Taiwan: Day 4 Longteng Broken Bridge 龙腾断桥

After visiting Shengxing Railway Station, we continued our journey to Longteng Broken Bridge (龙腾断桥), which is just another 15 minutes drive. Initially, this bridge was a railway line, but now a hiking trail after it has been ruined by the earthquake. In 1935, this bridge was broken by earthquake and since then, it has been a tourist spot and hiking spot.

Look the the bridge. this is just part of it and it's HUGE!

The board that explains the history of this broken bridge.

Quite a number of tourist here! Spot my mates!

We took some stairs to the top of the bridge. It was stunning and scary though.

I look so short in this pic! LOL. Few steps away from "suicide mission". 

Taiwan: Day 4 Shengxing Railway Station 胜兴车站

After our visit to Lavender Cottage, uncle used a mountain range route to drive us to Sanyi (三义). This is because it was a Saturday and according to tourists uncle met in the Lavender Cottage, Sanyi town center is super jam at that moment.

Oh well, we managed to enjoy different scenery instead of cars jamming on the road (which we had more than enough in Kuala Lumpur). And because we couldn't enter the town, we have to skip one stop, which is the wood craft street.

See?? This is not a tourist spot. It is a piece of land with flowers on our way to Shengxing Train Staion. Driver uncle told us that farmers use these flowers as organic nutrient for the land. But they are so pretty, aren't they?

Spotted some sunflowers too! <3 
Ah!! I want to write a quote:
 "Sometimes, we just need to stop and observe the beautiful things by our side. You may missed them out as they are so small and look so unimportant to you. Please love them, because they beautify your life." ~~RouRou

Me and the beautiful flowers. Love them =)

We had lunch at a random organic market along the way. Ermm... Nothing fancy, so I'm not gonna introduce it here. Another reason is, I've forgotten the name. XD

After about 1 hour drive, we've reached Shengxing Railway Station.

Look at the jam!! Many locals came to enjoy Tung Flowers (桐花) here. 

Taiwan: Day 4 Lavender Cottage

DAY 4! Time flies! It's time for us to meet up with our uncle tour guide/driver to head to Taichung. So, we checked out from the backpackers around 8.20am to meet the uncle downstairs. 

Check out our room! This is EZ Stay Taipei Main Station Branch.
Ignore the messiness. The room is alright afterall, but this is the worst room throughout our trip. XD

Along the journey, we saw lots of white flowers blooming.
It's the season of Tung Flowers (桐花祭) in Taiwan!

First stop of Day 4: Lavendar Cottage 薰衣草森林

This 2 lady should be representing the founders of lavender cottage. 

Taiwan: Day 3 Taipei 101, Wufenpu 五分埔, Rao He Night Market 饶河夜市

Last Part for Day 3!

Taipei 101---Wufenpu 五分埔---Raohe Night Market 饶河夜市

To be exact, we did no enter Taipei 101 building. We were about few minutes walk away, so that we can take good photo with the tower. =) I did some research before the trip to check where to take nice photo of Taipei 101. A few bloggers suggested somewhere near Taipei City Hall (市政府) MRT station and hence I decided to give it a try. 

It was quite a difficult to find a good spot if you did not know where is the so-called-strategic-location. I was a little frustrated while searching for the spot. You know, without GPS, without knowing where you are, sometimes I feel so lost and helpless. T______T

Ah well, after asking people around us, and looked around, we decided to look for Taipei 101 and just walk towards there. Thankfully we found a nice spot to take photo. (It is somewhere near W Hotel, another corner along the road)

See! The nightview of the tower!

Of course I have to take super-duper-typical-tourist photo here. It is Taipei 101 wehhhhh.....

Some idea for tourist.
This is the buildings on our left when we were shooting photos of Taipei 101. Hope that it is helpful, in some way. XD

Taiwan: Day 3 Hello Kitty Sweets Cafe

Whether you're a hello kitty fans or not, I think you should read about this cafe. Why??? It is extremely cute and I don't think people will dislike it (unless you hate hello kitty a lot).  

This is one of my reasons to visit Taiwan for the second time. Other reasons? Tell you next time XD I love pink, I love Hello Kitty! I saw my friend (JS) posted about this cafe 2 weeks before I decided to come Taiwan. So tempted to visit and thankfully friends agreed to accompany me to try this out. YEAH!!!

Just some information for those who want to visit this cafe:

1) You need to make reservation to dine in. Call this number : +886 227111132

2) You have 2 hours to dine in ONLY.

3) Minimum spend is NTD 300 per person. (Worth coming if you are a kitty fans)

BEWARE: 

Tonnes of photos with Hello Kitty are coming up. ENJOY!!! =D

Their bar. Look at the waitress and the wall, and everything. SO PINK!! <3

Even the wall is so cute! This is the wall I'm sitting next too! =D

Look at their menu and the everything on the table. Awwwww......

The food is more distracting! 

Kitty burgers! Kitty buns! Kitty desserts! I had a hard time to pick what I want. All looks so cute!

Taiwan: Day 3 Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 中正纪念堂

After our late lunch (Beef Noodle Shop and Dessert near Dongmen MRT station), we decided to go Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂), which is a few stops away. This is where tourists must come, a significant tourist spot in Taipei. 

The first building we saw after we walked out from the MRT Station.
Note: This is not the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. This is the National Theater Hall.

Walking towards the front gate. There's a garden by the side. 

Inside the garden, there's some students practicing band there. 

And hey! The front gate of the area. 

The CKS Memorial Hall from far. Wow... Grand, right!

Taiwan: Day 3 We Saw Khalil Fong and Food

We checked out from the Fun Taipei Backpackers and moved our luggages to another backpackers hostel. Yeah. Never book last minute like us. Famous rooms ran out and dates are not suitable for us. Well, I don't mind switching hostels as I wasn't confident by just booking one for so many nights. What if the first and only one turns out dodgy? 

Alright, back to our trip. We carried our luggages and took MRT to Taipei Main Station. Our hostel is in the building next to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越), called K Mall. Super duper convenient to walk around the city as Taipei Main Station is just few steps away! But well, the room isn't as nice as our first hostel. Location that matters!

Us with our luggages in front of Taipei Main Station. So tourist!!!

Upon approaching the entrance of the building, we saw a crowd. Ah wait! Khalil Fong is coming!

We waited for a while (about 20 minutes), then we gave up and went to check in. We were standing at such a strategic location that time -- Khalil is gonna walk pass us you know. Ah well, we are tourist, we need to save time to visit tourist spots. XD

Khalil!!! 方大同!!! He was singing when we walked out to the MRT station. 

He looks thinner recently. Nice voice though. =) Of course I have to zoom in and snap photos of him singing -- to show people that I've seen him. LOL Only artist that I saw in Taiwan, so far.

Taiwan: Day 3 McD Breakfast & National Palace Museum

Before we check out from Fun Taipei Backpackers, we decided to visit National Palace Museum in the morning.  Thanks to all-time-photoboom and me, who had "orchestra" at night, JM could not sleep well. Hence, JM told us that she needs to sleep and decided not to follow us to the museum. Felt a bit bad.

Well, we moved on!

I bought a cuppa of latte from 7-eleven and we had our breakfast in McDonald's (麦当当). Why McDonald's?? We want to try the pork burger! Ordered Pork Sausage McMuffin (猪肉满福堡) and it tasted like normal Sausage McMuffin in Malaysia, with a little bit of piggy smell. =P

Chinese words on the packaging - Welcome to Taiwan!

My Sausage McMuffin! See? It just look as normal as those in Malaysia. 

City Cafe. You can get this coffee in any 7-eleven and it is of good quality.

I won't say it is super nice, but it definitely worth the money. NTD 55 for a large cup of latte, which is cheap! Quality is as good as some famous cafes in Malaysia.