Like, seriously, I spent two nights in the city!
Upon arriving in Taipei from your two-hour flight from Manila, one important thing you need to address with a DIY tour is: where to go when you’ve arrived at the airport? It was past midnight when we arrived, so the buses no longer ran and the MRT was closed. I booked my airport transfer at https://www.airpopo.com/en/taiwan. This is more expensive than the bus, however, we were not left with too many options. I recommend this transfer when arriving really early for your peace of mind. Our driver arrived on time, and he quietly took us to our hotel.
Our hotel: We booked Hotel Midtown Richardson for this trip. It is an affordable four star hotel, found in Ximending area. This hotel is very near the Ximen station, like 20 steps. (It is not infront but maybe you have to pass by 2 small buildings before reaching the stairs for the Ximen station). Also it is nearby (i.e., across) Ximending St, which has a lot of shops and so much street food. The ambience of the hotel reminds me of a bachelor’s pad. But the amenities are very thoughtful and they have free breakfast buffet which offers many food choices.
Getting around Taiwan: The MRT in Taiwan is really efficient, you can even access the provinces with the TRA trains! We recommend the Taipei Easycard, just swipe, swipe, swipe everywhere! For more information visit https://guidetotaipei.com/article/easycard-悠遊卡. It is important to study the Taiwan railway a little, before heading to Taiwan.
Here is our itinerary on our first day:
1. Visit Jiufen Old Street. We bought the Taipei Easycard in the Ximen MRT station, which is infront our hotel. From the Ximen MRT station, we rode a train to the Taipei Main Station. At the Taipei Main Station, we transferred to the TRA train to Ruifang Station. (TRA trains are the trains that cover areas outside the Taipei and you can ride the train to everywhere in Taiwan.) Upon arriving at the Ruifang station, we took the exit, and we had to cross the street and take a bus. Take note: it is not the bus just in front the station, you have to cross the street and take a little walk down Mingdong road. Buses 827 and 788 will take you to Jiufen Old Street, and these are found infront the Police station.
This is how the Ruifang Exit looks like, you see that bus infront of me, that is not the bus to Jiufen! You have to cross the street then walk in Mingdong road. The bus you are looking for is two blocks from here.
In Jiufen Old Street, you could find a labyrinth of small shops selling traditional goods, lots of Totoro merchandise (but Totoro is Japanese), and street food. The weather was so hot that I bought custard apple popsicles, really delicious it’s like eating the fruit iced. We got lost around many times before finding the most famous spot in Jiufen:
We took our lunch at one of the Jiufen restaurants. There was an option to see the Golden waterfall, but we didn’t have time. They say it’s just a waterfall near the street. Nothing special really.
2. Fly a Lantern at Pingxi.
Next on our agenda was flying a lantern. There is an option to fly a lantern at Shifen, however we decided to fly it at Pingxi because it is less crowded. Pingxi is a small town further down, which annually hosts the Pingxi Lantern Festival. We went back to Riufang station where we rode the Pingxi line to pingxi station. We read many blogs online that we have to buy a separate ticket – one day pass to ride the Pingxi line (as it was not covered by the easy card). Much to our surprise, (after buying the ticket), we found out that we can actually swipe our Easy card to enter the Pingxi line!
We arrived there and found many shops with colorful lanterns. If you walk further from the Pingxi Station railway, you will find… more shops with colorful lanterns! These shops will sell you lanterns monochrome for 100 NTD, and multicolored lanterns for 150 NTD. They will give you black paint and you can write your wishes on the lantern. Now since we do not know chinese characters, we drew our wishes instead.
When you are done, you have to tell the shop owners so they could help you fly the lanterns in the middle of the railway. They will take your photos and your video launching the lanterns. They are very good at this, they will borrow your phone and you don’t have to tell them what to do.
We took the Pingxi line to Riufang station. Then the MRT back to Taipei Main station. Now the MRT could really get crowded, and the journey was long (so it hurt on the knees if you’re standing). I wouldn’t know, I fell asleep inside the MRT. Then we transferred to the MRT heading to Ximen station and we went back to our hotel to freshen up. (It’s really handy to have a hotel near an MRT station). Also please make sure you don’t get left behind by the last trains running for the day.
3. Sample the street food in Ximending
For dinner, we strolled down Ximending street to find food. There were so many options. The street food here is amazing, and is an experience in itself! But note that on some parts, there’s a really bad smell! Apparently those are stinky mushrooms (which I never tried). We also bought some souvenirs to take home. We saw this popcorn chicken store, it has a long queue. I think that long queues speak volumes about the food.
4. Red House Theater. While walking in Ximending, you will find the Red House Theater near the crossing. Inside the place, you can find some art and souvenirs. Others are content with just having their pictures taken. There was a wedding pictorial outside the Theater when we visited.
When she gets lost 