Hello Taiwan ❤ D2

So as promised, here's Day Two in Taipei :D

The second day is with the ground tour that we booked online
So today would be the tourist route in Taipei :D

But due to the extreme walking and catching up with Suyi plus not sleeping for 2 days straight, we just collapsed to bed yesterday, so..

WE WOKE UP LATE

The poor tour guide was asking the receptionist to call our room over and over again

And Michelle and I were like 2 dead bodies in the room

Until I finally picked up the phone and it all registered into my head

So I went

MICHELLEEEE WE ARE LATEEE WAKE THE HELL UP NOWWWW

Within the next 10 minutes we freshened up, in the van, ready to go

It's amazing how your adrenaline could just push you to your limit

If there's ever a Olympic medal in getting ready the fastest,

I think Michelle and I should enrol in it :P

So thank goodness we weren't late because our first destination is Martyr’s Shrine（忠烈祠）We were there to witness an elaborate ceremony of changing guards and it's held at 9am sharp

So... phew.. we made it!

This is how it looks like but I can't find the pictures of the guards :(

But overall it's a pretty cool ceremony

After that, we went to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall （中正纪念堂）

This is built in the memory of Mr Chiang Kai-Shek and and if I'm not mistaken the tour guide said this is the place where the Taiwanese come to protest

But they're mostly peaceful protests from the students

The name itself translates to the Freedom Plaza

Next, we visited the Shilin Residence（士林官邸）,it is the residence of President Chiang Kai-shek during his lifetime. It has been reconstructed to an ecological park.

There're a lot of pretty flowers planted here ❤

The tour guide also told us the love story between President Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong May Ling, how he divorced all his previous wives just to marry Soong May Ling and how the other Soong sisters became successful.

This is one of the reasons I love travelling, except for the view and food you also learn about other country's history and story, and it stays in your mind for a much longer period.

There's also a coffee shop at the entrance and they sell good ice-creams :)

For the next stop, we went to Yuan Shan & Jian Tan Scenic Park（圓山劍潭風景區）

There's also a hotel here named 圓山大飯店

Apparently it's only meant for the presidents who visit from all over the world back then

But recently it's opened for all the normal citizens, at a high price of course

But it's a beautiful hotel and the lunch buffet looks really nice

Michelle and I were gonna have our lunch here but the tour guide said she already booked our lunch in another restaurant :(

So we bought some bread and cupcakes, and they taste really good :D

If you guys have the chance to come here, there's a shuttle bus from the Yuan Shan station and their buffet isn't expensive. So maybe give it a try and let me know how is it :D

After walking so much it's finally lunch time!

The tour guide brought us to the King Ping Tea Restaurant（金品茶楼）

We had a lot of Siu Long Bao :D

Let the pictures do the talking

This is the original version of Siu Long Bao, I love it! ❤

And this is what's inside HAHAHAH!

And here's the Siu Long Bao 2.0 and 3.0 and 4.0 and 5.0

This is the vegetable version Siu Long Bao

Personally I didn't like it very much

The tour guide was worried that we might still be hungry so she also ordered fried rice

I was too full from all the Siu Long Bao's so I skipped this

And here's the Sour Spicy soup. I skipped this too mostly because of the oil on the soup :O

Cake for dessert. I don't know the name of it but it tastes pretty good :D

The next destination after lunch is Chiufen （九份）

We're here to see the old fashioned way of life that still exists, with the aura of the old mines that is still apparent. It's about an hours' ride and it's an uphill ride

Thanks to my carsick problem, I was having a bad headache the whole time 

I can almost feel the Siu Long Bao trying to escape :O

Even though I'm not feeling well but I still walked through Chuifen

It's actually a really nice old street, this feels like the older version of Taipei

There're a lot of souvenirs and food sold here.

The people are really nice cause they let you try the food before you buy it :D

The place is really pretty 

I didn't manage to see this because it was really foggy up there that day :(

But now that I know it looks like this I want to go back!

The headache is going to be worth it!

After that we went to the Peitou Hot Spring（北投溫泉）❤

This is my first time going to a hot spring cause which Malaysian would go for a hot spring? 

We already live in a tropical country, lol!

I would go for a cold spring if there is one

But the weather in Taipei during May is rainy and a little cooling

So that's like the good weather for a hot spring

This is how it looks like... at least that's what the internet says

Well because Michelle and I didn't know it's was gonna be a naked outdoor hot spring and we are not allowed to bring in any towels, even a small one to cover our private parts

So after struggling for a little while

We decided to pay extra and took a private room 

Thank goodness we can wear our swimsuit in the private room

Yep we chickened out

Even though I know that I don't know anybody there and everyone is just as naked

I JUST CAN'T DO IT

Well neither can Michelle HAHAHAHAHA :D

Maybe some other time :D

The last stop! The must-go when you visit Taipei, Shihlin Night Market （士林夜市）

It's food time again! It's when I blog that I realize I eat too much :O

Well, screw it just enjoy every moment lol!

We start off by eating the oyster omelette （蚵仔煎）

Then it's the cheese baked potato ❤

There's ham, corn and basil and cheese on top of the baked potato, it's so nice!

You can literally feel your weight going up the weighing scale 

But it's so so so worth it

Yes we had the fried chicken again even though there's a franchise right beside our hotel T.T

Yes we don't think straight when it comes to food

We also had this potato on a stick thing :D

We also drank the cranberry juice near the entrance 

The Shihlin night market is really huge, Michelle and I were lost and found our way out 20 minutes later

I think we didn't even finish walking 20% of the night market

But we're way too full cause the portion of the food is big and the price is considered cheap :)

Can't believe our stomachs gave up on us

But at least we were sharing all of the food, imagine coming alone and wanting to eat a variety of food, that's just impossible

This is why you need a food friend :D 

After that we took the MRT and went back to our hotel :D

That's all for the day two :D

Going to all that places is actually really tiring

Even though it's tiring but we're really enjoying ourselves

I'll try to update Day Three before next week :D

P/S: Most of the pictures from today is still in my camera so I'll update them as soon as I get my hands on the pictures :)

XOXOXOXOXOXO

karman.hearts