五分埔 Wufenpu and Raohe Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Finally after almost 1 year, I dredged up the energy to bring the Taiwan travel episodes to an end!

On my 9th day of the free and easy trip to Taiwan, we made a short but unavoidable trip to the famous Wufenpu 五分埔 - the place to go for sourcing cheap fashion bargains. It is the largest clothing wholesale market that could be found in Taipei.

 We read from other blogs not to go too early as most shops generally open after noon, so we dropped by the area around 3PM. It is very easy to locate Wufenpu. Just follow the crowd!

After alighting from the Houshanpi MRT exit, we crossed the street and looked for the shop selling braised pork rice called Formosa Chang. It's quite famous as it has been mentioned extensively in travel blogs; however we opted to skip it and had lunch somewhere else.

Sun Yat Sen Memorial, Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Sun Yat-Sen memorial park is another famous attraction in Taipei.
Most tourists like to go there to witness the hourly changing of guards.

It is very conveniently located within the Chung-Shan vicinity and reachable by MRT.
If you have time to space, you could enter the memorial hall and view some of the artifacts on display, as well as visit the library.

躼腳日本料理

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

A part of me was really reluctant to release this post - this had to be one of the best kept secrets in Taipei! And I hope that it remains that way so that it won't be overwhelmed by hordes of tourists, ha ha.

Located in the Zhongshan district, the restaurant facade was unassuming enough that passers-by would not give it an extra glance. And yet, the telltale signs of a popular eatery gave it away - before 11:30AM, a long queue was forming up at the entrance.

National Palace Museum,Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Finally, I have more spare time to continue my notes on my trip to Taiwan.
One of the highlights of my Taiwan trip was (gasp) a visit to the National Palace Museum!

It was said that the best of China artifacts were actually secreted away during the Chinese Civil war - it hosts one of the largest collections of Chinese antiques in the world. Must be the reason why I see a lot of tourists from China.

Bopiliao Old Street 剝皮寮歷史街區, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Bopiliao Old Street is a place rich in heritage and culture. It was made famous after the movie Monga was filmed here. It has been in existence since the Qing period, and has stood the test of time throughout the Japanese occupation and the development of Mengjia.

Nowadays it is well known as the one of the cultural highlights of traditional Taiwan, and here you could find Chinese herb shops, antique shops, prayer paraphernalia and established eateries.
It is also close to the famous Longshan temple.

Ximending - Ya Rou Bian 鴨肉扁, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

It was late evening by the time we ended our one-day excursion, so Andy our tour guide very kindly dropped us off at Ximending where we could grab a bite.

Ximending needs no introduction - it's an extremely popular spot where the young and trendy hang out. And for good reason too - here you find established eateries, popular fashion, hip cafes, specialty shops,  traditional snacks all nestled side by side.
There's always something for everyone.

Danshui Fisherman's Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭 and Lover's Bridge, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Fisherman's Wharf is a leisure fishing port and a famous attraction in Danshui. It is said to have one of the best sunset views.

There are numerous hotels, restaurants and shops that could be found here.

Danshui old street 淡水老街, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

After a late lunch at Fuji harbor, we continued our journey to Danshui.

There are a few things you can do in Danshui:

1) Try the fish balls

2) Buy Iron eggs and Fish crackers

3) View the sunset at Fisherman's Wharf

4) Try the famous Ah-Ge snack (glass noodles wrapped in tofu skin)

5) Take the ferry ride to Fisherman's Wharf to soak in the beautiful views.

Danshui river is really huge. If I didn't know better I would have thought it is a seaside harbor.

There are a lot of things to see and eat in Danshui!

Fuji Harbor Tourism Fish Market 富基漁港觀光魚市, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Fuji Harbor is famous for the tourist fish market where tourists could purchase fresh, live seafood and have it brought to a restaurant for cooking.

The fish market.

Yeliu 野柳, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

We have heard and seen so much about Yeliu Geological Park that it feels like a holiday would not be complete without at least a visit to this place.

The heavens decided to smile upon us, with sunny weather today.
(What we didn't anticipate was busloads upon busloads of tourists. It was pretty scary. )

There's an entrance fee of NT $80.

石門洞 Shimendong, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

On the way from Yangmingshan to Yeliu, we passed by the scenic Northern Coast. There is a small attraction called Shimendong 石門洞 located there.

There was a large crowd today probably due to Qing Ming holidays, so we didn't feel the urge to linger.

Xiaoyoukeng 小油坑, Yangmingshan National Park, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Xiaoyoukeng is a famous attraction in Yangmingshan - it's a post-volcanic geological landscape area.

Meaning you get to see sulphorous gas and steam coming out from vents on the ground as well as the unique landscape.

Yangmingshan National Park 陽明山國家公園, Bamboo Lake (Zhu-zi Hu 竹子湖), Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

March - April is the season of the calla lilies. This seems to be a big deal in Taiwan.
Although we did not manage to view sakura flowers in full bloom (as the cold weather forced spring flowers to bloom early this year), we were lucky to arrive in time to view calla lilies.

We started the 2nd day of our guided tour with a visit to Yangmingshan. Since there are no more sakura flowers to view, we headed straight for Zhuzi Lake, where all the lilies are!

Releasing Sky Lanterns at 十分 Shifen, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

For our last stop of the day, we hopped over to Shifen Old Street to release sky lanterns.
As it was getting dark, we didn't manage to visit the famous Shifen waterfalls.

Shifen is about 30 minutes way from Jiufen by car. You could also get there by hopping on the Pingxi train line (get down at Shifen station)

It's a small town spanning across a railway track,  with shophouses on both sides of the track. One could walk along the track. Yes, there are real trains every hour!

Jiufen 九份, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Jiufen is a cluster of houses and shops perched on tn the hillsides of Jinguashi. It is well known for the maze of shophouses along flights of steps that lead from the top of the hill to the bottom. You could buy souvenirs here, taste the famous Taro balls, have Chinese tea in one of the teahouses, and take in the beautiful scenery while doing it all.

黃金博物館 Gold Ecological Museum, Jinguashi, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

ANY trip to Jinguashi would not be complete without paying a visit to the Gold Ecological Museum.
Since it is located very closely to Jiufen, we made a quick detour.

The Gold Ecological Museum is divided into several sections. There's the Crown Prince Chalet (Tai Zi Bin Guan), gallery area, the gold museum itself, and the mining tunnel, just to mention a few.

We were greeted by Japanese-style architecture as soon as we passed the entrance. Those are actually the 4 joined Japanese residences. The furniture and utensils were preserved and restored for visitors to view.

Keelung Miao Kou 基隆廟口, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

There is a well known street in Keelung that has lots of hawker food. Some might know it better as the Keelung Night Market, but in fact, the place is open all day.

After a morning well spent exploring scenic views of the northeast coast, we stopped at Keelung Miao Kou for lunch.

It's very popular among tourists and locals alight because of the variety of delicious food available. The place itself isn't big; it's a short street in front of the Mei Ji temple.

Wang You Gu 望幽谷 and Golden Waterfalls 黃金瀑布, Jinguashi, Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

Wang You Gu 望幽谷 is a little known spot popular among hikers and bird watchers in Taiwan. It's located near to Keelung.

It's a beautiful and isolated place with a panoramic view of the Northern coast. There are no hints of civilization, apart from the occasional hiker. To get there, you need to drive.

Walk down a short flight of stairs and you will be rewarded with breathtaking scenery.

南雅奇岩 Nanya Rock Formations and 陰陽海 Yin Yang Sea, Jinguashi Taiwan

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

For Days 6 and 7 of our Taiwan trip, we would be engaging a driver to bring us around as the places we wished to visit had quite a distance in between.

Our friendly tour guide/driver Andy was a knowledgeable and chatty guy! We really enjoyed our experience with him showing us around.

Our first stop was at Nanya. It's a quick stop along the scenic northeast coastal road. There are several unique rock formations there, the most famous one being the ice cream cone shaped rock.

Under the bright sun, it is supposed to show off brilliant colors.

Shihlin Night Market, Taipei

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

After spending the afternoon at Taipei 101, it's time for dinner again.

Shihlin Night Market, being very near to Taipei 101, naturally became our preferred destination! It's super convenient to go there, just take the red line from Taipei 101 MRT to Jiantan station.

Note: Alighting at Shihlin Station would bring you to the other end, so I recommend getting outat Jiantan instead. Just follow the crowd after exiting the MRT!