Taipei - Taiwan - Day 5 - 9 Days Backpacking

Day 5

Back at Taipei City after 3 really fun days at Hualien. Today I started my tour of Taipei by visiting the history filled National Palace Museum. Arrived at Shihlin Station on the Danshui (Red) line, exited Exit 1 and took Red Bus No. 30. There're a few other buses at the bus stop that goes to NPM as well and you'll just need to read the signages.



The bus trip didn't take long, just 10 mins to get to the main entrance of the museum where I took the escalator up to the main foyer to purchase the tickets. Regular tickets cost NT160, but with my youth pass, I got a 50% discount.



The place is generally easily navigeable and you should start from the 1st floor up. There's a total of 3 floors of Chinese history on display at a time. I've heard that the museum switches exhibits once every 3 months, so if you have been there before, its likely another trip there will not be wasted. Was told that photography is not allowed, but I did see some people taking random shots here and there. I guess the rule is used to prevent a lot of flashes going on in the exhibition rooms, but there were still some dumb people who did it. Anyway I didn't take any pictures here because I felt that there were too many stuff to capture. Might as well look and learn rather than take the time to frame my shots. The whole visit took me about 4 hours to finish and at the end of it, my legs were killing me.



Then I took the same bus back to Shihlin Station and skipped lunch and went straight for Danshui Station. I wanted to visit Fisherman's Wharf, well known for its Lover's Bridge and the Old Street Night Market. Somehow at Danshui Station, I decided to walk to Fisherman's Wharf. The walk took me past Old Street where the food stalls and gaming parlours were just opening at around 4pm. The Old Street walk takes about just 30mins before the street turns kinda dead for about an hour or so. This part of the walk was rather lonely but because the sea breeze just keeps blowing in, it felt rather nice. Walked past the alleys of the old houses here which I think should be really expensive for the nice sea view and saw models in wedding gowns and suits being photographed. Must be the scenery here.



Reached Fisherman's Wharf after the tiring walk, and just in time for the sunset too. Moved up slowly to the Lover's Bridge as the sun was setting and took some satisfying shots. The bridge and Wharf was filled with people, mostly lovers and families. At the Wharf itself, I bought a ticket for boatride back to Old Street for NT50. The ride was nice and only 20mins, far better than walking.




Back at Old Street, after being informed by the friendly locals on the boatride back, I took a walk on the street behind the main one. Here I bought some fish crackers from Deng Feng Yu Su, and some biscuits from San Xia Bing Dian. Both are really good and highly recommended. The owner of San Xia Bing Dian is an eccentric man though. He likes singing western opera on his mic and will offer you water at the end of the sampling queue. But if you interrupt him to ask a question, he will tell you off. Finished the day off with dinner at Jiao Fu Fang Japanese Restaurant. Really cheap meals here, though the flavour isn't marvelous.

Back at Danshui Station, performers filled the streets displaying their talents and wares. I listened to one performance and ended the day with the train ride back to Ximen.