whatevermelvin: Holiday in Taipei (part 1)

After seven overseas trips in 2010 (Siem Reap in Feb, Las Vegas in Mar, Hong Kong in Jul, Ho Chi Minh in Aug, Vancouver in Sep, Amsterdam in Nov, Kuala Lumpur in Nov), I'm kicking off my first trip for 2011 in January! I had planned this trip in July 2010 with Kathryn. There were supposed to be others who expressed interest in going as well, but somehow everyone had a change of plans and it was just Kathryn and me. But I guess that's also good since its easier to accommodate to each other instead of a big group with varied interests.

Useful Taipei planning links
For those who need reference materials, I've compiled some useful info for travel to Taipei.

Subway map - map of the overall subway system.
Tourist map - maps of each subway station so that you can plan your travels around each station.
Wikitravel - overarching summary of travelling in Taipei
Tripadvisor - my favourite travel reference site
Taipei Tourism - the official Taipei tourism site

We were lucky to have flown on Tiger Airways' first flight to Taipei. The Taipei Tourism Board handed out EasyGo cards with NT50 credits inside and also NT100 worth of vouchers that can be used at the night markets.

EasyGo card with a special design

We arrived at 8 plus at night. Taipei was cold... even colder than when I went to Amsterdam in October/November last year. This is our hotel - Wonstar Ximen. Quite small, but cosy and comfortable.

A shot of the door with Kathryn

The 2 twin beds

Another angle of the room (from the beds)

The bathroom. Nice design right? It even has a rain shower head!

After checking in at Wonstar Ximen, we went out to eat at a nearby street. Here's what we had - orh lua (豪煎), lu rou fan (鲁肉饭), cold tofu with preserved egg (皮蛋豆腐) and mo yu geng (墨鱼羹).