1023. recap taipei day 5

Rant of the day: Throat feeling really bad... Drank some herbal stuff my mum grounded. Yuck!!!

Sunday is ending soon. Gawd... I hate this feeling...

Back to the taipei trip. Day 5 was an eventful day. Last full day we will have before flying home the next day. So we gotta cover as many places as we can.

If you are in Taiwan, how can you not make a trip to 九分 (Jiu Fen)? But the journey ain't easy. There's no direct MRT to this place because it's on another district off Taipei and somewhere up in the mountain. Gotta take train (yes... the traditional chu-chu train but without the smoke though) to 瑞芳 (Rui Fang) and take a bus from there.

Problem is, we cannot understand their train system!!! There wasn't clear direction nor signages. So everything depends on "ask". The first person we asked gave us wrong message and we boarded the wrong train. It was after quite a few stops then dear realised we boarded the wrong service. Asked the train operator and we got off for the correct train. *phew*

The bus to 九分. Not bad leh. The seats quite comfortable.

View up from 九分 was splendid. But the weather is very much colder though. Wind damn chilling and I was pretty worried about dear's foot injury.

So where is 九分 in the mountains? Here's the street where the bus dropped us.

And here it is, 九分!!!

Up here at 九分, there are some food you must try. Everyone (inclusive those in Taipei City) will tell you to try the 芋圆 (orh yee or yam dumplings). It's fragrant, delicious and chewy. I wanna have them again!!!

We all know Taiwan's sausages are damn delicious but this one, you can't get in Singapore -- black pig sausage. The taste is more wholesome but a lot more oily than the normal ones.

This cute lil pancake (or dunno what the heck is it) was spotted along the way when we were about to leave. And seriously, it doesn't taste good. It's got that uncooked flour taste. Eeewwwww...

Gotta recommend this -- braised beef noodles!!! The beef are succulent and juicy. Handmade noodles but yet chewy. Soup thickened with Chinese herbs. Totally sedap!!!

After hanging out at 九分 for a couple of hours, we headed back Taipei City but this time, the train was soooooooooo packed. We were almost squashed flat!!! But at least we took the right train this time round. Hahaha...

When you are in Taiwan, how can you not have steamboat? Especially when the weather is cold!!! There's one near our hotel at 西门町. At NT$399, it's all you can eat including all the shabu-shabu and Haagen Dazs ice-cream!!! *hungry*

After dinner was done, we went to their largest KTV in Taipei -- Partyworld. Yup. Same as Singapore but theirs ain't play play hor. They have got the entire building to themselves and a lobby that looks like a 5 star hotel!!! Come's with valet parking service as well. Cool~~~

They even got this cute teddy bear section for souveneirs!!! Awwwwww...

Just look at the waiting area. OMFG!!! It's huge!!!

Their smallest room is meant for 6 pax but as compared to Singapore's, it's equivalent to room for 8 to 10 pax!!! And, the room comes with a personal toilet!!! We sang cheap as well 'cause we went on a Sunday night and they had some promo for 6 hours... Wah!!!

The song selection machine. Took us quite a while to figure out how to find the songs because... THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY SONGS IN THEIR DATABASE!!! I tried using the remote but too chim... Don't understand how it works. But anyway, the microphones are fantastic, the sound system damn cool and very nice of the operator to provide herbal candies!!!

And you know what? The best drink during a KTV session is NOT honey-based drinks. Try Chinese tea in the future. It really soothes the throat. We sang for only 4hrs and couldn't take the zzzzzzz monster anymore. Decided to head back hotel for a good night rest before preparing the next day flight home.

That's all for day 5. Stay tune for day 6... Our flight home...