Friends + Jiufen 2
I've lived in Taipei for 6 months already! But I decided recently that I will return to Manila on the 25th. I keep telling myself that "I will come back, for sure!", but I can't really say when. I failed to meet the conditions I've set for myself and I need to start accepting it. SO! Manila, see you again soon. I will continue to blog and write about more cafes there too, if I spot any good ones!
The next 3 months after my last post had been extremely busy!
For the first few weeks, a lot of friends were leaving Taipei (for good) so I was drinking and eating out a lot. Soon after that, Val, Chuchu & Aleyn came to visit me! <3
They stayed at a really homey hostel near Taipei Main. The owner was a really funny guy, and so were some of the tenants. There, we got to know Fabien, a french photographer, who's here for a vacation.
I first brought them to my most favorite place in Taipei: Ximending! We spent hours walking around, looking for things we might want to buy, then I brought them to Somebody Cafe (look at previous post)! That night, we dropped by Raohe night market, as recommended by my roommate. She mentioned it had a really huge shopping area, but she forgot to mention that it wasn't at the same place as the actual night market, so we got lost inside trying to look for food. Haha! When we finally found the night market, we were all too tired to enjoy anything, so after a quick look around we decided to head home. We were all pretty much exhausted when we returned back to their hostel so we decided to make our itinerary for the next day a little bit more relaxed. We woke up a little late the next morning, then I took them to the cat cafe where we had a light lunch. Outside the cafe, there were more shops to look through so we walked around the area for quite a bit. When we were satisfied, we decided to head for places Aleyn had wanted to go to. She looked these places up online, and luckily, they were all quite near each other.
The next day was their sightseeing day, and we decided on Jiufen. Fabien came with us, and he was such a great help, especially because we had to commute to get there this time, and my Chinese alone wasn't enough u_u. Unlike the first time I went with my family, we sped through the market area, eager to find Spirited Away. Unfortunately, we were told that, no matter how much you walk, if you don't climb up the mountain, you won't we able to see it. We wanted to climb up at first, but the weather was damn hot and we ended up sweating all our determination away.
So instead, we decided to look around the area as
thorough as we could.
Mah BFFs! :))
We were supposed to climb THAT. :))
Few hours of constant walking later, we decided to rest at a small tea house, apparently called Sidcha (thank you, Val's blog! HAHA).
Here, we had different kinds of iced tea and assorted nuts to munch on. Perfect for rejuvenating after having been exposed to all that heat.
After resting, we continued on with our trip, hoping to find even more interesting places to visit.
Upon seeing this view, we honestly thought we were nearing the mountain. But after walking a little further, we wound up right back to the entrance. orz Taking this as a sign, we called it a day and decided to head back home.
The next day was their last day. :( I had to go to class that morning so I met up with them at Gongguan for lunch. Then of course final shopping. Haha! I also brought them to 101 Taipei where we didn't really do much, then we went to Yongkang for their famous Beef Noodle soup! After dinner, we hurried back to their hostel, did some last minute packing, and a few goodbyes later, they hopped on to their taxi and off they went!
Val's blog post
Aleyn's picture post
Since it took me ages to post this one, I'll have a new entry posted again tomorrow! Ehehe. <3
Friends + Jiufen 2
I've lived in Taipei for 6 months already! But I decided recently that I will return to Manila on the 25th. I keep telling myself that "I will come back, for sure!", but I can't really say when. I failed to meet the conditions I've set for myself and I need to start accepting it. SO! Manila, see you again soon. I will continue to blog and write about more cafes there too, if I spot any good ones!
The next 3 months after my last post had been extremely busy!
For the first few weeks, a lot of friends were leaving Taipei (for good) so I was drinking and eating out a lot. Soon after that, Val, Chuchu & Aleyn came to visit me! <3
They stayed at a really homey hostel near Taipei Main. The owner was a really funny guy, and so were some of the tenants. There, we got to know Fabien, a french photographer, who's here for a vacation.
I first brought them to my most favorite place in Taipei: Ximending! We spent hours walking around, looking for things we might want to buy, then I brought them to Somebody Cafe (look at previous post)! That night, we dropped by Raohe night market, as recommended by my roommate. She mentioned it had a really huge shopping area, but she forgot to mention that it wasn't at the same place as the actual night market, so we got lost inside trying to look for food. Haha! When we finally found the night market, we were all too tired to enjoy anything, so after a quick look around we decided to head home. We were all pretty much exhausted when we returned back to their hostel so we decided to make our itinerary for the next day a little bit more relaxed. We woke up a little late the next morning, then I took them to the cat cafe where we had a light lunch. Outside the cafe, there were more shops to look through so we walked around the area for quite a bit. When we were satisfied, we decided to head for places Aleyn had wanted to go to. She looked these places up online, and luckily, they were all quite near each other.
The next day was their sightseeing day, and we decided on Jiufen. Fabien came with us, and he was such a great help, especially because we had to commute to get there this time, and my Chinese alone wasn't enough u_u. Unlike the first time I went with my family, we sped through the market area, eager to find Spirited Away. Unfortunately, we were told that, no matter how much you walk, if you don't climb up the mountain, you won't we able to see it. We wanted to climb up at first, but the weather was damn hot and we ended up sweating all our determination away.
So instead, we decided to look around the area as
thorough as we could.
Mah BFFs! :))
We were supposed to climb THAT. :))
Few hours of constant walking later, we decided to rest at a small tea house, apparently called Sidcha (thank you, Val's blog! HAHA).
Here, we had different kinds of iced tea and assorted nuts to munch on. Perfect for rejuvenating after having been exposed to all that heat.
After resting, we continued on with our trip, hoping to find even more interesting places to visit.
Upon seeing this view, we honestly thought we were nearing the mountain. But after walking a little further, we wound up right back to the entrance. orz Taking this as a sign, we called it a day and decided to head back home.
The next day was their last day. :( I had to go to class that morning so I met up with them at Gongguan for lunch. Then of course final shopping. Haha! I also brought them to 101 Taipei where we didn't really do much, then we went to Yongkang for their famous Beef Noodle soup! After dinner, we hurried back to their hostel, did some last minute packing, and a few goodbyes later, they hopped on to their taxi and off they went!
Val's blog post
Aleyn's picture post
Since it took me ages to post this one, I'll have a new entry posted again tomorrow! Ehehe. <3
