Today's itinerary:
Woke up and head out for breakfast! But even though it is a weekday morning, the crowds are still there at Yonghe Doujiang 永和豆漿 (XMD Branch). Found a table and started choosing our meal. You should try:
As one of our travel khaki is heading back to SG in the afternoon, we spent the morning together in XMD. And of cos, if you go XMD, you must try the Japanese Grilled Mochi 沖繩日式碳烤麻糬! It is located opposite of The Body Shop.
After some shopping and buying of lunch at 7-11, we went back to our room to pack the khaki's luggage before sending her off to the airport while we travel to our next destination.
Took the MRT of Tamsui 淡水 Line to Beitou 北投 station and changed the MRT line to heads to Xinbeitou 新北投 MRT Station which is northern most district of Taipei City. Changing of line at Beitou station is quite straightforward, however, to ensure you board the right train, the train is in the theme of hot springs, and it comes with touchscreens in the form of hot tubs providing information of Xinbeitou from sight-seeing, food to hot springs..
The name Beitou originates from the Ketagalan aborigine word Kipatauw (“home of witches”) due to the smell of sulphur and the geothermal steam from the hot springs which resembles a witch’s cauldron. Beitou was originally an infamous red light district where men would go for the hot springs and women. The government cleaned up the area in the late 1980s, and today the hot spring town is one of Taiwan’s major tourist attractions.
Once you alight at Xinbeitou 新北投 MRT Station, walk along the Zhongshan Road next to the Beitou Park 北投公園.
As you walk along the road, you will pass by the Beitou Public library 北投圖書館 and Beitou Garden Spa 北投親水公園露天溫泉 (the public hot spring) on your right.
Apart from its famous hot springs, Beitou is also home to Taiwan’s first “green” library with its use of solar power and natural light. It is also the first building in Taiwan to receive the “Green Building” certification.
Beitou’s outdoor public bath is one of the cheapest options from NT20 to NT40. It has 6 outdoor pools ranging in temperatures from scalding hot to frigging cold. There are 6 entry time slots from 5:30AM to 10:00PM and can get crowded especially in the evenings or during weekends (well, it’s dirt-cheap afterall). Bring a swimsuit or buy one there, no au naturale pls :)
Geothermal Valley 地熱谷, also known as Hell Valley, was named one of Taiwan’s eight great natural beauties in the Japanese colonial era. The mineral composition of the rare green sulfur waters can only be found in two locations in the world, Beitou and Akita, Japan. Being a hydrochloric acid spring that can reach 100°C (212°F), it is unsuitable for body contact unless you are intending to cook yourself. In the past, visitors were able to boil eggs at the valley but it is not allowed now. It is very similar to Jigokudani (also called Hell Valley) in Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, but a much smaller version.
For a totally free experience, you can soak your feet at the public hot spring foot baths along the stream.
Since we were rather shy, we opted for a private soak in one of the hot spring resorts. You can opt just for a hot spring bath or choose to rest for a few hours or stay the night as seen on the advertisement on the pillar.
Once you made your payment, you will be given a entry coupon. As we wanted to travel light and did not bring a towel, we opted in for the towels at NT40 per towel. It's those big fluffy white towel! So, to me, it's worth paying the money!
Anyway, my pictures stopped at the entrance only as no clothes are allowed in the spa, which is similar to the ones in Japan.
Anyway, during the soak, we met a lady who once leaved in Taiwan, but has since migrated to Japan. She told us interesting stories of her life and her family, and she mentioned that she always come to this hotel for spa in Taiwan as it is the most similar to Japan and it is always quiet.
So, we left Beitou about 4.30pm for Fisherman’s Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭 and Danshui Old Street 淡水. If you are not intending to soak in a hot spring, you can plan about 2-3 hours in Beitou and leave more time for eating and shopping at Danshui Old Street. It would be ideal to visit Fisherman’s Wharf during sunset or night time for its scenic sight and then spend the rest of the evening at Danshui Old Street.
The laidback coastal town of Tamsui 淡水(also known as Danshui) located to the north of Taipei and named after the Tamsui River (meaning ‘fresh water’), serves as a quick getaway from Taipei’s busy city life. Located at the end of the Tamsui Train Line, the former fishing town is famous for two things – viewing gorgeous sunsets along the dock or Fisherman’s Wharf, and signature local snacks at Gongming Street/Tamsui Old Street.
Historically Tamsui is a significant place in Taipei history, where it was one of the main settlements for the Spanish in the 1600′s and one of the biggest ports in Taiwan in the 19th century. The waterfront promenade is now a pedestrian-friendly street lined with shops selling interesting knick knacks, old-school game stalls and local snacks.
Anyway, we planned to take a ferry to Fisherman’s Wharf, however, due to our error in time planning, the ferry had closed for the day. Hence, we went to the bus interchange beside the train station for the bus.
A ferry ride cost about NT120 for a round trip.
You can either take Bus Red-26, 836, or 837 (from Tamsui train station) to Fisherman’s Wharf.
So after the walk around Lover’s Bridge 情人桥, we head off to Shilin Night Market 士林夜市, which we don't really like as it is overly commercialised and crowded, especially the underground foodcourt.
We were pushed along the whole foodcourt, and could not get a chance to stop and grab any food at all. Definitely not a good experience.
So we head back to XMD and had the HOTSTAR Large Fried Chicken and Ah-Zhong Mee Sua as supper.
- Xinbeitou 新北投
- Danshui 淡水
- Shilin Night Market 士林夜市
- Ximending 西門町
- 燒餅油條 (shaobing youtiao), which are sesame seed cakes with a fried Chinese doughnut inside
- 甜豆漿 (tian doujiang) cold sweet soybean milk
After some shopping and buying of lunch at 7-11, we went back to our room to pack the khaki's luggage before sending her off to the airport while we travel to our next destination.
Once you alight at Xinbeitou 新北投 MRT Station, walk along the Zhongshan Road next to the Beitou Park 北投公園.
Apart from its famous hot springs, Beitou is also home to Taiwan’s first “green” library with its use of solar power and natural light. It is also the first building in Taiwan to receive the “Green Building” certification.
Beitou’s outdoor public bath is one of the cheapest options from NT20 to NT40. It has 6 outdoor pools ranging in temperatures from scalding hot to frigging cold. There are 6 entry time slots from 5:30AM to 10:00PM and can get crowded especially in the evenings or during weekends (well, it’s dirt-cheap afterall). Bring a swimsuit or buy one there, no au naturale pls :)
For a totally free experience, you can soak your feet at the public hot spring foot baths along the stream.
Anyway, during the soak, we met a lady who once leaved in Taiwan, but has since migrated to Japan. She told us interesting stories of her life and her family, and she mentioned that she always come to this hotel for spa in Taiwan as it is the most similar to Japan and it is always quiet.
We needed our spa session earlier than our travel khaki and hence we had the chance to explore the area outside the spa.
The picture on the left is about the origin of Beitou Spa, while the picture on the right is the public hot spring (Beitou Garden Spa 北投親水公園露天溫泉) mentioned earlier. As you can see, it is quite crowded due to the affordable price.
Anyway, the picture below is the path we kind of travelled, but we did give a few a miss as we did not have any interest in them.
So, we left Beitou about 4.30pm for Fisherman’s Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭 and Danshui Old Street 淡水. If you are not intending to soak in a hot spring, you can plan about 2-3 hours in Beitou and leave more time for eating and shopping at Danshui Old Street. It would be ideal to visit Fisherman’s Wharf during sunset or night time for its scenic sight and then spend the rest of the evening at Danshui Old Street.
Historically Tamsui is a significant place in Taipei history, where it was one of the main settlements for the Spanish in the 1600′s and one of the biggest ports in Taiwan in the 19th century. The waterfront promenade is now a pedestrian-friendly street lined with shops selling interesting knick knacks, old-school game stalls and local snacks.
Black Pig Sausage, it's quite yummy! And the guy actually posed for me to take the picture of the process.
The map of Danshui Old Street.
A ferry ride cost about NT120 for a round trip.
You can either take Bus Red-26, 836, or 837 (from Tamsui train station) to Fisherman’s Wharf.
Lover’s Bridge 情人桥
The 196-metre white-colored cable bridge derived its name from its launch date of 14 February 2003. The bridge has quite a reputation as a romantic spot to view breath-taking sunsets. As we came late, we are unable to enjoy the sunset. But the lights around the bridge does create a pretty sight! So, do stay around the area after the sunset.
We were pushed along the whole foodcourt, and could not get a chance to stop and grab any food at all. Definitely not a good experience.
Our loots of the day!
Overview: Kaohsiung高雄 - Taichung台中 - Taipei台北
Day 1: Taipei台北 -> Kaohsiung高雄
Day 2: Kaohsiung高雄
Day 5: Taipei 台北 (Jiufen)
Day 6: Taipei 台北
Day 7: Taipei 台北
Day 8: Taipei 台北
Day 9: Taipei 台北 -> Singapore 新加坡
No comments:
Post a Comment