Yoohoo, how’s everything people?
I can’t believed am onto the ninth day of my Taiwan adventure, will be done in another 2 to 3 posts time! Yay or Nay. So gotta get out of the country (during the holidays) for more adventureeeeeeee. Laughs. So here I am onto day nine of Taiwan, Taipei!
Disclaimer: Didn’t take a lot of photos on this very day as it was pouring extremely heavy when we were in Taipei 😦
(pretty photo taken at Cingjing Farm)
Day Nine Itinerary
1. Brekkie at Fuhang Dou Jiang
2. Jiufen Old Street
3. Houtong Cat Village
4. Ximending // Ah Zhong Mian Xian & Mister Donuts
Our stay in Taipei was definitely not as packed and not as fast paced as compared to our stay in the other cities of Taiwan. Since we had seven days in Taipei, we took our time to cover Taipei at our own comfortable pace. I supposed that’s how it should be like when you travel right? To relax and to lead the laid-back lifestyle; to be away from the fast paced lifestyle we have at home.
Unfortunately when we were there in Taipei, it was the rainy season, and it rained on our third day in Taipei. Boohooooo. Decided to wake up early for the much raved Taiwanese brekkie at Fu Hang Dou Jiang (阜杭豆漿)!
Fu Hang Dou Jiang (阜杭豆漿)
HuaShan Market Building, 2F, Zhongxiao E. Rd. Sec. 1, No. 108, 2F, 台北市中正區忠孝東路一段108號2樓之28(華山市場二樓)
Opening hours: 5:30am~12:30pm, Closed on Monday
Nearest train station: Shandao Temple Station (Blue Line), Take exit 5 and the building is right next to the station exit. Look for the sign “華山市場” (Hua Shan Market) at the entrance of the building.
Check out the spread! Here are some of the things we ordered:
1. Fried fritter/ 油條- NT$22
2. Soy milk/ 豆漿- NTD$ 20
3. Shao bing with you tiao, fried egg & scallions/ 厚燒餅蛋加油條- NTD$55
4. Dan bing, Crepe/ 蛋餅- NT$28
5. Rice ball with pork floss and pickles/ 飯糰
Yes, it was a really sumptuous breakfast! We shared everything above, and it was really, really good. Laughs. I love eating with a group of people, cause we get to order a variety of dishes to share. And the best thing is we have YY around, so we won’t have to worry about wastage of food. Teeheeeee. Personally, I like the rice ball the best, prolly because there were pickles in there, you can never go wrong with pickles! And if you are going to try their shaobing, do try the one without the youtiao. We all find the youtiao in the shaobing just too heavy for brekkie. Laughs
It was still pouring very heavily when we left for our next destination! The rain was really a pain and it somehow dampened our mood due to the dark and gloomy weather. Oh well, but thankfully for fun loving travel comrades, all was not as bad. Jiufen was our next destination, it is one of the famous attraction of Taipei which is located in a small town in the north of Taipei! The nearest train station is Ruifang Station. From Shandao Temple Station, it took us about 30-40 minutes to reach Ruifang Station!
Jiufen / Jioufen (九份)
Nearest train station: Ruifang Station
From Ruifang take the Keelung Transit bus from the bus stops in front of the train station to Jiufen. Be sure to line up across the road to go to Jiufen and Jinguashi. The bus trip is roughly 15 minutes.
Jiufen is probably famous for the old Taiwanese Street feel, the local products (pineapple tarts, sun cake, muahchee, jelly, smelly tofu, cuttle fish and many many moreeeeee) and the spectacular view above Jiufen! However, it was pouring heavily, with huge wind blowing, hence we didn’t get to see much of the scenic view of Jiufen. However, it was still pretty packed in Jiufen despite the heavy rain, probably because it’s a tourist attraction.
We had the famous Grandma’s Lai Taro Balls (賴阿婆芋圓),and it tasted like the tangyuan (without the fillings), just that it is made of yam and sweet potato, in either red bean or green bean soup of your choice; and you can also choose between the cold or the hot option. Since we were freezing, we gotten ourselves a hot bowl of taro bowl, which was peeeeeerfect for the chilly weather! The hot bowl of dessert was pretty good, but the guys didn’t really like it. haha. We also walked around a bit and saw a few interesting concept stalls in Jiufen. Everything is good about Jiufen, except for the bad weather…laughs
Houtong Cat Village was nexttttttt 🙂 As Joseph and YY are huge fans of cats (they are probably the only few guys I know who loves cats), we were forced to visit the cat village we headed for the cat village at Houtong. laughs. To be honest, Shuwen and I (Shuwen especially) are pretty afraid of cats. So when we were there, it was as though we were in some zombie land, we were really paranoid of our surroundings…
Houtong Cat Village (侯硐貓村)
Nearest train station: Houting Station
(From Ruifang Station, you will need to take the internal train over to Houtong, it’s different from the Taipei internal MRT)
Ya I know, you must be wondering where are all the REAL cats right? We saw a couple of cats around, but as Shuwen and I were really afraid, I didn’t managed to take out my camera/phone to take photos of any of the cats. Beside, it was still raining when we were in Houtong, so I didn’t get to take any snapshot of the cats there 
But you can check out this link I found on the internet: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/79767044 (Photos of the cats in the village!)
As mentioned, it was raining when we were there, and because of that we didn’t get to see many cats too (a good thing for us, but the guys were pretty disappointed. Oppsy). It will be much better if it was not raining! Despite being afraid of cats, I would still love to see the adorable cats around, since we traveled all the way over already.
‘Hutong Cat Village is famed for the intriguing scene of many stray cats roaming nearby the station after the cease of the mining industry. A park and residence are established for nearly 100 stray cats by the voluntary cat lovers. Nowadays, this area attracts large numbers of both local and international travelers for the old railway architectures and the lovely cats.’
More information: http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=122894&CtNode=428 🙂
Had our teabreak at a mini cafe in the Cat Village! We were still full from the brekkie and the dessert we had earlier, so we gave lunch a miss. That’s what happened when you had such a sumptuous breakfast, it can last you for the entireeeeeeee day. Laughs. Left for Ximen when the rain was not as heavy, and somehow, the journey back was pretty long…
Decided to have an early dinner since we didn’t have a proper lunch, and because it was still very chilly, we opted for the famous Ah Zhong Mian Xian for dinner. Man, it was definitely the best thing to have on a cold weather! We were really lucky to be staying in Ximen, you can find almost everything here, awesome isn’t it? Laughs.
Standing right smack in the middle of the road with many other locals, we indulged in our piping hot bowl of Meesuah, and it really tasted heavenly (hahahaha). With dollops of vinegar, and some chilli to spice up the meesuah, IT WAS REALLY REALLY AWESOME. I supposed the cold weather and because we didn’t had lunch. the meesua tasted really good, so I am slightly swayed by all this biased factors. However, Shuwen and I didn’t the intestines and innards, so we gave the guys all the innards we have in our bowl. The meesua was sufficient to satisfy us. Laughs
MISTER DONUT WAS MY ULTIMATE FAVORITE FOOD IN TAIWAN. I know they don’t only sell this in Taiwan, they have them in other countries like Japan and US? BUT THEY DON”T HAVE IT AT HOME. Boohooooooooooo.
Oh man, am really really missing these donuts. ‘A Mister Donuts a day, makes Amantha happy all day!’ So I had one donut every night when I was in Taipei. And guess what, the shopkeeper recognized me since I had donuts for all 6 nights when I was in Taipei. What a joke right? hahaha. I even bought half a dozen for my fellow comrades for brekkie on the last day. Regretted not buying back home for my family and friends.
What is so special about the donuts is that they have this specialty donuts (Pon De Ring series) that has a chewy texture to it! It was oh-so-delicious. Please try it when you’re thereeeeeee 🙂
This was the first donuts (cinnamon sugar pon de ring) I tried, and I fell in love with it instantly…hahahaha. All the donuts in this shape, the Pon De Ring series have this chewy texture to it, and it tasted even better than the Ah Zhong Mian Xian. hehe
After our dinner. we headed for more shopping! Like I mentioned, it’s really a blessing to stay in Ximending, you can shop for almost everything hereeeeee (Especially Mister Donuts and Ah Zhong Mian Xian).
I will be back with more pictures in my next post, will be covering Danshui Old Street, Zhong Xian Dunhua, Fisherman’s Wharf and Shilin Night Market 🙂
That’s all for now, adios people!
the amantha's travelogue 