Taipei (Week 1) - Yeliu 野柳/Keelung 基隆

The next day was a challenge.

I set off for Yehliu.野柳

It's on the northern coast of Taipei County - and it's famous for the Queen's head which is just a rock that looks like the queen... it has many rocks that after years of weathering from the waves and sun, and wind, are formed to have many funny shapes - think there was an ice cream shape one.

Ok - to get there: take a  国光Kuokuang Bus from Taipei Bus Station at Taipei Main Station area ( take the Z3 exit from Taipei Main Station - it's at the 站前地下街) - let the bus driver know you are dropping at Yehliu stop. Drop and turn left and left into this road that is along the bay... there is a huge sign, don't think u can miss it. There's a 7-11 across the road that the bus drops you, you wanna be opposite that. Don't panic, cos that road is like a ghost road ya... 

It was RAINING. It wasn't raining in Taipei City though. xian to the max.. why? No umbrella- 2 layers of clothing and it was basically cold and miserable. So to hide from the rain, I went into this shop that really  said brunch shop..and yes, it was time for brunch. Had 蛋皮 - which is like roti prata with egg except it's with a kind of soy sauce and it was sort of thicker..... nice. and cheap. Sorry  no pictures cos hands were tooooo frozen. 

Took pics only after warming up (eating)

View from inside the brunch shop - old building that looks like it will collapse

Trudged down in the road towards the park.... 

Entry Fee NT50.

Some sea produce - touristy stuff  la

Ok, at this point. Pls when you have to visit some sort of rock formation or any form of scenery next to the ocean/sea - do not bring me along. You'll be jinxed. 

The rain and wind was SO strong my raincoat broke, I couldn't stand still. I wanted to take a picture of the strong waves breaking on the rocks- cannot. There were some brave ones who went forward- with their umbrellas going inside out... 

Now this is very familiar cos this was EXACTLY the same thing that happened  when I went to the Great Ocean Road few years back - rocks near the sea? Yes, raining and strong wind. Cannot stand/walk properly. 

Left to right: Statue of a man who went to save a boy from drowning and drowned himself; see the Queen's Head far far away? ; Fake Queen's head ( the neck of the real head is getting more and more narrow so may collapse anytime)

These are the only pics I managed to take. Didn't manage to go all the way down to the Queen's Head - very frozen and wet by now (remember no umbrella and raincoat broke)

So,  bought myself a postcard and sent it back home - not too bad. NT 10 (45cents) to send any postcard home. 

I also say! :) I love Taiwan! :) :)

So I trudged back the same road in the cold wind/rain (bought my umbrella at 7-11), crossed that same ghost road and still maintained my opinion about it as being a ghost road. Missed a bus cos it whizzed by SO FAST how to flag? So I stood at the bus stop alone for at least 1/2 hour. Never mind, no rush, holiday what. Point is, in that half an hour, it was just me and the wet road and the cars whizzing by and, 

this black dog. 

He was everywhere la, when I was down at the park he was there too. Same collar can't be 2 diferent dogs.

There isn't a day that passes that you don't spot a black dog here - it's like their stray dogs MUST be black. I've seen other colours but you must see at least one black dog per day... 

Finally, flagged my bus and off to Keelung 基隆 I go!

Basically you can take any 基隆-淡水bus except the 国光bus you took from Taipei (if not you just travel back to Taipei ya)

Almost missed the stop - thankfully I asked the person in front of me...she was like you have to drop like NOW.

So I dropped and decided on the spot- whatever attractions that I wanted to go- I drop. Too cold too wet. Basically, annoying.

but who doesn't eat? 

Found my way to 庙口夜市(Miaokou Night Market) - although it's called a night market- it's open 24 hours!

it's quite a cosy size. surrounding a temple and hence it's name.

钉边走坐 (ding bian cuo) It's like very thick kway chap in broth with minced prawn balls and pork balls. Quite nice

There are many famous foods - 营养面包or something to that effect- it's just deep fried bread with your normal sandwich filling., Curry rice I think (saw that on TV) Cua cua bing (very fine shaved ice with whatever flavour you like) 

I didn't eat a lot as I wasn't very hungry. 

Very good example of badly taken pictures. 

Took a train back to Taipei City. 

Now, on the topic of trains. THe TRA (Taiwan Railway Administration) is the normal railway train that goes almost everywhere in Taiwan. There are 3 times of trains:

1/ 自强号- Tze-Chiang - this is the fastest kind, of course the most expensive out of the 3. It's not very expensive la, e.g from Taichung to Taipei - cost me NT 375 which is around SGD 16.
2/ Chu-kuang - the 2nd fastest and 2nd most expensive kind of train - it's ok, till now I don't see any difference. 

3/ Local - means that it stops a lot - so it's slower and cheaper la and you don't assigned seats. 

Ok, you can stand on all 3 types of train - but u pay the same amt. I have only stood in trains that went to Ruifang瑞芳 (on the way to Jiufen九份) = think that's just because it's very popular route. if you wanna sit then u have to be kiasu lah.buy tickets ahead of time.. but it isn't a long trip maybe 45-50min so standing is ok. Most of the time, when I bought the tickets, earliest a day before I always had an allocated seat. 

The link on the right is very useful - tells you train ID and its timing -- easier for you to tell the person in the counter (who can be quite grumpy or too quick for you to understand) 

车次= train ID. 

I can't remember what I did after I came back from Keelung. hehe. 

I think this was the night I went to eat my smelly smelly tofu :) My favourite! 

It's not exactly very smelly. It just smells like a sour sweaty shirt stuck in the drain, just a tinge of that smell, not overwhelmingly intense. It can smell a bit like belachan for the locals if you know what I mean.

This is at Shihlin night market. Not at the food court building but across the road. While standing at the junction, I could smell it then! Think the wind was blowing the right direction.

Drooling not? it's nice ok! The cabbage is salted, like kimchi, so it's sour and nice too. 

End of long entry, hope your eyes r not very crossed.