Initial plan was we would travel by train back to Taipei and coach would travel by highway to Taipei with our luggages. However, the news reported that due to recent landslide that damage part of the highway road (only road back to Taipei from Hualien), we had to carry our own luggages and board the train back to Taipei. The coach has to stay in Hualien for few days until the temporary road is ready. There is a need to dig another road as the old road was completely damaged (a portion almost all gone).
We were so lucky that we are not planning to travel by road back to Taipei. Earlier on when we booked the tour package, we were told that it would be faster to take train than travel by road. Actually, it is a compulsory act to safeguard tourist safety. There are frequent earthquakes and landslides are common. We hope that no one is injured on this recent landslide. Wanted to watch the news on this report but maybe timing no good. We had no chance to watch it.
The train seats were very narrowed and we had to "squeeze" our big luggages in between the seats. There was no luggage holding area. Luckily, we only took a short distance and alighted at the 3rd stops. The travelling time is 1 hour.
Today's 1st itinerary was to have lunch at Taipei 101 85th floor restaurant. ASA is the only travel agency that the restaurant accepted to serve tour group. For time being, no other agencies has this in their itineraries. As we were just given 2 hours to have lunch + shopping, by the time we finished our lunch (fine dining but quite fast serving), we left 45mins to walk around the shopping mall. Did not buy anything again.
Next, we stopped to buy pineapple tarts from their famous store (No 1 pineapple tarts awarded for 5 consecutive years). We bought some other items and made it to store in a box for easier check in. No need to stuff in our luggages. Good lei.
After that, we went to Ximending (西门町) for shopping. Was just given 1 1/2 hr and we only walked around and bought some of their local food to munch. Stopped at a store selling socks and we each bought a few pairs. Made in Taiwan so should be safe lah.
After that, we were sent to hotel and the night is free and easy. Our hotel is quite near Sogo so we walked about 15mins and reached the mall. Had a good dinner at 鼎泰奉. This is the store that has good standard. Standard dropped for the few branches in Singapore. Origin still the best. By the time we finished our dinner, it was quite late hence we walked to a 24 hour bookshop. Walked the wrong way and took addition time to reach there. Found 3 of the recommended books by our tour guide. Books in Taipei are cheap. The 3 books cost NT$810 only which is about S$7 averagely. Wanted to buy one more but could not find it.
So fast, tomorrow we are going back to Singapore.
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