Dorinda Gym

Solo Taipei Trip- Day 2 Hiking Trip to 金面山

This might be my favourite post among all the others that I have posted. Even thinking about it now makes me happy. First of all, I had a great coffee with great cafe ambience to start off my day. Then I had a great workout hiking up, last but not least I was on the hilltop overlooking the whole Taipei city. Ahh... just satisfaction.

1st stop - Louisa Cafe 路易莎咖啡

So when I reached the Nei Hu 内湖 station it was already way passed breakfast time, like almost 12 noon already. But I was starvingggg and I couldn't possibly let myself go hiking without some food in my stomach right.

" A (good) coffee a day, makes me happy for the whole day."

After scouting around the area I decided to go to this cafe with a motto that suits me well "Coffee For Life". Yasss, also I checked with the staff they do sell sandwich and wrap (smething filling) before heading in.

COFFEE FOR LIFE

I went in October and they had these cute little Halloween decorations around the shop. It's a rather small shop with about four or five tables and capacity of maybe 20 people. But I liked how it was, a small and cozy cafe. Just look at the menu, simple and clear. Check out the way they place the mugs and magic powder (coffee powder I mean).

Love everything about the cashier and barista area.

Halloween theme. What a geat wall that can be updated accordingly. They even have Wifi password there (lol! I only realised now)

Cappuccino as usual

I was too hungry and ate the wrap right away. It was really good actually. Sorry I don't have a pic here, but trust me it was really worth the try. Filling and delicious at the same. Ohh, before I forgot, I brought this book along with me to kinda record some of my adventures in Taipei. It was THE FIRST TIME I traveled alone to visit a new country and I wanted to make sure I rmb every single bit of it.

Before coming here I actually saw one way of making memorable souvenirs (especially for coffee lover!) is by collecting the coffee stain from the coffee mug that you drank from. I was planning to do that until I realised they gave me a paper cup. Noooooooooo TT Nevertheless I did my best to create it. I even drew the logo of the cafe, quite cute huh? =)

One of the common scenes in Taipei is a parking space of these orange Ubike. They have it at a lot of places. Basically you just have to tap the card to activate/release the bike from its' lock, then just ride! And when you're done with it, just park it any Ubike parking space. I actually wanted to try it out but didn't manage to. I shall make sure I try it the next visit.

Do you know how to ride a bike?

Taipei Nei Hu neighbourhood

Now let the adventure begins~
Walking around the neighbourhood area is rather relaxing. the buildings are quite different from what we have in Malaysia. It feels like I'm in Japan or smtg. Everything here makes me happy, even the font of the shop makes me happy. It feels like everyone is living their life at their own pace and there's no need to rush or shout or be rude at anyone.

Don't you feel relaxing looking at this?

I just find these residential buildings really cute

dorindagym in Taipei ya'll

While setting my camera~ Ohh so how did I manage to take these photos on my own while traveling alone? The answer is.... I could connect my camera to my phone though Bluetooth to take photo.

Can you see my travel card inside my phone cover?

Hello!

Purposely bought this drawstring bag from the Shi Lin night market the night before (I only had a handbag with me!) and so a shout-out for it in this picture

Last one before continuing the journey, at this point I still don't know if I'm heading the right direction. Just blindly following the Google map.

2nd stop - Neihu and Shi Lin Hiking Trail 金面山

金面山亲山步道

Here's the entrance

Before sweating and all

Took this in case I got lost inside

The road less taken?

From here, you can see that taking photo for yourself doesn't always turn out like how you imagined.

Failed

Check

Failed

Failed haih

Failed again

Failed

Okay fine I give up, selfie will do heeeee =P

After that, I found myself walking in the woods ALONE. It was not scary at first because I could still seepeople walking down. But after that what accompanied was just the sound of bugs or cangkerik (I think) and also my ultimate enemy- SANDFLIES. What made it even scarier was when my phone's battery started to drain out. I think the Google map really consumed much of the battery and also because I connected the Bluetooth earlier.

So I gathered all my courage and kept climbing and climbing until I reached this. Does this look like rock-climbing to you? Because I felt like I was rock climbing looo!

Can you see how steep it is? It's like freaking 45°

So I continued to climb by holding closely to the rope provided and Thank God I survived!

View while climbing

View after finished 'rock-climbing'

yassss I survived

Then I thought 'Hmm how come it looked a bit different from what I saw here?"

So while I was catching my breathe and resting on the rock, I saw a couple walking down. The i asked them if there are more up there. And the answer is "Yes! just a little more and you'll get there already. Add oil!"

"Well I guess I gotta keep climbing then"

FINALLY~~~~~~~

Getting here:

地址：臺北市內湖區五指山系西南稜

捷運文湖線西湖站一號出口

If you haven't read the other posts:

Day 1- SOLO TAIPEI TRIP- DAY 1 DAN SHUI 淡水

Day 3- SOLO TAIPEI TRIP- DAY 3 (BYE TIMEHOUSE - PABLO - TAIPEI ZOO - 美浓现做刀切牛肉面馆)

XOXO, Mel

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, by dorindagym

Dan Shui

Solo Taipei Trip- Day 1 Dan Shui 淡水

Here I am, finally got some time to sit down and write about my detailed Taiwan trip. Should I write about my hiking trip to 金面山 first? Obviously from my blog title you'd know I'm not writing bout it yet. I'm quite tired now so better write something less intense first.

So here is the Dan Shui train station. I really liked the red-bricked station, dunno why it gives me the Korean vibes. Basically 淡水 is a place where many locals go to. It's a fishing area and night market. Many families come here to spend their evening and eventually have dinner here I guess. It's a picnic perfect place.

Basically you can come empty handed and still have a picnic going on. They have the conventional shops here at the station like 7-11 and there's one selling sushi bento as well. If not, simply just head into the night market to get food.

I found a nice spot and sat down sipping the coffee I bought from 7-11. I can tell you it was one of those moments you find peace with nature and also yourself. I kinda felt that the moment froze. I was sitting there, seeing scenes of children playing hide-and-seek with their parents and grandparents, owners walking their dogs and bunch of friends having fun together. It is as if my soul was cleansed lol, but with this kinda breathtaking view, chilly wind and these heart warming scenes I really felt so at peace.

This was the view from where I sat, but I was actually paying more attention to a boy playing hide-and-seek with his grandma. The grandma went to hide but cannot seem to not look for the grandson whose eyes were closed and were counting from 10 to 1.

They were having such a good time. To think of it, how many kids now actually talk and play with their grandma? What they cannot stop doing is to have their eyes and hands glued to smartphones or tablets. Much feels... Hmm.. I don't remember ever playing hide-and-seek with my grandma before she passed away.

They rent bikes and provide special lanes here so feel free and safe to ride.

Hello uncle, I think you didn't know you accidentally posed for me

Here comes a short part on the night market, first of all I wasn't really hungry and second, i'm not a foodie. Hence the brief part.

Sooo, the minute I saw this I was like "omg isn't this the one ppl had in Korea??" I quickly got my hands on it. IT WAS REEEALLY DISAPPOINTING =( but how bad was it???

1. It melted wayyyy too quickly. Only 1 explanation, it contained too much water/liquid. (which brings to the second point)

2. It didn't taste like chocolate vanilla ice-cream at all! It didn't even taste like ice-cream. There's no vanilla nor chocolate taste to it =(

3. The cone/biscuit wasn't crunchy at all, as a matter of fact, it was soft. "简单来说-就是漏风了"

Next, I ate something filling. This was really average. But extra points given as the boss is some Mandarin-speaking Arabian guy who kept promoting “不好吃，不用给钱”

Our Tandoori is much much better la

Lastly-quail eggs. Also mehh, so so only.

Thank God I didn't come for the food. The view was what I wanted. Somewhere relaxing for me to have some peace of mind. My ultimate advice is... Go to Dan Shui! but go for view not food.

Here's a video (which I really didn't plan at all) of me walking around Dan Shui. I really liked the game stations, you cannot find them in Malaysia's night market. (Imagining those scenes where the guy is an expert shooter then gets the girl the biggest teddy bear...)

Update: 戀戀時光三重館 (Time House)

I wanted to share where I stayed in this Day 1 post. So I booked a room through Agoda for 3 days 2 nights. It was a female dormitory with 2 beds in 1 room. Bear in mind, this hostel does not have 24 hours check in. There is only 1 staff that takes care of everything, from checking-in to making up the room.

Price:

HKD 138.44 for 2 nights, which is equivalent to RM77 or NTD534 (DIRT CHEAP!!).

Location:

Here is the address- No.2, Aly. 1, Ln. 50, Zhonghua Rd.

Chinese: 中華路50巷1弄2號

I think the location is not the best but is fine, it's a 10-minutes bus ride from the Taipei station. There are eateries in the neighburhood and 24-hours convenient shop like Family Mart.

Facilities/Amenities:

The hostel provided basic things like coffee, cup noodles, pots and utensils, eggs, washing machine and dryer. In the room, towel, slippers, cup and hangers are prepared.

Pictures: