day 1, taipei

the day in taipei started kinda late since we couldnt get the early morning flight. took the flight at noon and i was totally cranky with all the rushing and not being able to get motion sickness pills before i headed off to the airport..

when we landed in taipei, we met andy! he was taking over our flight and heading back to sing! see the 2 of them being separated by a glass panel? people walking pass would think we were nuts, trying to communicate..

we stayed in paradise hotel, an old hotel located a street away from ximending. the room was ok, nothing fantastic. the only grouse i had was that there was no safe to safe lock my valuables, which i ended dumping into a bag and stashed it at the bottom of all my stuff in my luggage, and locked it up. and you think that since we are so near… ximending will be the first place we will visit right?!

that’s technically correct, because we need to walk through ximending to get to the train station.. that’s me stepping foot into ximending… i couldn’t wait and was so hungry so we decided to visit the famous shilin market! and i tried almost everything foreign to me!

(pictures description from left to right)
1. view of the shilin market from the train platform.
2. the horrendous crowd at shilin!
3. what else?! the famous XXXL chicken cutlet thingy! we had to queue 30 mins for it. NEVER go for it on a weekend!
4. me, excited over the cherry tomatoes “bi tang hu lu” (rock sugared covered stick thingy)!!
5 & 6. games stores at shilin! there are so many!
7. at this famous shop selling the duck tongues! of cos i had to TRY! another horrendous queue..
8. shopping! there were rows and rows of fashion apparels, but i didnt see anything i fancy.. or rather, i’m kinda lazy to look carefully.. der bought berms though!

here’s all the food we ate!!
1. big spicy sausage! i like, but ex. served with raw garlic. enjoyed the spicy chomps a lot.. shiok!
2. need i explain? the XXXXL chicken cutlet!
3. der with the oyster omelette. good, but i dont like that sauce on top..
4. me, lapping up the sugar..
5. mandatory shot with the food i am going to eat..
6. braised wings from the famous duck tongue shop
7. super tall ice cream cone! it’s a disaster if you are licking it! better gobble before everything melts into ur hands. everyone that bought that have the SAME problem.
8. greedy me chomping up the spicy sausages!
9. my favourite.. fresh strawberries dunked in condensed milk! yums!

on the way back to the hotel.. i spotted this cart.. and of cos, i had to buy back to the hotel to eat!!

1. thick wild mushroom stalks – favourite!
2. a bunch of spring onions type of vege and golden mushrooms, wrapped with a thin layer of pork. looks good, but taste ok only.
3. mushrooms – good!

we also gorged a whole list of other stuff like peaches, water apples, mangoes, and other stuff like intestines, 猪血羔 (loosely translated as pig’s blood cake) that we saw along the way.. am a happy girl when i plonk my head down to rest when it’s 3am at night!