Taiwan Day 3 - Typhoon Day

On the second night in Taiwan, we were watching the TV news, and bad news arrived. The news illustrated a typhoon is heading to Taiwan from the South-east direction, where Taipei will be hit on the next day. Our original itinerary was to head to Jiufen 九份 on the third day, but our tenant in Jiufen text us to inform that it's raining heavily at his place, and he would refund fully to us if we couldn't come due to typhoon. In the end, we chose to withdraw our booking and head straight to Taipei. 

The next morning, we were treated with 'home-cooked' breakfast done by the hotel owner. It was mostly vege plus porridge and some bread, simple but good for health though. After finishing all the food, we were packed till the brim as the portion was big, thanks boss! 

We wanted to take a ferry back to Shueishe Pier, but we accidentally took the wrong ferry and head back to Ita Shao Pier again, time wasted...

We took the bus back to Taichung HSR, hoping to be able to catch the train to Taipei before it stops operating at 3pm due to the typhoon. We ended up reaching the station at 11am, and nightmare began... The station was packed, real packed! We queued for almost 2 hours to get our 自由座 free seating tickets as they stopped selling 对号座 numbered seats tickets due to too many people rushing back to the North. Some worried about the typhoon, some just finished their Mid Autumn Festival holiday, thus all rushing back to Taipei.  

What made the matter worse, the station stop letting free-seating tickets into the train. This is so unfair as if they want to do so, they should've stop selling free-seating tickets earlier. Luckily the tickets are refundable if they are not used. Out of frustration and starvation, knowing we wouldn't be able to catch the time in time before 3pm, we headed to MOS Burger. 

It was my first time trying out MOS Burger as we don't have it in Malaysia. Price wise, slightly more expensive than McD, but it is a bit more unique. Take my burger for instance, The petty was made out off meat and seafood while the buns were made of rice! 

After refueling ourselves with the burger, we headed downstairs to queue (again) for the taxi. We queued for almost 2 hours again! By this time, we can already feel the wind is getting stronger here in Taichung, and is wondering how is the weather in Taipei. We ended up sharing a taxi with another 2 female locals, both should be in their 40s. We hopped into a Toyota Camry taxi, chit chatted a little on the way and oh my... 

On the highway, we can see the typhoon was like heavy rain in Malaysia, but with stronger wind. Imagine that all 5 adults in the big-sized Camry can feel that the car swayed when the wind blows... What made the experience scarier was the taxi driver was driving on the highway zigzagging like the weather is nothing! But according to the locals, this round of typhoon is not as great as the one they've experience in the previous month. So, maybe this is a piece of cake to them! 

We spent almost 2 and a half hours in the taxi to Taipei. By the time we reach our next accommodation, which is the Flip Flop Hostel, the sky was already dark eventhough it's around 7.00pm. We were greeted by the friendly hostel PIC at the front desk, where we were then brought around to show us the facilities in the building. Our room were on the second floor, it is a 4-person room with two double-decker bed. Both of us occupied the top bunk, while the one below me was occupied by a Japanese guy. 

We were famished again, mostly due to the exhaustion due to all the queuing that day. We grabbed an umbrella each, travelled to the 7-Eleven located about 300m away at the opposite street, and underestimated the strength of typhoon's wind. Our umbrellas were destroyed by wind moments after stepping onto the street...

We ended up buying a new umbrella in the 7-Eleven to compensate back to the hostel... Behold, my first dinner in Taipei:

Here's a panoramic view of the hostel's lobby, pretty comfy isn't it?

Next - Taiwan Day 4: Taipei!