Total duration 9D9N There is no time difference between Singapore and Taiwan. Flight time is 5hrs 35mins on Scoot from Singapore to Taipei. Return is almost 5hrs on Tigerair from Taipei to Singapore.
Flight from Singapore to Taipei at 1255am, arriving at 530am in Taipei. Return flight from Taipei to Singapore is at 155pm and touching down in Singapore at 650pm.
This trip was planned to celebrate our boy’s 2nd birthday. Therefore, most of the destinations in the itinerary were more catered towards his interests ( but since he arrived, most of our trips were already like these).
Budget – affordable most of the journey until the visit to Leofoo village which was quite expensive.
Taiwan was a country known to be affordable if we want it to be. Taking public transport such as the trains and staying in Airbnb helps keep the costs down. However, travel in less developed areas required us to book a driver or self drive which was not too bad. The only big spendings we had was the Flying cow ranch farmstay in a private villa and safari hotel in Leofoo village which was expected to be expensive.
Complexity – High without car. Ours made easy due to car and Google maps on data plan.
The public transportation in Taipei city was easy to use and therefore getting around was straightforward. Out of the main city and into the mountains and farms then a car is a must or private car is a must as public transportation would require quite a bit of planning and a lot time. Road signs would require a little to get used to but it’s not too difficult if you know Chinese. When going through the mountains, we learnt to read road blockages due to landslide. Knowing where to get the most updated news is essential as most of the mountainous roads are single lane and only one way there and planning ahead helps to avoid a long detour. Sometimes there are no data signals on the mountainous area but it is not difficult since there is only one road to navigate.
Alarm sounded at 515am to wake me up for sunrise. The view at the balcony showed a cloudy scene, not too hopeful for a good photoshoot. Sure enough, after an hour of waiting at the balcony, not much improvement made me jumped back into bed.
Break of dawn
Alarm sounded off at 8am again. This time we overslept and had to moved a little faster since it was a day back to Taipei and much traveling was anticipated. Proceeded to 8th floor for a simple breakfast buffet with a panorama view of the lake.
Top of hotel breakfast place.
After checking out, we proceeded to the jetty to board the ferry back using the complimentary ferry tickets given by the hotel. This time, the stamp on the hand was blue in colour, not that it mattered as this was the only ferry trip we were taking. It was amusing listening to the commentary as you get to hear new stuff with different captains.
Back at Shuishe, went to take some photos from a viewpoint on the right hand side of the jetty before going back to the visitor center to wait for the bus back to Taichung. Got to purchase some tea leaves for NT400 each for Assam and honey red tea.
Goodbye pretty Sun Moon Lake!
At the center, we had to frequently checked back with the ticketing or the bus drivers to ascertain which bus to board. Although shown on the front of the bus was the our destination, the drivers actually said that they were going there. Until when it was almost time, checked with the driver before boarding the bus. Nap time.
Got off at Taichung HSR station to place our luggages at the deposit lockers. Those at the main station were full and we had to go over to the one at the train station, while helping 2 old Japanese tourists at the same time. Although the bus did allow for disembarkation at Taichung Railway station, we didn’t want to tug the luggage around while doing our foodstuff shopping.
Took the train to the Taichung main station by buying the tickets through the counter, NT30 for 2 and boarded the incoming train.
Signboard showing train arrival.
Local train.
Taichung railway station.
The first foodstore to visit was the popular ice cream cafe Miyahara. Already there was a line of ice cream lovers digging into their waffle biscuit bowl of ice cream along the corridor of this store. At the store itself, it wasn’t too long a wait. Scoops of ice creams were going for NT90, right price for quality ice cream. There were 3 fridges long of choices and so we just got to the cashier for recommendations, one of which is mango. There were also 3 choices of toppings which we had raisins and 2 other pastries. It was delicious.
Rows of flavours, yummy! The names of the flavours are actually various Mandarin songs.
Side toppings for the ice cream.
Our goodies!
Went back around to the front was another store under the same company, designed beautifully and kinda reminded me of wizardry shop in Harry Porter, that sold local foodstuff packed in interestingly designed boxes. Of course these come with a price but would make good gifts.
Store internal.
Tall cabinets of goodies.
Front view of the store.
Left the store and the goodies after paying to collect later. We went to look for another popular store for the Sun biscuits. When we reached the supposed road, we found that there are multiple stores with similar names! We didn’t note which was the store signage while doing our research. Went into one of them with certain uncertainty and bought 2 boxes. Returned to the previous store to retrieve our purchase and got back to HSR station to repack. Got onto the HSR for NT1590 for 2 with reserved seating, to arrive at 1536pm in Taipei.
Store where we bought our Tai Yang Bing. This is not the most popular one according to the internet, but still it tasted fine.
Walking to our accommodation at New City Inn was pretty short and within the underground shopping mall, it was easy. The only difficult part was the climbing of steps to the floor level with my luggage. The hotel itself was located in an older building on the 5th floor, accessible through the old buildings lift. Checking in was also easy, and the room was on the same floor. Spacious and modern design with a huge TV and wifi. The only available windows were in the toilet though.
Newstay inn, part of an old building.
King bed in a spacious room.
A little small toilet with the only windows.
Took a long break in the hotel before we decided to head to Rao He night market and Wu Fen Pu. Shopped around the underground shopping corridor that we hadn’t been before, Eslite. This location looked newer and also had a more expensive feel than the older and longer mall parallel to it. It wasn’t long enough before we took the train to Songshan station for Rao He night market for our dinner. This was the first time we were taking the train (stumbled onto without knowing about this option till the station assistant advices) to Rao He as we took the MRT the previous time. It was only one stop away and even closer than the MRT.
Eslite underground shopping
On arrival, signboards were everywhere to guide passengers how to get to Rao He Night market. We followed till we got till the ground level and from there, we could see the temple which was just next to the Rao He Night Market. Then it was lining up for food and shopping before the next location.
Signpost showing the directions to Raohe and Wu Fen Pu.
Gate of Raohe Night Market
Long queue for the pepper bun.
Digging the buns from the stove.
Hot pepper bun package.
Really delicious, worth the wait.
Chang Fen store.
Chang Fen.
Soya pudding store.
Assorted puddings.
Stinky tofu.
Stinky tofu store.
Grill chicken thigh meat on a stick.
Juicy chicken thigh.
Store selling Ru Wei
Ru Wei Oden.
Donned a mask that I bought from the night market as I was coughing.
After having our fills at the market, we walked over to the Wu Fen Pu, just across the street within 15mins walk. Great to revisit again and it was not crowded. However many trucks and motorcycles plied the right streets in between stores. Bought some stuff before we got tired and decided to return back home, also taking the train and purchasing the tickets from the counter.
