Mala Hotpot

This is one hotpot you should not miss out if you’re a food person.

Not cheap but it’s worth it. The only complain that I have is that the Mala not spicy one, but the soup is nice. I went to the XMD outlet. It’s usually full, so it’s best to call in or walk in to make a reservation.

It’s located at the 2^nd storey of the Holiday KTV building.

There’s 10% service charge, free flow of Haagen-Dazs and Movenpick ice cream, drinks and dessert. The quality of the meat is good as well. 

XMD

I would say XiMenDing(XMD) is a good place to get all your beauty products as there’s Miranda, Cosmed, 4-story Watsons, The 86 shop and Tomod’s. Some products sell cheaper at some store but some store has more variety so it’s up to you where you wanna buy from.

Breeze at Taipei City station

Take MRT to Taipei City Station. There’s two Breeze opposite each other.

The Agnes B café and Ice Monster is at Breeze (Song Gao outlet).

Sadly, I didn’t get to try both so no comment on their food.

Linjang night market

Take MRT to Xinyi Anhe station. Come out of either Exit 3 or 4, both are fine. Walk out and you will see the Taipei 101 building from afar. Walk towards that direction until you reach a traffic light, which you do not cross but turn right instead. Walk straight all the way until you see the night market. It’s not bad, I don’t mind going back again.

Gongguan night market

Alight at Gongguan station and come out of Exit 1. Turn right and walk straight until you see the market. It’s not a long stretch of road like the rest of the night market but made up of 2-3 short alleys.

 

Kingstone bookstore

The Kingstone bookstore is located near the gongguan night market, it’s just opposite Showtime theatre. It’s an underground bookstore with a café inside. It’s mostly selling books and they do have a small section of board games as well. I prefer stepping stone to Kingstone as I like stationery more than books. Haha.

Good finding

While on the way to Gongguan night market, I found a wholesale shop. It’s 3 stories tall, selling snacks, beauty product, daily essential, stationeries to IT stuff and DVDs. I don’t remember the name of the store but you will know when you see it. 

Taipei main station

There’s a several long stretches of underground mall at the station.

There’s the M zone, Y zone and Z zone. It’s a good place to buy cheap shoes as well.

Huayin shopping street

Just come out of Y13 Exit, walk out and walk straight and you will see the shopping street opposite the alley (not across the road).

Stepping stone bookstore

I’m a big fan of stationery, it’s a must to go. They have lots of variety to choose from.

Went to the Taipei main station branch. Come out of Exit Z4, cross the road to where H&M is, then turn left and walk down till you see Innisfree. Turn right and walk straight all the way until a corner (a stall selling pepper biscuit) and turn right. Walk straight and you will see the bookstore.

Banqiao Nanya night market

Take the MRT to Fuzhou station and come out of Exit 1. Walk straight down all the way along the road until you come to a traffic light. Don’t cross the traffic light but instead turn right and walk straight. You will see the night market from far. It’s a very long stretch of road selling mostly food. Not bad for eating but not really for shopping.

Guangzhou street

Take MRT to Longshan temple station. It’s located just across Exit 5. Even if you do come out of Exit 1, there will be signage showing you the way to the market through the Longshan temple mall. It’s just another long stretch of road selling food. It’s connected to the Huaxi night market as well.

Addiction Aquatic Development - Taipei Fish market

The Addiction Aquatic Development only opens at 10am.

Take the MRT to Xing Tian Temple Station (Orange line). Come out of Exit 3, walk towards the temple that direction. Walk straight all the way, you will pass by Cosmed, First Bank, NET. Cross the traffic light and walk straight passing the temple until you come to another traffic light.



Turn right after crossing the traffic light and walk straight all the way till you see another traffic light. Turn left after crossing that traffic light and walk straight all the way until you reach a 7-11 at a corner, turn right. Walk straight and you will see it from across the road. The walk will be around 15mins.

It’s totally worth it to visit that place, especially if you’re a fan of eating sushi and sashimi. But be prepared to bring enough cash as the food there are expensive and they only accept cash.

There’s only one entrance into the market. There’s a restaurant inside the market but I didn’t get to try as there was a long queue which I was reluctant to waste time to queue. Thus, I just bought the food inside the market which are nice too. I spent like NT$2216. There’s an area just outside the exit where people will stand and eat the food they just purchased. There are tables and chairs provided as well but they are at the back of the market. Utensils are provided as well, just remember to take before exiting. 

Tsum Tsum store

There’s a Tsum Tsum store in the SOGO department store (Zhongxiao outlet)

Take MRT to Zhongxiao Fuxing Station and come out of Exit 4. The store is located at B1.

If you’re a tourist, you can claim tax refund if you spent more than NT$2000.

There’s another SOGO store at Exit 2 but it’s the more atas one. That’s if you wanna buy those branded stuffs. 

Shilin night market

Take MRT to Jiantan station. The night market is just across the station. The streets outside the Shilin night market is better to walk. Good to go to the basement of the Shilin market to eat. Recommended food will be the Coffin bread. As for the oyster omelette, I personally prefer Singapore style so up to you. 

Yong He Dou Jiang

Found this Yong He Dou Jiang by chance and I have been going back there to eat ever since.

Take train to Shandao Temple station and come out of Exit 5, it’s located across Hua shan Market.

The Hua Shan Market is also where the Fu Hang Dou Jiang is. If you see a very long queue that’s what they are queuing for. Tried twice, waited in queue for around 40mins each. Personally, I find it overrated, so try if you got time to spare. Ordered their steam dumpling and Xiao long bao from Yong He Dou Jiang. That’s what I love the most. Feel free to try other food they offer. 

Shi Fen

How to go: Take MRT to Taipei Main station and change to TRA. You can use your Easycard to travel, not a need to get train ticket separately. Before you enter TRA, take note of which train and the timing at the notice board above at the fare gates. Don’t take the wrong train.

The correct train should take you all the way to Rui Fang station.  At Rui Fang station you have to change platform to take another train to Shi Fen and Pingxi. Each train takes 1hr to come so take note of the train timing as well.

Shi Fen and Pingxi are places where you can put the sky lantern but Shi Fen is the overcrowded one. If you wanna avoid the crowd, I suggest you go Ping Xi instead. However, PingXi has lesser things to see as compared to Shi Fen so up to your choice. If have time, you can visit both places. Remember to tap out when you reached the station, either Shi Fen or PingXi, if not you will overstay and will need to pay a fee for it. I think NT$79 if I’m not wrong, cause that’s what happened to me. 

Jiu Fen

To get to Jiu Fen, take the train back to Rui Fang and follow the sign which states which Exit to exit to go to Jiu Fen. Once come out of the station, cross the road where the milk tea shop 超大杯 is and turn left. Walk straight all the way passed the police station till you see a bus stop. Take bus 788, 1062 or 1063 to get to Jiu Fen old street. The bus will come quite frequently so not a need to take cab up the mountain where the place is.

It’s a must go place, at least the view is nice from the top and the food are nice, depending which stall you eat from. To go back take the bus from the bus stop located above from the bus stop you alighted. Just walk upwards and you will see it, to go back to Rui Fang station. Same thing, take train from Rui Fang all the way to Taipei Main station.

There’s an app I use to track the train timing, it’s called Taiwan Rail. It can be in English so no worries if you don’t understand Chinese.

Rouhe night market and Wu Fen Pu

Both are located at Songshan station. You can take the TRA from Ruifang all the way to Songshan station or the MRT to Songshan station (green line)

Rouhe night market: Come out of the building and turn right and walk straight all the way. You will see the night market from across the traffic light.

Wufenpu: Come out of the building and turn left and walk straight all the way. You will see a lot of alleys selling apparels means you’re at the right place. 

Travelled to Taipei from Taoyuan airport by bus. There is this new airport train to Taipei main station but I didn’t try it out since I prefer bus ride and I got free bus voucher from the Taiwan tourism board in Singapore.

There are different bus company to choose from but I choose Kuo Kuang bus company. The bus service is 1819 at Beth 5 which will bring us to Taipei Main Station. The journey is around 1hr. You can pack food up the bus to eat. The bus ticket will cost around NT$125. The interchange is right outside Taipei main station Exit M5.

After which we changed to the metro to travel to Xi Men Ding (XMD). Remember to buy the Easycard from any convenient mart like 7-11, Hi-life, Family Mart etc. 

CityInn Hotel Plus Xi Men Ding Branch 

The hotel we are staying at is CityInn Hotel Plus XMD branch.  Second time staying here. Just take the MRT to Xi Men station and exit through Exit 3 and you will see the hotel just opposite the station. The service is great with good location. The cons are the floor of the rooms are not carpeted and the rooms are quite squeezy but overall everything else is good.  There are washing machine and dryer to do your laundry which is what I like. Their check in time is 3pm and check out time is 12noon.  

Sozo hair salon

Went to walk around XMD, decided to do my hair at Sozo hair salon. Every time I go Taipei, I confirm will go there do my hair. Did scalp treatment for NT$680 and cut my hair for NT$500. Now cutting of hair is depending on the hair stylist and not by the length of hair. There are NT$500, NT$600 or NT$800 depending on which hair stylist you choose.

Sozo hair salon FB

Dan Shui old street 

At night, went to Danshui old street. If you’re going Danshui old street you might as well go Fisherman’s Wharf and Lover’s Bridge. Take MRT to Tamsui station (red line) and take bus R26 from the bus terminal just outside the station. Alight at the last stop.

The Danshui old street is located just behind the MRT station.  A good place to chill and enjoy the night view by the riverside. 

We booked a taxi through the hotel to send us to the airport. I think we need to book 2 days in advance? The cab fare cost NT$980.  So remember to save money for transportation to the airport for the last day. The receptionist gave us a morning call at 4am. We were told that the taxi will come at 5.15am but when we went down earlier the taxi was already there, I guess they are quite punctual so we won’t miss our flight.

I can’t believe we are leaving already. I couldn’t sleep in the taxi even though I’m tired so I just watch out of the window. When we left it was still dark. I remember when we reached on the first day it was dark and so when we left on the last day, it’s dark as well. Watch the sky turning bright, the city waking up. 

Suddenly I thought of a phrase that is frequently used in Chinese compo - 带着依依不舍的心情离开 haha

So, this marks the end of my Taiwan trip. Hope the information that I listed helps you in planning your trip =)

P.S Don’t bother asking me any questions cause I think I will be quite lazy to reply haha or maybe I will be kind enough to reply haha who knows XD

Mala Hotpot

This is one hotpot you should not miss out if you’re a food person.

Not cheap but it’s worth it. The only complain that I have is that the Mala not spicy one, but the soup is nice. I went to the XMD outlet. It’s usually full, so it’s best to call in or walk in to make a reservation.

It’s located at the 2^nd storey of the Holiday KTV building.

There’s 10% service charge, free flow of Haagen-Dazs and Movenpick ice cream, drinks and dessert. The quality of the meat is good as well. 

XMD

I would say XiMenDing(XMD) is a good place to get all your beauty products as there’s Miranda, Cosmed, 4-story Watsons, The 86 shop and Tomod’s. Some products sell cheaper at some store but some store has more variety so it’s up to you where you wanna buy from.

Breeze at Taipei City station

Take MRT to Taipei City Station. There’s two Breeze opposite each other.

The Agnes B café and Ice Monster is at Breeze (Song Gao outlet).

Sadly, I didn’t get to try both so no comment on their food.

Linjang night market

Take MRT to Xinyi Anhe station. Come out of either Exit 3 or 4, both are fine. Walk out and you will see the Taipei 101 building from afar. Walk towards that direction until you reach a traffic light, which you do not cross but turn right instead. Walk straight all the way until you see the night market. It’s not bad, I don’t mind going back again.

Gongguan night market

Alight at Gongguan station and come out of Exit 1. Turn right and walk straight until you see the market. It’s not a long stretch of road like the rest of the night market but made up of 2-3 short alleys.

 

Kingstone bookstore

The Kingstone bookstore is located near the gongguan night market, it’s just opposite Showtime theatre. It’s an underground bookstore with a café inside. It’s mostly selling books and they do have a small section of board games as well. I prefer stepping stone to Kingstone as I like stationery more than books. Haha.

Good finding

While on the way to Gongguan night market, I found a wholesale shop. It’s 3 stories tall, selling snacks, beauty product, daily essential, stationeries to IT stuff and DVDs. I don’t remember the name of the store but you will know when you see it. 

Taipei main station

There’s a several long stretches of underground mall at the station.

There’s the M zone, Y zone and Z zone. It’s a good place to buy cheap shoes as well.

Huayin shopping street

Just come out of Y13 Exit, walk out and walk straight and you will see the shopping street opposite the alley (not across the road).

Stepping stone bookstore

I’m a big fan of stationery, it’s a must to go. They have lots of variety to choose from.

Went to the Taipei main station branch. Come out of Exit Z4, cross the road to where H&M is, then turn left and walk down till you see Innisfree. Turn right and walk straight all the way until a corner (a stall selling pepper biscuit) and turn right. Walk straight and you will see the bookstore.

Banqiao Nanya night market

Take the MRT to Fuzhou station and come out of Exit 1. Walk straight down all the way along the road until you come to a traffic light. Don’t cross the traffic light but instead turn right and walk straight. You will see the night market from far. It’s a very long stretch of road selling mostly food. Not bad for eating but not really for shopping.

Guangzhou street

Take MRT to Longshan temple station. It’s located just across Exit 5. Even if you do come out of Exit 1, there will be signage showing you the way to the market through the Longshan temple mall. It’s just another long stretch of road selling food. It’s connected to the Huaxi night market as well.

Addiction Aquatic Development - Taipei Fish market

The Addiction Aquatic Development only opens at 10am.

Take the MRT to Xing Tian Temple Station (Orange line). Come out of Exit 3, walk towards the temple that direction. Walk straight all the way, you will pass by Cosmed, First Bank, NET. Cross the traffic light and walk straight passing the temple until you come to another traffic light.



Turn right after crossing the traffic light and walk straight all the way till you see another traffic light. Turn left after crossing that traffic light and walk straight all the way until you reach a 7-11 at a corner, turn right. Walk straight and you will see it from across the road. The walk will be around 15mins.

It’s totally worth it to visit that place, especially if you’re a fan of eating sushi and sashimi. But be prepared to bring enough cash as the food there are expensive and they only accept cash.

There’s only one entrance into the market. There’s a restaurant inside the market but I didn’t get to try as there was a long queue which I was reluctant to waste time to queue. Thus, I just bought the food inside the market which are nice too. I spent like NT$2216. There’s an area just outside the exit where people will stand and eat the food they just purchased. There are tables and chairs provided as well but they are at the back of the market. Utensils are provided as well, just remember to take before exiting. 

Tsum Tsum store

There’s a Tsum Tsum store in the SOGO department store (Zhongxiao outlet)

Take MRT to Zhongxiao Fuxing Station and come out of Exit 4. The store is located at B1.

If you’re a tourist, you can claim tax refund if you spent more than NT$2000.

There’s another SOGO store at Exit 2 but it’s the more atas one. That’s if you wanna buy those branded stuffs. 

Shilin night market

Take MRT to Jiantan station. The night market is just across the station. The streets outside the Shilin night market is better to walk. Good to go to the basement of the Shilin market to eat. Recommended food will be the Coffin bread. As for the oyster omelette, I personally prefer Singapore style so up to you. 

Yong He Dou Jiang

Found this Yong He Dou Jiang by chance and I have been going back there to eat ever since.

Take train to Shandao Temple station and come out of Exit 5, it’s located across Hua shan Market.

The Hua Shan Market is also where the Fu Hang Dou Jiang is. If you see a very long queue that’s what they are queuing for. Tried twice, waited in queue for around 40mins each. Personally, I find it overrated, so try if you got time to spare. Ordered their steam dumpling and Xiao long bao from Yong He Dou Jiang. That’s what I love the most. Feel free to try other food they offer. 

Shi Fen

How to go: Take MRT to Taipei Main station and change to TRA. You can use your Easycard to travel, not a need to get train ticket separately. Before you enter TRA, take note of which train and the timing at the notice board above at the fare gates. Don’t take the wrong train.

The correct train should take you all the way to Rui Fang station.  At Rui Fang station you have to change platform to take another train to Shi Fen and Pingxi. Each train takes 1hr to come so take note of the train timing as well.

Shi Fen and Pingxi are places where you can put the sky lantern but Shi Fen is the overcrowded one. If you wanna avoid the crowd, I suggest you go Ping Xi instead. However, PingXi has lesser things to see as compared to Shi Fen so up to your choice. If have time, you can visit both places. Remember to tap out when you reached the station, either Shi Fen or PingXi, if not you will overstay and will need to pay a fee for it. I think NT$79 if I’m not wrong, cause that’s what happened to me. 

Jiu Fen

To get to Jiu Fen, take the train back to Rui Fang and follow the sign which states which Exit to exit to go to Jiu Fen. Once come out of the station, cross the road where the milk tea shop 超大杯 is and turn left. Walk straight all the way passed the police station till you see a bus stop. Take bus 788, 1062 or 1063 to get to Jiu Fen old street. The bus will come quite frequently so not a need to take cab up the mountain where the place is.

It’s a must go place, at least the view is nice from the top and the food are nice, depending which stall you eat from. To go back take the bus from the bus stop located above from the bus stop you alighted. Just walk upwards and you will see it, to go back to Rui Fang station. Same thing, take train from Rui Fang all the way to Taipei Main station.

There’s an app I use to track the train timing, it’s called Taiwan Rail. It can be in English so no worries if you don’t understand Chinese.

Rouhe night market and Wu Fen Pu

Both are located at Songshan station. You can take the TRA from Ruifang all the way to Songshan station or the MRT to Songshan station (green line)

Rouhe night market: Come out of the building and turn right and walk straight all the way. You will see the night market from across the traffic light.

Wufenpu: Come out of the building and turn left and walk straight all the way. You will see a lot of alleys selling apparels means you’re at the right place. 

Travelled to Taipei from Taoyuan airport by bus. There is this new airport train to Taipei main station but I didn’t try it out since I prefer bus ride and I got free bus voucher from the Taiwan tourism board in Singapore.

There are different bus company to choose from but I choose Kuo Kuang bus company. The bus service is 1819 at Beth 5 which will bring us to Taipei Main Station. The journey is around 1hr. You can pack food up the bus to eat. The bus ticket will cost around NT$125. The interchange is right outside Taipei main station Exit M5.

After which we changed to the metro to travel to Xi Men Ding (XMD). Remember to buy the Easycard from any convenient mart like 7-11, Hi-life, Family Mart etc. 

CityInn Hotel Plus Xi Men Ding Branch 

The hotel we are staying at is CityInn Hotel Plus XMD branch.  Second time staying here. Just take the MRT to Xi Men station and exit through Exit 3 and you will see the hotel just opposite the station. The service is great with good location. The cons are the floor of the rooms are not carpeted and the rooms are quite squeezy but overall everything else is good.  There are washing machine and dryer to do your laundry which is what I like. Their check in time is 3pm and check out time is 12noon.  

Sozo hair salon

Went to walk around XMD, decided to do my hair at Sozo hair salon. Every time I go Taipei, I confirm will go there do my hair. Did scalp treatment for NT$680 and cut my hair for NT$500. Now cutting of hair is depending on the hair stylist and not by the length of hair. There are NT$500, NT$600 or NT$800 depending on which hair stylist you choose.

Sozo hair salon FB

Dan Shui old street 

At night, went to Danshui old street. If you’re going Danshui old street you might as well go Fisherman’s Wharf and Lover’s Bridge. Take MRT to Tamsui station (red line) and take bus R26 from the bus terminal just outside the station. Alight at the last stop.

The Danshui old street is located just behind the MRT station.  A good place to chill and enjoy the night view by the riverside. 

We booked a taxi through the hotel to send us to the airport. I think we need to book 2 days in advance? The cab fare cost NT$980.  So remember to save money for transportation to the airport for the last day. The receptionist gave us a morning call at 4am. We were told that the taxi will come at 5.15am but when we went down earlier the taxi was already there, I guess they are quite punctual so we won’t miss our flight.

I can’t believe we are leaving already. I couldn’t sleep in the taxi even though I’m tired so I just watch out of the window. When we left it was still dark. I remember when we reached on the first day it was dark and so when we left on the last day, it’s dark as well. Watch the sky turning bright, the city waking up. 

Suddenly I thought of a phrase that is frequently used in Chinese compo - 带着依依不舍的心情离开 haha

So, this marks the end of my Taiwan trip. Hope the information that I listed helps you in planning your trip =)

P.S Don’t bother asking me any questions cause I think I will be quite lazy to reply haha or maybe I will be kind enough to reply haha who knows XD