Taiwan Travelogue Day 4 (6th November 2013)

So after a day at SML, it was time to go back to Taipei. So before we left SML, we took a stroll along the Ita Thao shopping district as I wanted to try their "Ah Sang" tea, which I thought was nothing special. 

Ask the boyf to take a picture of me, but he took a picture of himself instead.

HeeHee. How can I forget to take #ootd. Was supposed to wear an inner spaghetti top but the really brilliant me forgot to bring it along with me, and hence the outfit. 

Don't judge me okay!

This has got to be the BEST Taiwan Sausage I've eaten in my entire TW trip and the best that I've ever eaten in my entire life also. We kept going back for more sausages! 

Our train ride was actually scheduled to be in the evening. But we really had nothing much to do in Tai Chung, so we changed our train timing to an afternoon slot. Lucky the ticket operators are flexible enough to allow the change in the timings of the ticket otherwise we really would not know how to kill time before our train ride in the evening. 

Really love this set of photos in the train cos my skin looks really really flawless and I love the colour of my new blusher on my cheeks!

A few days ago when were in Taipei, I told the boyfriend that I wanted to go to this stall that sells 'Penis waffle' at Xinmending. But unfortunately the shop has relocated and we couldn't find it anymore. But when managed to find it when we were at Delight Mall at SML and we definitely had to get it. 

It wasn't a waffle but a penis pineapple tart!

Okay, so here's a better #ootd. Reached Taipei and I immediately when to put on another top inside. 

and it was time for some SHOPPING (*squeals) at the Taipei's wholesale area, Houshanpi. Please do not go on Mondays as they do not sell to retail customers as they would be busy with their new stocks and also selling to those who would be getting in bulk. 

After 1-2 hours there, I left the place disappointed as I had only managed to get a pair of shorts and 2 thick sweaters which I planned to wear it for my upcoming Korea trip. There were not much clothes that were suitable for the SG weather and were mostly selling winter clothings. MAJOR SIGH. 

After shopping, we went to have our dinner at the famous Farmosa Chang which was near the shopping area. They are famous for their braised meat and they were really cheap as well!

I'm not a fan of braised meat, so I ordered a chicken cutlet and didn't regret it at all as it was really really nice!

After our dinner at Farmosa Chang, we proceeded to Shilin Night Market located at "Jian Tan" train station for more food!

Besides food stalls, there are also game stations like "Majong" which was really interesting 

MUST MUST TRY! This is my favourite night market food; fried milk!

It melts in your mouth and taste really really good!

and guess what!

WE FOUND IT!

PENIS WAFFLE.

WE BOUGHT! 

A chocolate banana penis waffle. 

But I did not like it. 

and he finished most of it. 

HAHA. 

Next up, was the boyfriend's favourite. He seemed to eat this everytime he's here. 

"Coffin Bread"

And that was it for our 4th day! 

Taiwan Travelogue Day 3 (5th November 2013)

Finally came the day I had been waiting for; journey to Sun Moon Lake (SML).

Before I went to Taiwan, I did a bit of research on SML. Some of my colleagues who have been there have said that it wasn't worth the trip as there's nothing spectacular to see over there. My mum, who went to Taiwan a few years ago also said the same thing. However, I've heard of people who had enjoyed the trip and had been raving about how beautiful the place look. 

Hm, so I initially had doubts about wanting to visit SML. I eventually decided to pay SML a visit as I thought that it would be wasted if I've never visited SML despite have gone to Taiwan twice.

So in the morning of Day 3, we took a High Speed Rail (HSR) from Taipei Main Station to Taichung. We did not do our research properly prior to this trip and were shocked when we realized that the train tickets cost $765TWD per person. 

But anyways, Taichung was the 4th station from Taipei Main Station and the journey took about 45mins -1hr! It was really fast. I've read somewhere that from Taipei to SML by bus can easily take up to 5 hours to reach. So I guess the $765 train tickets was worth it.

This was our in-train activity. The boyf bought me a proposal ring charm from Pandora to signify another milestone in our relationship and he was busy rearranging the charms on my pandora bracelet. 

Please do not underestimate this charm based on its size. It cost him a freaking $240SGD! 

Once we reached Taichung train station, we had to change to a bus from 南投客运 to take us to SML. The bus tickets cost $170TWD and the bus ride was about 1 hour as well. So it took us a total of about 2 hours to reach SML from Taipei. 

The bus dropped us outside a mall called Delightmall and from there you would have to take a bus again that goes into SML and the hotels.

As it was around noon when we reached, we decided to grab lunch. Not much food around that vicinity (there were many actually, but the boyf is a little picky about where to have meals), so we settled for MOS burger inside the mall.

Up on the second level of the mall and at the entrance of MOS burger, are these really pretty cupboard cutouts decor. So I couldn't resist but took pictures with them.

After lunch, we proceeded to take the bus that brought us to our hotel area, Ita Thao area. 

This area is their shopping street (mostly of food and local products). I didn't get to shop much at this street because we were rushing to for our trail and also our boat tour. 

Can't remember the name of our hotel, but it was a really nice hotel and the toilet was so clean and so big. What was best was that it overlooked part of the SML.

Talking about clean toilets, the boyf was constipated for a few days because he didn't want to do his 'big business' in our not so clean Taipei Hotel. So the moment he reached this hotel, HE LET IT ALL OUT! Which obviously stank! :( 

Back to the trail and boat tour, we were given a complimentary boat tour upon check in and we decided to go for it. As it was still early, we went for the lakeside trail instead.

Some pictures while trail-ing.

SA RANG AEYO OPPA (don't know if I spelt it correctly) 

We had walked to the cable car station and in a way, we were forced to take the cable car on that day as the the cable cars would be all down for maintainence the following day. 

So since we had already wanted to take the Maokong cable car in Taipei, we might as well take it here since there would be better views.

The boyf may looked really calm and compose here, but he was damn scared during the whole journey! His hands were sooo wet. HAHAHA.

After the ride, we walked back again, this time for our boat tour!!!

This place is so beautiful I don't know why some people think it's not worth to pay this place a visit! 

And the boat tour also brought us to this temple where they were selling their famous tea-eggs!

But there were no system of queuing or whatsoever. Every customers would just crammed outside the stall just to get the tea-eggs. 

And can you believe it, this person has never tried tea eggs before in his entire 28 years of life. He doesn't know what he's missing out on.

I liked the tea egg as it was really fragrant! 

So this was it for our boat tour.

After the tour, we went back to the hotel, wanting to get some rest before heading out to the crowded Ita Thao streets to get some food. 

But when we went out at about 630pm, all the stalls were closed, streets were dark and even restaurants were closed as well. Lucky for us, there was this one stall that were selling mini steamboat but it was not to our liking. 

So a word of advise if you're going for an overnight stay at SML, either prepare your own food or go get your dinner early!

Alrights, till the next!