一步一脚印，发现新台湾 (Day 2)

龍山寺, 西門町, 渔人码头，士林夜市，Plush Club

Rise and shine!

We woke up early to a day full of activities. After rinse and wash, we went down to the street nearby our hostel for some breakfast, as recommended by our hostel's reception staff, and we chose this seemingly run-down coffeeshop-like place, and it turned out to be a good choice. For a low price of NT35 (about S$1.75), you can choose to have omelette with various filling choices like tuna or cheese, sandwich, or fried noodles (or other stuff which I cant remember now) with a drink of your choice. I chose tuna omelette and iced red tea, and it certainly perked me up for the day! The portion was also huge and I finished half of it only. Thanks to the rest (esp the guys) for sportingly finishing my food for me, although I would say it's more likely my food was good enough that they want to steal from me Haha.

We first made our way to the Taipei Railway Station to enquire about the train (高铁) tickets to go 九份 the next day, and to 高雄 on the 4th day.

The view of the train station from K Mall:



Me and HM outside the railway station:



Pictures of some old trains that used to run from Taipei to other areas in Taiwan:




I always loved things with a nostalgic feel, so it was not surprising to find me snapping away at these pictures of old trains found inside the train station. The train station is rather modern, but you can still see people buying 便当to eat on the train, reminiscent of the old times when people are too busy going to other states to stop for a meal, and thus have to buy food to eat on board, or purchase from the vendor on the train.

Inside the train station:



Complicated train routes and timing shown on the signboards in the station:



Thereafter, we left for the MRT station to take train to 龍山寺, which is located right next to the 龍山寺 MRT station. This is also the area where our taiwan friend stays. Notice that the MRT platform has a rather smart barrier-type of door that prevents people from falling off onto the track:





I also read on a Taiwan website that they now have a Track Intrusion Detection system for stations without the platform door, whereby any movement in the track area along the platforms, the tracks around the platform end doors, the gaps between train and platform end doors, and beyond the platform warning strips would be detected. Then an alarm would be activated if a passenger happen to stray into the above areas, and station staff would rush to the scene, and a traffic light in the track area would turn red, signaling the train driver to slow down or stop. I think it is a pretty smart device, and I wonder if our local MRT stations would employ such a device to prevent further mishaps.

On the MRT. From left, WL, DC, XY, HM and LW (his feet):



Me and XY:



I was rather amused by this sign on the train, indicating seats that should be given up to people who need them more, such as pregnant women and the elderly, as 博爱座 just sounds so cute:



Outside 龍山寺 MRT station:











龍山寺:







龍山寺 was built in 1738 by Fujianese immigrants as a branch of the original 龍山寺 in Fujian Province, and took 5 years to complete. It houses many 神明 such as 观世音菩萨，文殊菩萨，十八罗汉，妈祖 and 华陀仙师. For a place pretty old, it look very well-maintained and authentic at the same time.

First view inside the temple:



A nice waterfall just right beside the entrance:









Considering that it was a weekday morning, the place was rather crowded and bustling with people of all ages walking around and praying to the 神明. Despite being quite crowded, you don't see any frustration arising as a result as everyone patiently finds their own position to pray and 插香. We also joined in the praying "procession" round the inside once. Below are more pictures of the inside:












We left 龍山寺 for some shopping at 西门町. 西门町 is probably most familiar to Singaporeans as a place for taiwan singers/bands/groups to hold their 签唱会 or mini concerts there. What is interesting is that 西门町 is Taipei's answer to the famous Tokyo's Shibuya area, where you can find the latest street fashion, and enjoy some food and movie entertainment there at the same time. If you watch many Taiwanese variety shows, you will also notice that 西门町 is highly featured in 街头游戏 that they play, and they approach/"ambush" bystanders or passers-by to play with them, which often involve some pie-smashing or 恐怖箱。

The reason why this place left a deep impression for some of us was due to some *ahem* unexpected first media "exposure" in Taiwan. Before I relate what happened, here are some pictures taken at the road junction leading to the 西门町 main shopping area:







One of my favourite places, although we didn't go in. The building's name is called 红楼剧坊, in case you cant read the name. I think it was probably an old place that used to show movies or plays, and now is preserved as an art/movie museum or something similar:




Into 西门町 area :













Guess what we saw when we girls were waiting for the guys to meet us:



I've no idea who that female host is (almost wanted to type hostess, hoho). Or what show they are recording for exactly. At first, we were looking on with not very much interest, as we had nothing much to do while waiting for the guys (who were late.. tsk tsk). Then, while XY went off to see whether the guys were elsewhere, HM got "caught" by this young man who was trying to sell her some key-chain or hp accessory stuff, and she finally managed to shrug him off after much persistence (that guy really sticks to her like mad! and me, for that matter, cos i kaypoh and went over to rescue the "damsel" in distress Haha). Then, out of the blue, we had apparently caught the attention of the female host, who came over to "interview" us.

Actually, it wasn't much of an interview. Each of us took turns to play the familiar 剪刀，石头，布游戏 with her. Then after a few rounds, she will ask why do we choose to play 剪刀 most of the time, or why do we choose to play 剪刀 first etc. I thought it was really lame, and I felt pretty lame myself answering questions that I find lame and I have no answers to (who would think of tactics as to how to win 剪刀，石头，布??). Luckily, the recording wasn't for any variety show, and as the host assures us, it was only recorded for "survey" purposes (if it's otherwise, i also wont know, LOL).

P.S. Will update with some pictures of us being filmed.

After an "exciting" time at 西门町, we made our way to 渔人码头. 渔人码头, or Fisherman's Wharf, located at a short distance from 淡水站, is apparently one of the must-see places in Taiwan. Rather nice scenery at 淡水站:







At 渔人码头:





Remember how to read the first word? (click on the picture for a bigger view):



Due to the weather, the place was very windy, and there were times when i could hardly stand straight to take pictures. So I apologise if my photos look tilted here, Haha. There were many people here, mostly tour groups, some couples and families who bring their children here to enjoy the (rather heavy) sea breeze. A family brought their (many) dogs for a stroll as well. I only managed to capture a picture of one of the dogs:



Looks like it's enjoying the sea view, doesn't it?

Below are more pictures at 渔人码头 taken. Enjoy!




I am so lonely...so lonely... lalala..





























Evening arrives, and dinner beckons. As it was too late for us to go 北投 for hot spring, we decide to skip that and go straight to 士林夜市 for some street snacks as dinner. 士林夜市 is probably the most famous night market known among Singaporeans, thanks to the success of the 士林 snacks chain here, and 十字路口. Below are some pictures before we entered the area:









I apologise for the lack of photos thereafter, as we were too busy shopping and eating, Haha. Anyway, it was also too crowded inside and probably the night shots weren't turn out too good either. 士林夜市 is famous for all the street/hawker fare that Taiwan has, such as 超大炸鸡排，蚵仔面线，臭豆腐，卤味，粉圆冰，etc. We tried almost all these, and also others such as 鸭舌头，甜不辣，黑椒蟹脚，蚵煎蛋，芋头 mochi ice-cream and octopus (ink?) sausage (not very sure about this, but I suspect they put octopus ink in it, cos the sausage is totally black, but taste v delicious!!). The best try I believed was the 鸭舌头 and 臭豆腐, as we had not tried before, although the 鸭舌头 wasn't exactly to my liking (its look reminds me of 鸡脚, but taste nothing like it). The 臭豆腐 was not as smelly as I thought it would be, and it taste really delicious! We also did a little shopping there, tho not much, as there were many shops to explore and food to try Hehe. We later met up with the guys at the MRT station nearby and went back to our hostel.

If you thought that our day has ended, you're wrong. After changing clothes, we went out to meet LW's friend for a night out at Plush Club. At the moment, I can't remember where is the exact location. That night was ladies' night, so we girls get to go in at only S$5 each, while the guys went in at S$25 each Hehe. Free drinks only include screwdriver (orange vodka), coke whiskey, heineken and sth else which we didn't try. The club was quite obviously for the more mature and working-class type of people, and even when it was 1 or 2 am, the dance floor was packed but not super hot, if you get what I mean. Luckily, there were professional dancers who started dancing first on the dance floor, then on some platform and even later on the bar-top! I thought some of them were really hot, and I probably won't blame a guy much who couldn't "help" himself and touched one of the dancing girl's butt, Haha ok I think that sounds really wrong, and yah, I think such guys should be given a tight slap and a boot in the butt, don't you think so? What makes him think that he can anyhow touch them just like that? They're just dancers loh, for goodness' sake! Well, other than that, nothing v interesting happened, i.e. I wasn't picked up, and no, there were no handsome guys, save for LW, DC and WL? Hahaha.. kidding ok? At about 2am, we called it a day and went back for a well-deserved rest.