Had ruo chou on our porridge that breakfast once again (yum yum!!), and I know it because we have photos to proof it!! Was the only day we took photos of our breakfast at Ta Shun Hotel. Despite knowing it was gonna rain that day, and that it would too for the next few days, we decided it was time to check out the famous Yang Ming Shan. Yang Ming Shan was where all the hotsprings can be found, or so I thought... Realised it was Beitou instead, but only found out when we actually got there. To get to Yang Ming Shan, we took a train station to Jiantan, where we caught a red #5 bus ($15NT) nearby (near the Watson, which was around the corner of the train station). Bus came pretty fast, but the distance there wasn't that short. Have no idea why we weren't advised to alight at Beitou station instead because it seemed nearer but we just heeded the advice provided by the guidebook. When we reached the last bus stop (which looked like the terminal), we alighted... but that place was one of the most confusing areas to get around. The bus stop was directly outside a 7-11 and a Starbucks, had to ask around where the nearest visitor's centre was...
Much to our distraught, it was a good 400m uphill walk before we could actually get there. Worst off, we had to bash through a little bush to get onto the pathways because the walking pathways were covered by vegetation and you'll have to be careful not to miss that because if not, you'll have to walk along the dangerously winding roads. It was like a nature park, quite like Bukit Timah Hill, with short descriptions of the plants we could see around... and wooden information boards along the way, informing you of the distance left to the visitor's centre and to remind us to enjoy the scenic and relaxing walk on our way up... (wasn't that scenic, or relaxing for any matter).
When we did reach the visitor's centre at the first stop, we spoke to the personnel over there and he recommended 3 main sites of interest... the Siaoyoukeng Recreation Area (where you could see steaming sulphur vents), the Lengshuikeng Recreational Area (where you could see the milk lake) and Cingtiangang (a huge plain, open field in the midst of the mountain). By foot, it would take ages to get to those 3 places, so we were advised to wait for the moutain's shuttle bus which had a frequency of 30 mins (slower frequency because it was a weekday).
Took a scenic bus ride up the mountains and our first stop, was Siaoyoukeng. At every main attraction, there was another visitor's centre, which one could inquire more from there... we did check it out again but realise they all repeated the same recommendations. Newaz, we witnessed one of the most spectacular sights I've ever seen... steaming vapor rising from the sulphur vents in the midst of the mountains. The vapor supposedly left trails ressembling that of dragon shapes. Even thought it stank quite a lot of sulphur, or rotten eggs as described by yq, the smell didn't turn me off. I captured numerous mental shots of the natural phenomenon, as well as the scenic view one gets to witness at that attraction, before dragging my feet away with a heavy heart. We didn't explore the area because time didn't allow us... we did still have time, but the weather was against us. Hoping to cover as much ground as we could when it was still dry, we quickly moved on to our next destination, Lengshuikeng. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't that magnanimous that day... even before we could get there, it already started with a downpour. But, once bitten twice shy, twice bitten surely remember, for being drenched on the previous 2 occasions because we forgot to bring our umbrellas out (Kenting and Shifen), we carried a brolly close to us that day. However, the rain was so strong, one brolly wasn't enough... forcing us to seek refuge at a nearby shelter.
Lengshuikeng is also the place at Yang Ming Shan which has a free public hotspring, and it was over there which we sought refuge at. Wasn't inside the hotspring, because they were cleaning the hotsprings then, but right outside where there were 3 main pavilions. We were the youngest couple sitting there, for most of the space was taken up by old folks... whom I assumed were waiting for the chance to use the hotspring. When the rain subsided, we headed to the milk lake to check it out. It was indeed a spectacle, it seemed almost like we could only see it from one angle, its lookout point, for among the mountainous terrain, there was a small white lake in the middle of nowhere. Moving on, we proceeded to Cingtiangang. Before I forget to add it in, while on our bus ride up to Lengshuikeng, we passed by this other attraction which was a park but wasn't recommended to us (can't remember the name). We later came to know that it was a garden for butterfly-watching, since Taiwan has many rare butterfly species, but during that season when we went there, the butterflies were "hibernating" so there wasn't anything to see. Cingtiangang was a "short" walk from Lengshuikeng, as advised by the visitor's centre... but it was longer and more tedious than I expected. It could also be due to the weather that day, and both of us were wearing slippers so it made walking difficult.
It was still drizzling on our way up there, which was about 1.5-3km and took us a darn long time to get there. On our way up, visibility dropped to a mere 10%, felt like we were in the clouds and we could only see as far as 10-20m ahead. Even though it made navigating a whole lot scarier, it also made the moment more magical. Crossed a dangerous suspension bridge just above the milk lake which said it could hold 10 people max, but there was this group of tourists taking photos on it which caused me to break a sweat as I started counting the total number of people standing on the bridge. *Phew*, no wooden planks gave way... Reached a lookout point (which we had no idea if we even reached Cingtiangang) and it was totally misty all around. Felt like we were in heaven. Air was cool, not humid, didn't have difficulty breathing and the moment was simply surreal. 
Caught a breather up there, and carried on with the path. By then, there was no signs and not a single soul, which kinda freaked me out a little, but after walking on, we did come across signages which eased my insecurities. There was a waterfall by the name of Jyuansih waterfall, but was towards a direction leading away from Cingtiengang. So we left it out because our main purpose was to get to Cingtiangang in one piece before we lost ourselves deeper in the mountains. Passed by a cattle ranch, saw several cows grazing the open field, snap a couple of shots and not too far away, we finally reached the much awaited Cingtiangang. 
It was ... vast... open, plain, and... and... that was about it. Had a few piles of cowdungs around, and the grass wasn't carpet grass-like, there were patches around. It was... disappointing for me, but it really made yq's day. But after a while, I came to appreciate its beauty for being plain and simple. Wasn't that bad afterall, just that there was too much hype about it. The road turned out to be less rocky and was smoother from then on, where we simply had to follow this wide stony path to who knows where... We tried asking a local "field-keeper" (was trimming the grass) but he mumbled a reply to us. Thinking it was alright to follow the seemingly endless path, an illusion created by the poor visibility, we carried on walking. Visibility was on and off... but majority of the name it was extremely... on one unexpected occasion, visible almost hit 100%, an abrupt clearing of the clouds which lasted no more than 10 seconds!!
Water droplets condensed on both our hairs and it was quite a phenomenon by itself. We eventually reached the end and out of Cingtiangang where there was a food stall which was about to close shop and a shuttle bus stop. Bought a dumpling and a bao to fill our starving stomachs, after such an intensive hike across Lengshuikeng and Cingtiangang. Took the shuttle bus out back to the base of Yang Ming Shan where we came across a Korean guy asking us for directions to a hotspring.
I directed him up to the public hotspring at Lengshuikeng but was later corrected by a local aunty in her 40s that there was an inhouse hotspring just around the corner. She spoke fluent and impressive English so we tried inquiring more about the hotspring as well. She claimed it was the best hotspring around and was totally value for money. But would cost you around $200NT to get naked and soak yourself in the hotsprings together with I don't know, 20 other naked men? The private hotsprings were way too expensive, costing us $950NT for both of us so after much consideration, we decided not to go for it. Took us a while to come to that decision though, initially we wanted to try the public springs, but according to the local aunty, she said they were washing it then and could only enter it half an hour later. So we chilled out at the nearby Starbucks (where we first asked for directions, yq liked this cute and friendly young chap which was no longer there) and bought ourselves a cup of hot sesame mocha and a plate of cheesecake. The taste of the beverage didn't quite suit us, and it seeemed the cheesecakes over there were a ted bit on the spongy side compared to Singapore's. We decided not to go for the hotspring because I felt it was a waste of time to spend it by ourselves over there so we went to our next destination, Zhongxiao Fuxing. There were 3 train stations back to back, Zhongxiao Fuxing, Zhongxiao Dunhua and one other station, which was kinda like Orchard Road in Singapore. According to my friend whom we met a day after, she told us most guys liked it there because it was where all the pretty office ladies hanged out at. Ximending was more like a teenager hang out place.
There wasn't much to check out over there, personally, it was just another shopping area with higher end products being sold. Didn't spend too much time over there, before moving on to our 2nd last stop, probably the most important stop of the day... A cafe... located inside the Taipei's medical school... near Taipei 101... called... Mr. J's cafe. Woohoo!!! A cafe set up by taiwanese superstar Jay Chou!! I was so looking forward to it!! Ok, I exaggerated a little, a lot, but the experience did turn out better than I had imagined. It was one of Jay Chou's concept restaurants which had the same wooden, classical looking-like piano featured in his movie, The Secret on display.
Asked one of the volunteer tourist guide at Taipei City Hall train station (which was the closest train station to the cafe, as well as Taipei 101) for directions but he didn't know of it. Even the policeman on petrol had no idea such a cafe even exists... well I guess, it's an unofficial tourist attraction, which only the younger generation would know. Luckily for us, we checked for specific directions to lead us there, even got the name of the street and one very important information, that it was located inside the campus of Taipei Medical University. The volunteer even made a light-hearted comment about giving us feedback about the cafe so he can share it with others in further.
They directed us to Taipei Medical University, where we further asked direction from a younger female teenager who gave us precise directions to its whereabouts. See? What did I tell you? The bus ride there was an eye-opener and a scenic one as well, sheding light on the night scenes of Taipei city. We passed by a food stall selling some bings... but decided to queue for it only after our dinner. Not far from there, lo and behold, right in front of us, we came face to face with Mr J's ca...fee... nope, wasn't a cafe. My mistake, it was his French Restuarant. 
I have to admit, the decor and the layout of his restuarant was anything short of elegance. Cool, classy and charismatic (what more to expect from the King of Cool himself?). Had a trendy, brightly litted bar and the ceilings where very high, from which hung long string-like lamps. The toilet was on the 2nd floor, and was just equally designed with class. Took godzillion photos at Mr J French-Italian Restaurant, ate a plate of fish roe-based linguine, topped up to a set meal. The price of the entire meal was quite expensive, close to S$20 per pax and the taste wasn't fantastic. So if you're going there, don't set your expectations too high because its definitely not a place for high-class food, just decent food with high-class decor. 
One of the greatest "oddity" of the restuarant was that there was this gigantic Optimus Prime's Head at the top of the entrance... tried asking the sales girl but she gave a very vague answer... Would assume Jay Chou loves transformers. Btw, there were only females working there... So if you're an avid Jay Chou female fan, you might get a chance to work there. The patrons of the restaurant was all taking massive photos of the piano and the decor.. seemed like everyone there was there because they wanted to check it out and not because they were lao gu kes (old customers)... Also had lots of fan stuff displayed near the entrance of the restaurant and heard that the score for the piano piece from The Secret was sold there but was out of stock for a very long time already... After filling our stomachs, and yq's heart, we left the restaurant and headed towards Taipei 101. On our way there, we wanted to buy the bings we saw previously, but was unfortunately closed by then. Could have been one of the top food in Taipei judging from the length of the queue but we will never find out would we? So we took a romantic stroll to Taipei 101 (which was about 3km) and checked out the night lightings of the famous tower. There was a Taipei 101 shopping mall linked to it which we did enter, but didn't get anything as it was pretty high-end. However, by then, it was getting late but we couldn't find the entrance to the watch tower. Searched high and low for it, not even sure if we did find it but it was already closed... Taipei 101 closes at 9pm, so make sure you get there at least an hour in advance.
We strolled along the streets (one particular street which yq loved a lot was lined with different colored lights of different shapes such as heart shapes and star shapes), enjoyed the night lights and decorations and bathed in the romanticism of our er ren shi jie. Taipei, like what the guidebooks say, is all about food and shopping, but like what they didn't say, is quite a romantic city by itself. To sum it up:
Yang Ming Shan Ratings: 4/5 (held more surprises than what it looked like from the base)
- the 3 main attractions were indeed worth it; Siaoyoukeng, for the phenomenal experience of coming up close to a natural sulphur steaming vent, Lengshuikeng, for the pure-like milk lake hidden from all views but one, and Cingtiangang, for the "holy", surreal and serene feelings of freedom it gave us
- heard that the free public hotspring at Lengshuikeng was extremely dirty since it was free
- don't have to drop by the bus terminal to get a day shuttle pass at $60NT because overall, we spent less than that, only $45NT (3 rides). Get it only if you have lotsa spare time and intend to cover more places
- terrain was the toughest of all the other places we've been, so advisable to wear shoes since its not recommended to dip yourself in the public hotspring (btw, if you do intend to do so, bring along a small towel or you can get it over there at a low price)
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