Woke up relatively early, at about 8.30am. And wore my new dress that I bought at Wufengpu during Day 2 of my Taiwan trip. Haha. =P Anyway, we had a more filling breakfast near our hotel because it's going to be a long day today.

Here's my Tuna Crossiant, with Hot Tea and a small piece of Chocolate Cake.

Da's French Toast with Ham and Cheese.

After breakfast, we headed to Taipei Main Station and walked to the TRA(Taiwan Railway Administration, 台灣鐵路管理局) section. For those of you who are not sure where to go, below is a photo where we bought our tickets to head towards 十分 Shi Fen.

So, we bought our train tickets from Taipei Main Station to Rui Fang Station (TRA, NOT MRT). These train timings are very rigid and operates every 1 hour; here are some timings to note: 9.15am, 10.15am and 12.00pm. The ride to Rui Fang Station will take about 50 minutes.

Because we reached quite late, we bought the 12:00pm tickets to Rui Fang Station. But it was about 45 mins to 12pm, so we went out of the station, and decided to explore around. We settled in a small shophouse that sells noodles, and decided to buy a snack to munch on. Lol.

Haha. We seem to be eating everytime. =P

Headed back to the station, and decided to pass some time. LOL. =P

Map of the entire Taiwan, and the TRA stations.

Finally, at 11:55pm the train arrived and we boarded the train. There were already stipulated seats for us to settle in. There was more than enough leg room for us, so we snoozed a bit and waited for the train to roll towards Rui Fang Station. =)

Rui Fang Station!

At Rui Fang Station, we bought the 平溪 Ping Xi one-day pass (52 TWD) to take towards 十分 Shi Fen Station. Boarding of the train is at the same platform, and the train is much smaller too. Then we alighted at 十分 Shi Fen Station.

From the platform, cross over to the other side and start exploring! Lol. Anyway, we were hungry, so we bought one Taiwan Sausage. And golly, the sausage tasted heavenly. It is definitely not the same as those that are usually bought from Pasar Malams in Singapore. Haha. It's juicier and the meat is so sweet and tender. YUMMY!!

We walked along the train tracks, and saw a lot of people writing stuff on lanterns. The cost of a huge lantern starts from TWD 100 for 2 colors, up to TWD 200 for 6. Also, there are different colour combinations, like red symbolises good relationships, white symbolises good health, etc. Haha. Da and I didn't buy one lantern to write, because we are kind of realists, so we prefer watching people releasing their lanterns. Heh. Apparently, you can attach some fire crackers at the end of the lantern. =) We got a shock when we heard some fire cracker sounds coming from on top of us. LOL. =X /noobs HAHA!!

We were contemplating whether we should head over to Shifen Waterfalls. But, being lazy, we decided not to. LOL. So, we continued walking until we reached a bridge, which can be easily seen from the Shi Fen station itself. =)

Cam-hored a bit, but I shan't put too many pictures here. LOL. =P

By then, it was about 3pm, so we decided to head back to Ruifang station to go to Jiu Fen 九份! So we took the train back and alighted at Ruifang station. We walked out of the station and crossed the road to a bus stop. We did ask the information booth there for the buses that head towards Jiu Fen. The bus stop is kind of in front a convenience store, if you were wondering. =) Heh. The bus fare was about 50 TWD, if my memory didn't fail me. =X And we alighted at the Jiu Fen bus stop. If you are worried that you might miss the stop, don't. Haha. The bus driver will announce the stop name aloud, or you can ask the driver to tell you too. =)

After alighting, the first thing we though of was FOOD!! Haha. Seriously, we are like hungry kids on a mission to eat everything. =P So, we explored around Jiu Fen. There are quite a lot of good food to choose from. So we followed internet sources and recommendations. Haha. =D

This stall is quite hard to miss because it is plastered with so many photos of the stall owner with actors and actresses. Lol.

We ordered one lu rou fan and a mixture of fish balls soup. There were so many different types of fish balls, and they all have unique tastes!! Definitely a MUST try!!

Another thing we ate is the Lai Ah Po Yu Yuan. It is like a soup (hot/cold) with different flavours of chewy sticky balls, such as Yam, Sweet Potato, and I think I tasted Green Tea. There was something purplish too, think it was Beetroot? Haha. Too confused, but the blend of the different mild flavours were awesome!!

After that, we explored around somemore, taking more photos of the splendid view at the top of the mountain. =) Then, we headed out and bought Tai Yang Bing (Tai Yang Biscuits) from Li Yi! Taste great, and let me tell you, I am not a fan of snacks, but this is really good!! =D We bought 8 boxes, and each box cost 250 TWD. Haha. If you were wondering where we bought the Li Yi Tai Yang Bing(s), it is located outside the Jiu Fen streets, opposite the 7-eleven store, which can be seen when we alighted from the bus previously. Also, if you buy more than 1500 TWD, they can send it to your hotel room directly. Talk about service!!! =D And other than Tai Yang Bing(s), they do sell other stuff like, Pineapple Tarts, which also tasted great. But we had to take into account of the limited baggage weight we have, which is only 20kg for both of us. So we only bought Tai Yang Bings. Heh. =P

Us <3

A little kid feeding many cats. =D

So, after buying from Li Yi, we waited around the shop area, which also doubles as a bus stop. We didn't know that, but the bus just stopped there and a lot of people boarded, so we asked whether the bus will head towards 基龙 Keelung, and thankfully it did. Kudos to friendly Taiwanese and Taiwanese bus drivers!! So ya, it was a long bus ride, close to 1h. Haha. And the bus driver announced the stop to alight to go to 基龙庙口 Keelung-Miaokou Night Market. After alighting, we walked all the way straight till we saw a bridge, that resembles a Crane. Haha. Ya, it was apparently at the left side as we walked along the pavements, then we headed towards the bridge, crossing the road and we welcomed the sight of Keelung-Miaokou Night Market!! Whoots! We didn't get lost!!

Strangely, the first thing we ate was dessert. LOL! We bought Tou Hua (Soya Bean) that came with other chew-ables in it. Pardon me, I forgot the exact thing we bought because I forgot to take a photo of it. You have to forgive us, we were too hungry. Oops!! =X

The main street of the Night Market!

Crab Meat Soup and Glutinous rice(油饭)!! Super cheap and good food.

After that, we bought a drink, Papaya Milk! Mmmm. Sorry, no picture too. Haha. But there are many photos up there already. LOL! =X Anyway, we didn't eat too much for dinner because we had been constantly munching on something from breakfast. LOL!! =P So we decided to head back home at about 7.30pm, it was a really long and tiring day! So ya, the nearest train station there was 基龙 Keelung. For a moment, we almost got lost, but there were maps located on the "edges" of the Night Market, so we followed them. We walked along Zhongyi Road (Away from Rener Road), crossing a few roads, and finally a long overhead bridge, and finally reached that station. It was a 15 minutes walk, at least. =) Do take note, the train timings are hourly, so if you miss one train, you have to wait for the next one which is half an hour later!! Some timings from Keelung Station are 20.16 (can buy reserved seats), 20.43, 21.04, 21.17, 21.41, 22.12. So we took the train from Keelung Station to Taipei Train Station (48mins, 10 stops).

Our ticket back to Taipei Main Station. Really shagged, and we slept the 40 minutes away. LOL. =D We then took MRT to Ximen Station and walked back to hotel. By then, it was about 9.30pm. So, in my opinion, you should really plan the time of the train you want to board to get back to Taipei Main Station. Really important!! Anyway, we had an early night for Day 4 to commence! =D