2014 North Taiwan Round Island Road Trip - Day 1 - Keelung

For those who are interested in the planning of this trip, the post can be found here.

Finally, it's the day we are going to Taiwan. We reached the airport at 7 am for our 830 am flight, which is rather late.

Within 10 minutes of fuss free check in at the business class counter, we were in the lounge on the airside of Changi Terminal 3. A light breakfast from the lounge buffet selection, and we're off to the gate 45 minutes prior to gate closing.

We landed 30 minutes late due to the delayed take off, cleared the immigration and reached the arrivals area of Taoyuan Terminal 2.

First things first, to buy a Taiwanese sim card for the next 10 days. There are 3 major carriers in Taiwan, all 3 have more or less the same package for tourist, ranging from 3 days to 30 days prepaid package. I chose the 10 days package, which will give me unlimited data for the next 10 days and NT$100 for calls.

Next, we met with the AVIS car rental staff, who drove us to their office on the outskirts of the airport to do the rental paperwork. We booked a 1.6lit Ford Focus hatch for 10 days, which cost NT$11800, and they even throw in the GPS for free.

Once all the paperwork is settled, we're well on our way.

Picking up our rental car, a Ford Focus 1.6

First stop, Harbour view Hotel, Keelung city, Taiwan.

Driving on the highway, bypassing Taipei city

And Songshan Airport

Reaching Keelung City

We chose this hotel because it's directly in front of the harbour (most of their rooms has a harbour facing window), cost S$100/night, and most importantly, is 5 minutes to our main objective in Keelung, which is miaokou night market (庙口夜市).

The only catch? There is no parking at the hotel, and we have to park at a public carpark 10 minutes walk away. Small first world problem.

Checking in, we are greeted by the friendly staff and given the keys to our harbour facing room on the 8th floor.

The room is designed with minimalist intention in mind, comes with pretty much the basic items as expected in a hotel (TV, Tea/Coffee making facilities, attached bathroom with toilet etc).

View out from the room window

Once we put our stuff, we took a walk down at the harbour before heading to the night market.

Miaokou night market is so named because the original market is located at the entrance of the market, thus the name miao4 (庙) kou3 (口), which literally means Temple Mouth.

There are 3 food items which this night market is known for. (1) Butter Crab (奶油螃蟹), (2) Sandwich (三明治) and (3) Bubble Ice (泡泡冰).

There are no shortage of stalls selling Butter Crabs We randomly chose one and sat down. Immediately, we were offered "fresh" crabs instead of "frozen" crabs. The "fresh" ones cost almost 3 times as much, but taste just like the frozen ones. So guys, please take note not to fall into their tricks.

The next stall we head to sells all types of sandwich. When we ordered, the lady told us the waiting time is minimum 45 minutes. So we placed the order and went looking for the bubble ice.

When we place our order, the number they are serving is around 600.

The bubble ice like a mixture of shaved and crushed ice, but packed more solidly and comes in many different flavours, from peanut butter to lime to corn.

We then slowly made our way back to the stall selling sandwich, and waited another 20 minutes for our sandwich.

Whether the wait is worth it, it's very difficult to say. It depends on what items on the menu you order. We ordered the pork chop sandwich, and find it nothing extraordinary.

We went back to the hotel, stomach fully satisfied and tired after a long day.

Night lights of Keelung Harbour

Upcoming post will be on Jinguashi (金瓜石), Jiufen (九份) & Shifen (十分).