DAY 2- Taipei-Jiu Fen-Ji Long
Thursday, June 7, 2007
there were alot of hiccups on the way to jiu fen from taipei.. firstly, we didn't manage to get the train tix which we planned to get.. so the whole journey was delayed as a result.. secondly, there wasn't a decent eating place for us to haf our breakfast since most shops opened only at 11.. plus, we were carrying our luggages ard all the time, so we were kinda restricted to go places further as a result.. in the end, we settled our breakfast with some bread and 'bian dang'..
it was a near 2 hr journey from taipei to rui fang.. then, it was another 30mins bus ride to the min shu we are staying.. the bus ride was scary yet memorable!!~ phew~ we were beri lucky to haf survive the bus ride from rui-fang to jiu fen.. the bus driver was driving so fast that it made our hearts skipped a beat at every turn he made.. what a close shave~! went up to jin gua shi after we placed our luggage at the min-shu..it was a petty that it rained that day.. as such, we didn't managed to take a lot of photos.. even if we did, its mostly taken with the umbrella.. kinda blocked all the scenic views at the back.. =(
we headed down to jiu fen in the late afternoon.. this is the place which i highly recommend if u are going taiwan.. its a long street with a lot of vendors selling foods and souvenirs.. a truly food paradise! tried the peanut-ice-cream wrap which looks like the popiah over here, extra-big fish ball with meat fillings inside, ju rou which contains collagen known to be good to the skin, sausages which has the normal pork flavour and squid flavour(the ones in black), their supper dupper delicious MUSHROOM.. not forgetting the fruits over there, the hu lu tang is actually fruits wrapped with a layer of caramel coating, their ba-la' equivalent to the guava over here taste heavenly too!! wah~ at the end of the day, we spend S$25 bucks on the ju rou and another 50 bucks on the tai yang bing and feng li su to bring back to singapore.. we almost couldn't bear to leave jiu fen for our next destination..its really a nice place to find good food..
went to ji-long nite market in the evening.. the first thing that caught our attention was one of the stores selling cheap hair accessories.. well well, u now gals juz can't resist such temptation.. the five of us bought 1 hair band each as well as some hair clips.. they were not only cheap but the design were unique as well.. proceed on to look for good food to eat for our dinner.. didn't expect to get hungry so fast.. i guess its because we didn't haf a proper breakfast so the meal at jiu fen sort of covers both lunch and breakfast.. plus we had walked so long a journey ever since morning.. the food at ji-long taste juz as nice as those at jiu fen.. tried their grill-corn, pang xie gen (sort of like shark fin soup),guo tie (beri oily), ji dan gao(yummy custard fillings!), ai yu bing(something like ice-jelly over here)and ji-rou juan(chicken stick)..as a fruits lover i am, i went to get papaya after my dinner and realise it taste different from here.. their fruits are generally sweeter and larger in size.. so fortunate rite?
after dinner, we did some shopping over at the nite market.. bland, xw and ym bought some socks from there which is selling at 5 pairs for NT100(S$5)..so cheap.. was so amazed by their mask which most of the motorist will put on when they drives as the air quality is generally quite bad.. the designs were simply so cute!!
the last thing i wan to mention is the drinks and the cup noodles that are sold at their convenient stores (7-11).. there are a huge variety of them and all taste different!! we were practically spoiled for choices la.. one thing abt their convenient stores is that they dun gif plastic bags whenever u buy things from there.. if u wan a bag, u need to pay for it! and they will gif u a hello kitty stickers for every NT77 spend and once u collected 10, u are entitled to redeem a cute hello kitty figurine! so cool huh~
going back to the min-shu was yet full of hiccups.. we lost our way and couldn't find the bus stop where we shld board the bus.. hey, their bus line does not operate like in singapore where the opposite direction heads to the place where we came from.. ask 3 person and they gave different directions.. omg~ one of the auntie even spoke hokkien to us.. though we understand but it didn't help us to find our way.. in the end, we were lucky to haf met 2 little boys who's heading in the same direction as us... we wasted 45 mins as a result..
tat's all for day 2..
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