Today, hubby had to work. So it meant that I had a free today on my own! Hubby shared that there was a shop selling traditional Taiwanese breakfast slightly down the road opposite the hotel. So, I went there to try. It was not disappointing at all! They served yummy breakfast that was so value for money!
Then, I went back to the bus stop opposite the hotel along Chunri Road at Shuangfeng Rd. Intersection and waited for bus 1096, a direct bus to Taipei. I thought that since it was a ‘long distance’ bus, the service would be less frequent, just like how things are in Singapore. I was surprised that the bus came shortly! It was like a coach with comfortable seats. I found a seat and began my 40mins bus ride to Taipei.
The bus ends at Taipei Main Station (Zhengzhou) bus interchange. This is also where we would board the same bus back to the hotel. The moment I alighted, I felt glad to be back at a familiar place. This was my 3rd trip to Taipei, which is a city like Singapore, with very accessible public transport system. I was not afraid of getting lost at all.
Since I had the whole day to spare, I decided to pamper myself a little. I did a quick search of hair salons around the area and decided to make a trip to Shida near Taipower Building Station. As Shida was near a university, it was said that the area had many trendy hair salons that students frequent. Indeed, there were many along the stretch of shops along Shida Road. After considering a few, I went into 曼都髮型 師大店. It was 1 of the many outlets of a chain salon in Taiwan and definitely not the cheapest in the area. But the service was good. I had a TV screen to myself where I could choose a movie while they served a selection of drinks from their menu. Being me, I chose to watch a cartoon and drank their milk tea (we are in Taiwan!). 3 hours later, I came out with a coloured and shorter hair… Wondered if hubby could still recognise me later!
By then, I really needed to stretch my legs. I decided to head to the popular Xi Men Ding streets for shopping! With so much time at hand, I walked every little streets and found some nice couple jackets. Haha! A must-eat there is also the gigantic Hot Star Large Fried Chicken and Oyster Mee Sua. Usually I shared with hubby. That day, I felt so guilty finishing everything on my own!
Always a queue here 
I don’t usually do this in SG!
Before long, it was time for me to make my way to the Mitsui Outlet Park at Linkou by taking the Taoyuan Airport MRT line to Linkou MRT Station. From the Taipei main station, it took me only about 20mins to be at Linkou. According to hubby, he and his colleagues often went there for dinner and in particular, they liked the beef bbq at level 2 of the mall. Most major brands were also available at the mall. Being a partial indoor and outdoor concept mall, it was nice to have a stroll in the open and then hide indoors when it got too cold.
Perrine Travels 