Honeymoon Taipei Day 6. Part 1..
April 9, 2008 by TA
…. Day 6: Train Travel to / from RuiFang . JiuFen Town . GongGuan Night Market . XiMenDing Entertainment District ….
Before we leave for home tomorrow, let’s go somewhere farther out of Taipei!
We relished our Hotel Breakfast as a daily luxury, then headed out happily. Got 2 one-way tickets TWD80 each person for top line ZiQiang Train at Taipei Railway Station. Before boarding, we explored the Station shops & activities..
Long queues had formed at the “BianDang” Boxed Meal store.
Boxes of lunch and drinks were delivered to the police presence stationed there for the ongoing political rally. From a tiny stop offering massage for tired commuters (good idea!), a masseur exchanged smiles with me. Browsed a store selling Aborigine merchandises.
A frowning policeman pointed the way nonchalantly to train platform when we asked for direction. On the platform, we sought help from a cheerful train officer who showed us how to read our ticket for train info.
Unlike Jetstar plane with her 3-seats-per-row cabin, ZQiang train cabin has 2 seats. Cooly we located our seats as the passengers began filing in. I spied a slight commotion – a couple (speaking in Singapore’s English hehe) behind us found that a man was sleeping in their reserved seats!
ZQiang Train welcomed us with an announcement with 2 things I could still recall vividly. One, meals would be sold onboard by the mobile hawker. Two, we were to approach the Officer in the front cabin for assistance if needed.
“Bian Dang….!” As expected, the Boxed Meal hawker came calling minutes later.
He passed by us as we declined. Moments later, I caught up while friendly hawker was inbetween the cabins and bought our lunch TWD70. We shared: Dark Soy Sauce Stewed Lean Pork, Hard-boiled Egg, Mini Ham, Pickles..
Sigh, the Boxed Meal I had onboard a railway train in 1991 was many times better! ;-P
It was just enough time to gobble up our meal when we reached RuiFang Station. Crossing street outside the Station, we joined tourists from Hong Kong (Cantonese-speaking), Singapore (English-speaking) and Japanese (Japanese-speaking la!), up bus to JiuFen Town.
About 15 minutes going up winding roads, we reached JiuFen Mountainous Town as most tourists got off near 7-Eleven.
We began taking pics at a viewing shed, enjoying in sheltered comfort, panoramic views of the mountains, coasts, towns & roads around JiuFen.
Having visited a handful of Old Streets peculiar to each tourist destinations, we knew how we would enjoy and shop JiuFen Old Street as we entered. It was mainly skimming through the stalls, taking pics, conserving energy to explore beyond into the inner spaces of long stairways in this mountainous town.
Bought Squid Ink Sausage and Pork Sausage from a silly little stall. Oh how marketing-savvy this lady-seller was! She played on the word “HuaZhi” to mean “HuaChi flirty” in Chinese, thus packaging herself and her shop in colourful flamboyance!
With our purchase, lady posed cheekily as she drew hearts symbols on wife’s arm! Suddenly..
Read on.. Sniff sniff.. What’s that revolting stench in the air?!
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