Trip to Taiwan - Part 13

The day before our departure is also the day we had been waiting (especially for heavy shoppers) and maybe not, since it's the last day.
Plans for today would be shopping time in Tamsui Street and Shi Lin Night market.
Rejoice shoppers! The way we left the hotel reminds me of when we departed to Presidential Palace on our second day after our arrival here. Can't believe that it's already our last day, because we lined up at the lobby and walked out of the building in groups.

Anyway, to get to the Tamsui Street, we had to catch an MRT until it reached like...the last station. Apparently the last station was located at the bay, so we could see the sea from there.
Tamsui Street was awfully packed with people, and you're also going to find some foreigners strolling around this place.

The place is nice though, especially for heavy shoppers, even though it wasn't filled with boutiques, shoe stores, and other clothing shops all around.
Just like Liu He in Kaohsiung, the market was also packed with food stalls all around. So boutiques and food stalls existed in balance.

As it was the last day of shopping in Taiwan, we went all shopping-mode-on. As for me, I didn't shop much the day before, but as this was the last day, I decided to spend the money I'd saved before to shop in this huge market. Very worth it, indeed. The girls of my group even bought the backpacks for tomorrow's departure. Since we had shopped like crazy before and that the luggages and the cabin bags were nearly full, we decided to purchase a backpack instead to stuff some things into it instead of shoulder or hand bags.

The backpacks we got have the same styles yet different colors. So each girl of our group got different colors. I got mine a hot pink one, others had yellow, red, soft pink, purple, etc. Can't wait to wear it tomorrow.
I spotted a claw machine with many cute pink panther dolls in it!

After shopping, we stumbled upon Laoshi and some boys from other groups and he said that at the end of the road, there was this small resto selling the so-called tastiest mango ice. Lao Shi had recommended something like this though, and it was the noodle we ate back in Ximending. I wondered if this mango ice he recommended would taste as tasty as he said.

We ordered a huge plate to be shared to everyone and it was absolutely tasty!!

Then we strolled a bit more and some of my friends decided to buy mochi. After that, we got back to near the MRT station before moving to the second yet the most anticipated market, Shi Lin night market.

Anyway there's this small orchestra show at the sidewalk. So intriguing.

The journey from Tamsui to ShiLin didn't take much time by MRT. After a few stops, we finally made it to the well-known night market in Taipei.

Spotted!
The Pentul Family!
Karin as the dad, Sonya as the daughter, and Shelly as the mom
Cute eh?

I took a picture with Mia and Singing.

You know what happened next. I managed to buy two Tshirts from NET which was having a discount at that moment (I really was a discount person, wasn't I?) and a couple more accessories. I even got to taste the tastiest fried chicken. No kidding. It was so good and famous that I could already see people lining up.

The sky got darker but that didn't decrease our urge to go shopping.
But as for me, I thought I'd get enough things for today and it seemed I'd bought people at home enough souvenirs. Apparently not for my friends though.

It was already 9.30 and the bed check would be held at 11pm (we were to get back to the hotel all by ourselves). People of my group had split earlier. Seemed the urge to shop had blinded everyone. This is where the trouble came up. Since everyone would possibly (or had) split, we had a deal that we would get back at 9.30 pm at the MRT station. Even it already passed 9.30 pm yet my friends were still excited about shopping (what's not to be excited about?).

You see the nightmarket itself is really like a sea of people.

Monika, Tasya, Jane, and I managed to get back to the MRT station as promised, although it had passed the promised time. But when we came across a crowded zebra cross, Jane happened to drop something while crossing and Monika and I suddenly didn't get to see where Jane and Tasya were. We had looked around us and they still weren't there. Even Monika was in a panic state for not being able to find them (we were split into like groups of four people like us, but now, we were even split into two).

We got lost, people.

LOST in the most crowded spot of Taipei

The late the night got, the busier the district got. It reminded me of Shibuya in Tokyo. But I wasn't thinking of Shibuya at the moment. I was thinking how to get back home. Monika and I later made our way back to the entrance of the MRT station and decided to wait for others there. I was confident and positive we would catch a glimpse of people we knew, especially people from our group.

Minutes passed.
Still no signs of people we knew. I thought maybe Jane and Tasya got back to the nightmarket.

I started to get panic as well. Monika almost spilled her tears, and my face constantly went like O___O while looking around, hoping for a miracle. Yeah, we were already that desperate.

But it wasn't until I caught a glimpse of people I knew.
There were Mochtar (he's from our group, and hailed all the way from Makassar), Winny and her friends. Actually Winny is from Jakarta, but she's from another group, but I happened to recognize her since she's my dining chairmate.

Gosh, I felt like lucky to know her at that moment. She's really our heroine in the story. If not then, we might get lost till even more late at night. Anyway, I spotted her first as she entered the station with her friends. When Monika and I caught a glimpse of them, we were like "Thank heavens you're hereeee!!!!!" Even Monika shook hands with them.

Winny was fluent in Chinese and she even knew the way home. So Monika, I, and Mochtar (who also happened to get lost there) decided to follow Winny back to our hotel by MRT.
We hit the hotel at 10.30 pm after a few stops and train transits.
I profusely thanked Winny for helping us to get home just half an hour before the bed check. And guess what, apparently those who we thought had also got lost at ShiLin had been back at the hotel even earlier than us, even Jane and Tasya who were split at the junction.

So you can imagine us meeting at the hallway and we were like "Where have you been? We were looking for you!"
Well, at least now we had got our butts back at the hotel safely.

We spent the rest of the night gathering in the hallway, where we were given a chance to tell our impression about our trip. It was quite a teary moment and even some of us cried. I didn't though.

The fu dao yuans were really kind to give each of us a greeting card as a souvenir. I got mine with a pineapple picture on it. It was really cute!

Inside it is a picture and some Chinese handwritings by our beloved fu dao yuans.

After the gathering - it was already late at night - we spent our time by stuffing our shopping things into our luggages and weighed our bags. Some of us, especially heavy shoppers, might be a bit panic since the luggages were overweight (that they had to stuff their things into others' luggages). Thankfully, my luggage was fit enough for everything I bought. A bit heavy, yes, but at least the weight is still reasonable and I had no problem carrying it.

It's still a long night to tell but this post is long enough.
So, next part? Coming real soon...

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