It was the kind of the trip that was discussed months before but only booked within the same month of travel. It was the plan to visit Istanbul, then it became Hanoi, followed by Macau and finally it was decided on Taipei. The schedule had to be strictly within this range to fit my bf's brother school holidays. It was just as great as the original plan! We were going to Taipei for the Princess Cruise, the cruise that the tour agency proclaimed is 5 star standard and better than Royal Caribbean. Well, we were skeptical about the claim but we shall see it for ourselves!
We were booked for a 13 seater to come pick us up at his place at 4.30am. The flight was at 7am by Jetstar. For a 2-way return trip, we got tickets flying to Taipei for S$388 around 2 weeks before the flight. The driver of our mini van was earlier than the arranged time and is quite professional.
At 5am, we were at Changi Airport - Terminal 1, figuring out how to self check-in. So, it has all become machines like in Japan. We cannot seem to find our flight number and could only locate it when the reference number was typed in. All our names appeared and the luggage tags were printed together as well. Only my bf's check-in baggage tag did not get printed and off he went to find a staff to help him. Essentially, he just has to use the machine and scan again, and it can re-printed.
It was still fascinating looking at our luggage get onto the conveyor belt and on their way to the plane. My luggage was 13.6kg before we started. And it was also 13.6kg when we came back.
We went into the departure area and hunted for morning breakfast. I need my food! Here's some Killiney but somehow it does not taste as good as the one in Melbourne. Or maybe it's just because it is the airport's outlet. At least the coffee is nice, at S$2 though, but still cheaper than in Mel.
Flying off with Jetstar -
The boarding was smooth. It was the first time seeing some vapour/mist coming out from above the overhead storage. It has something to do with the cooling of the air, as per what I read.
No entertainment system and no in-flight meals for 4 hours 50 minutes. I had the biscuit and bread ready to fill my needy stomach. The seats were more closely spaced, and my bf suffered the most of the kicking from the kids right behind us. The impact is quite significant, and despite our many reminders not to kick our seats, it still happened over and over again. Oh well, the kids don't mean it anyway.
Staying at ECFA Hotel, Wannian -
Our pre-arranged driver came to pick us up in a nice six seater mini van. On the way to our accomodation, he really talked a lot and gave us many recommendations. It was only until he mentioned that we realised our hotel name should be pronounced as EC-FA instead of E-C-F-A hotel. That is because the Chinese version is a nice sounding "爱客发”. The Mandarin letters in Taiwan are mostly traditional writing, so it might pose some problems with reading.
ECFA Hotel is within the Wannian business centre, which is also a shopping centre. Their lift is incredibly slow and the open/close button just does not seem to work well. Beware, the door might just close on you. At only around S$50 per night for this 3-star hotel, I think it is well worth it. The location is great!
The service may not be tip-top but the room is cozy and clean. The space is just right for two luggages laid on the floor and the basic amenities are provided. What I love about this hotel is that in addition to 2 bottles of water every day, the water dispenser/coffee machine is right beside our room (As our room is right beside the concierge on the 6th floor). But you cannot throw their toilet paper into the toilet bowl. Also, the annoying hairdryer might shut off suddenly; not sure if it requires charging or something.
Other than that, the bed is comfortable and I liked the overall comfort. The bed is a combination of two single beds into one queen bed. And there we were wondering why their quilt is so small! It could not accommodate two people under it. Turned out they actually provided two standard sized quilts, one on top of the other.
Anyway, we couldn't check in until 3pm, so we left the luggage with the hotel staff and went for lunch first. In just awhile, it was raining heavily outside. Therefore, our lunch was within the premises at B1. There are a number of food stores there for your pick.
Lunch -
We ordered from 3 different stores and sat at one table. They allowed us to have other food from other stores. So I heard that the oyster omelette is very different from Singapore's. Sure enough, all their omelette contains vegetables and the flat pancake-like dish always has their signature sauce poured over it. Although I don't like the sauce, I would say that the omelette is tasty, but not as shiok and sinful-delicious like Singapore's. I find that the wok hei is stronger here in SG.
The tempura was okay, rather similar. But there's sauce again. The fried rice is yummy. The lu rou fan may look little and unattractive, but the minced meat is pretty well-marinated and goes well with the rice. My favourite dish will be the fried beehoon which is very different. They used the sauce from the lu rou fan and fry the beehoon together. The beehoon is really Q and absorbed the taste of the sauce very well. This is definitely not the typical dry bee hoon.
And that papaya milkshake; why does it taste so good? No kidding, I liked it a lot. Maybe it is the quality of the milk. Taiwan is afterall, a milk tea heaven?
After lunch, we explored the building itself and a bit of the Ximending area. Saw so many cute aliens stuff and aliens under THECLAW [I only just finished watching all the Toy Story-s properly!]. Weariness started to build up and off we go back to the hotel for a nap first.
Dinner at Modern Toilet Restaurant -
Out at night at Ximending with more energy! You probably would have heard about the restaurant that serves shitty food in toilet bowls. The food do not taste that bad though. In fact, it was a fun and cute experience.
The ambience of the restaurant is nice, although we were all sitting on a toilet bowl. Nicely designed bowls! The menu features food of many varieties - Western, Pasta, Chinese, Thai and etc. Some of the dishes on picture, like the meat bun, really looks like shit.
I ordered a simple mini hotpot as I wanted some lighter food. It was not super fantastic to me, but my bf liked it. The red curry is nice, green curry so so, the meat bun is not bad, and the Thai chicken is tasty. All came in a set with a drink and soft-serve. We had the option to top up to get a urinal bottle which we can bring home lol. I found it a good container to carry my leftover drink around. The chocolate soft-serve is nice and thick too.
That was about it for that day. We roamed a little around Ximending and headed back to sleeeep.
The tempura was okay, rather similar. But there's sauce again. The fried rice is yummy. The lu rou fan may look little and unattractive, but the minced meat is pretty well-marinated and goes well with the rice. My favourite dish will be the fried beehoon which is very different. They used the sauce from the lu rou fan and fry the beehoon together. The beehoon is really Q and absorbed the taste of the sauce very well. This is definitely not the typical dry bee hoon.
And that papaya milkshake; why does it taste so good? No kidding, I liked it a lot. Maybe it is the quality of the milk. Taiwan is afterall, a milk tea heaven?
After lunch, we explored the building itself and a bit of the Ximending area. Saw so many cute aliens stuff and aliens under THECLAW [I only just finished watching all the Toy Story-s properly!]. Weariness started to build up and off we go back to the hotel for a nap first.
Dinner at Modern Toilet Restaurant -
Out at night at Ximending with more energy! You probably would have heard about the restaurant that serves shitty food in toilet bowls. The food do not taste that bad though. In fact, it was a fun and cute experience.
The ambience of the restaurant is nice, although we were all sitting on a toilet bowl. Nicely designed bowls! The menu features food of many varieties - Western, Pasta, Chinese, Thai and etc. Some of the dishes on picture, like the meat bun, really looks like shit.
I ordered a simple mini hotpot as I wanted some lighter food. It was not super fantastic to me, but my bf liked it. The red curry is nice, green curry so so, the meat bun is not bad, and the Thai chicken is tasty. All came in a set with a drink and soft-serve. We had the option to top up to get a urinal bottle which we can bring home lol. I found it a good container to carry my leftover drink around. The chocolate soft-serve is nice and thick too.
That was about it for that day. We roamed a little around Ximending and headed back to sleeeep.
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