Yogyakarta Day 1 - Borobudur

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?" 

Not many of my friends know that I travelled to Yogyakarta for vacation alone. It was my first solo trip to somewhere I am not familiar with. There I was, after a 2-hour flight, arrived at the international airport of Yogyakarta. 

I got out from Terminal B, but only found out that all the bus terminals are located at Terminal A which is about 300m away. Laden with my backpack, I walked all the way, away from all the taxi drivers who were hailing for passengers, trying to pursue passengers to have a ride with them.

I searched for Damri bus, but it turned out that they do not really have a direct trip to Borobudur like how some of the previous backpackers suggested. Thought of trying my luck by asking them, and my luck turned out to be not bad at all. They asked me to take the bus to Magelang, but in the middle of the route, there was a van waiting for me to bring me to Borobudur with no extra charge. The receipt handed to me has the price written with pen on it, which looks a little fishy... But still, it's cheaper than taking a taxi. 

After a 2 and a half hour journey on the road, I've arrived at Borobudur town. Headed to my homestay which I booked before heading to Yogyakarta, and I'm blessed with a helpful owner of the homestay who really made an effort to ensure my stay is comfortable. 

After settling down and a shower, it was drizzling. But the rain came and left swiftly. Then, I headed out by riding the homestay's owner bicycle. It was a little dangerous to ride a bicycle there to be honest, especially with the large amount of ojek (motorcycle in Indonesia language) on the narrow road. Only a small stretch of road is built with pavement so that people can avoid from walking on the road. 

It was already evening, so I decided to visit the Borobudur Temple first thing in the next morning. Thus, I grabbed some street snack like fritters and satays for my dinner which I had in my room. That's when I felt the loneliness of travelling alone, and the room without TV doesn't help either. 

It was 10pm and out of boredom, I walked out and discovered that the main road was very empty at night! Not far from my homestay was the only cafe which is opening at that moment, the Go Borobudur Cafe. To be frank, I was very surprised with the price of food and drinks, imagine the banana shake and french fries below only cost me about RM6 after converting from Rupiah! Where in Malaysia can we find such pricing in a cafe??!

Had a quick chat with the cafe owner and he revealed that he just opened the cafe for like 3 months. That was the first time in my life to ask the owner to increase the price of his food! Hahaha! 

That night I started to realised the benefit of travelling alone. You tend to be more chatty and open to anything new to you. If I were to travel with a friend, I might not be chatting with the owner and find out some info which only the locals would know...

Taiwan Day 6 - Tamsui & Shilin

Minced meat rice. One of Taiwan's delicacies. I had always wanted to try it before I went to Taiwan. On one fine morning, we passed by a small road side stall selling typical Taiwanese breakfast, and we noticed that minced meat rice is included in the menu. We immediate order, took a can drink, sat down and waited for our food to be served. It was fairly cheap, about TWD30 only, however I think my mom makes a better minced meat rice than the stall... 

After satisfying our stomach, we travelled by MRT and bus to National Palace Museum (故宫博物院). The building and its surrounding were spectacular, but unfortunately I'm not a history geek, thus it was not really a place of my liking... Not to mention the above average entrance fee.

We then meet up with Jessie, a friend of ZC whom he know during college time in the UK. Jessie, who was on a long vacation in Taiwan, brought us around Tamsui. So kind of her!

The street of Tamsui

This fish ball is delicious! Very 'Q' and the stuffing is minced meat. Wanted to buy a packet of uncook fish ball from the stall for my family, but I think it will turn bad before I can reach Malaysia :(

At Tamsui Pier, where we waited for our boat to carry us to another side of Tamsui.

After a roughly 30mins boat ride, we arrived at the Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf. There's nothing much to see here actually, the main attraction is no doubt the Lover's Bridge.

After an hour of walk around the area of the bridge, we visited a cafe nearby to cool ourselves down from the hot weather. I ordered a rather special drink, where the cups and containers seems to be grabbed from a science lab. 

We 'lepak' around Tamsui until 6pm, where we watched the sunset at the seaside. Then we went to grab a 阿给, something like bean curd stuffed with crystal noodle, drowned in sweet + a little salty gravy. I was a little reluctant to try at first when looking at the combination and its gravy, but what's life if I don't try? The result is not bad at all!!! Quite filing too, which made us worry about our next stop is Shilin Night Market!

Shilin Night Market is one of my most anticipated stops in Taiwan. It is because the place is filled with food! It comprises few streets, with plenty stalls selling from drinks, foods to souvenirs. 

To my surprise, there's an underground AIR-CONDITIONED area where all the eateries are! Honestly I was flabbergasted and don't know what to eat due to the myriad choices of food available! I wanted to try all! In the end, we ordered some fried soft shell crabs, oyster omelette and la-la as snack, and I ordered a fresh blended watermelon juice, which quenched my thirst at the perfect timing!

After filing half of our stomach, we continued exploring the streets, long streets indeed! We bought what we wanted to eat as we explore to make sure we didn't miss out any nice food :)

ZC had plan to meet up with a friend of his in Taiwan, so I left and went back to our hostel alone...

Taiwan Day 5 - Shifen & Jiufen

Greetings from Taipei Main Station! It was ZC's birthday, we went for a quick breakfast in a cafe nearby our hostel and then headed to Shifen via Taipei Main Station.  Since it's not MRT and quite similar to Malaysia's KTM, we had trouble looking for method to purchase train ticket from Taipei to Ruifang. After asking few locals as well as employees of the train station, we finally got it in our hand!

It was an... unexciting ride from Taipei to Ruifang. I was expecting a scenic ride filled with picturesque scenery since Ruifang is far away from the hectic city of Taipei, but the sceneries were a little disappointing. Nevertheless, we arrived at Ruifang and changed train to Shifen. 

Shifen is an interesting town. It's street is divided into 2 and built next to the train track. It was weekday but the station was packed to its brim!

Somehow Shifen is popular with sky lanterns, where people write their wishes on the sky lanterns, burn it like a hot air balloon, release it into the sky and wish that your dream will come true. Money money come!

Shifen is also famous with its waterfall. It is about 20mins walk from the town center. 

Plenty of stairs and steep hills along the way... But the final view is rewarding. Behold, Shifen Waterfall with rainbow. The splash were so great, we were wet in no time eventhough we are far away for photos opportunities. We had to make it quick so that our lenses wouldn't get too wet. 

Then, it was another 20mins walk back to the little town, and I was starving. Saw a stall selling BBQ chicken wing with fried rice - where the fried rice filled the (almost) boneless chicken wing!

To get to Jiufen, we have to take a train back to Ruifang, then walk a km to a bus stop, where we can hop onto a bus which heads to Jiufen. Located somewhere on top of a hill, the bus has to go through quite a number of twist and turns before reaching Jiufen. The weather was fine when we arrive, slightly cosy wind and bright sun... But soon, the sky turns dark. 

Jiufen has few famous delicacies, one of it is taro balls. The taro balls here were very 'Q' or elastic, if you get what I mean. However, I prefer if they could use much finer shaved ice. 

It was quite a crowded day, and the sky is starting to get dark. So, we decided to spend our remaining time in a cafe which has a breathtaking view of Jiufen and the sea!

It is compulsory for each person in the cafe to order a food and beverage. Ordered some food which are extraordinary. The outside skin is edible while the glutinous rice inside tasted weird, a little sweet, sour and salty at the same time @_@

We sat in the cafe until 6pm, where night time starts. Night view of Jiufen definitely gave it a different feel... I don't wanna leave this place! It was time to leave Jiufen but we found out that the public buses doesn't operate much in the night. Thus, we have to fork out extra to hitch a ride back to Taipei in a Volkswagen Caravelle.

We left 2 days before leaving Taiwan, thus we decided to pay Ximending another visit to get some souvenirs, especially 姜母茶 which my mom has been urging me to buy for her. A-Lin's song is displaying in Ximending!  

Tried out 阿宗面线 as supper, I am not a fan of noodle or vermicelli, but I found it quite delicious! Worth the try if you are dropping by Ximending.

NEXT - Taiwan Day 6: Tamsui District

Taiwan Day 4 - Taipei

Hello sunshine! After a night of cat and dog rain, thankfully the sky is clear on the fourth day. To be safe, we changed our plan to Jiufen on the fifth day. Thus, we explore the city of Taipei on the fourth day.

Flip Flop Hostel is just opposite of Q Square, where it has underground route to Taipei Main Station, which requires about 10mins walk to reach there. First stop - Ximending. Once we reached Ximending Station, we bought Easy Card from one of the ATM-like machine for easier payment when using public transport. It is something like our Touch n Go card.

 Once we got out of Ximending Station, the Red House Theatre of Ximending is just a stone throw away, literally. Since my name is Simon and Ximen is my name in Mandarin, does it mean I am the owner of the theatre? Hahaha... 

We didn't walk much in Ximending during daytime because we decided to come back at night for its night streets. Thus, we moved on to the next station which is Longshan Temple to pray for God's protection. 

A typical old Taiwan street next to Longshan Temple.

Next station - 中正纪念堂. A little far from the MRT station, but it is worth it if you like history.

It's lunch time, so we figured to head to Taipei 101 to grab a quick (and late) lunch and take some exterior shots of the magnificent skyscraper. Below is the first sight of Taipei 101 once we emerged from the MRT station. 

Hahaha! Taiwan's McDonalds - Checked! Sesame flavoured McChicken-like burger!

We walked around the mall, explored Level 5 of the mall, which is the floor to the indoor observatory at Level 89. It costed NTD500 to go up via the world's fastest elevator. The outdoor observatory is at Level 91, but it was closed due to typhoon to play safe eventhough it has deviated from Taiwan a day ago.

Walk a floor down to Level 88, and you'll get up close and personal with the golden damper. I was so excited to see it because I used it as one of my college's assignment topic. I am always fascinated about anti-earthquake devices or equipment installed in a building. I didn't get to see it swing in person, but I believe it's good news haha!

The lift is fast... like super fast! It can achieve a maximum speed of 600m/min going up or down. Making the total time needed to travel from the bottom to the top in just 40 seconds! Going down at that speed induced a little butterfly in my stomach... Partly due to I am a person who is sensitive to G-Force.  

Once we arrived at ground floor, it was the perfect time to take some night shots of the Taipei 101.

It was my friend's dream to see Taiwanese 'mei mei' in a book store, thus we went to Eslite. The store is quite big, and there was a level of food downstairs in case you are hungry in the middle of 'indulging' a book.  

The food here I can say is not bad! My fruits 西米露 is very refreshing after a long day...

Next - Shifen to Jiufen 十份 到 九分