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Me & Kelvin  Marie I love Pink. I was born on 6 September. |
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gone with the wind October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 April 2009 July 2009 October 2009 |
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# Tip 1 - Bring 1-2 sets of clothes and your daily facial needs..cause you can buy whatever you need at Taipei. Eat a heavy breakfast as by the time you reach Taipei, your stomach will be growling, though food are available on board the plane. E.g. Famous Amos at $3 and cup noodles at $5. Also, you may request for the emergency seats at a nominal fee of SGD$25 per pax if you want more leg-room.
Once we reached Taipei Taoyuan Airport, we booked the Free-Go service at 6.30pm to our Airport (exit from immigration counter, turn left). It costs about NT$14O per pax (SDG21.5 = NT$1, October 2008 exchange rate). Be prepared to change to another bus before arriving at your hotel. The bus will also be going to a couple of hotels before reaching Rainbow Hotel as well. At about an hour later, we arrived Rainbow Hotel, Xi Men Ding (about SGD$86 per night).
I must say that Rainbow Hotel staff are friendly and helpful. They are very willing to provide directions and recommend nice place to eat. Though it was a small room, I am contented that they have the basic necessities. Afterall, we will be out whole day shopping and eating and all we need is a room with aircon and a nice comfy bed to rest.
# Tip 3 - You may book a one day tour at your hotel and our package includes a visit to the Shrine, Jiou Fen, Yeliou, Hot spring at Yang Ming Shan and Shilin Night Market. It was a good deal at NT$1000 per pax. Do leave your passports at the frontdesk as there is no safe in the room. Dont worry, it is safe.
After we checked in, we immediately left the hotel to satisfy our tummy..of course, we had to try out Taiwan's delicious snacks. We had to leave our hotel keys at the frontdesk (not a common practice elsewhere i guess)
Must try at Xi Men Ding:
1. Ah Zhong Mian Xian (Facing KFC, it is at the left lane)
2. Ou Ah Jian (near Rainbow Hotel, many other stores selling it)
3. Fried Chicken Cutlet
4. Ba Zhang (Uncle selling on its motorcyle. Not cheap about SGD$2 per piece)
5. Braised meat (e.g. Duck tongue, chicken wing)
6. Drinks - Milk Tea (MUST try!) and Qing wa xia dan
7. 7-11 - Taiwan beer tastes so much better than Tiger beer. Sushi rice, Cai ye dan, ooh long tea, omelette bread
8. Curry Shi Jie - something similar to Japanese curry
Must do at Xi Men Ding:
1. Take neoprint (its freaking 3 levels!) Their varieties are so much more than Bugis ones and at the same price! (MUST take). You can request to make the neoprints bigger..so fun!
2. Buy their shoes..very unique about SGD$18 per pair and their accessories (MUST buy)
3. Play their toys machine (where you put the money in and the 'hand-catcher' will grab the item you fancy. If you fail the first time, their staff will re-position the toy nearer to the hole so that it is easier for the toy to drop (haha..play cheat!) Because of that, Kelvin caught so many toys for me..yeah! about SGD$0.50 per try...worth it..(MUST try)
We went back to our hotel at about midnight to rest as we had to wake up at about 7 plus in the morning for the tour at 8.30am. Xi Men Ding shops closes about midnight..sobs
Picture to enjoy
# Tip 4 - Do remember to call the Hotel frontdesk to pass you 2 towels before you set off for the tour as you will need it for the hot spring.
End of Day 1