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| Near Takemura Izakaya |
I find that travelling in Taiwan had been affordable but not so the accommodations. However, it is good that the cleanliness standard of hostels in Taiwan are high. So I got a bed at Old Door Hostel & Bar. Despite having a bar at the ground level, it was not noisy at all. The location was superb, one of Taipei Main Station's exit is just steps away. Accomodation also came with free breakfast and I was given 2 vouchers valued at NT 30 and NT 60 to offset if spent at the bar.
Breakfast was egg roll, toast and drinks of choice. Egg roll and toast were made to order. There were a few options of fillings for egg roll to choose from, I had tuna, pork floss and ham. The other available filling that I didn't try was corn. Spreads for toasts were strawberry, chocolate or peanut butter.
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| Spot the movie they put on TV :) |
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| Day 3 breakfast of ham egg roll with strawberry toast |
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| This was from breakfast on day 2 - pork floss egg roll. This combination somehow works. |
Here's an overview of the days.
Day 1: Lungshan Temple, CKS Memorial Hall, Ximending, Beitou, Tamsui
Day 2: Dihua Street, Yongkang Street, Elephant Mountain, Taipei 101, Ningxia Night Market
Day 1
Banka Lungshan Temple (龍山寺)
'Banka' in Ketagalan language of the Pingpu tribe means canoe and the folks of Pingpu tribe sailed along the Danshui River on canoes to transport sweet potatoes and other farm produce to trade with the Han Chinese in the past.
The current form of Lungshan Temple was shaped back in 1919 following a rebuild. The beams and pillars were eaten by termites and Monk Fuzhi, abbot of the temple then raised funds to rebuild the temple. The temple was damaged in 1945 during WWII but the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva remained sitting on the lotus seat solemnly.
Bo-Pi-Liao Historic Street
I decided to walk to CKS Memorial Hall from Lungshan Temple and stumbled on this. It caught my eyes even though I wasn't aware of this place prior. The sign was at the other side of the street.
Bo-Pi-Liao Street in Mangka District is a preserved street from Qing Dynasty. It is known today as Lane 173 Kangding Road but it used to be a major passage between Mangka District and Guting District. Under new urban planning, Bo-Pi-Liao Street was displaced by the current Guangzhou Street as the major passage, and this old street is relegated to a back alley.
CKS Memorial Hall
As mentioned in the name, this memorial hall was built in memory of Chiang Kai-shek. I didn't go through the exhibition halls but I stayed on to watch the guards changing ceremony as I happened to walk behind the guards.
Ximending
Ximending, the popoular shopping district in the Wanhua District of Taipei. My first stop was The Red House, a Western-style red-brick octagonal structure in built in 1908. It is Taiwan's first public market and the most well preserved historic site. Now, it houses arts and crafts stuff.
I walked passed Tian Tian Li and thought to drop by for lunch. I didn't want to participate in the snaking line and went to a different shop. I think it was this one - Ximen Jin Feng Luroufan (西門金鋒魯肉飯). Ordering was by vending machine outside of the shop. When the food came, I did think that the portion was a little small but the price was reasonable and I got a bubble tea after that so all was good.
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| Lu rou fan, NT 40 |
Beitou District is the northernmost of the twelve districts of Taipei City, Taiwan. Beitou has a large concentration of hot springs and spas and easily accessible by MRT. The nearest MRT station to the Beitou Hot Springs is the Xinbeitou MRT station, transferred from Beitou station.
There are some good deals for private hot springs offered that one can find on Klook. I shortlisted to go to JBG Hot Spring Hotel Resort (priced at around NT 988 at the time I googled) but am not sure how the booking system works if I got the voucher off Klook so I decided to walk in. Luck wasn't on my side as there was a 2 hour wait. I had already walked passed the Beitou Library, visited the Beitou Hot Spring Museum and went to the Thermal Valley so I decided to forgo it.
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| Beitou Library |
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| Beitou Hot Spring Museum |
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| Inside Beitou Hot Spring Museum |
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| Thermal Valley |
Tamsui Riverside Promenade
Tamsui has more attractions than this riverside promenade and in fact I think most people would go to the Fisherman's Wharf. It was a cloudy day and I had some time to kill to due to my unsuccessful hot spring outing so I just spend some time walking down the Old Street and back via the Riverside Promenade. Got a couple of ginger tea packets and settled my dinner there.
I had A-gei (阿給) and bamboo tube rice cake (筒仔米糕). Originated from Tamsui, A-gei consisted of a large fried tofu pouch filled with braised mung bean glass noodles, and with its opening secured with a type of fish paste called surimi.
I must be hungry at that time because I don't remember why I ordered the bamboo tube rice cake but that one is passable. I find A-gei delicious though. The other food originated from Tamsui is iron egg but they are all sold in packets. I have not eaten it before and not sure if I want to commit to many iron eggs at one go.
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| Bamboo tube rice cake, NT 45 |
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| A-gei, NT 45 |
Day 2
Dihua Street at Dadaocheng
Dadaocheng of the Datong District was an important trading port in the 19th century. It is now a major historical tourist attraction and shopping area. Dihua Street (迪化街) is a street located in Dadaocheng and is the oldest street in Taipei. Today, there are many stores selling dried goods and snacks, especially before the Lunar New Year.
I walked from the hostel and started from Mikkeller Bar Taipei after I got picked up a tea egg and milk tea from 7-11 for snacks.
Got another snack - wheel cake. I was feeling savoury flavour so I got one with radish filling.
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| Radish wheel cake, NT 20 |
Yongkang Street
I stopped by Yongkang Street in hope to find food on my way to Taipei 101. It was a short stop where I got a Tianjin Scallion Pancake. There was a queue but moved quickly. Order was taken while in queue so by the time you get to the front, they already started making your order.
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| Please enlarge for menu |
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| Scallion pancake with egg, NT 40 |
Elephant Mountain (象山)
It is said that Elephant Mountain derives its name from its external shape of elephant. I didn't go to anywhere ekse where I can view Elephant Mountain from the outside to see the shape. However, it is a relatively short trail with altitude of 183 metres, hiking trail of approximately 1.5 km and provides great city views so I am sold.
Taipei 101
Formerly the world's tallest building, it is a 101-storey skyscrapper in Taipei. After Elephant Mountain, I walked passed Takemura Izakaya where the first photo was taken and then towards Taipei 101. I didn't pay to go up the building though. After that, I just took the route Google Maps recommended to the nearest MRT station.
This wasn't the street market I planned to visit. I was looking for the nearest Moon Moon Food outlet for dinner as recommended by a friend who visited Taipei just before me. Unfortunately, on arrival at the restaurant, there was a queue. I didn't want to wait and continued my walk to the nearest night market. I am not sure if I had gone to a wrong location but it is more like a small street with some stalls on both side of the road. I didn't eat there as I walked in to a random shop just before the start of the night market.
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| Beef soup noodles, NT 70 & stir fry potato leaves, NT 40 |
Did you notice what's missing from my beef soup noodles? Well, I was being silly and misunderstood the difference of beef noodles and beef soup noodles. I thought the menu of beef soup noodles was emphasizing that it was soup based and not dried noodles. I learnt that it was literally what it meant - beef soup noodles, no meat. Stir fry potato leaves for my vege quota.
Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市)
Ningxia Night Market was about 15 minutes walk from the hostel so I went there on the day I arrived in Taipei from Ruifang and after the underwhelming Liaoning Street Night Market. On the first visit, I had oyster omelet (蚵仔煎) from one of the shops next to the night market and molten custard salted egg deep fried taro for dessert. On second visit, I just got some sweet potato balls. I wanted to get white bitter gourd juice but I didn't see any stalls selling them.
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| Oyster omelet, NT 80 |
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| Deep fried taro, NT 60 |
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| Sweet potato balls, NT 50 |
Moon Moon Food (雙月食品社)
I saw this again in the airport and only a few people in line so I got this for lunch. I ordered set meal 3 which was the sesame oil pork soup combo. The black truffle noodles were delicious but I expected the soup to have stronger flavour as the sesame oil smelt good. Friend did tell me to give the soup a miss and just go for the noodles but the outlet in the airport only offers set meals.
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| Sesame oil pork soup combo, NT 360 |
Side note: I learnt that is sparkling water is called 气泡水