Taiwan trip! Day 1 and 2! (Taichung)

Hello! My mum, brother and I went to Taichung and Taipei from 190515 to 280515. One thing I learnt from this Taiwan trip was that, there is a rainy season in Taiwan that usually last from May to June, also known as plum rain. It just happened that our second day in Taiwan was the start of the plum rain. Thus, changes had to be made to the itinerary that I had originally planned out, which you can view here! In the end, we still went to most of the places that we wanted to go, just that in a different order!

Here is our last minute adjusted itinerary for day 1 and 2!

Day 1: Tao Yuan Airport --> J&I HOME --> Fengjia Night Market*

Day 2: 来来豆浆 --> 天马牧场 --> 鼎王麻辣锅* --> Carton King --> Miyahara --> Yizhong Street

Day 1

One of the first few things that we had to do at Tao Yuan Airport, other than having lunch (we reached there at about 2pm), was definitely to get prepaid cards for each one of us. Getting these cards will help you A LOT especially when you are on a free and easy trip and require using the google map for navigation and direction. Also, there may be times where you need to make sudden changes to the itinerary due to unforeseen circumstances and require the internet to get the information you need. Other than that, you might want to get the prepaid cards if you want to stay updated on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

The three notable telecommunication companies in Taiwan are 台湾大哥大, Chunghwa Telecom as well as Fareastone. 台湾大哥大 seems to be the most popular option, as you can see from the longest queue, but in the end we settled for Chunghwa telecom as the queue was much shorter and we felt that we did not need the 4G services that 台湾大哥大 provided!

Bus 1623 from UBUS Services

After settling our lunch, prepaid card and easy card at the Airport Terminal, it was time to go to Taichung! The bus had comfy seats and TV with the volume adjustable and sound coming out from both sides of the head rest! The ticket cost NT 230 each and the bus ride to Chao Ma Station was only about 1 hour 40 minutes long! 

Wefie Time!

Took a cab after alighting at Chao Ma Station and finally arrived at our accommodation!

Themed room!

Lepak before going out~

We stayed at this place called J&I Home, just 5 minutes walk from the famous Fengjia Night Market! The facilities they provided included - refrigerator, television, hair dryer, computer, water boiler. They also provided free wifi! When booking this accommodation online, there is an option to add an additional bed to this 2 person room for NT 400, and that was what we did! Although it was very inexpensive this way, I would not recommend anyone who is travelling in threes to choose this accommodation as adding an additional bed caused the entire room to feel really small with little space to maneuver about! However, for those who are travelling in pairs and have a tight budget, you can go to their website @ http://www.gotosleep.com.tw/index.html to book it!

After settling down and relaxing for a while, we headed down to Fengjia Night Market! Below are all the photos taken there.

I did not take this photo for free ok! I had to buy their smelly tofu........... ok just kidding, please feel free to take any photos!

Had to take this photo!

So crowded opposite the road!

Yummyyy~

Scallops!

Long queue must mean that the food is good right? Tried it! It was pretty good!

And that is the end of day 1! Thank God everything went smoothly so far! A good start to a trip is a good sign for the rest of the trip! Right?..

Day 2

This was a day I was looking forward to, exploring the different parts of Taichung. Since we were staying in Taichung for only 2 days and this was the only full day that we had, and also Taichung is not as accessible as Taipei, we pre-booked a cab for the whole day at the price of NT4000. Initially, I contacted Miss Lee as I found out online that she seems to be quite popular. Unfortunately, she already had a customer on that day and so she recommended her friend, Mr Chen (陈先生), to us. Mr Chen is a very nice and friendly guy. He is very professional as he reached our appointed time on time and would also come to pick us up when we finished visiting a place within a few minutes after calling him. Last but not least, he also prepared some fruits for us beforehand and he said that he would usually do that for his customers. All in all, I would recommend him to anyone who is interested in booking a cab in Taichung! Below are Miss Lee's and Mr Chen's contact number. You can just drop them a Whatsapp message in Chinese. :)

Miss Lee - +886 932 518 438

Mr Chen - +886 911 797 115

First stop was breakfast at Lai Lai Soybean Milk Shop (来来豆浆) recommended by Mr Chen.

来来豆浆！

A good variety of food to choose from! I think there is more in the menu!

Doesn't look like much but it was so so filling~

Next stop was 天马牧场! Okay, I was really excited to visit this place and interact with the animals there. Unfortunately, we had to meet with a heavy rain as well as strong winds, making this visit not a really pleasant one. Well, at least I got to saw the alpacas!

There is an alpaca at the back braving the rain and not moving an inch o.o

Lunch was next! Initially I had planned for lunch at Lai Xin noodles shop, not knowing that they sell beef noodles (my mum doesn't eat beef). Thankfully Mr Chen pointed that out to us and brought us to another shop, 鼎王麻辣锅. To me, this restaurant that we went to was really the highlight of the day! The service was top notched, atmosphere was great and most importantly, the food was excellent. Drinking hot soups on a cold day really did bring warmth to our body. Not only that, the refreshing soup was one that I could drink on and on without getting sick of it. 喝不腻！The only meat we ordered was the chicken meat, it may not look like much but I tell you, it was sooo tasty!!! I reckon the other meat would taste just as good, but it's okay! Our stomachs were already satisfied. :)

Unlimited supply of rice hehe

Yum yum yum!

The legendary chicken

Initially, we felt quite strange that they kept bowing... okay I think we still do haha! 

I would highly recommend people to come here! The branch we visited was the first ever branch to open in Taiwan.
鼎王麻辣锅
Address: 台中市精誠路12號
Or you can view the other outlets at this website http://www.tripodking.com.tw/

After lunch, we went to another of Mr Chen's suggestion, the Carton King (纸箱玩). It is not bad a place to visit! Other than admiring the place filled with products made of corrugated paper, there are also many souvenirs and packaged food that you can buy!

Oink!

BEES!!! RUNNN!!!

Beautiful shop

Yet another beautiful shop 

Next up was Miyahara (宫原眼科). We weren't planning to go to the restaurant on the higher levels of this building, so we just stayed at the first floor. Miyahara is a beautifully designed building famous for their dawn cakes, pineapple shortcakes as well as their ice cream. Probably less than one hour and you are done exploring the place. Worth a visit nonetheless. :)

Welcome to Hogwarts!

Drinks for you?

Waffle ice cream with 2 scoops and 3 toppings!

After visiting Miyahara, our last place to go was Yi Zhong Street! I did not take any pictures there, but the street is mainly food and shopping, a great way to end the day. We had our dinner there, I bought a small bag, and once we were done, I called Mr Chen and he drove us back to our minsu promptly and safely. :)

To see what we did in Day 3 and 4 in Taipei, click here! http://musicmilktea.blogspot.sg/2015/06/taiwan-trip-day-3-and-4-taipei.html