Not an early riser even when I'm overseas. Or should I say, the weather and hotel's bed was soooooo comfortable, I honestly didn't want to wake up. Hahahaha!!
Headed out of hotel at about 11AM to meet up with the guys and headed straight to one of my favourite place in Taipei, 淡水!



Undoubtedly overwhelmed with excitement. I made sure I charged the camera, and even double checked it in the middle of the night just in case.... (Kiasu mad.) Took the train over because the station is directly outside the entrance of 淡水老街. You can get there through train, it's the last stop on the red line of Taipei's MRT!

Arriving at the destination, greeted by this "golden statue", hahahahahaha.



I thought he was really cool, even though I've met quite a few when I was in Europe. I mean, they all have their own style in this and I really thought it was cool, haha. Tough job because it was really cold and 淡水 is located by the seaside, so the breeze was really, really cold! Oh, do bring extra outerwear, scarfs or gloves if you're not someone that tolerates coldness well!



Before walking into 淡水老街, you can see booths that sells this almost everywhere. Trust me, quill eggs is a must try!



They sell a lot of cool stuff here! Not exactly a place where you will get all your pretty clothing and stuff, but you can definitely find some really adorable souvenirs here! The first shop I walked into got me crazy. I think I spent about half an hour inside looking at all the awfully adorable stuff they have? And they are really affordable!!






Lol, costume party and sort. I think the shop assistant probably thought I was nuts.

One of the thing you can definitely not miss when visiting 淡水 is the food they have.



Especially the "阿給"! It's the signature snack of 淡水! They are deep fried tofu stuffed with crystal noodles and fish paste. Like yongtaufoo like that, but it's stuffed with noodles.

We were so coped with touring the place, looking at things you don't usually find in Singapore that we didn't actually eat much. Because our main destination is the Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf... But we did try out a couple of famous local specialities recommended by the Wikipedia LOL.



In the first picture is the 魚酥. It's some kind of super crispy fish snack fried on the spot. Then you'll have to kebab them up yourself after buying a satay stick from the vendor.

Second picture is the famous 淡水魚丸! Oh.my.god. It was so delicious I actually video-ed a short clip and whatsapp to Clint because I was too excited about sharing this awesome fish ball. You know how some fish ball with filling inside has this really thick and rubber skin? And it's super hard to chew or even taste the "fish ball" itself. But this one is totally different! It's soft, but not soft like tofu, and then the filling will burst into your mouth with that overwhelming delicious flavourrrrrrr, omg. Okay, I am hungry now.

And then next is Strawberry Daifuku. Too good.... Toooooooo goood. Okay la, it's not actually one of the local specialities that you have to try but I added it into the picture anyway because I feel good food deserves credit. It's actually a kind of Japanese sweet with strawberries wrapped with red bean paste, and then wrapped with mochi. Haven't been to Japan, so I tried it first in Taiwan, hahahahaha.

To be honest, it's actually rather easy to spot all these food. Because they always have a longggggg queue waiting for it! Don't ever say you've visited 淡水 if you haven't try all these food, ok!! Must go try!!
Another thing that caught my eye was this.


You see, I'm a total dairy product fanatic. How could I miss this?! It's crispy on the outside and savouringly smooth on the inside. And had this super rich roasted milk taste and it's not too sweet. It feels like I'm eating a roasted 大白兔 Milk Candy bread. If you love milk candy, then you should never, never miss this.

淡水 is actually a rather simple place. It's just a street all the way down, so it's really easy to locate all these stores that I've mentioned! Keep a lookout, and you'll never miss it!

淡水 is also known as the paradise for 鐵蛋(Iron Egg). They have like.... more than 20 stores that sells 鐵蛋 there?!



And the super famous.....



阿婆铁蛋!!

But my favourite store is located somewhere near the entrance when you first walk into the streets. They sell the eggs packed individually in a big packaging with about 28 eggs inside for only 100NT? My favourite is the black pepper flavour!! I think they are the only store that sells it packed in individual packs, so I don't think it's hard to locate. Keep a look out on the right side when you walk in!



The zodiac clay models are dam cute la, hahaha.



Further down the coast from the Danshui old street is famous 淡水漁人碼頭. So we took a bus and headed towards 淡水漁人碼頭 and we were greeted by a full view of the superb pretty and romantic Lover's Bridge(情人橋) upon alighting the bus! Man, I'm missing this place already...







Apologies for the really messy and unglam shot. The wind was too strong..... I was almost blown away, x'D
After which we found a Starbucks nearby. This is by far the prettiest Starbucks I've ever visited. The interior is plain gorgeous and the lightings from the outside made the whole place a ready studio for anybody that loves taking pictures.





As much as I say it's pretty inside or whatsoever.... I didn't really snap much pictures lah. Too excited, forgot to camwhore, :(
The sky was turning dark, (Side note: The sun sets really early in Taiwan as compared to Singapore! By 5/6PM the sky is already as dark as it is in Singapore at about 8/9PM!) so we quickly made our way towards the bridge. You wouldn't want to miss the pretty view since you're already here, isn't it! But to be true, I would totally visit this Starbucks everyday if I'm living in Taiwan, hahahahahaha.







I really really love this place! Look at the view!!

It was said that a lot of guys bring their girlfriends here for proposal! How sweet right?! Not to forget the ambience... The bridge lights up at about 5:30PM. And trust me, the view is simply spectacular.



Find this place familiar? They filmed a lot of Taiwan dramas here!! Because it was getting really dark, and being foreigners, we get lost like really easily... so we quickly took a bus back to Tamsui old street before it gets too hard for us to see and left the place.



Walking back to where we came from, and did some shopping. Didn't buy anything because we were gonna visit the Fisherman's Wharf, and didn't want to have our hands full. And since we will be passing by the street again on our way back. So we bought everything we need and headed back to our hotel after that!

Forgot to mention... My dinner was 7-11's spaghetti. It tastes even nicer than some 6 star hotel food la!! Probably because I'm overseas.. Everything tastes nice to me. But it's been my favorite food ever since?! I would probably have that for dinner every single day the next time I visit Taiwan again. I think I have a picture of it! Shall post it up next time, hahahaha.

Oh ya. They have stores alongside the coast as well. Which is all the way on the right when you reach the street from the MRT. Instead of going into the street, you walk the outside of the street! They sell a lot of street snacks there and my favourite is this.....



Unlike those super duper chewy and hard to swallow cuttlefish, this one is tender and really juicy. And the skin is so crispyyyyyy I thought I was eating biscuits. Hahaha, maybe I exaggerated la, but it's damn nice. You must try. You'll love this even if you dislike cuttlefish.

Thank you for reading yet another long ass post of mine. I don't know if you've enjoyed it or not, but I sincerely hope it actually tempts you to visit Taiwan. Then maybe you can tabao a couple of 铁蛋 back for me? Hahahahaha!!

Bye!



Xx