Taipei

Travelled to the city by the express city bus. 45mins NT125 to ZhongShan area. The bus is big luggage friendly. Note: If you intend to buy the Easycard, exact change is required as the machine does not dispense excess change.

Nice boutique hotel, walking distance to ShuangLian MRT, ZhongShan MRT and NingXia Night Market 宁夏夜市

Despite the crowd, it is still worth a visit if you like nature formations. We spent 2 hours at a leisurely pace and did half of the uphill trail.

So glad to be able to enjoy Ju Ming's tai chi series and his other works.

The place is huge. We abandoned the rest of the day's original itinerary and spent 3 hours here.

Variety of food is quite different from the standard night market stalls. Bought some fresh handmade egg rolls and tasted the best duck meat ever, such a lingering old-school nostalgic taste.

If you got the time, hike the four beast mountain and forget about elephant mountain. 7km 3hr with many stops to take in the view.

Most visitors come to Shifen for the sky lanterns.

I pretty much prefer the Shifen waterfalls.

Had some time left, so took the train to the end of the line (20-30mins from Shifen). Quick 1 hr exploraton of the old town with some runis from the old mining bunkers.

The original plan was to hike to Junjianyan
軍艦岩. As the rain seems to be getting heavier, I spent the morning strolling around Beitou market, chancing upon a great bowl of mee suan and nice cup of espresso.

If you have been to noboribetsu, you will not be missing much. For those who have not, it is easily assessible and worth a look.

Sleek modern mediterranean styled architecture. 4 outdoor pools and 4 indoor pools ranging from cold pools to about 44 degrees. No better way to spend a cold rainy day in the hot spring. Top-notch amenities and great lounge area where you can enjoy your osmanthus tea over-looking the hell valley. Signed-up the 4 hours public hot spring package. Pricey but definitely worth it.

The changing of guards at the bronze statue

Roaming the street and markets

A record of what I ate on this trip ... rave or hype or copycat?

I find it challenging to seek out good vs copycat stalls. Not uncommon that in each night market, you can expect 2-3 stalls selling the same dish and needless to say, quality is not the same

Curry was not what I imagined my first meal in taiwan. However, it was 3pm and I did not have anything to eat since 7.30am. Went into the first decent looking restaurant nearest the busstop where the airport bus drops off.

Fortunately, it turned out very good. I like the quality of their home-grown rice, tasted like japanese short grain rice. The curry was thick, tasty and I like that it is not as sweet as japanese styled curry.

I was very skeptical when standing in a long queue of 100% tourist and no locals. Not a good sign !

Fortunately I got a seat really fast as I was alone. Conclusion? The beef noodles and soup base was so-so but I kind of like anything with tendon, so that works. The steamed intestine with glutinous rice is a MUST TRY.

The famed braised meat rice bowl of taiwan

From a price to quality to overall experience point of view, I was not impressed. Their saving grace was the sashimi prawns which were really fresh and good

Quite a lot of boutique coffee places. Standards of their roast and espresso extraction is quite high. RAYCA even has the geisha beans. The street price for a double shot is about NT60-100