Early morning about 6am, we have to wake up and rush to the airport as we don't know what the procedure is... going down to the G floor, checked out and there's a shuttle waiting us, only charged RM1 per person. actually it only takes less than 3 minutes ride. so immediately look on the step and figure out what should we do inside the airport.
checked in the luggage as our 1st priority, then only we can sit down relax and enjoying our breakfast in McD & online. after breakfast, there's still have plenty of time to wait and wait as our flight is only depart by 10am. while waiting, got time to flush everything inside the body. the toilet consider moderate clean, can sit with longer period while waiting the next "egg" dropping ... hehe. Playing Sudoku until i was forgotten there's people waiting. after done the business, is time to continue wait and wait. another time of mumbling that $$ not enough again...arrrr..... have to go any other ATM to cashout my money which i had to waste the RM1 for different bank MEPS and go at any exchange station to change the Taiwan Dollar. this round is only 8.43882. another round of unhappy lo...
okay, don't waste the time thinking of $$, just focus the moment and enjoy the trip. before that, each of us called back home and 报平安. about the time, we moved to the depart room after passport verification and carry bag checking... damn... i didn't put my bathing stuff into the luggage as they only allowed the max 100ml bottle in the carry bag. so they thrown away my shampoo, body shampoo, and toothpaste. T.T why i never checked the rules and regulations before go... memang 大乡里... bring some1 which lagi teruk than me. so these important 日常用品 and have to buy again in Taiwan dy. then we are moved to Depart room. while waiting, syok syok go snap photos.
About 15 minutes before depart, they only open the gate and allowed us to enter the flight. during online purchase, i was chosen the free seat so i can sit at anywhere (i thought i can), mana tau they had arranged the seat when we checked in. btw, the seat was arranged at aisle and middle seats, or else we can have a good seat near the window. but anyway, i still can use my 傻瓜机 to snap the wings and sometime i go to those "reserved" seat and snap some nicer cloud photos.
Since that orang kampung which beside me never taste the food in flight
(me too ^_^, never eaten food provided by AirAsiaX), thus i had ordered the international food (sounds fabulous or attractive)... but it's nothing special anyway.
After chosen from head to tail, so i decided to pre-order "Szechuan Chicken and steamed rice". this meal is nothing special lo. we just ordered 1 pack as the journey only take 4 hours only. the stomach is actually reserved for Taiwan meal... hehe.
Few hours later after eaten and take short nap, done everything business in wash room, feel really 无聊 le, so take short tour and walk from business seat to economy seat, take 2nd picture while sitting on the "hot" seat. the surpassing beauty of the scenery outside the window really nice and attractive.
4 hours and 50 minutes later and met the 气流 twice, finally we were arrived Taiwan Tao Yuan international airport. was amazed with the service in the airport, international standard. lots of visitors come to Taiwan per day, but they still manage the crowd and flow was linear. not feel congested at all and really impressive. just a few minutes later, we had settled our passport and continue to take our luggage.
Then we exit the place and before proceed, we had seen the tourism counter and decided to ask for more info. They are served us politely and give us lots of info which more than we needed. besides that, i had seen there's some visitors ask for form, thus i ask can i apply, unfortunately i was over the age. they only offer for those visitors ages less or equal 30 only. T.T
is alright, so we only apply for 1. they give some souvenir too. they are very strong in promoting their country very well. later the officer ask, have you book the hotel for tonite? well, our answer absolutely say no. he provide us a complete file which contains almost 90% accurate hotel contacts and info over the Taiwan. well, we decided to stay in Taipei, so we choose the most budget hotel. but we had fail to reach the hotel... err... potentially they didn't update the info well. we tried 1 by 1, finally we able to book 1 hotel named " １加１旅馆 ". the officer without stop helping us by providing more info, such as how to go and where to walk when we reached there... i never seen this helpful and nice officer. ^_^ btw, i didn't see his anger (or 火遮眼) showing on his face at all, only smiley face.
immediately we take a quick move and take bus to Taipei station. there're few options you can go from airport to hotel, but we decided to go by budget way as this journey involve bus and taxi. both add up is only 365NT$ for 2 persons, 250NT$ by bus and 115NT$ for taxi. if you wish to take the easiest way is taking taxi directly from airport to hotel, but defintely not our plan as it'll over our budget, more than 1K NT$ i guess. after purchase bus ticket, we moved to the depart station and wait the bus which it'll route to our destination. 1st time taking local bus, the bus driver and the staff help us to put our belongings into the storage, and then he quickly sit on the driver seat and move. we have to react fast, or else we'll left the bus. exploring new experience as they're opposite way compare to Malaysia, driver sit on the left side. the sky are dark, followed by the rain. feeling dizzy with cold. the journey takes about 40 minutes, feels that it's quite far although the bus was fast. anyway we were reached the town and start to feel hungry.
we quickly jump to the station nearby and search for our 1st meal to feed our stomach. like a thunder, we were reached the food court and made an order. after glance thru and filter out some... then i had ordered local traditional noodle (擔仔面) and chicken rice. the name might same in Malaysia, but the taste is totally different. while waiting, both of us only can just wait, nothing can be done. they're systematic, follow by numbers.
few minutes later, it's our turn. 擔仔面 originally was 台南小吃. it's usually combines with mee (麵條)、bihun (米粉)、taugeh (豆芽菜)、coriander (香菜)、small prawn (蝦仁)、sauce (少許湯汁) and special made minced meat (獨門肉碎). it charged 70NT$ (or roughly equal to RM7.60). if you are taugeh lover, say sorry 1st because these taugeh cannot compare with Ipoh taugeh lo. btw, overall this meal is still accepted. if you don't want the 滷蛋, they only charged 60NT$.
i had ordered the chicken rice in set (鸡饭套餐). it comes with 3 types of vege, 1 sup, 1 medium bowl of rice, and 1 big plate of chicken. ohya, with free bottomless beverage. the chicken is different compare with our Malaysian chicken, because the fat layer was transparent and chewy (generally Taiwanese said it's "QQ").
after fill up our hungry stomach, have short period of window shopping, can't spend much time at here because we still need to settle down for tonight. immediately go to take taxi and ask for the destination. ohya, we don't know where's the hotel location but able to provide the simple info to the taxi driver, since he know that street well. very soon we're arrived at the hotel. when we look at the hotel outside, we thought that hotel got Kok-kok (hooker). but it's going to sunset, and we just need an accommodation for that night and thus decided to ignore about it. 1 night for that hotel is charged 900NT$. btw, it's kind of old century budget hotel.
after settle down, put everything inside the room, then we tried to survey the hotel surrounding. i saw there's 1 stall was selling Fried Tofu (臭豆腐).
Local 臭豆腐 is very crunchy, topping with special made sauce. mixing with some cabbage which soaked with vinegar, it's AWESOME. haha... is different with Malaysian style fried tofu. after finished it, we continue walked further to explore more. the nearest and famous with lots of entertainment night place is Xi Men Ding (西门盯). crowded but safe, where you can enjoy window shopping without worry on people watching your $$.
I saw a special snack during the walk, ice cream peanut popiah and never eaten this snack before.
With greedy feeling, i decided to buy 3 rolls and only 100NT$. let see how are they made it. they open the popiah "skin" [(薄餅皮) - which is soft & thin like a paper crepe or pancake made from wheat flour] on the table, with some coriander (香菜) for topping on popiah skin, shave the maltose peanut and top up onto the popiah skin, scoop 2 yam ice cream and put on it, then wrap the popiah skin... that's it~!!
if u don't like coriander, can ask him don't put it. overall it taste great, u won't feel any ingredient not match, because all is sweet. this ice cream is less milk, full aroma with yam. imagine how tasty it is, i can finish 2 rolls even in raining day.
after eaten the ice cream popiah, is time to continue exploring this area. we found 1 condom shop (保险套世界)... a lot of differences compare Malaysia condom shop. eye opener for me as i never seen so many funny stuff in this shop... Oops.. 18sx shop. we also found 大雕烧 (better i remove the photo, u can try google it.. ^_^ ) and thought to buy for friends, but mana-tau after walk few roads we can't remember which road and don't know where is the condom shop... sigh.
btw, share some funny picture when we exploring that town ...
call this number and u can chat with the stranger.
toilet restaurant... very big and attractive cartoon park beside the door.
ohya... remember to bring a spare shoe or wear the quality shoe, or else it's very expensive if you bought over there. am not sure what went wrong, the shoe all the while is good condition, but on that day the bottom layer was peel off and i had no choice to buy new shoe. was bought brand G.P sandal and 750NT$ was gone in the wind~~ T.T
after whole day walking in Taipei, no more energy on our leg... so we decided to go back hotel. when we arrive hotel, the hotel boss was added with a younger 1. we start to chatting in the hall. they are very friendly and guide us where to go and how to go. few hours later, we really exhausted and go back room sleep. here's end of our 1st day trip.
