#AnnoyingTravelBoy6 - Day 1 in Taipei

To fulfill my promise (to myself) of writing at least two blog posts per month, so here we go....

My friends and I woke up early to catch a bus to go to Taipei from Taichung. While waiting for my friends who seemed to have late habit, I was sulkily (not that serious la, may be coolly) eating this bread I bought from FengYuan Night Market. 

Bread with cheese filled and ham/bacon. This was one of the most delicious bread I had in Taiwan!! It goes into my list of stuff that is worth every NTD i spent! 45NTD for this yummilicious bread. 

As we arrived quite early to the Taichung station, I had decided to try the local McD. I had this simple cheese + bacon/ham (i seem to have problem differentiating these two meats) burger. 

 For your information, Taiwan has a high speed rail （臺灣高鐵）system that travels around the country at fast speed but also with a relatively higher price than bus or normal train. Since we intended to cut down the travel budget, we chose to go to Taipei with bus. The journey is around 2 hours, similar to that of travel between Penang and Ipoh. I was impressed by how spacious and comfortable the bus we took. Not only did every seat come with individual visual audio system (like the one in air plane) there was even a toilet at the back of the bus. And the ticket for the bus was only 170NTD.

Taipei MRT.

Freaking 33degree that felt like 40 degree (according to the weather apps in my phone)!!

I decided to leave my friends and rest alone in the backpacker hostel (at XiMenDing) just to stay out of the scorching heat. 

And finally, I  狠下心腸  and bought this cute Line sticker. I had been mulling over for weeks before I came to decision to buy this sticker....

After an hour or two of rest, when I came outside, the city had turned dark with imminent downpour. Of course, I got very excited with this weather and the rain that came afterwards. It was like an instant mood boost when the weather turned cool and I became active and lively again to explore whatever that was about to unfold in my lone journey.

As it was raining cats and dogs, I went into a Japanese Restaurant to try out their Japanese food/sushi. I had done a lot of comparison in this trip by trying lots of stuff that I frequently do in Malaysia but this time in a complete new place and setting. 

However, the food didnt turn out to be nicer or fresher as I had expected. I always thought that as Taiwan is so heavily influenced by Japan and located nearer to it, the Japanese food there would be a lot nicer than those in Malaysia. I was proofed wrong! The set of sushi cost me around 280NTD. With the same money, I could have satisfied my hanker for Japanese food by dining at Sushi Zanmai!

Thanks to the God of rain. 

While my friends were enjoying their time watching sun setting at TamSui （淡水), I tried to explore the vicinity of XiMenDing by myself. Grabbing a MRT system map in hand, I had gone to quite many places in Taipei, alone....To be frank, I was quite moody for that whole week. I was trying to adapt myself to the hot weather and when my friends started to bother me with this and that, I became so agitated. Not wanting to lost control of myself or being harsh to my friends, I chose to travel alone most of the time. Though I had missed out a few attractions that they went to, I had my freedom to try, see, visit and experience the local stuff that they never got to enjoy because of focusing so heavily to travel to every destinations that were recommended online.

This dessert was just so so.

I love Taiwan fruits, though. Most of the fruits there are sweeter than their counterparts in Malaysia. But I also realized that the fruit prices are a bit higher too. 

The famous "Ah Zhong Mian Xian" which was also SO-so only. May be i didn't like the ingredients ( pig liver  & etc). I would prefer it if it came with dried shredded squids and dried scallop... 

This is how the outlet/branch of Ah Zhong Mian Xian looks like in ShihLin Night Market. They only have stools for their diners.

If you ever want to try the Mian Xian, please do not come to this branch. Many people recommend the one in XiMenDing.

Very alkaline lemon juice! Always make me feel good after heavy meals, especially after I had eaten myriads of street food in the ShihLin Night Market. 

I was to meet my friends in the night market, but girls like to shop, so I went back to the hostel early to rest earlier and recharge for the coming days of trip.