Taiwan 9 Days Trip Afterthought 台湾9日行后之感想篇

Culturally-rich and dynamic island, Taiwan is a sweet potato shaped island lies at the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. Taiwan is approximately 9 times smaller than Malaysia, or 4 times smaller than New York city. Despite its small size, Taiwan has numerous impressive scenic sites and houses a range of toothsome food, and our trip there was one of the unforgettable.

一个文化非常丰富，形状像颗番薯的岛，就坐落在太平洋的西边，名叫台湾。台湾的面积只有马来西亚九倍的小，比起纽约就有四倍的小。虽然面积小了点，可是却有很多很漂亮的景点，还藏了各种各类的美食。我们这趟台湾之旅，是我们脑袋记忆里其中一个难忘的旅程。

Night view at Jiufen, Taipei

We had long planning for a trip to Taiwan but flight cost was a major hindrance. In the mid of 2014, we spotted AirAsia offered return flight to Taipei from Kuala Lumpur, for about RM 600 in July 2015. Then we immediately booked the tickets without much thoughts. We were warned by peers about the potential heat weather but we just sort of decision made then stick to it.

During our 9 days trip at Taiwan, we were hit with Chan-Hom typhoon, suffered from sunburn under the scorching sun and missed out the cherry blossom season as it was summer. However, all of these turned to be a blessing in disguise.


台风来袭让我们见识到台风如何影响台湾人的生活，这也是我们第一次体验台风，有惊无险。台湾夏天的炎热天气允许我们在名宿享受冷水澡，也体验台湾的夏天流行服装。更开心的是我们试了夏天才有的-凉面！因此，我们相信没有绝对的旅行指南，只是你如何去享受当下，让自己适应。

Tamsui Lovers' Bridge

The place less visited by tourist - Treasure Hill Artist Village

Due to time constraint, we only managed to visit Taipei, Hualien, Jiufen, Shifen and Keelung during our 9 days trip and had to give Taichung and Tainan a skip. On top of that, we used to deprioritize tourists attractions and venture ourselves more into local communities. For instance, we only been to Chiang Kai-shek memorial halls. Taipei 101, Beitou hot spring and Tamsui during our time in Taipei and skipped Taipei zoo, the museums and the temples. Instead, we went to Dihua street and Artist Village at Taipei.

时间紧迫的关系，我们只能去了台北，花莲，九份，十份，还有基隆。台中和台南就留给下一次吧！通常，我们都会把旅游胜地留到最后，尽可能的去探索和融入当地。就拿这次来说，我们只去了的旅游胜地有中正纪念堂，台北一零一，北投热泉和淡水。我们都避免台北动物园，博物馆和庙。反而，我们去了迪化街和台北文化村。

Sky lantern with wishes to the sky.. Will you wish really come true?

JiuFen Old Street

Besides Taipei, Jiufen is another notable place to visit. The astonishing night view and chilling breeze there still remained vividly in our memory, though we felt it had been over commercialized. Taking the local train to stop by Shifen and the other spots might be a decent plan to wrap up a 2 days trip to Jiufen and Shifen. Some people went to Shifen just for lightening up a sky lantern with their wishes but for us, it has been over commercialized and disastrous to the environment too!

除了台北，九份是一个值得去的地方。那如仙境的夜景，还有凉风深深的印记在脑海里，虽然我们觉得这地方已演变过于商业化了。花两天时间到九份，然后利用火车到十份还有其他地方是最佳计划。还有，旅客较喜欢到十分放天灯，把祝福和愿望寄到天上去。但很抱歉的说，我们觉得放天灯活动过于商业化了，还对环境的破坏不少！







We accommodated 1 and a half day trip to Hualien to our itinerary since it is just 2 hours away from Taipei via express train. Hualien is is a very pleasant city with scenic view, where we enjoyed the great view of Pacific Ocean from Qixingtan beach and savour some of the local dishes not available in Taipei. If you have extra time to spare, consider visit Taroko Gorge National Park. We also made a big blunder by missing the express train back to Taipei and scared the nerves out, then luckily the friendly train conductors helped us out on this.

由于花莲离台北并不远，所以我们在此次行程内也编排了花莲一天半游。花莲是个漂亮又写意的城市，从七星潭欣赏着太平洋的震撼，再享受台北里尝不到的美食。如果你有时间，一定要逛逛太鲁阁。我们也摆了个乌龙，差点儿错失快铁回去台北，幸好有个很好的火车站员工阿伯帮了我们。

Keelung port

Keelung is another place that has been under the radar. Those seeking attractions or entertainment places may return to no avail at Keelung as this port city houses the local community of Taiwan. A few Taiwanese were shocked when we told them we will be going to Keelung, and we never regretted for staying a night there. There we explored into the alleys at Keelung and experience how the locals in Taiwan live, and enjoy some decent dishes at Miaokou night market and various spot in the town as well.

其实基隆是一个旅游者低估的地方。倘若您是想要在基隆市寻找旅游胜地，那您可以先打道回府了！基隆市只是一个港口，深藏住的是本土台湾人的文化与社会。当一些台湾人知道了我们是以旅客的身份到访基隆时，他们都感到少许错愕，毕竟基隆并不是一个旅游胜地。无论如何，我们都觉得基隆这一游让我们体验了较台北道地人的生活，还在庙口夜市品尝了一些比较不一样的美食，而且还获得了一个放慢脚步旅行的机会，好好欣赏基隆港口的美景。

Raohe Night Market

It would be ashamed if one come to Taiwan but never been to any of the night markets. There are countless night markets in Taiwan, and we enjoyed a range of dishes there with each dishes less than 100 New Taiwan Dollars (NTD). Due to time constraint and typhoon, we only been to Raohe and Shilin night market in Taipei, Miaokou in Keelung and Ziqiang in Hualien.

Actually after a few round of experience at night market at Taipei, we realized the food there are about the same and duplicate each other (Miaokou and Ziqiang have their own signature food). Thus we sought some advice from locals, venturing into the local alleys or restaurant and the food totally surprised us!

如果来到台湾但没有到过夜市，就不算来到台湾啦！台湾上下有几百个夜市，但碍于时间上的允许还有灿鸿台风的作怪，我们只逛了在台北的饶河夜市和士林夜市，基隆的庙口夜市和花莲的自强夜市。另一个夜市里的乐趣是夜市里充满了许多铜板美食，也就是少过100新台币，便宜又好吃的美食。

其实逛了台北夜市里几趟后，就觉得那里的食物大同小异（除了庙口夜市和自强夜市有它叫独特的一面），所以我们就问一问道地人有什么好吃值得介绍的。结果我们随便在永吉巷30号和小李子清粥小菜找到了一些好吃的食物！

Eat, eat and eat in Taiwan!

Taiwan fried oysters, or do you prefer Malaysian's style?

There is no doubt Taiwan is dubbed as a food heaven and full of snacks. However, some of our friends traveled there mentioned expectation toward great food would have to be lowered, as Taiwan food do not acquaint well with our taste buds. We beg to differ as we really enjoyed savouring the local delicacies, by making ourselves as a local, adapt to their lifestyles, enjoy the moments and forgo your local pride on Char Koay Teow or Satay!

无可否认台湾是个公认的美食天堂。但根据一些曾经到过台湾的朋友，台湾的食物其实不是很合我们的味口，所以对食物的期望可要放低些。不过，我们还是很享受台湾的美食。毕竟到了他乡，就应该放下对祖国，无论是文化，食物或者任何东西的概念。我们应该做的是好好享受在台湾的当下，才能感觉到她的美丽。

Another worthy mention would be Taiwanese is really friendly and helpful. What we need to do was just asking and the helps will be provided, to the extent bringing us to that particular area. There were even some friendly locals that offer to help us when we were stranded with the maps or GPS in the phone. This value is something we really should learn.

还有值得一提的是台湾人真的很乐于助人。当我们迷路时，路人总是那么热情的指路给我们，有时还带我们到目的地呢！甚至当我们在街头拿着地图迷惑时，总会有路人自动询问我们需要任何帮助吗。这一点是值得我们学习的。



A trip to Taiwan seems incomplete without food souvenirs to family or friends! We were over obsessed with Taiwan food to the extent that all souvenirs we bought were food based - Sin Ruei Mai pineapple cakes, Ah Mei Mochi, peanut cakes at Jiufen and etc.

到了台湾，没有买些食物回来给朋友吃就实在过意不去啦。我们简直迷上了这里的食物，直到所有买回去的“纪念品”都是食物 - 新瑞唛凤梨酥，阿妹麻糬饼，九份花生饼等等。

9 days 8 nights were fast and insufficient for ourselves to indulge in Taiwan. Initially I was concerned whether 9 days will be a long winded trip but apparently I was wrong. We only had a minimum time at Taipei and so many great places and food were missed out. We look forward for another trip back to Taiwan again! Well, let's look at the memory we brought back from Taiwan trip, all the nice collectible stamps at different places in Taiwan!

9天8夜在台湾对于我们来说实在太短啦！起初我们还担心9天的行程会过于漫长但我们都错了。我们错过了许多景点，而且还有一整页的美食也没有吃到。好期待再次回来台湾！这次台湾之旅，最珍贵的莫过于经验，其次就是在台湾各地收集的盖章啦！