend accidentally dropped most of it :(
But, yeah. We got it at Shillin Night Market as well.
9. TINY CRABS AND SNOW ICE (冰沙 bing sha)
We got this at the underground market at Shilin. Super yummy. The dish at the upper left is leftovers of the fried squid my friend is insanely crazy about. The green tea snow ice was refreshing and yummy, especially after a long and hot day of shopping and walking! (:
9. CHEESE PATCROSS
So rich with ingredients such as corn, mushrooms, melted cheese, bacon and other stuff that I cant really recall. But it was yummy and oh-so-sinful. The patcross is bascially potato but fried with flour, if I'm not wrong. Really unique and worth to give it a try. You can get this at Ximending.
10. Almond ice-cream wrapped (九份阿珠雪在烧 Jiou fen ah zhu xue zai shao)
*Not its actual name, I just came up with it. But you can tell from the signboard what it is*
Got this at Jioufen. The ice-cream was wrapped up in a wrap. Nice and yummy to eat! I always have to get it whenever I'm at Jioufen (:
11. FRIED MUSHROOM **
Lots of places sell this particular type of street food. Different stalls sell different types of mushrooms. The ones that sell xiang gu (香菇) are the nicest, in my opinion. Because I like those type of mushrooms alone in the first place. They retain flavours the most and hence, are the juiciest and most fragrant. Another type of mushroom is the shitake mushroom which I thoroughly enjoy. Most stalls do not sell this type of mushroom fried. The only one that I managed to find is the one at Tamshui (淡水). Some may feel that these type of mushrooms are the thinnest and you can only taste the flour that was being fried, hence, the most unworthy to buy. But me still likey it. (:
Shitake mushroom fried at Tamshui (淡水)! (:
12. FRIED SQUID
Fried squid that is chewy on the inside! Yummy! (: There's also different ways of cooking the squid. Some stalls like to roast it, instead. But my friends and I prefer the fried ones. Fried squid can be found almost in all night markets. This one is found at Tamshui (淡水).
13. RED BEANCAKE (晴光红豆饼 Qing guang hong dou bing)
This can be found at Tamshui Old Street (淡水老街 Dan shui lao jie). We ordered the carrot one and the milk flavour, and agreed that the milk beancake was the more awesome of the two.
14. AH GEI SNACKS (阿给小吃)
My Taiwanese friend said that when in Tamshui, we need to at least try Ah Gei. I didnt know what it was, so he ordered for me. (This was after my 2 friends left for Singapore, and my friend took me to Tamshui for food and shopping). We had all 3 stated on the container description. Ah Gei is the one on the extreme left in the first picture. It is fried tofu stuffed with glass noodles in spicy sauce and sealed with fish paste. I thought it was okay. But the fishball soup (鱼丸汤) is not bad and tasted pretty delish. Worth to try when you head over there. Its located near the harbour after you cross over the Lover's Bridge (:
15. INDIAN NAAN BREAD
I saw this at the Underground Mall (台北地下街 Taipei di xia jie) and wanted to try the difference between Taiwan's naan and Singapore's naan. As some of my friends may know, I'm a huge die-hard fan of Naan back in Singapore. Especially Beauty World Al-Azhaar's awesome naan. So, I HAD to try it. Thankfully, my Taiwan friends acceded to my strange request and ate it together with me. Naan here tasted a bit more dry and harder/crispier. I think we ordered the butter/garlic (I cant remember) and the plain Naan. They prefer the butter/garlic one because its more crispy, but I prefer the original, plain one because it tasted closer to home haha. Nevertheless, verdict's out. It cant be compared to home's.
16. KUEY
I'm sincerely, truly sorry guys. As much as I would like to tell you what the heck this is. But I cant. Please look out for this signboard when at Jioufen (九份) and get the ones with peanuts inside. Its super yummy! (: There were other flavours such as bean paste, if I'm not wrong. But I never liked anything with beans inside, so I never tried it.
17. YU YUAN (阿甘姨QQ芋圆地瓜圆 Ah gan yi QQ Yu yuan di gua yuan)
In Singapore, we call it tang yuan. But its the same thing. Its basically made of glutinous rice flour and QQ simply just means that its super chewy and has a bouncy texture to it. When in Jioufen, walk all the way up the Jioufen Old Street (九份老街) and climb up a flight of stairs and you should be able to see this shop. They give a generous serving of these glutinous rice flour balls.
18. DUCK MEAT NOODLE SOUP (北港龙门生炒鸭肉 Bei gang long men chao ya rou)
I'm not a fan of duck meat. But this particular dish had the flour noodles so yummy and awesome that the duck meat's taste was tolerable. Give it a try! Apparently, its a local favourite as my Taiwanese friend HAD to drop by and let me try it.
Location:
Xin Bei Shi, San Chong District, Longmen Road No.134, Taipei
新北市三重区龙门路，134号.
**Please do not quote me on this. I was driven there on a motorbike and this was the approximate location that was given to me. If you really want to try this, ask the locals nearby where you can find good duck meat with flour noodle soup**
Just a brief interlude before I move on to the food I ate at Keelung. And yup, we ate this ice-cream AGAIN back at Tamshui (淡水). Hahaa, cant help it. Anyways, one of the days a small group of Taiwan Monster cheerleaders, together with me in tow, drove to Keelung for food and fun. It was about a 40minutes drive from Taipei, so for those bored with Taipei can consider heading to Keelung to take a look.
19. PAO PAO BIN (泡泡冰)
Ate this refreshing treat at Keelung Miaokou Night Market. It was pretty crowded and only those who ordered peanut and passion fruit need not queue up. But, we ordered the flavour with egg and milk so we had to wait about 10 minutes for it. It was super yummy and I'm not sure how to describe it, but its a mixture between ice-kachang and snow ice flakes. Sorry, you gotta try it to understand what I mean about the texture. :/
20. TAKOYAKI BALL**
WHY OH WHY IS THIS SO DAMN GOOD?! Was it the Wasabi? Was it the octopus meat? Was there even meat inside in the first place?! O.O What heavenly concoction did they put in this to make it so awesome? I don't know. My dear readers, please go try this when at the Keelung Miaokou Night Market and tell me what exactly did they put inside because I can't see anything special. But its so good. My guess is its because of the sauce. But then again, I might be wrong. Be sure to try it! My fave at the Night Market!
21. SOYA BEAN (三兄弟豆花 San xiong di dou hua)**
What I like about soya bean is.
EVERYTHING.
No matter where you go. Be it in Singapore or Taiwan, the soya bean still taste as good. I'm a picky eater because I have a lot of things that I dont like. But when I really, REALLY like one particular kind of food, I love it to death, unwarranted and indiscriminately. (Unless the quality is really, really horrible.) But I have eaten plenty of soya bean, courtesy of my friend who found out that I love it and took me to the one here, as well as at Shida Night Market back at Taipei (Sorry, no photos of that one). What I like about ALL the soya bean that I tried is that they put peanuts inside (YUMZ!) and its prepared in the traditional way, scooped from a huge tub. Unlike those machine manufactured, (slightly overrated) laoban soya bean back in Singapore. I'm a happy girl (:
Photo above is found at the Keelung Miaokou Night Market.
22. SAN MING SEAFOOD GOURMET (三明海鲜)
When in Keelung, one has to eat seafood. So that was our first stop when we arrived at our destination!
I think my favourite dish is the sushi. LOL. The pork floss inside tasted so good with the sushi. Yumz. But of course, we had other dishes which came later but I was too hungry, so I only snapped pictures of the first round of dishes that arrived. Overall, the food was good. There was fish, which was pretty fresh and everyone ate to their heart's content. I cant remember how much I paid for it but its about TWD400 for each person and we had about 7 people to a table. Pricing is pretty reasonable if you asked me, considering we had about 8 dishes.
Location:
No. 64-5, Yuao Rd., Wanli Dist, Xinbei, Taiwan
**Once again, I'm not too sure of the address as I was being driven there. So... maybe you can ask around for the address on how to get to this place**
WHERE WE WENT:
1. Wufenpu Fashion Wholesale Market (五分埔服饰商圈 Wu fen pu fu shi shang quan)
Getting here:
Alight at Houshanpi MRT Station; follow road directions and it will lead you to this place.
Opening Hours:
Mon-Sat (12pm-12am)
Sun (12pm-9pm)
Advice:
Most shops open at 1pm; so head there after. The place is filled with stores and stores of clothes and other fashion accessories. Buy clothes, do not buy shoes from here. Their shoes here are freaking expensive. However, clothes sold at Wufenpu are cheaper than places like Shida Night Market, in my opinion. I compared a similar clothing whereby I got it for TWD350 here, but at Shida, it was sold at TWD490.
2. Ximending (西门町)
Getting here:
Ximending MRT Station
Opening Hours:
Mon- Thurs (11am-1030pm)
Fri-Sun (11am-11pm)
Advice:
Buy shoes, bags and some clothes from here. But if you are hesitating on a shoe, dont buy it yet. Head to the Underground Mall to see if they have something similar. Shoes at the Underground Mall are cheaper, selling at only TWD200 as compared to the usual TWD390. But food here is pretty good as well, especially the steamboat over there (火锅 Huo guo). For the guys, wait till nightfall and there will be makeshift stores located right on the streets and you can get shirts at a reasonably good deal.
See the last picture? Cross the road/junction at nightfall. On the other side of the aforementioned shopping district, are plenty of awesome hangout bars to chill and hangout. It is also an area particularly popular for the modern, gay man to socialise.
3. Jioufen Old Street (九份老街)
A temple at Jioufen (So pretty, right!)
Us eating the kuey that I mentioned earlier :D
Getting here:
For this trip, my Taiwanese friend drove us there after visiting a cafe. But you can take a bus from ZhongXiao Fuxing MRT Station Exit 1. After coming out of the station, make a U-turn and the SOGO Mall will now be on your right and the elevated railway line will be in front of you. Walk a minute and take the first left and after a few meters, you will see a busstop that states 1062. Bus ride is about 50 minutes and you will alight at the top of a mountain.
(While waiting for the bus, there will be some touts claiming that the bus is not coming and try to persuade you to take a taxi. Just ignore them)
There are other ways to get to Jioufen, but I find taking a bus there the most hassle-free and comfortable and generally, prefer bus rides. There's also the way to travel by train and you can look it up on Google as there are many websites that tell you how to get there. Oh, and remember to sit on the left side of the bus because that's where you can see the scenery as the bus traipsed uphill. (:
Opening hours:
Daily (9am-9pm)
Advice:
Some people think that its not worth an hour's ride to travel to Jioufen to and fro, just for an old street. But personally, I never pass up a chance to go to Jioufen when I'm in Taipei, because I really like the serene and rustic atmosphere there. I can spend 1-2 hours just wandering the old street and sitting in a teahouse drinking tea and soaking up the mountain air. Its not a place for shopping, but a place to get acquainted with old street food and relax. Definitely a highly recommended place to go. Not once, but again and again. However, for first-timers, maybe you would like to go to Shifen and Jinguashi as well to look at waterfalls and visit museums that make candy with gold dust. Its really up to you. But to a hassle-free traveler like me who hates a packed itinerary, Jioufen is enough.
4. Taipei Underground Mall (台北地下街 Taipei di xia jie)
Getting here:
Taipei Main Station MRT Station
Opening Hours:
Mon-Sun (11am-10pm)
Advice:
BUY SHOES FROM HERE! Cheap and a wide variety as well! Shoes range from the typical price range of TWD390 to cheap ones at TWD200. Slowly take your pick as there are plenty of shoe shops around. My Taiwanese friend says this place also has nice clothing, but you have to learn to dig and search carefully. I was too lazy to do so, so I only bought shoes from here and ate the Indian naan that I mentioned earlier on (:
5. Tamshui (淡水老街 Dan shui lao jie)
Tamsui Old Street was milling with shoppers during the weekends!
Street art. My Taiwanese friend said that they have to get a license to do this and before getting a license, they need to undergo some kind of 'exam' to gain the authorities' approval before they can be granted the license. The guy truly is talented! This picture shows him painting a man's face that is upside down. Can you see it?
Waters are murky after the previous' day typhoon whereby the large, rolling waves created by the winds unearthed and disturbed the underwater seabed.
Lover's Bridge. My friend thought that it was cute to cross it together so that our relationship can improve. LOL.
Sunset by Fisherman's Wharf. Really love the scenery! Didnt even need a filter on Instagram. Oh and this picture was taken nearby the place we had the Ah Gei snacks.
Getting here:
Tamsui MRT Station (Follow the signs)
Opening Hours:
Open all the time.
As for Tamshui Old Street, shops usually open at about 1030am. But to not be disappointed, just turn up after 1pm.
Advice:
I thought this is a pretty nice place to visit because Fisherman's Wharf, Lover's Bridge and Tamshui Old Street are all within close proximity of each other. After visiting these places, you can actually chill at one of the bars located at Fisherman's Wharf overlooking the harbour. I really wanted to do that, but we had to rush off for cheer training so we couldn't stay too long :(
6. Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂 Zhong zheng ji nian tang)
I finally visited a new famous tourist attraction, thanks to my Taiwanese friend who was super surprised that I never visited this place before throughout my multiple trips to Taiwan. He brought me here, just in time to catch them changing guards. He said those guys have to stand for about 2-3 hours before rotating shifts on days when it is closed to public. Most of the time, they are those currently still serving their National Service. Also, there will be this Mr Bossy who reminds everyone to stand behind the barriers that were set up, not to use flash photography and also, goes about massaging the limbs of the men standing guard. (Person never captured in picture, sorry ):)
Poor guy, having to stand there for so long. 2 guards will take turn standing on top of that platform. During their rotating shift, they will do a little performance with their guns and then, swop with another 2 guards. (Hence, 4 guards doing the performance, not including a senior who leads) My friend said that the performance used to be more impressive with them tossing and catching their guns. But because the govt shortened the serving time for army, there was not much time to 'learn' and be trained. Hence, the performances got more and more simpler as the time goes by.
I managed to catch a ray of sunlight! So pretty, right!
Getting here:
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall MRT Station
Opening hours:
9am-6pm
(Changing of guards ceremony is presumably every hour on days when it is opened to visitors)
Advice:
Changing of guard ceremony takes about 15 minutes. In my opinion, nothing really impressive but the Memorial Hall itself, is gorgeous. White-wash stoned walls, blue Chinese tiled roofs against a blue sky? You got me sold on that one. (Admission is free, by the way) Although I did not get to visit other places like Freedom Square or took a look at their ongoing exhibitions/performances, I would advice you to reserve a few hours in your itinerary to do so. Its pretty wonderful to wander around the high ceiling corridors. (:
7. Raohe Night Market
I have absolutely no idea why we ended up going for fortune-telling (算命 suan ming). Its quite funny. It started out when we were at the Taipei Underground Mall and I passed by a fortune-telling shop, I told them I never ever had my fortune told before.
One of the fortune-telling shops we passed by at the Taipei Underground Mall.
My Taiwanese friends were surprised and said that I should try it, at least once. I was intrigued. So, they took me to Raohe Night Market as I wanted to get Butter Crispy Cake (奶油酥饼 Nai You Su Bing) to bring back to Singapore, and said that I could get my fortune told there as well. We went there on the very same day, but the Night Market was closed because that day happened to be a bad weather day (typhoon). So we went there again on my last day. I initially tried the Tarot Card reading, but whatever the woman said was too abstract and a bit vague. So we tried again, this time I did the fortune-telling surrounding my birthday and timing (斗数 dou shu). I asked about my career, and overall future. I wont say what she said, because that's my personal stuff. However, what I can tell you is that I think dou shu seemed more convincing. So if you are in Taipei, do give fortune-telling a go, just for fun! However, come slightly prepared by remembering what's your birth timing. That would make it more accurate, supposedly. Hah
My Taiwanese friend tried the bird one, whereby the bird picked the card for you. He wanted to know about his luck, and so the bird picked up a card for him. Hahaa. Its pretty cool to see the birds hopping out and picking up a card. :D
For one reading, its about TWD300. I did 2 readings (because the tarot card one sucks) so I paid TWD600 in total. I know that's pretty stupid, to go twice. But ya know, just one experience was enough for me. So might as well make the best out of it.
8. Ningxia Road Night Market (宁夏夜市 Ning xia ye shi)
Eating cheap Teppanyaki with my Taiwanese friends after cheer training! (Hence, the messy hair) One of my friends said that there's one good Teppanyaki place to eat at. So we went ahead, but went to the wrong one. By the time my friend arrived and told us it was the wrong place, we had already settled down and were starting to order. So... we ended up eating at this place instead. The Teppanyaki was pretty cheap and good, so no complaints! The shop was called 宁夏铁板烧 (ning xia tie ban shao). It was the first shop that we spotted as we walked along the Night Market (which only consisted of 2 lanes), so it should not be too hard to spot if you are keen to try it (:
Getting here:
Nearest MRT Station is Zhongshan MRT Station, Exit 2.
Walk along Nanjing West Road (南京西路 Nan jing xi lu) for about 5 minutes.
For map directions, you can look up on Alec's travel guide.
Opening Hours:
Daily 6pm-12am
Advice:
Make it a point to visit the less commercialized night markets! I mean I have visited a lot of other night markets like Shilin Night Market, Raohe Night Market, and Shida Night Market. But I'm really not gonna put them up here because everyone who goes Taipei should by now, already included those into their itinerary. This was my first time visiting Ningxia Road Night Market, so I thought it would be good to put this one up. This Night Market is pretty small and I didn't get to shop a lot because it was pretty late at night by the time my friends and I got there. But from what I saw, the street food looked good. The atmosphere wasnt as vibrant as that of the more popular night markets like, Shilin for example. So if you prefer a quieter night market, but still stashed with good food. This may be a good one to go to (:
9. Cheer Caf'e 一起窝 (yi qi wo)
This place was opened by one of Monster Taiwan cheerleaders and of course, we had to go there and support, support! The food was delish and definitely reasonably priced. I would say the 3rd picture (Cant remember the dish's name, but I think they have the picture in the menu, so you can just point it out when ordering) was really good! The breading was just right and crispy, and the filling was tasty. Everything goes well together as you bite into the crust! I overheard one of my friends saying that his friend's grandmother always come by just to eat it! Also, I had the mixed fruit juice (2nd picture) which was pretty refreshing and had all sorts of flavours bursting from it. First it was citrus, then it was sweet, and what was that that's giving me this crunchy taste? Is it apple? I wasn't too sure, but the drink was delightful! I also had the eggs benedict (LIKE FREAKING FINALLY! I have been craving for eggs benny for the longest time!) Yummy (:
*P.S I know this should be placed under the food section. But... I kind of missed it out so into the 'Places' sections we go. :D*
Location:
林森里,龍岡路2段54號, Chungli 32096
I'm not sure how to get here, because I was driven here (again). But that's the map directions. Also, you can check out their Facebook page for more details here.
Opening hours:
Mon-Fri (11am-10pm)
Sat & Sun (10am-10pm)
10. Lover's Lake Park @ Keelung
This whole bunch of people are the absolute awesomeness. I guess because everyone initially had plans to go for a Monster bonding trip to Tamshui, but it was cancelled in advance because of the predicted bad weather (typhoon), so they had nowhere else to go but to head to Keelung with me to eat seafood and take a 20 minutes hike around Lover's Lake Park under the sweltering heat. Hahaha. Blessing in disguise, perhaps?
Lover's Lake wasnt particularly interesting. And the heat was unbearable. But, the climb uphill allowed us to catch a glimpse of Keelung's beach (7th picture) which was really gorgeous. And we had a lot of fun snapping photos (cheer pyramids, what else?) and making fun of each other. So, good company makes this place seem a whole lot more fun. (:
Location:
No. 19, Ln. 208, Jijin 1st Rd., Anle Dist., Keelung, Taiwan
For some vague directions, you can view this. I was looking at the website and it said to take Bus 505 to Wu Lin Street. And I was like... take the Bus from where? :/ My best bet is the nearby Badu Bus Station. But, I could be wrong, so don't quote me on this. I was (driven) here, so yeah.. that's the best I can do to help you guys :(
Opening Hours:
24/7
Advice:
To drive! But I know not everyone has that kind of luxury, especially when you are overseas for a short period of time only. My best answer as to how to get here is to take a bus from Taipei to Keelung, and everything should be within a short distance. Also, I would say this is a nice place to visit for a hike and if you are keen, go down to the beach nearby to enjoy the sun and the waves.
11. Keelung Miaokou Night Market
Lots of good food to eat! A MUST to come here if you ever drop by Keelung. The street food that we tried are all under the 'Food' Section (:
Location:
Rensan Rd., Renai Dist., Keelung 200,Taiwan
Opening Hours:
Daily 10am-2am
(Strange how it is called a 'Night' Market when it opens in the morning as well. Hah)
MY PERSONAL AFTER-THOUGHTS:
Playing with my friend's cats haha ^^
PEOPLE: Nice, friendly and super easy to talk to. I guess because my Chinese was okay and I know a lot of the Taiwan cheerleaders? Hah, I guess I'm biased on this part. But I really love the culture here. ^^
WEATHER: Like HK, the weather was hot and humid during this month of July. But the sweltering heat was punctuated by rains and the typhoon during my period of stay. So, there were days whereby the weather was cooler.
PRICE: Prices are pretty reasonable. I really love shopping here because Taiwan, in my opinion, is a shoe haven. Stuff sold here are slightly more expensive than Thailand on average, but the quality is good and if you can speak Chinese fairly well, its easier to bargain!
SCENERY: If you want to go in search for scenery, it would be at the outskirts of Taipei or outside of Taipei, such as Jioufen and Keelung where it is situated away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
Thanks for taking the time to view this uber lengthy post! (11 days worth of stuff is really no joke hah) Feel free to contact me for more details! Although, this is honestly the most detailed I think I can get... Heh :D
Check out my other Taiwan posts - Part I Tainan and Part III Taichung & Taipei for other adventures in Taiwan!
xx
Loves,
Nices
