Tips For Our Taiwan Tour You Never See – Only Now!

Kudos to you!

My many thanks to all you who have shared so willingly!

Remember my request for tips and ideas for our Taiwan tour this coming November? Many of you have gladly responded and the tips are within the comments space in that story post for all to see and enjoy!

Your private sharings

Then there are you guys who sent me your tips via email or private messaging. All of you have been fantastic – in all the fun ideas you’ve offered, as well as your enthusiasm and willingness to share this delight for Taiwan!

Here are more tips and ideas from those not shared in the story comments. These tips are for you all too. Have fun! :-)

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Wu Lai hotsprings

“I would say that I enjoy the hot spring at Wulai very much. Those that separate ladies and guys one. There is alot of choices in Wulai than in Beitou and it is cheaper. You should go there and try. Also I like the Fried Jin Zheng Gu (Mushroom Tempura) very much. It is not found in Singapore and I like those snacks at the night market. Due to lack of Chinese literature books in Singapore, I like to spend time in the bookstore to get some home to read.”
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Mochi love

“Oh I forgot to mention my other love is the mochi there!”
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Hua Lien Hua Lien

“I think this might be a very touristy answers to your question, but then me and my sisters, particularly my sisters enjoyed Hua Lien the best. Because it was such a big difference to the fast-paced lifestyle in Singapore. I guess staying at Farglory hotel also made a difference.

The night scenery was lovely and so was the weather. But I guess one of the biggest treat was making the sudden decision to not only go along with what our cabby recommended for the day, we went up all the way to He Huan Shan. It was crazy cos we were not attired for the weather and it has snowed in the morning prior our arrival. And oh, how we enjoyed the fireworks which we played with that night.”
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Rustic Jiu Fen & Romantic Dan Shui

“But I would like to share with you that the places I love visiting again in Northern Taiwan, ie Jiu Fen and Dan Shui. Jiu Fen, a quaint little town up in the mountains.. Though touristy (well I saw a lot of tourists), it still gives me a different feeling. :) And most of the things & food there are unique. In fact, think I bought most of my food stuff from there!

Dan Shui, hmm, besides missing the environment and shops there, guess it’s also because I didn’t manage to catch the sunset view at Fisherman Wharf..”
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PS Bu Bu in Tian Mu

“I think one of my most enjoyable time is when I went to Tian Mu’s PS Bu Bu restaurant. Their food is superb. I love their buffalo wings. But one set meal may cost 800NT and above. I love shopping for little things like schedule books, notebooks etc. There’s one shop at Dan Shui, and during the latest trip, I found another similar shop at Shi Lin area.”
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Five Cents Driftwood Restaurant

“However, I did enjoy my meal very much at the 5 cents Driftwood restaurant. The setup inside was excellent including the food. We had a farmstay too but unfortunately did not see much fruit except for very tiny and sparse mandarin orange trees. But it was quite an experience though as we have also been living in city, so it’s a different lifestyle. I enjoyed my shopping at the Kao Hsiung night market in comparision with Taipei’s though. Can’t remember the name now but it’s one of the newer night markets.

The Shopping mall at the Taipei underground pass has lots of ladies stuff. The shoes there are really cheap. You should check out the basement mall (eateries) of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Main store, there are plenty of food to explore.”
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Bi Tan. Lin Jiang night market. Taipei 101. Leo Foo & more..

“During my trip on August, the places which we enjoyed were:

Bi Tan Duck Paddling

5 minutes walk from Xin Dian station. Costs NT300 for 2 person for 1 hour paddling. Boat is stable and safe. Good experience for leg exercise and can see people swmming in the river and jumped from the top! Not sure if you know of the drama “It started with a kiss”, that’s the place where the marriage took place, and therefore it attracted us to visit. Beside the place there is a street eatery after the “exercise”.

Linjiang aka Tonghua Night Market

I took cab from Taipei 101. The place consists both eatery and shopping… I personally enjoyed cos I bought earrings and necklaces and souvenirs for friends. Usually I only go into the store that attracted me that’s all.

Taipei 101 Observatory

Very nice scenery just that a bit expensive for NT400 per person. Remember to charge your camera and don’t end like me take blurry pictures!

Asia Pacific Hotspring Massage

The massage was not bad. We did plan to go back for full massage. :D

Leofoo Village

Since you are bringing your nephew along, I believe it’s the place they will enjoy with shows and amusement rides.

Places which you went before but I enjoyed also: Rao He night market. Yeh Liu Geo Park. Jiu Fen.

Places I think no need for a second visit: National Palace Museum.
If you didn’t go before, can take a look for the crafted cabbage “Bak Choy”, it’s beautiful. Other than that, nothing much to see and the tour only need 2 hours. NT160 per person.

Jing Gua Shih – I think it’s a waste of time, a bit boring.”
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Tea houses. Taroko Gorge. Bicycle trip.

“OK, regarding the interesting stuff in Taiwan..
Food: Unfortunately, I never quite drop my Singaporean habits where it comes to food so most of the restaurants I frequent would be Cantonese dim sum joints and Asian restaurants.

I think the tea houses here would be worth a visit if U have the time. There are the ones in Yang Ming Shan, one called Little Red Riding Hood mid way up the mountain that I thought is especially interesting, but not sure if it’s still around. That cafe (also sell tea) is right next door to another restaurant known as The Big Bad Wolf.

If U plan to go to Tai Chung, then would suggest U save your tea house experience till then, this city has the highest density of tea houses on the whole island. My favourite tea house would be Rose Garden near the Feng Jia night market.

Sights: I’m sure U know more than I do in this respect as U have stayed in Hsin Chu for some time. Oh, one thought just came to mind, if U’re game, U could do a round the island bicycle trip, it’s the ‘in’ thing right now in Taiwan. I would love to do this one day with my kids but right now, we are all not fit enough, the furthest we’ve gone is a 2-hr ride one quarter way around Hua Lien.

Another interesting to-do would be camping at Taroko. There’s a camp area in Tian Xiang that offers very good view of the Taroko Gorge. It’s free and very well managed, the only down thing is that it is so popular that one has to be there early to get a tent space, especially the few slots with wooden ‘roof’.

We, being late sleepers, never got one, so usually end up staying at Formosa Regent. Very good view too n at 3000NT per night , we think it’s a steal.

Hot spring – only know the ones in the expensive hotels eg Spring Park Urai, Spring City Resort, Royal Jiao Xi and Chih Pen, Butterfly Valley etc. If U drive, U could go all the way down to Rui Shui, the little hot spring town.”

So U coming on Jetstar. I’ve never taken Jetstar, only Airasia once. Are your nephew fat? In that case I think U better request for emergency exit seats, hehe.”
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Yummies from Xi Men Ding to Ching Jing!

We particularly liked the Ah Zhong mian xian in Ximending, vermicelli & lu rou fan (Liu Jia in Chen Huang Miao), and popiah in Hsin Chu, fried chicken chop in Wu Fen Pu, hahaaa that’s all I can remember… Oh ya, we’ve also tried the steamboat in Guo Ming Bing Guan in Chingjing. We ordered two sets for two of us but the amount is so huge that I think 1 set is enough for two, and may be U can top up with some smaller dishes…