Began our day in Taipei again and we both had a very good night sleep last night *shiok*. Had my favourite porridge at Lio Hotel’s restaurant again and we even sat around watching TV in the restaurant to pass our time. A truly R&R day.
Perhaps because we traveled too much for the past 3 days (rushed to the hospital, rushed to get the 太阳饼 and busy catching the trains) hence we decided to take a slower pace today hehe ..
Arranged to meet up with Eugene’s friendly colleagues again before we fly back to Singapore. They are very hospitable and besides treating us to lunch (they INSISTED!), they even bought 2 boxes of 李鵠餅店 famous pineapple cakes for us. Ooooh .. 李鵠餅店!!
For those of you who have not heard of 李鵠餅店, let me tell you its impressive portfolio.
This shop is located in 基隆 and is the most famous pastry shop in Taiwan to sell pineapple cakes. It started since 1882 and their pineapple cakes are so well-known that if you mentioned this shop, people will relate it to pineapple cakes.
More info on 李鵠餅店:
o Address: 90 Ren 3rd Road, near the 廟口 night market
In order to ensure the quality, there is only 1 main store and no branches so you can imagine the LONG queue at the store. One of Eugene’s colleagues stays in 基隆 and he was kind enough to buy the pineapple cakes for us. Poor chap, due to the long queue, he had to go back to the store twice to grab the cakes early in the morning. Really touched by his kind gesture .. kudos !!
Eugene’s colleagues treated us to a local restaurant that is popular for its China cuisine, interesting. We tried a type of noodles called 外省面. LONG LONG AGO when Chiang Kai Shek and his army retreated to Taiwan, the China folks that followed liked to patronize this restaurant to eat their 家乡菜 (homecooked food) to reminisce the good old days in their hometown in China. This noodle was brought in by these China folks and hence the Taiwanese called it 外省面.
After the hearty lunch, we took some pictures in front of 台北101 and bid them farewell.
Interesting bunch of colleagues ya ?? hehe ..
Before we left, Eugene's colleague, Scott, highly recommended a famous mango ice at 永康路 and taught us how to make our way there. The shop is called Ice Monster, 冰馆 and there is a branch in Singapore too. I tried that before in Singapore but did not find it fantastic. But since it is strongly recommended by Scott and the other colleagues, we shall check it out. Perhaps because we traveled too much for the past 3 days (rushed to the hospital, rushed to get the 太阳饼 and busy catching the trains) hence we decided to take a slower pace today hehe ..
Arranged to meet up with Eugene’s friendly colleagues again before we fly back to Singapore. They are very hospitable and besides treating us to lunch (they INSISTED!), they even bought 2 boxes of 李鵠餅店 famous pineapple cakes for us. Ooooh .. 李鵠餅店!!
For those of you who have not heard of 李鵠餅店, let me tell you its impressive portfolio.
This shop is located in 基隆 and is the most famous pastry shop in Taiwan to sell pineapple cakes. It started since 1882 and their pineapple cakes are so well-known that if you mentioned this shop, people will relate it to pineapple cakes.
More info on 李鵠餅店:
o Address: 90 Ren 3rd Road, near the 廟口 night market
In order to ensure the quality, there is only 1 main store and no branches so you can imagine the LONG queue at the store. One of Eugene’s colleagues stays in 基隆 and he was kind enough to buy the pineapple cakes for us. Poor chap, due to the long queue, he had to go back to the store twice to grab the cakes early in the morning. Really touched by his kind gesture .. kudos !!
Eugene’s colleagues treated us to a local restaurant that is popular for its China cuisine, interesting. We tried a type of noodles called 外省面. LONG LONG AGO when Chiang Kai Shek and his army retreated to Taiwan, the China folks that followed liked to patronize this restaurant to eat their 家乡菜 (homecooked food) to reminisce the good old days in their hometown in China. This noodle was brought in by these China folks and hence the Taiwanese called it 外省面.
After the hearty lunch, we took some pictures in front of 台北101 and bid them farewell.
Interesting bunch of colleagues ya ?? hehe ..
Upon Scott’s instructions, we managed to find the shop easily. It is hidden in a small lane and the shop front is so small. Upon reaching, we were so shocked to see the shop packed with customers. Some were even standing outside the shop, straining their necks to check out the menu.
Wow .. look at the wide range of shaved ice that they have .. looks yummy !!
I wanted to try the shop’s top seller – Mango Ice but too bad it is out of season. Never mind, I tried their equally popular Mango Jelly and it is really tasty, NICE !! Eugene tried the Kiwi Ice but we found it a bit sour though. Mango is still the safer bet hehe ..
Look at the big and succulent mango cubes, tempting ya .. hehe .. in the background is the Kiwi Ice with a “sour” face .. haha ..
A lot of tourists patronized this shop especially the Hong Kongers and Japanese. Even the Taiwan TV Station came and did a shoot out about this shop. You can imagine its popularity.
Really thankful to Scott for this great recommendation, a great dessert made our day!!
After chowing down the very satisfying dessert, we went back to the hotel to put the pineapple cakes before making our way to 淡水, a place known for its beautiful sunset and rich history.
Direction to 淡水:
o http://www.tshs.tpc.gov.tw/fore/taindex_en.asp
o Taipei Main Station → 淡水站
o Duration of train: 40mins
o Cost of train: NT$50
It is very easy to navigate around 淡水. You can take the shuttle bus Red 26 which goes to all the historical sites in 淡水. It is very loud (BRIGHT red) and you will not miss it. Red 26 is located right in front of 淡水站 and should you have any problem locating the bus stop, you can check with the friendly staff at the Tourist Information Counter.
We were very lucky. Upon reaching 淡水, Red 26 arrived and we dashed for it. Along the way, we saw the few famous historical sites and one of which is Fort San Domingo. Fort San Domingo was originally constructed by the Spanish. After the Dutch conquered Taiwan and chased away the Spanish, they reconstructed Fort San Domingo. As the Dutch tend to have red hair, hence the Taiwanese also called Fort San Domingo 紅毛城.
More info on Fort San Domingo, 紅毛城:
o 淡水站→ Shuttle Bus Red 26
o Operating hours: 930am – 10pm (Tues – Sun)
o Cost of Entrance: NT$60
As I was only interested in 淡水渔人码头, hence we did not alight at the historical sites. We would prefer to spend most of our time at the romantic 渔人码头 hehe ..
淡水渔人码头 is the last stop of the bus journey. Most tourists will alight here especially near sunset time.
More info on 淡水渔人码头:
o Located on the north end of 淡水老街
Directions to 淡水渔人码头:
Option 1: Bus
o 淡水站 → Shuttle Bus Red 26 → Last Stop
o Duration of Bus: 15mins
o Cost of Bus: NT$15 (1 way)
Option 2: Ferry
o Operating hours of Pier: 9am – 8pm (Mon – Fri); 9am – 10pm (Sat & Sun)
o Duration of Ferry: 15mins
o Cost of Ferry: NT$50 (1 way); NT$100 (2-way)
When we reached 渔人码头, what greeted us was the transquil pier with fishing boats anchored firmly by the side. The fishing boats and fishing nets were traces of the bustling past of 淡水.
Enchanting pre-dusk tones slowly cast on the anchored fishing boats. Ooh ..
A ferry leaving the pier and heading back to 淡水老街.
My favourite sunset picture of this trip .. I like the serenity that oozed out from the edge of the horizon hehe .. what about you? =P
We chose to take the ferry so as to take in a different view on the way back hehe ..
台航九号, the ferry that was awaiting us.
Finally at around 630pm, the bridge was lightened up !! However to be frank, I did not find it truly fascinating.
Should any of you are keen in beautiful bridge illumination, I would highly recommend the Rainbow Bridge at Odaiba, Japan. That bridge is one of the most beautiful bridges that I have ever seen .. =P
This is the illuminated 情人桥, it will change colours from time to time .. =)
Bade 渔人码头 farewell and we were ready to gulp down all the delicious snacks at 淡水老街!
More info on 淡水老街:
o Located along the 淡水 River, north of 淡水站
As compared to 3 years back, 淡水老街 was surprisingly quiet. Initially I thought it was because it was a Friday today and hence there were lesser crowds. But after exploring around, we realized 淡水 has another pedestrian shopping area now which drew the crowds away.
Nevertheless, good food still stay in 淡水老街 and it was more important to feed our stomachs first.
Tried the highly recommended 地瓜/芋头拔丝 (NT$25 / NT$50). It is a popular snack but I found it too sweet for even a sweet tongue like me.
Next we proceeded to try one of 淡水 specialty: 阿給 (NT$30). It is a beancurd with 冬粉 in it and you can choose to have it with sweet sauce (original style) or chili sauce. Very tasty and appetizing.
Another specialty of 淡水 is the fishball soup (NT$30). The fishball is actually 福州丸 and I heard that the last shop at the end of the street serves the best fishball soup in 淡水. Try it and let me know your verdict ya .. hehe ..
After that, I bought a few packets of my beloved ginger tea, NT$200 (32 sachets) before we bought some 鱼酥 (NT$50 per pack) as souvenirs.
Look at the quiet street of 淡水老街, pathetic isn't it? It used to be so crowded .. =(
The popular 阿婆铁蛋, NT$100 per pack is no longer at 淡水老街 and in its place is the 继光香香鸡 that we saw everywhere in Taiwan. How sad ..
Finally it was time to call it a day and we were too full to walk further.
As we approached 淡水站, we saw a bustling street opposite the station. This street is the new pedestrian shopping area and it was jammed packed with people. Look at the crowd !
Now we understand why 淡水老街 is so quiet. There are more shops at the new pedestrian shopping area and I believe the snacks should be of more variety too as compared to 淡水老街. Too bad we were deadbeat and we decided to give this new street a miss. Perhaps, next trip ya ?? hehe ..
I still like 淡水 after so many years. Even though it is an old pier town and has long left its glorious past behind but I still find it charming. However the arise of the new pedestrian shopping area added a tinge of commercialism to this beautiful old town and spoilt its transquil beauty. Sigh, sad ..
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