Needless to say, I was exhausted from the lack of sleep. I informed the staff the moment they woke up and had a change of room. From a mixed room of 4 to an eight, with 6 other men. I couldn't say NO as it was the only one available, and it was just one more night. I decided to risk it after I was convinced that a staff was also staying in the same room.
It was BS last day in Taipei, so we went for breakfast (and bumped into the girls!). The bacon 蛋饼 is somewhat like crepe, but Chinese style. I totally enjoyed it, and I wondered what happened to all the other days in Taiwan, why did I miss out such good stuff!! Then a little steamed bun sprinkled with sesame and a yogurt milk tea. Then I parted with BS who left to do his last minute shopping, I headed to find Havaianas and my skincare product which is 25% cheaper in Taiwan! On the way, I chanced upon some illegal stalls along the street selling dresses, they were very pretty... after some bargaining, I got a beautiful blue maxi dress.
I caught up with the girls again to head to Danshui, it was our last day hanging out together as they would leave noon the following day. Danshui is the last stop on the red line and it didn't take as long as we thought, but my lack of sleep was turning me into a zombie. I didn't feel as enthusiastic as I wanted to be. We found Havaianas though which was a good consolation! Then we wondered around to sample the delicacies of Danshui. The tall ice-cream, BBQ squid, fish balls and 阿给 (tofu with fishcake and rice vermicelli) and some 鸡蛋糕 (mini sponge balls). We also did the caricature by the riverside, it was 100NT, so don't expect too much ;) It was a fun experience but the uncle seemed a bit weird and violent from the conversation we had while he was drawing us. Then we did some last minute souvenir shopping, and enjoyed the sunset while we walked back to the station. It's definitely worth a daytrip I say.The girls headed back to Shilin for more shopping, and I had myself a date with Carrie at Ximending who was in town for the weekend! Ximending is an uptown where you can find more expensive but not necessary better clothings. I didn't have the chance to eat the 阿宗面线，food totally slipped out of my mind after a sleepless night. All my friends persuaded me not to go back to the hostel, and even offered me to stay with them but it was too much of a hassle. Well I guess I wanted to face my fear... that was the only way to overcome it.
Anyway, at Ximending, there is the 西门红楼, also known as The Red House. It is a historic building that offers space for creative and cultural exhibitions. Very arty! I was obsessed with it a bit too much that I almost missed meeting up with Carrie! There's this area where there were various petite boutiques with locally designed merchandise and I swear they were so delicately designed or made with love that I wished I had more money to spend on them! It was great to catch up with Carrie, we chatted while we window-shopped and talked about the plan for the following day. It wasn't too long before fatigue hit me hard. I wanted to do Shi-da nightmarket again but I wasn't really up for it. Sure enough, I bumped into the Finnish guy upon my return, he sure looked stunned to still see me around. I felt my stomach growling and went out to the supermarket to get a cup noodle and a packet of juice as fruit stalls had already closed by then.
I chatted with a few other Singaporeans and a roommate who definitely was more decent, but I just couldn't place my trust easily anymore. That night at 2am, I went to bed alone, no one was back yet. Each time the door opened, my subconscious mind would wake me up to check who was coming in... I was so glad when I woke up the following morning, everything was over :) I packed up, ready for check-out and lunch with Carrie.
Carrie took me to a tiny Vietnamese restaurant where she likes to dine, we had the vietnamese soup noodles. Then we were supposed to hunt for this chocolate place but it turned out that it wasn't selling their cakes in pieces, only as wholes. So we moved on to have Movenpick ice cream, Dan (my friend's friend) turned up and we all enjoyed the short time together. Then it was the last minute shopping time for me, Carrie and I went to Wufenpu 五分埔。She wasn't really keen at first, she said there wasn't much stuff for her. But after that trip, I think she has since changed her mind! LOL.
Wufenpu was really easy to get to from the metro station. However we got there near 2pm, and it seemed like there was too much to see and shop. The place was overwhelming. This is the place where wholesalers sell their clothes in bulk (don't go on Monday as it's only for distributors). I got myself quite a few good deals, hesitant about some... as cheap doesn't usually mean good! I kept prolonging my time there and I almost screwed up my flight! Before I left Wufenpu, I bought a packet of cherry tomatoes with prunes - my favourite!
It was a mad mad rush to the airport, not to mention trying to stuff my purchase into the already stuffed bags. I had to lug my bags to the metro station, then a high speed train to Taoyuan from Taipei Main Station, followed by another shuttle bus to Terminal 1. And guess what time was the flight? 730pm. I probably had to check in by 645pm latest. I left the hostel at 510pm... it left me with 1 hour 35 mins! I had mis-calculated the time, and best of all, left out the queueing time to get my high speed train ticket and the waiting time for train and shuttle bus. God was indeed looking after me, after 10 minutes in the queue, the train staff opened up the door for those whom would get free-seating seats and paid in cash, immediately I went for it. It saved my life! I got onto the train, and smoothly enough, got onto the shuttle without much waiting!
I arrived safely at the airport and checked in just about 645pm. I had some money left but there was nothing to get in the airport. I bought myself a drink, smiled at how miraculously I arrived there. I was one of the last to board... and I believed the person next to me had missed his/her flight, ended up having more leg room for myself! I sat beside a hunky Chinese guy who turned out to be Taiwanese, and we had a nice conversation.
And so this is the end of my Taiwan trip... Thanks for reading, thank God for seeing me through!
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