Time flies when you are having fun. 26th of February 2013 was our Day 2 in Taipei (台北). We got up early today as we had planned to explore the outskirts of Taipei. We had breakfast in one of the many breakfast shops (早餐店) you find in Taipei. As the name states, they are open only for BREAKFAST and probably close around noon time. So you better get up early to catch your breakfast before the shops close. They sell different types of breakfast goodies too. For instance you could order a sandwich, a burger, a set meal with bacon and cheese or you could try out their local dumplings(饺子). Menu are in traditional Chinese so you need to understand a little bit of Chinese if you are going to order. As for me, I tagged along with my friends all of which speaks Chinese better than I do and YokeChew, who have the ability to speak Hokkien fluently. (FYI: Hokkien is a dialect/native speech for the Chinese people living in Taiwan or the Fujian(福建) province. Majority of the Chinese in Singapore are of Hokkien dialect. I am a Hokkien but I can only scold Hokkien vulgarities) For drinks, I prefer to go with a warm(温) milk tea(奶茶) cause drinking milk tea in Taiwan just feels right. Like drinking Chinese tea(中国茶) when I am in my relatives place in China, it just feels right. (I hope you get the rough idea of what I am trying to explain here, I do apologise as my ability to write comprehensible English and Chinese is really bad.)
We had our breakfast at 'ya'尚宝 (I think that is the shop's name?)
If you understand Chinese do click on the photo for a close up of the shop's name.
Breakfast shops (早餐店) can be find all over Taipei. They are very popular and I reckon that there are more Breakfast shops in Taipei than convenience stores. Here is a video I found on YouTube and I think she gives a better explanation than I do regarding Breakfast shops.
I hope she does not mind me using her video as reference. Well anyway moving on, after we had breakfast we made our to the Taipei Railway Station (台北车站) to catch a Train. The train I am referring to is not the metro trains but the trains that travel around Taiwan. The Taiwan Railway Administration(台湾铁路管理局) aka TRA is an agency of the Ministry of Transportation of Communications of Taiwan. They are the ones maintaining the Taiwan's rail-road lines. And similarly, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporations(台北大众捷运系统) aka TRTC are the ones maintaining the Taipei metro lines commonly known by locals as the MRT.
You can see the man talking to yichin (grey jacket) on the left
So we were scheduled to visit Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐 pronounced as hou dong in Chinese I think Houtong should be the hokkien pronunciation). Okay, so we got over our tickets at the Railway counter in Taipei Railway Station (台北车站) and proceed down the platform. We were lost actually, cause to get to Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐) you have to switch trains at certain stations. One my friends, Yichin asked some local Taiwanese for directions. And I am glad they are very helpful, we were told by the middle man that Taiwanese people are very 热心(kind hearted). So if you are lost, do not be afraid to ask.
Here is a brighter image, the man in the grey outfit is a friend of the man wearing the spectacles in black outfit
Interior of the Japanese Kawasaki Train.
Adam (left) and RuiQi (right)
The two kind man told us to follow them, as they happen to alight at the same station that we were suppose to switch trains. Eventually we arrived at 瑞芳车站 (Rui Fang Station). We were guided by the two men to the middle platform of the station to catch a train running on the Yilan line(宜兰线) to Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐 literally means Monkey Cave) station. We gave our thanks and bid them farewell before proceeding up to the middle platform. *Do pay close attention on those signs hanging above the platforms, they provide information on what time is the train arriving and next station destination.
Rui Fang(瑞芳) Station is the closest station to Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐). So here are some photos after we boarded the train to Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐).
C'mon guys smile?
I quite like the interior of this train, especially that circular shaped arch
blah~blah~blah
YokeChew (right) had a photo with the train conductor
Even though the next stop is Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐), the train ride is quite long. I never expected Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐) to be quite distance away from Rui Fang(瑞芳) even though it is just one stop away. But finally, we reached Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐). Once we alighted my Hokkien speaking friend YokeChew, decided to have a picture with the train conductor. Maybe he have a fetish thing for train conductors?
You guys must be wondering, what is there to see in Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐)? Please take a look at the next picture.Noticed the cat in the middle?
YokeChew, why you close eyes?
If you think it have got something to do with cats, then you are absolutely correct. Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐) is known by tourists as the cat village. Everywhere you go in this village, you can see cats everywhere! You can even purchase some cat food to feed them. Majority of the people living in Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐) love cats. Though some of them have dogs, but their dogs do not bother the cats. The whole town is went towards the cat way.
Even the souvenir store went cats
Adam and YokeChew checking out the store
????
Upon reaching here, I just got to know that Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐) used to be a lively mining town. But as time went by, the mining activity ceased and slowly it transformed into a cat village.
Houtong station entrance
Look at the picture below. Notice the shabby looking structure behind my two friends? apparently it was used during the town's mining era. I think that structure was the refinery? See those tracks on the ground? Mine-carts used to be go in and out of that shabby building.
There is also a heritage centre which showcase the town's mining history. It also exhibits a model of the 'refinery'. And judging from the black substance showcased in the model, I think this town used to be a coal mining town.
Entrance to the heritage hall
Model on how the refinery was in the past
Yichin browsing the electronic information monitor
I did not really probe as to why did the town ceased it's mining activities? Well, when I took a shot of the glass panel with words on it, I noticed the word death (死). Which made me guess that the town probably ceased all coal mining activities because there were too many casualties or deaths. Its just a guess? I may be wrong, I do apologise for not asking when I am there as I was busying petting the cats.
Glass panel with chinese words all over it. Noticed the word death (死)?
Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐) is not a lively town. It gave me the impression that the locals here like to take things slow, just like the cats lazing under sun. Majority of the visitors are either cat lovers or elderly couples who just want to take a stroll enjoying the scenery. I must say, the scenery here is kind of refreshing. I think Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐) is the ideal place in Taipei if you are looking for a getaway from the city crowds in the weekends.
An arch bridge, used for transporting coals in the past
Cats have become part of the locals' daily life. This one thinks its a security cat.
A cat lazing under a tree
YokeChew trying the cat helmet
Boo!?!
A signboard with cat ears
Yichin is proud to be born in the year of the monkey.
Nothing much to see in Houtong(候硐 or 猴硐) except for its refreshing scenery and cats. So we decided to catch a train back to 瑞芳(Ruifang) and switch to the Pingxi line (平溪线).
We headed back to the platform
Hot, the weather is unpredictable these days
The train to 瑞芳 has arrive
Our next stop, is the all famous Shifen station (十分车站) or better known as shifen old street (十分老街). Shifen station (十分站) is one of the most famous tourist hot spots located along the Pingxi line (平溪线). What is so special about Shifen (十分)? Well, this is one of the many places in Taiwan where you get to set off a sky lantern (天灯).
Train to Shifen (十分) arriving on schedule
Shifen station (十分车站) is larger than other stations located along the Pingxi line (平溪线) as it has dual tracks to allow trains to intersect here. Shifen old street (十分老街) is now a hot tourist spot, but still gives me the relaxing ambience. Shifen old street (十分老街) is also a great place for photography, you will also get to see the unique scene of trains running through the old street. it is also a nice place to sample local snacks that will satisfy your taste buds.
We are here at Shifen Station (十分车站)
We are on the tracks! This is so cool.
Onwards to Shifen old street (十分老街)
Here is a video I took while the train passes-by the street.
Isn't it cool? I find it very exciting and at the same time dangerous, as this is the first time I took a video so close to the action. Moving on, along Shifen old street (十分老街) you will also find stalls selling food that will absolutely satisfy your tastes. First we bought some fried squid (花something sorry I do not know how to read the next word). Besides trying out the fried squid, we also bought some smelly toufu (臭豆腐). That is correct, we bought a cup of smelly toufu (臭豆腐). I do not find it smelly (臭) well maybe to other people, but it is delicious! well to me. So if you guys do have the chance to try some smelly toufu (臭豆腐), I say TRY IT! it might be your next favourite snack.
Fried Squid Stand where we tried the squids
Smelly toufu (臭豆腐) anyone?
Us writing our wishes on the lantern
When in Shifen (十分) it is a must to set a sky lantern (天灯) into the air. What is a sky lantern (天灯)? well they are also known as Kongming lantern (孔明灯) or Chinese lantern. it is a small hot air balloon made of paper with an opening at the bottom where the fire is suspended. It has been traditionally made for centuries in Asia and elsewhere and are launched as part of festivities or for a play. It is said, that the famous Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮) whose reverent term of address was Kongming (孔明) used a message written on a sky lantern (天灯) to summon help on an occasion when he was surrounded by enemy troops. For this reason they are still known in China as Kongming lanterns (孔明灯).
For our particular sky lantern (天灯), different colour meant for different wishes. E.g The Red is for wishes relating to health, the Pink is for wishes relating to happiness, Yellow are for wishes concerning wealth or $$$ and lastly Blue are for wishes relating to your studies or work.
Make sure to write your wishes on all sides of the lanterns
When you are set to launched it, do inform the sales person and he will assist you in igniting the flame or boost. Our hands are burning, it is really hot even when we were holding on the edges of the lantern. You can feel the heat and see the lantern taking shape. Do hand over your phone to the sales person, as he/she will help you to take a few pictures. And after that, you are all set and ready to launch.
HUAT AH $$$$ and also HOT AHHHH!!!
Launching in 3..2..1..
Up and away it goes
Launching the sky lantern (天灯) is definitely one of the most memorable thing I have ever experienced. It is kind of fun, when you are shouting the count down with your friends and shouting HUAT AH $$ (in Chinese means 发了 in Singlish means Rich already lo~) upon releasing it from your hands, and watch as the sky lantern (天灯) becomes free into the sky is just WOW.
Yes! we did it. Hope our wishes will be granted (=
Yes! we had done it. You too can set free a sky lantern (天灯) in Shifen (十分) Taiwan. I do find it an amazing experience. Maybe you will find it awesome too. I give this the thumbs up. Having fun really drains our batteries. Having to think that we still need to walk and explore the rest of Shifen (十分) on foot is really a torture. So to make things easy, we paired up and rent a electric scooter. We rented the scooter for around NT$300 divide that by 23 which is around SGD 13 each for an hour and a half.
Riders on the Storm, We are Killers on the Road
Yichin had her first experience riding a scooter in circles. Though my friends do not have a motorcycle license, the rental personnel still rented us the scooters. So I think, in some places in Taiwan, you do not need a license to ride.
All of my friends do not have a motorcycle license, except me HAHA (Never felt so proud among my friends). We rode from Shifen (十分老街) old street to the scenic Shifen waterfall (十分大瀑布). It is located in Pingxi District (平溪区), Taiwan, on the upper reaches of the Keelung River (基隆河). The falls' 20 meters tall and 40 meters in width, making it the broadest waterfall in Taiwan. It is a cascade waterfall in which the water flows in one direction and the rock is sloped in the opposite. *Cascade Waterfall, is a a type of waterfall where its waters descends a series of rock steps. E.g Dark Hollow Falls, near Skyline Drive, Virginia is a cascade waterfall.
The admission fee we paid was about NT$70 if I remember correctly this is the student price. So if you are a student, do informed the personnel at the ticket counter that you are a student and showing them your student card.
The entrance to the waterfall
We then begin descend a flight of stairs towards the waterfall. We noticed several statues of Goddess of Mercy (观音) on our way down. I do not know if these Goddess of Mercy are Male or Female versions, but I do know that in Singapore, if Chinese family have a Goddess of Mercy alter in their home or prays to him/her, do not eat beef. As I was told that his/her father was reincarnated into a ox.
Statues of Goddess of Mercy
At the top of the Shifen Waterfall (十分大瀑布)
Hail the great waterfall
We made our way back to Shifen old street (十分老街) so as to catch a train and returned our scooters. Near the Shifen station (十分车站), there is this suspension bridge. Which linked the old street to the other side of the valley. The bridge is called the quite bridge or peaceful bridge (静安桥).
The peaceful bridge (静安桥)
Here is a video of some of us bounce-walking on the suspension. I think almost everyone have the tendency to bounce-walk on a suspension bridge am I right?
After much of bounce-walking, we head back to the station and took a train to 八堵(badu) from there we switched over to another train to Keelung Station (基隆车站). When I first heard the city's name, I thought it was written as 鸡龙 (Chicken Dragon). Keelung (基隆) is a major port city situated in the north-eastern part of Taiwan. It is nicknamed the Rainy Port for its frequent rain and maritime role, the city is Taiwan's second largest seaport (after Kaohsiung 高雄). Not only that, when I first boarded the train, I saw lots of guys wearing the Taiwan army's uniform alighting at Keelung Station (基隆车站), which I guess that Keelung (基隆) is something like our Pasir Ris where every Friday and Sunday you get to see recruits gathered to take a bus to camp.
Upon exiting the station, I found myself in what looks like the town's square.
Entrance to the Keelung Railway (基隆车站)
Keelung port
Ferry docked at Keelung port
What were we doing in Keelung (基隆)? Well, we here for dinner! That is correct, we had most of our dinner at any Taiwan's night market we could find. So here, we walked to the all famous miaokow (陵口) night market. I think all night markets in Taiwan are famous? Here is a video which I took, while walking towards miaokow (陵口) night market. I do apologise for the unstable hand of mine.
We all tried several different types of food, from fired chicken hearts, fired chicken blood, fired crabs, sweet candies, and many more which I had forgotten what exactly did we tired. So do not worry and just try all of the food you can try.
People walking up and down the night market
And the very first food we tired, was fired chicken heart and blood. Yes! Fired Chicken heart and Fired Chicken blood. Are they delicious? surprisingly yes. Juicy too.
First we ordered some fired chicken hearts and blood from this store
Waiting anxiously to try our chicken heart and blood
Here it is, a stick of fired chicken hearts
Hmmm YokeChew certainly loves chicken hearts. Especially fired ones.
Hmmm Yichin loves chicken blood. Its bloody good.
I think we ordered fired chicken feet too?
Looks like chicken feet to me.
And some other food we bought, which I forgotten what are. I am really sorry.
Some soup perhaps?
Some chicken/duck meat in chilli sauce?
Even in the night markets, dogs are also welcomed in to the night markets. This lady is queuing up to buy some food while another person queued behind her with his dog. Majority of the Taiwanese loves dogs. If you are a dog lover why not migrate to Taiwan?
Another Taiwanese girl pets the dog
Ruiqi bought some hard candy (冰棒) If I got the spelling right. She got it from this lady selling hard candies. I must say, that is young lady probably in her twenties? You don't get to see a youngster tending a hawker stall in Singapore often. Moving on, inside this hard candy, you would normally taste strawberries. This is because the strawberries are dipped in the sweet substance and left to harden giving candy's the hard sweet shell.
A young lady tending her stall
Hmmm sweet juicy candy.
Once you took a bite, you can taste the sweet juiciness flowing out of its hard shell. Mixed with the strawberry, will bring a smile on your face (if you love sweet stuff). If this is not sweet enough, then I recommend, the bubble tea. What is a bubble tea? Is it a tea with bubbles in it? Close but not quite. A bubble tea, is a tea based drink that originates from tea shops in Taichung Taiwan (台中,台湾).
Look at the size of this thing.
The original drink for a bubble tea which I think, is the milk tea with pearls (珍珠奶茶). The pearls are small chewy tapioca balls (粉圆) commonly known as pearl (珍珠) or boba (波霸). So if regular size is not enough for you, then drink THIS! The super extra large (XL) milk tea with pearls (珍珠奶茶XL). I guarantee its sweetness level is over 9000!!! (Just kidding, you could request for either 0,20,50,70 or 100% sugar level)
Tempting, I think I could finish a cup
Are you up for it?
For those of you, living in other countries that do not have bubble tea, I really encourage you all to try this all famous and popular bubble tea if you have the opportunity to migrate or visit Taiwan. They come in all variants, from ice-blended to mixed fruit or syrup. If you do not like the pearls, you can substitute with other stuff like aloe vera or jellies or whatever they have to substitute.
When in Taiwan, one of the most popular known food to the outside Chinese or to the outside world is the fired oyster omelette (蚵仔煎) or better pronounced in Hokkien (fujian or 福建 or 台语) as O-WA-JIAN. (Go long on the O~)
This is a plate of O-WA-JIAN served straight from the grill
She loves O-WA-JIAN?
Trying the O-WA-JIAN or the fired oyster omelette is like attaining an achievement in tasting one of the most popular food in Taiwan (of course there are other popular Taiwanese food like the beef rice 牛肉饭), but this can be found commonly in Taiwan's night markets be it in the north(北), middle(中) or south(南) of Taiwan.
Well, that brings me to the end of Day 2. I do apologise for the partial updates to this post. I think this completes everything we did in Day 2. And I hope this post provides some useful information to you. Though I know its not detail enough like how do I get from Keelung Railway Station to Miaokow night market (陵口夜市). Well, we actually ask the locals in Chinese like the example below.
*e.g "请问, 我们想去陵口夜市。我们要走哪个方向"？In hanyu-pinyin this would sound something like this: "qing wen, wo men xiang qu miao kow ye shi. wo men yao zou na ge fang xiang?" (Translate to English it means: "Excuse me, we want to miaokow night market. Which direction must we walk to get there?" of course if you were to copy and paste it to Google, the translation DIFFERS as Google direct translate them.)
Do not that 想 and 向 pinyin's are spelt the same but sound different. If you were to copy them and paste in Google translate, 想 will beXiǎng (third sound) and向 will beXiàng (fourth sound) notice the different strokes above the pinyin? ticks represents the third sound and a stroke from the centre to the bottom right is the fourth sound. Basically in Chinese, most of the words have four different pronouncing sounds or 音(yin).
Though my Chinese is really bad and the example I gave is not accurate, but it gets the point straight across. So again I thank you for reading this post. I am very grateful for your time. I know reading on a computer, phone or tablet screen can be tiresome to the eyes. Thank you for reading and hopefully I could update Day 3 of my Taiwan trip within May? I hope..
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