I started off early for my second day in Taipei, I had a few things to do in my mind. The plan was to hike the Elephant mountain a.k.a. Nangang District Hiking Trail and catch the sunrise. It has the popular votes for the best place to take a picture of Taipei 101, is it is up there in my to-do list. To get there, I rode the MRT from Ximen then rode the red line to Xiangshan station, which was the last stop. After getting out of Xiangshan station at Exit 2, you’ll find yourself in a park full of bikers and joggers and there will be signs on how to get to the famous elephant mountain trail. The Elephant mountain is a paved trail, with proper stairs and handles. It’s a sight full of stairs.
On top, you’d be rewarded by the sight of Taipei 101. There are chairs you can sit on. Maybe you can talk to someone about something serious here. Maybe you could break up with one of your lovers.
I went back to the hotel and had bath and breakfast. I ditched the entire buffet breakfast to try the famous Ay-Chung Flour rice noodles across the street. In my own opinion, it was just some noodles.
After that we went to Longshan temple. This is easily accessible by the Longshan Temple MRT station. Well, they did place temples as must-sees in Taipei but you’ve seen one you’ve seen all and so after seeing it, I didn’t want to see more temples.
Next we went to the Chiang Kai-shek memorial. It is a no-brainer to get to since there is a Chiang Kai-shek station. This is a Taipei landmark but I didn’t find the visit very amazing, and the backstories are mostly military. It was scorching hot and we had to walk around.
After the Chiang Kai-shek memorial, we went to Taipei 101. The Taipei 101 is the ultimate Taipei landmark! Do not be deceived, even if this city has a skyscraper this tall, the rest of the buildings aren’t that towering, actually. We took the red line MRT for the Taipei 101 station. Inside Taipei 101 is a mall, and you have lots of food choices. We ate in… Din Tai Fung! Hahaha. We just wanted to know if it tastes different in Taiwan compared to in Manila. After lunch we went back to the hotel to take a siesta.
Around 4 pm, we headed to shop at Shilin Night Market, one of the most popular night markets in Taipei. To visit the Shilin Night Market, take the MRT to Jiantan Station (take note, not Shilin Station). I bought cheap stuff like clothes, souvenirs. Nibbled more of Taiwan street food. Drank milk tea. One thing I noticed in Shilin Night Market is how hard it is to find a garbage can. I had to hold on to my milk tea for so long cause I couldn’t find a garbage can!
I had to go back to the hotel to catch my flight (which was at 1 am). I planned to take the last train to the Taoyuan airport. There is an express train that runs from Taipei main station to Taoyuan Airport MRT subway, the last one runs at 2300H. I dragged my luggage across the station, the airport line was so far! I had to cross many bridges… maybe it was a 20 minute walk (but I was running on adrenaline so I made it in 10 minutes). Bye Taiwan!
When she gets lost 