Tamshui

On the second day of the trip, we woke up late because we were knackered, so we missed a train as we were supposed to go to Kaohsiung on the high speed train. (Actually, the high speed railways pass was very flexible, we booked seats beforehand but it was for free and could make a reservation again for another day.) So we made up a plan B. Danshui, where we stayed, is the centre of shipping in Taiwan and there is a river leading to the north sea in Taiwan. We were having a walk alongside a river in the morning and chilled out by dropping by a cafe, we were looking for wifi. In the riverside, there were so many stalls that you can enjoy and some street entertainers, which is a common scene in Taiwan. It was quite fun. Later, in the afternoon, we went to the city centre and then visited the grand mosque which was actually quite big and amazing. 

Looking back on the day, we luckily bumped into a nice couple of groups of people and had lovely chats. 
One was when we went to Ice Monster to have authentic mango dessert, actually we couldn't have mango fruits but mango flavored ice with strawberry, which was a shame but tasty. The mates that we met were from a western part of the US. They just sat at a table next to ours and they suddenly mingled to us as they realised that we spoke English. They were all friendly and casually talking to us so they didn't make me feel awkward at all, it was even fun. 
Another one was when we dropped by a halal food restaurant in a night market. It was a small restaurant, up to 6 people maximum inside. As soon as we just sat at a table, a woman and a man sitting next to us casually started talking to us. They were muslims and generous. During the talk, they told us so many informative things about muslim, halal food and their experiences in Taiwan, they sometimes talked with funny jokes. We therefore had a really really lovely time at night thanks for them even though we were exhausted before entering the restaurant. Again, I realised that meeting up with new people is the real pleasure of travel.