So, this marks the #1 place I wanted to go for quite some time. And finally, we managed to find a period which everyone can take their leaves, and for me to finish exams, and for sis to come back for her graduation. And off we go. Taiwan 2013 (12 May - 16 May)

ECFA Hotel Wan Nian. I had such a hard time finding a hotel because for a group of 5, it's kind of an awkward number? In the end, we split into a triple room and a twin room. I highly recommend this hotel actually. I booked it at a pretty cheap rate of S$130 for 4 nights per pax. I honestly didn't expect much, but this hotel is really clean, has a huge bathtub which me and the sister happily soaked in for 3 nights. Their free breakfast was nothing to scream about, but it was thrown in for free so we shan't complain. And I usually don't sleep that well in a foreign land, but I fell asleep on this super comfy bed almost immediately and refused to get out of bed every morning.

This is the all-time famous 阿宗面线. Honestly, I found it pretty normal. It's not exactly the same as Singapore's because they have pigs' intestines in it rather than oysters. But it was drizzling when we went there. Eating it in such cold rainy weather makes it slightly better.

I can't exactly remember the itinerary for the first day. I only know that it was raining almost every other day. It sucks, because our feet are always soaking wet and it doesn't feel good at all to be walking around with damp shoes. Most of the time, our moods were pretty much dampened. I think we went to 师大夜市. Honestly I'm not too sure if we were at the right place. We entered from a lane without the main sign but halfway through, it poured so badly we decided to just go back after about an hour of walking. Cabbed back to 西门町 and settled for a quick light dinner.

Here is another picture he took for us. It was bright and windy and not hot AT ALL. Very good weather to go sightseeing. But it wasn't that easy to get into the nice spots to take these photos. Apparently this is a popular site for wedding photoshoots. And because of the nice bright weather, most photos turned out really pretty. And also seeing this nice bright weather, our taxi driver, 小周, asked if anyone of us wanted to go paragliding. Obviously he didn't say paragliding, and I took a while to figure out it was paragliding after I saw him point to those parachutes. I was the most excited because I wanted to do it in Korea anyway, and it was only NTD1,000 there. We went for a seafood lunch first and some sightseeing at 野柳地质公园, which was pretty mediocre - it was just many rock formations which I don't find amazing. And worse, because of that 1 hour we spent in there, the weather turned bad and started drizzling and the paragliding instructor wouldn't take me. I was so disappointed, but anyway...

This was actually the real second day's itinerary. It was supposed to be 九份 and 十份. 九份 is famous for the 九份老街, which is this whole stretch of streets, that kind of reminds me of the 70's or 80's. The cab turned rounds and rounds around the mountain/hill before it brought us to this place. The pastries were really quite nice, we bought most food here. :P But then again, the rain spoilt the day. It was hard trying to try food, look around and carry umbrellas - opening and closing it everytime you enter and leave a store..

十份 was the must-go place for me and the sister. We really wanted to 放天灯 and hopefully, our wishes will really come true LOL. Honestly, I couldn't write that I wanted to find my true love on this lantern 'cause my parents will probably be like what are you doing?! So me and the sister had to remain lonely for quite a while more I guess since our wishes to find our true love couldn't be sent over to the deities.

The place where we 放天灯 was just beside the 十份火车站. Railway tracks always fascinate me, probably because I have never been on a train before. The rustic and laidback feel of this area really will make you feel relaxed.

And yes, we asked our taxi driver to drop us off at 士林夜市 because it was the most touristy place and we didn't really had a proper walk in the night market the night before. Thankfully it wasn't raining. I don't even know how my brother and the sister can buy so much things and eat nonstop. I felt kind of bloated after a while. And yes the 臭豆腐 was everywhere, and it stinked so much that I can't bring myself to eat it despite saying time and time again that I want to eat it. I also bumped into a friend here, amazing hahah.

Amazingly enough again, I bumped into yet another friend (Weibin) while we took the subway back to our hotel. When I boarded at 台北车站, I was surprised to see a familiar person walk by. Weibin entered from another door because ours was pretty crowded. (Oh yes why can't we queue up properly like Taiwanese?) And I was so shocked to alight at 西门町 station and saw Weibin walk out too. We chatted a while and guess what, I saw him leave by Exit 6 too, which was my exit too. What a small world. I think turns out he stayed pretty close to my hotel.

This is the 陈记面线 at 龙山寺 station. Which was our breakfast for the third day. It was WAYYY better than 阿宗面线 in my own opinion. You cannot really see from this picture, but they had like 5 huge oysters the size of the spoon, and many many pig's intestines. I honestly love this better. Locals are the main customers here though, and I kind of hope it stays this way. We feel more Taiwanese in some way, sipping up meesua along the street with the locals.

Day 3 went according to my plans!! 北投 is my first stop, and it is really famous for 温泉. The hotspring resorts there are aplenty, you can just walk in to one to ask for the rates. Searching beforehand was pretty useless too. One thing to note is that most of them are separate baths for men and women, and you have to be totally naked. I think I asked a stupid question, "不可以穿浴巾下去吗?" LOL because my parents are so shy, they don't want to go naked in public so in the end, we decided to take two private rooms. The smell was quite strong, and after a while, the room became a little suffocating 'cause of the high pressure. But my skin really felt smoother. The sister also thinks so.

Next stop, we decided to go to 渔人码头. A lonely picture on the 情人桥 with no 情人. LOL the sunset was amazing though, the sky was in some lovely pink and orange shades. I also insisted to wait for the lighting up of the bridge before reluctantly leaving this small island. It is really a lovely place, the bars below the bridge seemed like a good place to chill and catch up with a friend.

The next day immediately after we are back, was the sister's graduation. And that is me in my red dress, and I still fit in fine, so I think I didn't grow fat even after CNY, the exam period and Taiwan. So glad. Amazing that 3 years passed so fast, and it's gonna be my own graduation in a year's time too. I don't feel ready to be working straight for at least 30 or 40 decades.

Oh, but I had a pretty good experience for a one week's job which just ended. Shall blog about it tomorrow or something.