Sunday, May 27, 2012

Day 4 - Jiufen - Taipei Tamsui Fisherman Wharf

A drizzling morning...fog surrounded the whole town and we can't see a thing! The kids were excited though pretending they were above the clouds! silly...
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We had our breakfast at the usual place, this time, no rush as morning's itinerary is to explore Jiufen. The boys decided to follow their daddy to relax in the room. We waited for the fog to clear before parting our ways. Charmaine follows me around and we walk every alley and climb every stairs to check out the whole place. 
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Its so fun to walk around without the man. We had fun eating, looking and buying little souvenirs.
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When we got back to the B&B, the 2 boys were having fun playing with sword while the daddy relax on bed. We check out at 11am and took a cab to Ruifang station for the train ride to Taipei as it was drizzling. The taxi driver was not very honest, he suggested taking us all the way to Taipei for NT1000 claiming that the train will be very pack with tourist. Hubby thought otherwise and he was right. We only paid NT123 for the train ride back to Taipei and its not crowded at all.

Train tickets back to Taipei NT49 for adult and NT25 for child (free seating). The train cabin is similar to our MRT.
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The kids munched on the herbal tea egg while waiting for the train to arrive. Taipei Main station is really a maze. There is so many levels and exits, so its good to have the exit number on hand.
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Saw this "print" at the Taipei Main Station which think its really cool. They have a waiting zone for female passengers at night! Does that mean its not safe for a female to take MRT at night or the Taiwanese are just very thoughtful...?


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Anyway, we are back to the same hotel again. It on HuaNing Street, just opposite the Taipei Main Station. After getting our room and luggage back in, chased all out to our next destination - Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf.
 
MRT ride to Tamsui 


Its a 18-stations train ride (about 1 hour +) from Taipei Main station. All except me slept during the journey there. 




So they missed the beautiful scenic view on the way there...as if they are interested in any... They only interested in games. Look at the clouds covering the mountain! I love it!
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Finally after one over hour, we arrived at Tamsui station! This view is taken from the station.
Tamsui old street



PhotobucketOk. Tamsui is very similar to our East Coast Park.The difference:
1. Beautiful scenery
2. a lot of shops around selling snacks and drinks. There are a few game stalls too. 
3. A lot of buskers. We saw this performer pretending to be a human statue and the 2 cutie thought it was a real statue till they saw him moving slowing, teasing them. Too bad Ryan was asleep.
Photobucket  While Ryan nap, the 2 went to some game stalls to play. Each won themselves something which they happily shared with Ryan when we woke up. We proceed on to visit all the food stalls trying out everything. Hubby and I like the squid best (picture on the last row) while the kids prefers all the ice-cream and twirling potatoes crisp.
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The original plan was to walk from the station along the Tamsui old street to the Tamsui Church, which suppose to take only 15mins and 25 mins walk to Fort San Domingo from there and another 20mins walk to the Fisherman's Wharf. But we spent nearly 1 hour at the Tamsui old street! With this pace, we never be able to see every thing that was plan. So we have to again change our route and just head straight to Tamsui Wharf to take a boat ride to Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf.
We didn't realised that there were 2 places selling the tickets and we got from the one that is slightly more expensive (Adult NT120 and child NT60 regardless of age for 2 way trip). The one nearer to the pier is cheaper. 
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Get everyone to go to the "Public" loo situated along the old street before queuing for the ferry ride. One thing we love about Taiwan is it is very orderly - no pushing and rushing about and definitely no queue cutting! Totally not like us so K.S.
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The sunset is beautiful...too bad the camera can't capture it!











The ferry ride to Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf is only about 10 mins. The 2 enjoyed staying out there watching the waves.

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So this is Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf. Well, I can only say its a great place for couple to come. Upon reaching there, you can hear "singer" singing those romantic Mandarin love song. We sat there for half an hour just to enjoy the singing.


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Lover Bridge of Tamsui

It was so enjoyable and relax that we only leave the place when the "singer" packed up. Took the ferry back to Tamsui pier and grab some cutlets from this famous stall as dinner. Its very crispy as it fried on the spot and taste delicious too!  

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After dropping all of them at hotel at 9pm, I had wanted to go to Ximending to walk by myself but was forbade...so sad! Its ridiculous to come Taiwan and not visit Ximending!

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