My itinerary for today was to go to Taichung Metropolitan Park in the morning followed by Feng Chia Night Market and ending with walking around Taichung Station. I had a good breakfast buffet provided by Cityinn Hotel!
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| Round 1 |
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| Round 2 |
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| Round 3 |
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| Restaurant Entrance |
It started pouring after I had my breakfast and the park was rather inaccessible as one has to walk 30-40min after alighting from the bus. So I changed my plan and headed straight to Feng Chia Night Market (Wenhua Road) as the opening hours stated online is 12pm-2am. There're a few buses to get there from Taichung Station. I took bus 35 (NT 25) and arrived at Feng Chia University bus stop in about an hour time.
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| Rainy afternoon |
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| Cramped bus 35 |
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| I had to stand at the door |
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| Temporary bus card (you'll be given at the point you board the bus and you will pay accordingly in cash when you scan the card before you alight) |
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| Finally gotten a seat at the back |
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| Feng Chia University Stop |
Please do not go to a NIGHT market in the afternoon. Only a few stalls/shops were opened in the afternoon. You can see how empty it was in the afternoon from the pictures below. But!!! I had the best 木瓜牛奶 (Papaya Milk)!!
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| Entrance of Feng Chia Night Market |
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| Empty... |
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| My friends' favourite UFO machines |
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| Quite a bit of crowd here despite the emptiness of the street so I reckon that the food should be good, I didn't try though |
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| Book Rental House |
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| BEST PAPAYA MILK DRINK STALL!! |
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| Papaya Milk, YUMMY!! NT 45 |
I don't really like to walk in the rain, with an umbrella, and I found somewhere next to Tai Feng Xue Yuan to sit down and check out where else I can go to spend some time so that I can come back to Feng Chia Night Market in the evening. Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) seems to be quite near from Feng Chia Night Market as seen from the map. To be sure of the direction, I asked a lady where is Shin Kong Mitsukoshi and she said that it's quite far away to walk and even offered me a ride! She's so nice! But I didn't wish to trouble her and I also want to shed off some time since it's still early. So I set off and move towards the shopping mall!
See this cute doggie 'riding' a bike!!! So kawaii!!
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| Cute dog! |
I spotted a shop selling 水煎包 (Shuijian Bao) and got one for myself. Yum yum! ^^ Taiwan food are really damn good. Any random shops/stalls can satisfy your taste bud!
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| Shuijian Bao Shop |
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| Took at this spot on purpose as I wanna capture the kids' fav machines behind |
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| Ohhhh look at it!! <3 |
Finally, after walking for ONE HOUR, I saw a glimpse of the building!!! I went into Mcdonald's for the toilet and some rest before heading to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi.
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| Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (Building at the back) |
Alright,
something scary happened after I crossed the bridge. A guy, Taiwanese, came up to me, showed me his IC (proving that he's staying in TW), told me that he needs to get to Taipei and didn't have enough cash. I dislike people asking me for money, to be honest. He told me he needs money to take the High Speed Rail. I asked him how much he needs, he said NT 140 (SGD 6). At that point of time, I couldn't mentally calculate how much is that amount in SGD and my first reaction was 'HUH?!'. I rejected him by saying no. However, he pressed on and asked me for NT 40 so that he can at least take a bus to High speed rail station. I rejected again. HIS FACE CHANGED and didn't say another word. I found it so ridiculous as I don't owe him anything and he should at least say 'its okay' when I turned him down. Seriously???? Okay, then I walked off. After a few seconds, I turned back, he's walking behind me as though he's following me! And when I turned to look, he stopped. I was so anxious as I'm so afraid that he's really following me. Thus I paced up and kept turning back to look, he's still walking and looking at me. Until a point, I finally lost sight of him when I turned back. I quickly crossed the street and walked into the mall. Arghhhh, I can't imagine how it might end up if he really flare up when I didn't give him money.
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| The bridge before meeting the man |
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| Shinkong Mitsukoshi |
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| Shinkong Mitsukoshi Building |
This mall is like one of the many similar shopping malls in Orchard Road. Nothing much to buy except for branded goods. But I'm pretty sure that this mall is SAFE. I saw very nice tumblers at Starbucks!! I didn't buy though.
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| Pretty Starbucks Cups and Tumblers |
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| Starbucks Tumblers |
I was back to Feng Chia Night Market at about 4.45pm after a 10-15min bus ride from Shinkong Mitsukoshi. Time to see, shop and eat!!
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| All stalls were opened |
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| A bit scary |
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| Taiwan Koi |
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| I prefer Singapore's Koi Honey Milk Tea |
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| Getting more and more crowded! |
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| Yummy chicken thigh! |
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| Look at the different types of mushrooms! |
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| Seems popular but I didn't bother to queue |
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| Look at this queue.......... |
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| O.O |
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| It's nice but there's prawn so I had to eat selectively. |
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| Everyone's queuing for the toilet at Family Mart |
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| Bye bye Feng Chia Night Market |
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| On Bus 35 back to hotel |
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| Taichung Station |
Feng Chia Night Market is a food and cheap shopping heaven!! If you plan to go to Taichung, going there is a MUST. Day 2 was good and how I wished the incident in the afternoon never happened. Thank you everyone who asked me to be careful. I will be on higher alert. I'll be leaving Taichung on Day 3 to Taipei. =)
More on Solo Trip to Taiwan
Day 1: Taipei to Taichung
Day 3: Taichung to Taipei
Day 4: Taipei
Day 5 & 6: Taipei
Hi,
ReplyDeleteCan I check with you on how do you travel around in Taichung by buses? Do you get a card like Easycard in Taipei or do you pay by cash for every right?
Hello, I paid by cash. I'd recommend you to get the EasyCard as it will be more convenient.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeletei ll be solo travelling to TW in march too but im a rly blur person, and only landing in TW at 535am in the wee hrs .
I need the easiest and cheapest way to TP cus my accom is around wanhua. The buses are confusing so im not sure how to get around!
Hi Xinyi, the cheapest way to get into the city is by Bus. You can check the timetable and the buses that can take you to the place where you are staying via this web link: http://www.taoyuan-airport.com/english/Buses/
DeleteHowever, if you don't want to be confused, the best way is to take the high speed rail and change to their MRT to the station nearest to your accommodation. It's not that expensive either.
Good luck!
how did you get back from fengjia night market to taichung station!!
ReplyDeleteHi Russell, as stated in this blog post, I took bus 35 back to Taichung Station from Feng Chia University right next to Feng Chia Night Market.
DeleteHi, I will be travelling to TW next month and I would like to know if the bus driver will announce the upcoming stop for the passengers? or we have to look out ourselves?
ReplyDeletethank you!
Hello! Most of the buses have a digital display at the front of the bus to show you the next stop. Also, there will be automated announcement on the next stop in different languages, including Mandarin and English.
DeleteHi! Thank you for clearing my doubts!
DeleteReally appreciate it.:)
Cheers!