Taiwan Day 6

Taiwan Day 6 - Ci Jing + Tai Chung

Morning was a slow affair as we woke up for the breakfast provided by Misty Villa. The usual kind of spread you would expect, with perhaps a little emphasis on some little Taiwanese side dishes. Choices were limited and nothing worth mentioning in this case, much less taking pictures of it.

So we have decided to take the 11.10am Nantou bus back to Tai Chung, which on hindsight, was an error in judgement because in the end, we were really just wasting time lazing in the room and watching TV. A better choice would be the 9.10am bus. Yes, perhaps one may say it is way too early, but like we always say, you can take a nap on the bus since it's a 2-hours ride down the mountains.

I see someone just woke up...

The view from the balcony in the morning which was clearer than the day before

Our limited edition Open-Chan in lamb disguise. Lol. There isn't any more room for our furry friends but it was so cheap (at NT$100) we just had to get it

 Sunshine!

And the jealous bear that did not want to be outshone

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The bus did not come exactly at 11.10am, prompting our fear that we might have missed it. But as the locals gather at the bus stop and everyone asking if the bus had come, we concluded that it was just late. It came at about 11.30am if I did not recall wrongly, which was really way off the timing

Heading down and past the same lake which we saw on our way up

The bus interchange at Puli, the place where you will need to switch buses should you have taken the indirect bus service from Ci Jing to Tai Chung. In our case, we took the direct bus so all we had to do was to sit back and relax, and to wait for other passengers to get up before heading off again towards Tai Chung

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Our bus took us direct to Taichung Railway Station and City Inn Hotel is located right behind the station. In theory it was a short walk but in reality, we had to drag our luggage for approximately 800m or more because there was no road that cuts through the station. And as usual, we were too early for the 3pm check in. So after leaving our belongings with the hotel, we headed out to another of their shopping street, Yi Zhong Jie. 

The transportation system in Tai Chung is considered undeveloped so the main mode of travelling is via buses or taxis. And to encourage their people to take buses instead of owning a scooter, the first 8km travelled is free. Awesome for travellers.

Hopped on the bus to Yi Zhong Jie near the railway station, also the place where a lot of bus services are available

Before we go for more shopping, it was lunch and the cat recommends this place called Banana New Paradise and the locals were very helpful in pointing us in the right direction. But they failed to mention that it was like maybe around 2km away…Zzz...So we were just walking and walking with no end in sight…

…until we were finally here, hungry and tired

At the end of the day, Banana New Paradise is just a gimmicky restaurant that relies heavily on a retro decor to attract the naive traveller like us. The food were basically those that you can find anywhere else in Taiwan. And it wasn't exactly cheap 

And so while we were waiting for our food, it was trigger happy time for the cat

And more decors for your consideration

The braised pork rice that I just had to order to fill this hungry stomach of mine

 Seafood fried rice, of the short grain type

 Dumplings full of corianders…Yucks!

And I have totally no idea what this is anymore. Lol

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It was the long way back after eating, but it didn't seem that long after we were fully recharged and really to go! Or simply the fact that we weren't blindly walking forward this time round. Yi Zhong Jie is both a mixture of food and shopping as they cater for the university students from nearby. The only downside is perhaps the design of the place which can get a little messy navigating because you don't want to miss out on some of the stalls. But it was just a little messy.

Along the main street of Yi Zhong Jie. It is the side roads in that makes it hard to make sure that you have at least walked past most of the stalls

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It was then off to the famous Feng Jia Night Market, which took about a 20-min bus ride as it is tucked at the far end of Tai Chung.

The place is actually quite huge, although you can walk a standard path that should lead you through the Night Market. But there are of course a lot of other shops that are littered all along the way and these might take you a little off course

And along the path you will come across the Feng Jia University

And since it's so near a school, it was rather crowded when the night comes as everyone rushes to grab a bite

For us, it was more of a "who had the most newspaper clippings" or "who has the longest queue" that decided what we ate

Or 我的好朋友 recommends. Lol

And how dare they recommend this fried chicken chop which was so normal!

And then we came across this stall that had a really long queue. It was selling spaghetti in a bun and we thought we had to try

And just like that, we probably queued for 45 mins or so. The verdict? Imagine eating spaghetti with bread…Zzz…again...

And so we turned to the food that never once has failed us. Smelly tofu!!!

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Feng Jia Night Market is a fun place to visit. I must say there are a lot of good food generally, which my knowledgeable meow says that anything novel that comes out of Taiwan, must first originate from here. There is also a great deal of shopping buys that you can snag. We also saw movie star Ted (the soft toy) here for the second time, but again we decided to give it a miss because it looked just too pirated.

Getting back to our hotel was a hassle. As we stood at the bus stop waiting, cabs would pull over and tell us that there are no more buses at this time already. Being the ever critical and cautious traveller, we ignored them. Even other people, whom sounded like the locals, were dissing them off. It was after all, only slightly over 11pm. But after waiting for a long deal, there was still no bus in sight. So we decided to ask the shop keepers and true enough, I can't recall if it's 8pm or 10pm but bus services would have stopped by then. It was ridiculous in our opinion, given that they are so famous for their night markets.

In the end, we had no choice but to take a cab back, which wasn't that expensive actually. And we met a very chatty uncle who kept telling us where we should be visiting the next day after learning that we were heading over to the Sun Moon Lake. It didn't felt any faster than taking the bus earlier but we made it back safely.

 There's always time for coffee, should you need one in the middle of the night. Lol. Love these small little services or add-ons that the hotels here provide

Each floor of the hotel is designed by one artist. We didn't get the room design that we had originally wanted. But it was still ok.

 And the reverse shot of the room. It wasn't huge but good enough for two people to manoeuvre around

 And the toilet which came with a rain shower. Awesome for the price that we were paying. And as usual, it was super clean

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So that's the brief introduction to the hotel as we bid good night, to the world.