It's day six of our Taiwan trip and our itinerary for today will cover the Yang Ming Shan National Park (陽明山國家公園), our hotspring experience, Beitou Thermal Valley (地熱谷), the Lover's Bridge (情人橋) at Yu Ren Ma Tou (漁人碼頭) and finally Dan Shui Lao Jie (淡水老街).
Breakfast: Went over to 天天利美食坊 which is located in 西门町 for our breakfast. To be honest, I'm getting sick of the variety of food here because it seems that no matter where we go, it's always the braised pork on rice (滷肉飯), fried carrot cake, dry bee hoon with braised pork T.T Actually I appreciate our SG food more since we have so many different kind of food from our 4 major races here.
天天利美食
Us having our breakfast
And so after having a heavy breakfast, we make our way over to Yang Ming Shan National Park (陽明山國家公園). Took the metro train from Ximen Station to Taipei Main Station via the Bannan Line and change to the Tamsui-Xinyi Line to go to Jiantan station.
Once we exit from the station via Exit 1, there will be a bus stop where there's bus service number 260 and Red 5 (红五) to take us to Yang Ming Shan National Park (陽明山國家公園). Lalala took bus Red 5 (红五) since it arrived before bus 260. Had to stand throughout the bus journey as there are so many people heading over there today due to the Flowering Season (花季).
Lalala we're finally here at Yang Ming Shan National Park (陽明山國家公園) lo. Once you arrived there, you'll notice that there are a number of bus services going to different attractions at the National Park such as the 花季, Xiao You Keng (小油坑), and 冷水坑 etc.
Took the bus service 124 which cost us NT15 to check out the Flowering Season (花季) since it's the season of the cherry blossoms now. Really love to see the cherry blossoms everywhere in Taiwan during this period of time.
Took the bus service 124 which cost us NT15 to check out the Flowering Season (花季) since it's the season of the cherry blossoms now. Really love to see the cherry blossoms everywhere in Taiwan during this period of time.
The Flower Clock
The cherry blossoms :)
I guess we're really getting old because we chose not to hike up the endless flight of staircase just to see the flowers so we went to check out the bus services available. There are so many different buses here like for example the bus 108 that goes to majority of the attractions. But then the time interval between each of the bus arrival time is like 30 to 40 minutes so we decided to hop on one of the bus to head back to where we alighted earlier on at the starting point.
Lalala once we're back at the same starting point, we took bus service 124 to go straight to the Xiao You Keng (小油坑) as advised by the many bus conductors there. The 小油坑 is a sulfur pit and once you reach the area, you'll realize that like what all the travel blogs says, this place is filled with the strong smell of sulfur. It's so strong that I didn't really wanna stay here for long after taking some photos.
Lalala once we're back at the same starting point, we took bus service 124 to go straight to the Xiao You Keng (小油坑) as advised by the many bus conductors there. The 小油坑 is a sulfur pit and once you reach the area, you'll realize that like what all the travel blogs says, this place is filled with the strong smell of sulfur. It's so strong that I didn't really wanna stay here for long after taking some photos.
Okay I am satisfied after visiting these two places at Yang Ming Shan National Park (陽明山國家公園) so time for our next destination lo. Took the bus to head back to where we first started and took the bus 260 to head back to civilization lol.
Time for our hot spring experience at Xin Beitou. Took the metro train from Jiantan station to Beitou station and change to another train to head to Xin Beitou station. Love the cute design of the interior of the train where you'll see bathtub like designs in some of the cabins.
Lalala after we arrived here we head over to Forte Beitou Hot Spring Resort 北投福泰天玥泉會館for our first hot spring experience for the price of NT1250 (SGD$54) for 1 hour 30 minutes which is pretty worth it if you ask me.
Lalala so happy to bring the girlfriend here for our first ever hot spring experience. Although the room doesn't come with much of a view but then it's okay for us since we're just here to soak in the hot spring water.
Do you know that the natural hot spring water not only makes you feel relaxed after soaking yourself in it, they are also believed to have many health benefits such as increase your energy levels and help to treat chronic fatigue, eczema and arthritis too.
Time flies. After our 1 hour 30 minutes of hot spring experience, we head back down to the resort lounge area where we get to choose between coffee or tea, and there's a slice of cake for us too just that we didn't know beforehand thus we got ourselves a slice of cheese cake lol.
Time for our next destination: Beitou Thermal Valley (地熱谷) which is located just ahead of us. As you walk along the stream of water to the thermal valley, you'll appreciate how beautiful the area is. You'll even passby the public hot spring pool where the local uncles and aunties will be queuing up to head in for a good soak in their swim wear. One advice though if you'll thinking of trying this public hot spring pool, bring your swim wear unless you don't mind buying one there, and bring along a towel too and try not to eat before that.
Finally we're here at the Beitou Thermal Valley (地熱谷) after a 10 minutes walk. Wow, really didn't regret coming here because we've never seen something so magnificent as the steamy mist just rises up from the waters like a twister up into the sky, and depending on the direction of the wind, the steam mist may at times
engulf themselves around us.
As Taiwan seems to get dark really fast like 6pm onwards, we decided to head over to our next destination at Dan Shui Lao Jie (淡水老街) to witness the sunset and take the boat ride over to see the Lover's Bridge (情人橋) at Yu Ren Ma Tou (漁人碼頭).
Took the metro train once again from Xinbeitou station to Beitou station and thereafter transfer to the Tamsui line to the last station which is Tamsui station. Once you exited from the station, you'll be able to see the nice scenery of the mountain directly opposite and see the sun sets over the horizon. It's really beautiful.
Had to walk so fast to the jetty area (淡水渡船碼頭) to catch the ferry that seems to be departing for their last journey of the day. So happy that we managed to catch the last ferry to the Lover's Bridge (情人橋) at Yu Ren Ma Tou (漁人碼頭). Kinda forgot how much we paid for the one way ferry ticket, well usually people will get the two-way ferry tickets but just that it's their last trip so there's only a one-way ferry but then it's okay since there's a bus service Red 26 to take us back to Tamsui station.
Lalala lalala holding the girlfriend's hand as we walk across the Lover's Bridge one step at a time. Felt so lucky to have her as my girlfriend all these while as we stood by each other in good and bad times :)
As we walk across the bridge, we saw a bus service Red26 that indicate that it is going to 淡水 that we faster hop on the bus. So lucky that there's a bus that brings us back to 淡水 or else we'll have to take a cab back. Lalala the driver will alert the passengers to alight if any of us are going to the Dan Shui Lao Jie (淡水老街). And so after all the walking around, we're so hungry that we settled down for our dinner at one of the shop at Dan Shui Lao Jie (淡水老街).
So after walking around for abit, and getting some handphone covers back as souvenirs, we decided to head back to Xi Men Ding area. Took the metro train and so it begins our long journey back to Ximen station. It almost felt like taking the MRT in Singapore from Tampines to Orchard Road.
Was walking around in Xi Men Ding when we spotted our Singapore Mediacorp artist Michelle Chia. She's so friendly when we requested to take a photo with her :)
Lalala it's my movie day today too. Bought the movie tickets to London Has Fallen at 10pm for just NT230 (SGD$9.60) per ticket after showing my student card hehe :p And so Xi Men Ding marks the end of our day six in Taipei.
Time for our hot spring experience at Xin Beitou. Took the metro train from Jiantan station to Beitou station and change to another train to head to Xin Beitou station. Love the cute design of the interior of the train where you'll see bathtub like designs in some of the cabins.
The cute van outside the resort
NT1250 for 1 hour 30 minutes of hot spring :)
Xiao Xiao Brown and Xiao Xiao Cony enjoying their first hot spring together
Felt so relaxed after soaking in the hot spring. Loving the experience.
Lalala so happy to bring the girlfriend here for our first ever hot spring experience. Although the room doesn't come with much of a view but then it's okay for us since we're just here to soak in the hot spring water.
Do you know that the natural hot spring water not only makes you feel relaxed after soaking yourself in it, they are also believed to have many health benefits such as increase your energy levels and help to treat chronic fatigue, eczema and arthritis too.
Time for our next destination: Beitou Thermal Valley (地熱谷) which is located just ahead of us. As you walk along the stream of water to the thermal valley, you'll appreciate how beautiful the area is. You'll even passby the public hot spring pool where the local uncles and aunties will be queuing up to head in for a good soak in their swim wear. One advice though if you'll thinking of trying this public hot spring pool, bring your swim wear unless you don't mind buying one there, and bring along a towel too and try not to eat before that.
The public hot spring
Look at how cheap it is for only NT40 which is less than SGD$2.
This is how the area kinda looks like before everyone started going in
The girlfriend at Beitou Thermal Valley (地熱谷)
Our selfie together :)
As Taiwan seems to get dark really fast like 6pm onwards, we decided to head over to our next destination at Dan Shui Lao Jie (淡水老街) to witness the sunset and take the boat ride over to see the Lover's Bridge (情人橋) at Yu Ren Ma Tou (漁人碼頭).
Took the metro train once again from Xinbeitou station to Beitou station and thereafter transfer to the Tamsui line to the last station which is Tamsui station. Once you exited from the station, you'll be able to see the nice scenery of the mountain directly opposite and see the sun sets over the horizon. It's really beautiful.
The girlfriend doing her iconic cute hand gesture :)
Love the beautiful sunset
Had to walk so fast to the jetty area (淡水渡船碼頭) to catch the ferry that seems to be departing for their last journey of the day. So happy that we managed to catch the last ferry to the Lover's Bridge (情人橋) at Yu Ren Ma Tou (漁人碼頭). Kinda forgot how much we paid for the one way ferry ticket, well usually people will get the two-way ferry tickets but just that it's their last trip so there's only a one-way ferry but then it's okay since there's a bus service Red 26 to take us back to Tamsui station.
Us at the Lover's Bridge (情人橋)
Lover's Bridge (情人橋) at Yu Ren Ma Tou (漁人碼頭)
Lalala lalala holding the girlfriend's hand as we walk across the Lover's Bridge one step at a time. Felt so lucky to have her as my girlfriend all these while as we stood by each other in good and bad times :)
As we walk across the bridge, we saw a bus service Red26 that indicate that it is going to 淡水 that we faster hop on the bus. So lucky that there's a bus that brings us back to 淡水 or else we'll have to take a cab back. Lalala the driver will alert the passengers to alight if any of us are going to the Dan Shui Lao Jie (淡水老街). And so after all the walking around, we're so hungry that we settled down for our dinner at one of the shop at Dan Shui Lao Jie (淡水老街).
I realized it's always fishballs and beehoon and tau poh here.
Trying out the fried mini crabs and sotong
So after walking around for abit, and getting some handphone covers back as souvenirs, we decided to head back to Xi Men Ding area. Took the metro train and so it begins our long journey back to Ximen station. It almost felt like taking the MRT in Singapore from Tampines to Orchard Road.
Was walking around in Xi Men Ding when we spotted our Singapore Mediacorp artist Michelle Chia. She's so friendly when we requested to take a photo with her :)
Lalala it's my movie day today too. Bought the movie tickets to London Has Fallen at 10pm for just NT230 (SGD$9.60) per ticket after showing my student card hehe :p And so Xi Men Ding marks the end of our day six in Taipei.
The girlfriend trying out the tall tall ice cream
If you wanna read up more on what we're doing on the other days in Taiwan, just click on the links will do :)
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