Taipei - Taiwan Trip Day 2
January 25, 2013(Read the previous Taiwan trip posts here: Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4/ Day 5/ Day 6/ Day 7-8/ Day 9/ Day 10-12)
![Zhongxiao Dunhua (忠孝敦化)](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8084/8411104850_f2dce93a6a_b.jpg)
I know it's been awhile, but here comes the second day over at Taiwan!!!
Click here if you haven't read Day 1 post yet!! :D
We had such a good sleep over at Just Sleep Hotel that we woke up pretty late and missed the breakfast timing! :( So after we woke up right, we started packing our luggage as we are checking out and heading over to another branch of Just Sleep Hotel, over at Xi Men Ding for another night! Can't wait!!
![typicalben packing luggage](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8474/8410009627_5cf17c77c1_b.jpg)
Ran secretly snap a picture of me as I'm frantically packing (cause I woke up later than him) as we got a lunch date with the people from Regent Taipei that we don't want to be late for!
![gifts from just sleep lin sen](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8411105912_b731955187_b.jpg)
And as we are doing our checking out procedure, the manager of Just Sleep Hotel (Lin Sen) prepared a small gift for us and hope we enjoy the rest of our trip over at Taiwan! Super sweet please!
![Azie Grand Cafe Regent Taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8514/8410010723_9e8210d50a_b.jpg)
Then reached Regent Taipei Hotel and over at Azie Grand Cafe for lunch!!
![menu Azie Grand Cafe Regent taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8098/8410010163_942dd25be7_b.jpg)
The menu of their cafe!
![food at Azie Grand Cafe Regent Taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8096/8411105986_b480b45a3a_b.jpg)
The food we ordered that is shared among us!
We had a great chat with Peggy and Beth over this lunch date! They are both from the PR department for Regent Taipei Hotel and they are super friendly and nice!!! Seriously, I can feel that they are so genuine which makes me really enjoy myself when chatting with them!! I think it's pretty easy to feel whether someone is genuine or not, especially in this industry, so I'm really appreciative when people are!
And generally I feel that Taiwanese are all very genuine leh!! They are all very nice, I don't know why!!
![desserts at Azie Grand Cafe Regent taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8231/8411106008_08de8f7817_b.jpg)
The dessert that we had after our meals!
![Azie Grand Cafe Regent taipei tea](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8365/8410010713_5710573c23_b.jpg)
We had some of their local tea as well too, while we continue chatting with them lololol!!
![typicalben peggy randy](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8227/8410009589_35dd7e79af_b.jpg)
Picture with Peggy before we leave to check-in to our hotel!
We didn't managed to take a picture with Beth as she was busy afterwards! So sad!
But I really have to thank both of them for arranging for us the 4 night stay over at their hotels! It was really awesome! :D Thank you so much for having us!!! Woooo! And I can't wait to go back to Taiwan and catch up with them again! Which might be really soon, since Ran really love Taiwan alot and I think he's still having post-Taiwan-syndrome until now lolol! So maybe we might go again this year, and if we are going this time round we will be bringing mummy and daddy along! We shall see how it goes!!
![on cab at Taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8084/8410010165_010e796f4e_b.jpg)
Took a cab to our next Just Sleep Hotel for the night!
![Just Sleep Hotel (Xi Men Ding) front desk](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8464/8411105806_85e5a8788d_b.jpg)
Here we are!!! Ran checking in to Just Sleep Hotel (Xi Men Ding)!!
![Just Sleep Hotel (Xi Men Ding) room card](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8336/8411105796_8e4e212319_b.jpg)
Our room key card!!
![rooms at Just Sleep Xi Men Ding](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8334/8411105552_fc22928e2f_b.jpg)
Randomly snap a picture while walking to our room lol!
And when we enter our room right, the layout and design (of some of their stuff) is alittle different from what we saw over at the previous one we stayed at, but the concept is the same lah! Pictures!!!!
![just sleep xi men ding basin](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8507/8411105750_cd69b4ba5b_b.jpg)
This room have like a open concept basin area which I super like!
![just sleep xi men ding hanger](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8220/8411105710_97f0948d75_b.jpg)
Right beside it, is where we can hang out clothes and dump our luggage lolol!
![just sleep xi men ding bed](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8221/8410010251_4350b27901_b.jpg)
Yay huge beds for us again! And also a desk area where we can use our laptops!
![typicalben camwhore at Just Sleep Hotel (Xi Men Ding)](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8472/8410009833_c94dce04c1_b.jpg)
Me camwhoring with our beds behind!
![just sleep xi men ding toilet](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8496/8410009497_90dea918f0_b.jpg)
Opposite the basin area right, is the place you can find the toilet bowl which is separated by itself!
![Just Sleep Hotel (Xi Men Ding) shower toilet](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8463/8410010337_bb12a8a117_b.jpg)
And also the place you shower, which is also by itself as well! Awesome!
![typicalben mirror shot at Just Sleep Hotel (Xi Men Ding)](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8327/8410009693_b63882edce_b.jpg)
Don't you love full length mirror sometimes?
![Just Sleep Xi Men Ding area](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8493/8411105720_d681634327_b.jpg)
And finally, we are heading out!!!!!
![typicalben camwhore with Just Sleep deco](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8056/8411105296_da653b5938_b.jpg)
A cheeky pose with the deco that they have over at the hotel corridor!
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![taiwanese queuing up for metro](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8187/8410009965_0232a28fb6_b.jpg)
Went to take the metro and see what are the Taiwanese doing!!!!
THEY ARE QUEUING FOR IT! Seriously, can Singaporeans learn from them please?!!
I really dislike taking public transport in Singapore sometimes and I think it's not because that it takes a longer journey time (which might partly be it) or whatsoever, but the commuters who are actually taking the public transport are the ones that gives bad experience and makes you dread taking them!
In Singapore, people will try to push, squeeze and dash into the train when the door opens and it's really annoying and pisses people off cause it's so rude and uncivilised! Which is unlike in other countries, like Taiwan for instance, they queue up for their train and I never see them dashing or pushing their way through to get into the train at all! When they take the escalator, they all stand at their right side without fail! And nobody is hogging onto seats with their bags or taking up extra seats at all!
All these gesture and actions makes me feel good when taking their metro to places and I think Singaporeans should start behaving in a way like that, so in order to make our travelling experience with public transport better! Apart from saying this, I'm sure not all Singaporeans behaves this way, but the small proportion of people who behaves like what I've mentioned earlier can already give us a bad name!
![typicalben on taipei metro](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8365/8411105170_b61dce6a14_b.jpg)
Taking the metro to Zhongxiao Dunhua station!
As there's something wrong with the bag that I bought so I went back to SOGO to exchange for it but they are out of stock for that design, so I've to go to another Porter outlet to do the exchange! And there's one over at Zhongxiao Dunhua, so we decided to go over there and see what we can do there there as well!
![typicalben taking taipei metro](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8196/8410009393_bdb4ab953b_b.jpg)
Another shot which Ran took for me!
![Zhongxiao Dunhua (忠孝敦化) cafes](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8072/8411105012_00e1d13de5_b.jpg)
Over at the Zhongxiao Dunhua!
![yofroyo taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8233/8411105060_f96d645811_b.jpg)
After exchanging my bag, we went over to have some yogurt!
![frozen yogurt taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8465/8411105932_c5dc0780ba_b.jpg)
So colourful right?!! And it's really nice too!
![typicalben having frozen yogurt](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8195/8411105248_19aaff1e79_b.jpg)
Me me me!!!
![accessories from jipaban taiwan](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8374/8411106154_02fe5c4355_b.jpg)
Bracelet that I'm wearing is from Jipaban!
![tiny signboard at taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8192/8411105440_1f51d6af97_b.jpg)
They have alot of shop houses there to shop too!
![handphone shop at Zhongxiao Dunhua (忠孝敦化)](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8516/8410010417_7ac29e4d1a_b.jpg)
Here's one which sells phone accessories!
![typicalben over at Zhongxiao Dunhua (忠孝敦化)](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8045/8410009667_f077047fa8_b.jpg)
Took some pictures over at the streets of Zhongxiao Dunhua before leaving!
![randy at Zhongxiao Dunhua (忠孝敦化)](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8512/8411104960_3162ff33f6_b.jpg)
Ran!!!!!
![typicalben at Zhongxiao Dunhua (忠孝敦化)](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8047/8411105388_3ab6145fef_b.jpg)
Another one of me!! Anyway, the button shirt that I'm wearing is from Jipaban too!!
![ran using iphone](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8226/8411105576_7a1439de09_b.jpg)
Ran using the phone while we are waiting for the train to go to Shida Night Market
You can alight at Taipower Building train Station and it's just around there!
![bun at Shida Night Market](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8238/8411106082_c72a42f88f_b.jpg)
Was getting hungry and saw alot of people buying their 'bao' (buns), so I went to try as well!
![bao at Shida Night Market](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8227/8410010621_2cba74d5f5_b.jpg)
There are alot of different flavours and in the end I chose milk flavour....
![milk bun Shida Night Market](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8183/8410010159_330d7c3bd1_b.jpg)
Which then turns out to be tasteless fml! I shouldn't have chosen milk flavour! -_-
![Shida Night Market](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8507/8411105508_cb7aa71801_b.jpg)
Shida Night Market!! Which I personally think is the best night market out of all!!
Cause I think they have a good mixture of shopping and food stores, and for shopping right, they have alot of nice stuff there (more for teenagers) and pricing wise is also cheaper than other night markets!
And I said that because I went to all the different night markets throughout the trip and saw the same stuff that are selling over at other night market is priced higher than what we saw over at Shida Night Market lor! So towards the end of the trip, we even came back here one more time to shop for more stuff!
![Shida Night Market men stores](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8073/8410010019_3bc0acc174_b.jpg)
And for guys right, you shouldn't shop at their guys store there cause it's super overpriced!!!
Even some of the shop owners there also told us that these kind of guy stores (sample picture as above) sells their stuff at a really high price, which I think is similar to those you can get over at Bugis Street also! So it's either you go Wufenpu to shop for guys stuff (but must choose and you can get good deals there cause I did!) or you can also go into those shops over at Shida Night Market where they carry both female and male apparels or even just the female one also can, as there are quite abit of unisex stuff there!
![typicalben camwhore at Shida Night Market](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8214/8411105434_2d2065a8f2_b.jpg)
Over at some random store at Shida Night Market!
![Shida Night Market mee sua](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8047/8411104940_df102632ae_b.jpg)
After shopping, we went to have this 'mee sua' over there cause my friend recommended it to me saying that he thinks it's better than 'Ah Zhong mee sua' (which everyone raves about), so we went to give it a try!
![Shida Night Market mee sua uncles](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8228/8410010029_699f388b11_b.jpg)
Do you think they are father and son?
![Shida Night Market mee sua bowl](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8089/8411104922_db1e6ab33f_b.jpg)
Hello!!! Mee sua is here! Looks delicious isn't it!
![typicalben eating mee sua taiwan](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8048/8410009795_8dec483a18_b.jpg)
And it's really very yummy!!!
![grapefruit lemon drink stall](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8083/8410010469_f06144ac8e_b.jpg)
Drink me maybe?
![grapefruit lemon drink](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8491/8411105890_9d1a30f3bc_b.jpg)
Okay can! Refreshing grapefruit lemon drink!
![waffles Shida Night Market](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8329/8411104852_8d367cf36a_b.jpg)
We had alot of other small bites but didn't really take much pictures of it cause we are busy eating, and busy shopping at the same time hahaha! And this waffle is really nice too, omg I miss their food already!
![typicalben camwhore at Just Sleep Xi Men Ding](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8211/8411105324_532658fcbb_b.jpg)
After that, we are back to our hotel!!
![buys from Shida Night Market](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8335/8411106072_347f30187b_b.jpg)
Some of the stuff that I bought from Shida Night Market!
![cookie monster dust cap from taipei](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8362/8411105998_f12c5b12e0_b.jpg)
Love the Cookie Monster dust cap even though I've never really use it until now!
![proter bag from taiwan](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8191/8411105612_a6d5d1fa4f_b.jpg)
The Porter bag that I bought and used throughout the whole trip!
Which I already saw quite a number of people carrying it now in Singapore! :/
![buys from Taipei watsons](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8364/8410010619_34d350c8f2_b.jpg)
Some stuff we got from Watsons over at Xi Men Ding as we stay nearby!
![di gua qiu at xi men ding](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8098/8410010545_5c597d867c_b.jpg)
And we also bought some small snacks for supper at Xi Men Ding as well!
One of them is this 'di gua qiu' (sweet potato balls?), which I didn't think is nice at all!
![typicalben's taiwan day 2 hair](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8223/8411105062_8aa9d07397_b.jpg)
Took a picture of my hair before I go for shower!
![typicalben with cookie monster iphone 5 cover](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8323/8411104848_d27e002c65_b.jpg)
Ending off with this super cute Cookie Monster iPhone cover that I bought over at Shida Night Market which I love it alot! Cute right! :D But I'm currently not using it anymore though lolol!
Will blog about Day 3 soon!!!!!!
10 comments
Love your blog post!
ReplyDeletehope you had lots and lots and lots of fun! :P
ReplyDeleteUre super cute and the hotel looks cool. Update more :]
ReplyDeleteOMG Ben so many people are requesting you to do a hair tutorial!!! Which I think you should as well, cuz if you do that, you will gain a lot of male readers and your blog will definitely come to a new milestone!! Is time to do something now Ben, show all of them your true power, talent, skill or whatsoever lololol!!! XOXO
ReplyDeleteYou and Peggy look quite alike! Haha like brother and sister :)
ReplyDeleteReally love your blog, and Taiwan looks like a great place to visit.
ReplyDeleteKeep on posting the rest
Please update more.
ReplyDeletehello! mind sharing where you bought the porter bag from in taiwan? :D
ReplyDeletehello! mind sharing where you bought your porter bag from in taiwan? :D
ReplyDeletei need your hair tutorial pls ben?! :(
ReplyDelete