Taiwan Day 2: Keelung & Jiufen

Can't believe how early the sun rises in Taiwan during summer!! I woke up thinking we were late as the sun  was already shining brightly through the windows. But then I checked my watch and found that it was only around 5.30 in the morning..In the end, just went back to sleep since it was still early =p

Breakfast of Pork Burger and Chua Bing with Coffee and Tea  =)

Once we had finally got up and packed our stuff, we headed next door to the Eight Elephants Hostel to return our room keys and leave our luggage as we were going to Jiufen and Taichung over the next 3 days.

Next up, breakfast!! Walked around the area near Guting Station looking for breakfast and spotted this little breakfast cafe, which seemed to be doing quite good business. So we sat ourselves down and picked a few items off the menu. All in all, the food was quite good.

After we finished our breakfast, took the MRT to Taipei Main Station, where we switched to the normal railway to get to Keelung. Lucky for us, there was one train leaving in less than 30 minutes, so we didn't have very long to wait.

1. Keelung Station     2. Soup made from crab     3. Crab ball?     4. Corn Pao Pao Ping
5. Temple in Keelung     6. Lu Rou Fan     7. Tendons     8. Mango Ice

After getting down at Keelung Station, we got directions from the tourist information centre on how to get to Miaokou. The information centre is just next to the train station and there are a quite a lot of people there who are willing to help.

As you can see, we stuffed ourselves with food again there =p Miaokou is just one row of stalls selling food, food and more food...just heavenly =)

I think the crab soup is one of the must try food here. It was my favourite out of everything we tried here. Of course, the shaved ice was also  very welcome in the hot weather there ^_^

After lunch, we explored the other shops in the surrounding area, which also sold a lot of clothes and accessories. One of the shop assistants there also recommended to us a famous shop which sold pineapple tarts there, called Lee Hwu. Following her directions, we went over to get some to bring back as souvenirs.

As it was getting late, we then went to wait for the bus to Jiufen in front of a clinic located opposite the road from Keelung train station. From there, it took us about an hour to get to Jiufen, whereupon we got off in front of the 7-11 in front of Jishan Street.

With all the small alley and stairways, we found ourselves a bit lost and had to call our minsu for directions. They were very nice and even sent someone on a scooter to help carry our luggage over for us.

Windsor B&B in Jiufen

Doesn't the place just look beautiful? This was one of the nicest places we stayed in Taiwan in terms of decor, though it also cost us slightly more at NTD2,300 per night, inclusive of breakfast. Didn't regret staying here though as I really love the room we stayed in, and there was also a small adjoining balcony/room from which we could enjoy the view of Jiufen.

The owners of the minsu had informed us that most of the shops in Jiufen Old Street would close by around 8 or 9 pm, so we rushed out  to explore the place before it got too late. As usual, bought a variety of food for dinner as we walked along the streets in Jiufen. Really, really love the Yu Yuan!! It was springy and really, really good...blissfully good =)

1. Fruit juice in Doraemon shaped bottle..cute!!     2.Yu Yuan     3. Wild Boar Sausage     4. Jiufen Old Street
5. Sunset in Jiufen     6. Rou Yuan     7. Fishballs     8. Squid Ink Sausage

Spent some time wandering around the area, but the shops there mainly sell food and souvenirs. When we were walking there, really felt like we had gone back in time, with all the old-fashioned shops and small alleys there =) Didn't really manage to catch the sunset, though, as we were somewhere near the middle of Jiufen Old Street at the time.

1. Purchases in Keelung     2. Mai Ya Tang     3. Souvenirs for home

Headed back to our minsu once the shops there started to close for the day. As usual, couldn't resist taking a photo of all my purchases during the day. Didn't get any clothes that day but still got some accessories as well as some souvenirs for home =)

After that, settled down to watch TV in our room. Can't believe the number of channels they have there. We were switching back and forth between different channels and were even watching several dramas at the same time ^.^