Travelogue Taiwan

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DAY 1
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I begin with me arriving airport...checking in.
I was praying already when I was doing so...(travel agent mis-spelt me name and claimed that he has reverted with the airline and fixed it), and as I have feared it was not fixed..I have a reason to pray and fear...this travel agent has stuffed me up multiple times, I wonder why I do bother. It ended up costing me $125 to fix it, and it shall be claimed... @_@#
Having gone through that, I flew off to Taiwan!! Wooohoooo...
Bad luck stayed with me for a bit, Airport Taipei was a total dump compared to any airport I've been in (not many)... and the bus to the city was almost an hr behind schedule!

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DAY 2
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Day two started at late morning to chiufen (九份) ...train and this bus ride up the mountain which almost threw me off. Indeed it was a nice place, the stairs up around the place to all the shops and eating places...it was slightly raining weather, but the weather sorta fits well into the whole scene. First taste of taiwanese food was ace...sausages with the rib bone...squid balls...fried giant mushrooms...pancake with shaven peanut brittle bits & ice-cream...purple + yellow doughballs which were made of yam and sweet potato (i think...but it pretty much just tasted like flour to me). Got back to the city by night time and watched Mr & Mrs Smith at warner village...after that go to the night market some-elsewhere...ate more...flavoured sausages...stinky tofu..."water-pan-fried pork buns"....and~~da da d a da~~ the "lovejade" jelly in lemon syrup & ice (愛玉).....superb


* I had to have 2 servings... :o9

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DAY 3
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- early call to old time japanese classmate for dinner meeting
- fell back to sleep until afternoon
- went for 2 hr singing session
- Jelly! x 2.5
- Page One at 101 (highest building in the world!)
- dinner meeting!
- rain...

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DAY 4
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Woke up around 12 by friend's call and realise friend disappeared to work already. Out by 2pm, took a look around the city again before I headed to ximending (西門町). Ximen welcomed me with pouring rain...........-_-# With me map and my poor navigation skills, I was circling the place again with my flooded shoes...ah well...I found the places I was searching for in end...
Ate:
- spring onion pancake with egg


- oyster noodles


- goose meat + more noodles
- Jelly!! x 2
- rain

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DAY 5
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MOS burger! Rice burger wasn't the best, hot dog was warm dog, wedgie fries and fried chicken was good, the frozen strawberry was great! Ye-ah!



MOCA Taipei! Museum of Contemporary Art...well, it was alrite, the stuff on show wasn't really my type...more sorta a walk-in experience type of art...pity coz Wing said yoshitomo nara exhibited there before. Afterwards I grabbed a shot of papaya yoghurt and off to shop a little, went to the mighty elite (誠品) and bought a pair of birkenstocks. By night time, off to night market again! Ate:
- fried chicken
- sip of medicine bone soup @_@
- a tub of "lo yuk fan"...rice mixed with a bit of soup and minced meat
- fresh mango & strawberry ice with extra condensed milk (5 big spoonfuls! yummmm)
- rain
- jelly!! x 1
- "pepperbread"(胡椒餅), this was apparently quiet well-known, and we had to queue up for them, however, I might have been too filled up....it wasn't.....nice
After the market, we were ready to sing again!! ...until next morning

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DAY 6
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A trip to danshui (淡水), a location at the river, a spectacular site to see the sunrise...but I was basically there to...eat, haha... but the food was absolute shithouse:
- "stone flower" jelly (石花凍)...bad


- birdshit roll...well, not actually made of bird shit, but the inside is small pieces of dark dried meat...trust me, it was cold, it was bad.
- fried giant mushrooms
- cold tofu & cucumber (the tofu was average, but the environment of the shop upstairs was a plus plus plus, sorta old but white, bright, cool - comfortable, breezy sort of a cool)
- sour plum drink (酸梅湯)... salty & gross
- rain
We attempted to go to the red castle...unfortunately it was closed. To be honest...at that time I was drained out of energy and of all the rain, I didn't feel too disappointed in not getting to go there. On way back to station, walked next to the river...or lake...or sea or watever, it was quiet nice (however it was bad when pool of dump was trapped in one area...-_-;)... it was also nice to get a freelance job from the old AD...
By late afternoon, we were at tianmu (天母)...it was pretty much nothing but heavy rain. Except the spring onion cake, which wasn't even bought from tianmu, but somewhere near the bus station where I caught the bus to tianmu. Another thing...I gotten there at tianmu, is an offer.....from the place I would never return. We quickly left for another night market...where I only ate:
- gigantic chicken schnitzel...bigger than me face!! ....but crap
- jelly!! x 1 ....this one was an ACE!
I compensated by hogging icy-poles at home: pudding, moringa toffee & green mango...muahahahahaa!

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DAY 7
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Zoo day! Rainy day! I was so wet I was starting jump into the puddle and kicking....it was fun though '_'; ... Zoo in Taipei is weird, they put living rats and mice and...birds into owl and snake cages, it's cruel but fascinating! Pure entertainment. I was there for ages just watching the snake scaring the shit out of the mouse...and the owl pounding on the mice...I'm sad I know '_'; Another weird thing is they have flamingo actors... by closing time, we watched the zoo worker telling the flamingos to walk back into the back stage....in a line..... '_';
One thing I must warn is never to eat the pork bun at zoo...it's prolly ancient...ve been steamed for 2000 years @_@;...
Then it was Batman at ximen accompanied by spring onion pancake with eggs, pudding & grape jelly drink. Dinner was a pile of fried dumplings...and supper....was Mister Donut!! :o9

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DAY 8
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The legendary Din Tai Fung, named as one of the world's 10 best restaurants, I was there...
- "xiaolongbao"...steamed pock dumplings (小籠包)
- "damdam" noodles
- bean curd soup
- wonton soup
- rain
Well...didn't really meet me expectations, all I could say is that it tasted "clean"...in a good way.
Bummed around the area... ate fresh mango with mango ice cream & soft ice with milk and bummed into a cafe where we stayed a several hours...drinking heaps of plum tea and water...and had an excellent piece of cake :o9
We finally got off our asses and we head off to ximen (again)...where I bought a few tees (and persuaded others to buy) ..... . . the last time I bought a piece of clothing was...hm.......half a year ago @_@... gosh


* The fantastic cake that I do not know the name of..

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DAY 9
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A day at yingge (鶯歌 - yingge got its name from a legend of a monster bird, Yingge, where people tried to blow it to bits with gunfire, and the rock left with the gunfire ruin was named after the strange bird), place famous for their ceramics... was given a ride and guide around the place with Wing's friend to the ceramics museum..temples...antique street...ceramics shops. Wing's friend indeed was like a tourist guide... very very informative, taught us heaps of facts...took us to the place she works...and apparently the ceramic and copper/bronze sculptures were bought from them and are sold 3 times the price at a high end home furniture/decoration shop near me home named OVO. The sculpture pieces were awesome... I managed to get me hands on a few pieces of ceramics meself...there were sooo many shops, I was lucky the shops were closing...otherwise I would have been officially broke...on Day 9.
Stuff eaten:
- Chicken, fried pork chop & noodles lunch (leftover of chicken was collected and given to dog....maybe)
- Jelly!! x 1
- Red oil dumplings (紅油炒手) ... super yum
- Fish ball soup
- Pickles & Veggies
- Bean curd cooked in aged soy
- a little rain...much less

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DAY 10
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Waken up by insane neighbours once at 6, and once at 9...they must have been so excited it was sunday, it was as if they have not spoken all week, they yelled out their conversation... I had much desire to fire my bazooka at them (inspired by Mr. Smith)...
My last day consisted of going to Wing's office; bought edible souveniers; back to the cafe with the great cake...but not getting it coz they did not make; famous beef noodles/pickles/bean curd & egg cooked in aged soy sauce; wanting to get more ceramics @_@; jelly!! x 2; stood and watched Dior and Dolce & Gabbana runway tv at 101; Page One; Mister Donut; horrible dinner where we were cheated by shop-owner; pudding milk-tea which left me almost gagging; supermarket; junk food and tv... sleeplessness and endless tv...

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DAY 11
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Woke at 5...A bit of blue skies...early trip to taipei airport...
Back to Reality.