Day 4: 迪欧全家福摄影、西门町+便所主题餐厅
Lol..title summarizes what we did for the rest of Day 4.

Left Jiufen at around 11.30am...caught the bus and descended down the mountain to Ruifang. Picked up the rest of our luggage from the luggage room at the station, and didn't need to wait too long for the next available train to Taipei. Agenda for the rest of the day was supposed to be studio shoot, 中正纪念堂 and 师大夜市....but actual schedule deviates quite a bit..will get to that later.

So on the train San called our Taipei minsu owner to confirm the check-in time..which was supposed to be 2pm onwards. Was told that we can't check in until 5pm or sth, coz landlady was held up by something (if my memory didnt fail me). We booked the 4pm slot for photoshoot..which leaves us with no where to go between 2-4pm. Called the studio and managed to shift our timeslot up...so we decided to go to the studio first (with all our luggage =.= but no choice la).



Still got a bit of time to spare when we arrived at Taipei...so walked around in Taipei Main Station..supposed to look for lunch but somehow nobody really felt like eating at that time. Then came across promotion at Baleno and we rather spontaneously decided to buy clothes for photoshoot..sort of to have a more standardised look for photoshoot hahah. Then metro-ed to C.K.S Memorial Hall station.

Bit of background on the photoshoot. Was KH's idea actually to do a proper studio shoot in Taipei. Then few days after he mentioned the idea a Groupon appeared (he has been following Groupon Taiwan for a while to see what deals we can get for our trip)...appears to be rather cheap, NT$1680 for a family of 4 package and additional $600 for a fifth person. Though we are only allowed one set of casual wear and light makeup. Didnt think too much and we just went ahead and bought the Groupon (coz it was expiring soon too). Honestly thought they will be providing the casual wear too but the rest told me we are supposed to prep ourselves...and before the trip Stel went online to hunt for reviews of the studio and the results were very negative. Was thinking "oh shit what have we landed ourselves in" but then..bought already mah...just cross our fingers and went lor.

Somehow ended up managing to shoot two sets of casual wear...photographer was quite okay (ok i duno how to judge this anyway hahaha but seemed rether pro). But didnt know photoshoot can get so tiring. Or maybe just sian-ed by the weather...was looking outside the window and thinking "haizzz when will the rain stop..still got many things to do on the itinerary!" Prolly more affected than the rest coz this part of the trip is planned by yours truly. But anyway...finished the shoot...arranged to come back to view the photos on Friday. Was around 6.30-7pm by then.





Metro-ed to 西门 Station...and got directed over to our place by the landlady over the phone. Hahah. Settled down and chatted with the landlady for a while, had to pay a refundable 200RM deposit (probably coz we are supposedly from Malaysia so she requested Ringgit, though it still doesnt make much sense to me). When we told her we plan to go 师大夜市...she was like.."oh? you all didnt know? It closed down already. Or most part of it.".....Research failed =.= Apparently coz it was situated in an area which was not really demarcated for such use by the city planning people...so it is one of the first ones to be axed by the govt. Kind of sad coz was looking forward to it as friends who have been to Taipei before actually said it is better than the more famous 士林. Decided to hang around within 西门町area instead..given that it is actually not that early...8pm ++. And everybody is starving..so off we go to the Modern Toilet Restaurant in XMD!









Hmm..review - not too bad la. Although its kind of pricey for the things they serve..but the shaved ice is definitely worth the money. Though it's sinful and all. Hahah. Walked around XMD, half heartedly hunting for KTV but was turned off by the price, and ended up in Watsons for an hour or so? Stel was hunting for mosquito bite cream and mosquito repellents, suspected that she got bitten in Hualien/Jiufen and also on landlady's advise because we told her we are going Taichung after Taipei and mosquitoes there are supposedly even more ganas.

Interesting sight...the so-called illegal hawkers and vendors started appearing on XMD streets after 11...when regular shops have closed for the day..food stuff, clothes and accessories all on sale...and police regularly make patrols but unless they don't run or at least pretend to run...they won't be caught. It's sort of funny to see them half heartedly picking up their push carts and wheeling it about 40metres away, then continue selling. And their customers would have to follow them around too haha.


End of the day, supposed to retire early because according to schedule we have quite a number of places to visit the next day...unfortunately..rain and other factors come into play so we didnt cover as much...stay tuned!

Labels: taiwan