Taipei 2014: Yangmingshan National Park

After days of eating, Yangmingshan National Park is a good place to go to shed some of those calories. This is a great place at the outskirts of the city, away from all the noise and pollution to enjoy the nature. If you're up for the challenge, you may hike the whole hill. If you're like me and want to go to all the scenic places but not have to exercise so much, there is a minibus that goes around the hill, stopping at different view points.

Yangmingshan is a hot springs area/district, so it has a lot of natural gas and springs. At certain stops in the park, you can see, and hear, the hot gas and steam coming out of the hills, and even places where you can see how hot the water coming out is. The gas is saturated with sulphur, so it smells strongly of that.

This is called the milk pond. When people were mining around here, they created white sediments that gathered at the bottom of the pond, making the water look milky white.

I like hiking, but definitely an amateur in hiking. It was very nice psychologically to tell myself that I'm burning off all the calories I ate and that I can keep eating now :D Hiking is also the best time to bond with a friend. Cell reception is probably not excellent, so your partner is the only entertainment (and obviously the nature). Remember to never hike by yourself and bring lots of water!

Stay safe, xoxo

Taipei 2014: Night Markets

Night markets. Need I say more?

They are central to any Taiwanese experience. The locals go, the tourists pack the streets, it's just something you must experience in Taiwan. If street food is not enough for you to go out and eat all you can, I don't know what is.

Night market tips:

1. Prepare to we sweaty and burning hot.
2. Share if you can with friends so you can eat lots.
3. The stalls with the long queues are the best.
4. Have money ready in the coin purse or in your pocket so you don't have to struggle with your bag.

Raohe night market 饒河街觀光夜市 is one of the famous ones. You can take the MRT to Houshanpi station and walk 10 min to get there. Shops open around 5 or 6 PM, I mean it's a night market, they open late. There are clothing shops and products lining the street, and also stalls in the middle of the street. Remember to enter from the right and go with the flow of people. Don't be the person who walks the opposite of everyone else.

You will see this stall 福州世祖胡椒餅 the first thing you walk into the street. It is literally right there and constantly has a queue. A queue as in one that snakes around, no kidding. You can see the workers making the buns right there and cooking them fresh. Even within the locals, this is a famous shop and a must go as a tourist. It's basically meat stuffed buns that have a heavy pepper taste to them. This bread is amazing. I'm usually not a meat bun person, but the meat is so juicy and flavored. It's burning hot when you receive it and I understand why there's such a long queue for it.

This egg roll stall became very famous after being on 康熙來了Kangxi, a Taiwanese variety show. They were inspired by the Japanese style of making egg rolls. The egg rolls are all the same, but the ingredients they put on top to flavour is different. So depending on your preference, you can pick your fav toppings. Again, all these are made on the spot, so it's really good and fresh. You also feel better not having all that fried things that is common in night markets.

 I like this sign :D

Tamsui Old Street is another quite well-known places for food. My friend lives near here so she knows all the good things to look out for and have.

This is just a random sweet potato ball. And it's so good. I love sweet potato, and this is just the bomb. I wish I had access to this amazingness all the time.

You always want to rehydrate yourself, especially in Taiwanese summers. This 阿媽的 sour prune soup or suanmeitang 酸梅湯 is great for cooling down. It's not too sweet, just how I like it. You can definitely find other drinks, bubble teas, winter melon teas around, but this was a recommendation from my friend, and I was not disappointed at all!

Hot-star Large Friend Chicken originated from Shilin night market, and they are not kidding when they say "large". It's the biggest piece of fried chicken I've seen. It's bigger than my face, and I have a big face. Definitely share with someone. It is perfectly fried, crispy on the outside and soft inside. It's not fake chicken if you're concern about that.

This candy shop is not on the main street, but on the one above where cars can go. At a glance it seems like any other candy shop. However, it's very fun to go in and look at their peculiar packaging. The photos explain themselves pretty well.

 Iron-hard preserved eggs originated from this shop. The story is that the shop owner was not having great business selling brune (soy sauce flavored) eggs, so she left them in the pot for too long, turning the eggs hard. She started selling these "iron-hard" eggs and became famous.

Stinky tofu is another Taiwanese delicacy. Nowadays in Hong Kong, it's hard to find stinky tofu that has the taste and not only the smell.

Shilin night market is probably the most famous night market in Taipei, but the most commercialized and changed from what a night market is understood as. Now the food stalls are all indoors and underground, while there are game stalls and products sold at the ground level. For me, night markets are all about the food and the experience. So if you're looking for that, it's not a big deal if you skip over Shilin and go to other night markets.

The famous 滷肉飯 chopped meat with rice

 Oyster omelet (doesn't look appetizing, but it's good)

This drink originated from Shilin. No idea how to translate the name into English because I don't even understand where the Chinese name came from. It's not sweet, but has both liquid and solid forms of grass jelly, and some tapioca in there. It's a little bland for my taste.

This is another one that went on Kangxi. It's basically fried rice roll with flavored sauce, Japanese-inspired. It's not as good as the show made it to be, but it's not bad. The only thing that is notable is the sauce. Other than that other ingredients are pretty normal.

I've only seen these on TV, so decided to go try it out. Basically, you have a paper net to catch fish. After a certain number of fish caught you can bring them home. The catch is the paper nets are easily broken. It took me 3 tries to get one little fish without breaking the net.

 Throwing darts are way harder than shooting guns. My friend and I shared 4 baskets of darts and won the highest price, so we picked a little duck keychain. Mature, we know.

I love night markets. It's so much fun just hopping from store to store, eating and sampling everything along the way, and experiencing the crowded and packed streets that is so central to a culture.

Happy eating! xoxo

Taipei 2014: Celebrity Shops

In recent years, I've been quite into Taiwanese shows and dramas and all that entertainment, which is not uncommon especially in Hong Kong. Now, I'm not a crazy fan of any one particular star, but I do follow them and *fingerscrossed* hope to "bump" into them on the streets.

Anyways, I'm sure a lot of people going to Taiwan would like to visit some of the boutiques opened by these celebrities. I wasn't planning on it when I planned my Taipei trip, but they so happen to be around the same areas, so I looked them up and voila! (I am in no way affiliated with any of the companies, I wish)

Name: StayReal

Founder: 阿信Ashin/五月天MayDay

Locations: DongQu (2 stores), Ximending. Click here for more.

Their style is very rock, specializing in graphic tees, but also sell other accessories and merchandise. They constantly collaborate with different companies to bring in different designs and limited edition products. Even if you're not a MayDay fan, it's worth a visit to see all the variety, as it is one of the most successful celebrity shops, evident in their number of branches.

Name: Carry Me
Founder: 蕭亞軒 Elva Hsiao
Location: DongQu (next to Cosi O Cosi restaurant) See their Facebook page.
Contrary to other celebrity brands, Carry Me does not only sell the brand logo. I don't like it when shops produce t-shirts or clothing items with just their logo, the very "in your face" kinds that just tell people that "look at me, I'm cool because I'm wearing this brand" (which can happen to many celebrity brands). Elva's brand has very nice and stylish shoes and bags which is a girl's heaven. I bought a pair of heels for my friend upon her request and she had good reviews from them. I won't mind spending time and looking around Carry Me.

Name: Stage
Founder: 羅志祥 Show Luo
Locations: DongQu & Ximending. List of all stores here.
I cannot deny that I like Show's acting and dancing, and he is probably my favorite Taiwanese celebrity at the moment. There, I said it. You can make fun of me. However, despite being the "fashion king" that people call him, I'm slightly disappointed in the produces. They are the "look at me I'm wearing stage logo tshirt" kind of produces, and rarely do they come out with something that can be deemed "fashionable" and not "logo-y".

Name: Phantaci
Founder: 周杰倫 Jay Chou
Location: DongQu & Ximending. See here.
Another male artist that is famous for being fashionable. When I walked in, I felt very out of place because they sell mostly male clothing. I didn't see women clothing when I looked around so walked out because the shopkeepers were looking at me weird. Some of the stuff is the "in your face logo" kind, but you can also find others that are not so much like that. If you're a guy, you like nike/jordans or any of their current collaboration partners, it's worth a peek.

In general, celebrity brands are a hit or miss, depending on what you're looking for. I'd say go to DongQu, I prefer it over Ximending, and shopping at the boutiques instead of looking for brand names. Boutiques sell way cheaper products and you find more local fashion and style in them.

xoxo

Taipei 2014: Taipei City Edition

Taipei is just an hour flight from Hong Kong, yet I've never been. Now that I have Taiwanese friends, I had to visit them, eat, and shop. Having local Taiwanese friends means that I get the local taste and experience: I know what places are actually famous and good, and what places in travel guides that are a waste of time. I was there for 8 days, so I will divide these 8 days up to blog about it. I loved Taiwan and will definitely go again in the near future.

First, I hit places in Taipei City, like XiMenDing, DongQu, Eslite book store, Taipei 101... all the Taipei landmarks.

Eslite book store is heaven for all you book worms out there. There is one in Hong Kong, but nowhere near the size of this flagship store. They sell various books, stationary, CD/DVD, and dainty accessories. English books are really cheap there, and you get tax refund tourists (if you buy over 3000NTS and show passport). I love travel guides from Taiwanese publishers, they're just so adorable!

8% ice is a very popular ice cream place in Taipei. We found one at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, near Eslite main store. I ordered a milk tea flavour (I'm kind of a milk tea addict). The ice cream is quite creamy, which is a plus, but they are slightly over priced for ice cream. Their interesting flavours, like Hojicha with honey (what I ordered), Chocolate with Earl Grey, Pumpkin etc. really draw me in, as I like exotic and unique ice cream flavours more than the typical vanilla/chocolate.

同心圓紅豆餅 is very famous for their red bean cakes. They have different flavors like black sesame, peanut, red bean, custard... and you can order regular or mochi ones. When I tried it, it was amazing to my expectation. So soft and chewy. I love anything with mochi and I love red bean cakes too, so that was just the perfect combination. The location is convenient and they open till late, perfect for supper!

When in Taiwan, you have to participate in their cafe craze. Melange Cafe is one of the famous coffee places in Taipei. They are quite particular about their coffee and have millions of choices. I went to the one in Sogo because the other ones were completely full but I only had to wait for around 4 tables to get in. The interior design of the cafe is home-y and posh, just how I like it. The service is amazing. So much better than in Hong Kong. When I praised the service here to my Taiwanese friend, she agreed that Taipei is in general well-known for good service.

Yes. Waffles. Most of these cafes specialize in this kind of dessert. I love their waffle. It's so thick, soft and chewy, which is my expectation of a good waffle. If you like thin, crispy ones, this may not be for you. We ordered the seasonal fruits waffle because we just could not pick what fruits to go with our order. It comes with a huge cup of assorted fruits and ice cream on the side. This is great because your waffle will not turn soggy as it would if the fruits and ice cream was placed on the waffle. We shared this because it was really big and we of course had to leave room for further eating down the road!

I'm not a huge coffee drinker, so I ordered an Earl Grey Latte. It was amazing. The milk/cream came in a separate jug, and I think they whipped up some cream so it's thick and fluffy but still runny, I have no idea the technical term for that but I try. After I pour the cream in, it floats on top and a long spoon is required to actually mix everything up. It was delicious. One of the best Earl Grey Lattes I've ever had.

They are actually very well-known for their cold drip coffee 冰滴咖啡. Too bad I'm not that into coffee drinking, or else I think it would be a really good idea to try that.

Ximending is an area for teenage shopping. A lot of celebrity shops and young people brands gather here, so it is constantly busy and full of both tourists and locals. I came just because it was a must go for tourists, but the style of clothing sold was not really my taste, so I didn't really buy anything. This area is perfect for 13-16 year olds (said my local friend). There are lots of Korean makeup brands though, so if you're into that, go look around.

BUBBLE TEA. It's Taiwan. Need more explaining?
I found out that bubble tea prices here are half the price of Hong Kong ones. Their "expensive" bubble tea is 天仁喫茶趣 (can be found in HK), and I like to order their bubble tea but with fresh milk. Most other shops use milk powder, which is obviously not healthy compared to fresh milk.
50嵐 is quite a popular bubble tea shop here, where the locals go. They provide different boba/tapioca sides. Mini or regular/big. I tried the mini one and they're so cute and adorable. Haha how can a drink be cute I don't know. Of course they also have ice level and sweet level options.

Brune egg & tofu is a specialty of Taiwan. Laotianlu 老天祿滷味 is an old brand that attracts many locals and tourists. They have eggs, tofu, duck, chicken... lots of options to choose from. I wanted the egg and tofu just for a treat. They don't look too appetizing in the bag, but it's really good and the taste is rich and all soaked inside, what you want brune food to be like.

If you want some good Taiwanese food, 度小月 (duxiaoyue) is quite good. I've never had 擔仔麵 (Tann-ah noodle), but I was pleasantly surprised The braised pork is very flavoured and the noodles are the perfect texture. We also ordered some veggies and black peppered pork to share with was also amazing.

東區粉圓 is another famous old store. Basically all it is is chewy balls. I'm not kidding. (The Taiwanese really like their chewy foods). They have different flavoured tapiocas and ingredients you can customize for your own bowl of chewy dessert, served hot or cold. They even have extra ice and syrup at the eating area so you can make your bowl sweeter or not. I like chewy stuff, so that was pretty good. Its a relatively large bowl of starch, so I would recommend sharing with someone.

YongKang street is a small area that has some good food too. The well-known DinTaiFung 鼎泰豐is just around the corner, but I didn't go because there were too many people. We did have some green onion pancake with egg, which is so good I want it now. It's situated at a street corner and does not have a very obvious or flashy sign, but look out for it and you will not regret paying a mere 30NTS for it.

Although I put food as a priority over museums when I'm in Taiwan 國立故宮博物館National Palace Museum was worth a visit. My friend brought me to specific displays that are famous in there, like the carved olive-stone boat and Jadeite cabbage with insects. As someone from Hong Kong, I was not largely interested in the classic jade and ceramics, but the special and unique things are worth seeing.

After a week of eating Taiwanese food, my friend brought me to her favourite Italian restaurant, Cosi O Cosi. It was really good bread and meat and pizza. The environment is cozy (no pun intended) and the food came pretty fast. We ordered a meat antipasti, and a 4 cheese pizza, both my friend's signature order when she goes. It's not expensive for Italian food at all, but the quality is really good.

My conclusion: Taiwanese food is cheap, so just go explore, eat, and shop. It is great if you go with a bunch of friends, so you can all order and try loads of things. This is the first time I'm in Taiwan, and I fell in love. I would love to go again in the near future.

More info from my trip to come!

xoxo