Taipei Day 2

DAY 2 ITINERARY

Longshan Temple > Yong Kang Street > Ximending

TAIPEI MAIN STATION (台北车站)

Before taking train from Main Station to Longshan Temple, we shopped a little and stopped by this cat-themed store. I believe most products in Taipei are local brands, which is why things are slightly more expensive but special! One thing great about this store is their service (what is Taiwan without good service?) - not only do they allow you to take photo of their items, they'll tell you to take an overall shot instead of individual product because "it looks nicer that way". HOW NICE!

LONG SHAN TEMPLE (龍山寺)

Longshan Station Exit 1

Apart from Chinese tourists, there were a lot of Japanese tourists as well! The temple is huge, so it didn't feel crowded. If you're travelling with elderly, you must stop by the temple. As for youngsters, there's really nothing to do, except for getting some good luck charms maybe?

There were shops along Longshan Station, and the locals were really friendly! Their pets aren't leashed, so they were roaming freely between shops. Over here you see the security guard hugging the Frenchies. Looks like they're all very friendly with each other! I also really appreciate the elderly for their patience; they would pause and wait for me to take photos of the dogs before continue walking. THANK YOU!

YONG KANG STREET (永康街)

Dongmen Station Exit 5

This could be described as "Taiwan's Prata" because it looked like one, but it smells damn good! I was too full from DTF, so I didn't get to eat this. Otherwise, I strongly recommend this street snack! There's a serious queue going on there, by the way..

DIN TAI FUNG (鼎泰豊)

Yong Kang Street

Din Tai Fung was seriously cheap. For 4 bowls of noodles, 1 starter dish, 10pcs XLB, 5pcs Chocolate XLB, total bill was NTD 1006 (~SGD 46.70). Service wise, way much better than Singapore's. What's impressive is that the staff could speak not only Chinese, but Japanese and Korean very well! Taste wise, quite similar to Singapore's (or at least, I can't taste any difference). After eating Taipei's DTF, I don't think I'd eat Singapore's again because it's just too cheap here in Taipei!

TIP: Get your queue number, then go shop along the street of Yong Kang. As you'll be given a slip showing your queue number, download the Din Tai Fung app, select the correct outlet then key in your queue number followed by a 3-digit code below the queue number. Be sure to check the waiting list every 15-30mins to ensure you don't miss your turn!

P.S: The staff told us our table will be ready after 1 hour, but by then we missed our turn already. We still managed to get our table within 5 mins after missing our turn, so all's good!

We continued walking along Yong Kang Street and had Dante Coffee. Once again, substandard coffee but average cakes. Before heading back to hotel, we went into this newly-opened store called In Wonderland 藏甜頭.

Obviously I was attracted to the fluffy decor and so I went to check it out. They sell very cheap and pretty cakes, I had to get one! The sales assistants were all very friendly (again) and we went back happily with 2 cakes - Mont Blanc (NTD 180) and Vanilla & Brownie (NTD 160). 

NOTE: I really don't know what's inside, so I can't describe here. You can always check with the staff, but take note that they don't speak english well so you might end up not knowing and just buy the cakes because they looked pretty!

We back to our hotel just to check into our new room (more details on this in another post), and while my parents stayed in the hotel to rest, my siblings and I left for Ximending round 2.

XIMENDING (西门町)

Just like Singapore, there's also the store that sells things in boxes (E.g. Toy Outpost, Box Boss) but what's different is there's a staircase leading to a board games cafe. I didn't go down to check it out, but you guys can!

THE RED HOUSE (西门红楼)

Ximen Station Exit 1

We headed to the Red House but it was under renovation. However, there's a small-scale flea market (Market For Artists & Designers) going on outside the building, and also a boutique store behind. 

I got some temporary tattoos for myself and my friends from the shop SURPRISE! I can't remember how much per piece, but they were selling it at 3 pcs for NTD 100 for basic designs. As a tourist, anything in hundreds just seemed easier to calculate. I bought a total of 12 pcs for my friends, and for myself -  a pack of 3-pc gold designs (NTD 150). 

AH MAO RISOTTO (阿毛石鍋燉飯)

Ximending

There are 2 outlets selling risotto in XMD, 1 teahouse outlet and another outlet selling western style dishes like spaghetti. We went to one of the risotto outlets, and I settled for the Creamy Chicken Risotto. On weekends, all items are in sets, not ala carte. Prices for sets are fixed at NTD 250, meals include your choice of drink & soup (mushroom/tomato soup). It's been 3 years, but the taste never changes!

Ah Mao closes at around 1050PM, so we satisfied our 9pm risotto craving! Strongly recommend this to anyone, but maybe not when you're in a big group because the shop's really small.

There's definitely a lot of relocation going on, like how Eslite shifted further in and H&M replaced its original spot. This H&M is sooo fanciful with lots of mirror going on. Some push carts were no longer there also, and there were new shops like the WHO.A.U replacing some smaller shops.

However, Ximending is still very nice to shop at, but I realised some local youngsters are no longer nice. In fact they looked quite judgemental so I felt very uncomfortable shopping in certain stores. 

On a side note, most shoes are priced at NTD 390 and above, which is very affordable. If you're interested to get shoes (be it casual or sportswear), Ximending is the place to go!