And so after bidding Cingjing goodbye, we packed our bags and hopped onto the HSR again, heading for Taipei!
And the very first place we head for was obviously our airbnb apartment, located in the heart of ximending.
Getting to the apartment might seem dauntingly long judging from the route marked in red on google map, but it's a pretty short (around 15 minutes) and easy walk, even with a luggage in tow.
The apartment's owner, Kenny, is a really helpful and friendly guy. Setting arrangement with him over whatsapp text messages was smooth and stress-free.
And I think this picture tells you why I chose this apartment out of the thousands available on airbnb.
Thought not big at all (in terms of Singapore's context I'll call this a SOHO with two platform furniture beds) the apartment comes with not 1, but 2 platform queen sized beds, 1 queen size bed on 'ground floor' and another sofa bed at the 'living room' area in front of the wall mounted TV. So effectively, you can squeeze in a large group of 7! But having just 1 bathroom (there's bathtub, yes!) to serve a group of 7 will definitely not be your best choice though.
And while the location of the aircon units right where the platform bed is means the platform beds taker will freeze to death in the middle of the night for the 'ground bed' takers to not melt into the bed while sleeping, the room temperature problem is conveniently strike-off since it was the cold winter season while we're there. Plus, Kenny is considerate enough to provide a standing fan right in front of the 'ground bed'. So, don't worry about that. :)
I reckon he likes bear brick too?
You'll be surprised at how much effort Kenny puts into making his guests feel at home. He printed maps of Ximending and the Taipei metro and mark out the recommended attractions (and corresponding stations) on them for our consideration as well, which was extremely useful!
To book this apartment, visit the airbnb page HERE
Till then,
Mia Foo
