The Stride of Two Piggies: Taiwan Day 1

We planned for a few days of break after the wedding banquet to cater to settling all the adminstrative stuffs, so that the trip would not be too rushed. As such, the return of the wedding attire and the rented car was promptly done. The last few days prior to the trip was also spent on packing our luggage and finalising the details for the itinerary. Prior to the banquet, we also went to the Taiwan Visitor Centre to collect our freebies, which happened to be a pair of yo-yo cards for public transport and some discount vouchers for certain places of interest.

After a near heart-stopping experience during our last plane trip, we decided to reach the airport earlier at 5+am so that we have ample time for our Mcdonald's breakfast. Probably because of the early timing, there were lesser people and the counter opened later. This time round, our boarding gate was much nearer to the customs. There were a change in the boarding gate but this did not adversely affect us much, thanks to the cleaner auntie who was on duty at that time and guided us to the new destination. Who knows if we would board the plane if no one told us of the change in boarding gate.

Safely on the plane

Her meal

His meal

It was my third time there but my dear's first, thus I was sort of in charge of the directions. The airport was undergoing some renovations but everything else seemed just like they were before. We followed our itinerary quite closely, settling all the administrative measures and getting the necessary documents, and soon we were in Jiu Fen.

The nostalgic bus tickets

The bus ride

The train tickets

The train ride

On route to Jiu Fen, the meals provided on the plane was somewhat not enough to satisfy our hunger and thus we opted for some fast food to be taken on the train. The first one we saw was MOS burger and it was a pleasant surprise (at least to me) that they were using the beepers similar to those used at Udders. The food packaging, on the other hand, gave no surprise. I wonder whether our local MOS burgers will be adopting such a system in the future, given its current prevalence in many food outlets in Singapore.

The beeper

The classic MOS burger meal

The route to finding our lodging at Jiu Fen was, however, less direct. The maps printed from Google maps were not as accurate as expected and we had to resort to the local maps and asking around for directions. After spending more than an hour roaming around and doing much physical work carrying the luggage up and down the vertical terrain, we finally found the isolated Min Su, only to realise that no one was there. In the end, we had to call the person-in-charge, which we avoided in the first place, and we were then directed to another place. The irony was that the actual place of lodging was at the bus stop where we first alighted. On hindsight, calling first would have saved us the time and trouble. Luckily, our actual lodging looked good and comfy and the bed was exactly what my dear like for our home, even though it could not be realised in reality due to Singapore's warm weather.

The treacherous hills we climbed...

... the wonderful view of Jiu Fen as we searched for our lodging...

... and the isolated lodging which wasn't ours

The actual lodging 1

The actual lodging 2

The actual lodging 3

Tired dear satisfied with the nice lodging...

After settling the accommodation, we quickly went to explore the streets of Jiu Fen. However, many of the shops were starting to close for the day, even though it was only like 5 pm. The boss of the lodging later informed us that the shops closed at 6 pm as night falls soon after that. Nonetheless, we still managed to visit the food stalls which we wanted to go to based on the online reviews. After which, it was time to wash up and hit the sacks. End of the first day of our Taiwan adventure.