Undercover Boss: Taipei Day 1

After a 4-hour flight from Changi to Taoyuan + a 50-minute express bus ride, we were in Taipei Bus Station 台北车站, sipping on Americanised caffeine and checking out the local map. Though there are English signs, It's easiest to get around if you can speak Mandarin and can read traditional Chinese characters.

The plan was to spend the morning in Taipei city, before making our way to Xinbeitou 新北投 where our hot spring hotel was.

First up, let's leave our luggage in the lockers available in the underground mall. These lockers are life-savers.

This is Tao Yuan Street 桃源街. It apparently has authentic beef noodles. But we couldn't find it initially. Kept getting distracted by 温州大馄饨 Wenzhou Dumplings coz my paternal grandparents were from Wenzhou and I didn't know that there was such a food.

And then... Out of nowhere, we saw this sign. HAPPY!!

Had to make our way past this distraction on the ground floor first.

Upstairs, we find a dingy little set-up. Authentic... with local TV playing in the background.

You see... If you can't read Chinese, you dunno what to order.

We ordered 2 different beef noodles. The dried version and the soup version with tomatoes. Both were delicious!!

Later during the trip, we realised that shops selling beef noodles were everywhere. Just that perhaps this shop was a little more popular.

After the meal, we walked around and chanced upon the Presidential Building 总统府.

Just opposite it was the Taiwanese Ministry of Defence, where many uniformed people were walking around.

Walk down Chong Qing South Road 重庆南路 a little more and one finds an entire stretch of bookstores.

I love bookstores, especially Chinese bookstores, coz there aren't many good Chinese bookstores in Singapore.

And in a city where many people write and read (you'd be surprised at how little Singaporeans write and read), the book prices are significantly lower. An average soft-cover book costs less than S$10 here in Taipei. We bought at least 5 books during this trip.

We also found that there is much examination content on sale in Taipei. It seems apart from the standard school examinations, there are examinations and tests for every vocation.

Here you see the guide books and equivalent of 10-year-series for the police examination.

In nearby blocks, we also saw many many cram school centres. It's kind of depressing.

While I am very curious about and impressed by many aspects of East Asian societies such as South Korea, Taiwan etc, I shudder at the thought of being a Taiwanese or South Korean kid. It's exceedingly competitive. Much more than what a Singaporean kid goes through. It's not just a tough system to beat, one can't run away from the social expectations and norms. I hear that there are many Taiwanese adults with Masters degrees. An education qualification inflation.

Back to simple and brainless content...

We found a retro Singapore Salon in Taipei. Couldn't tell why it's named as such.

If you do not already know, the few key MRT stations are linked with kilometres of underground mall. As in, you can walk from one station to another and the walkways are lined with shops, selling all sorts of stuff (similar to our HDB shops).

At each key station, you will find underground connections to major shopping malls. This is Q-Square 京站时尚广场. Supposedly an ultra-chic mall of the latest fashion.

The loo was funky enough.

But the fashion selection on sale was so-so.

I liked this shop.

With 诸葛亮 Zhuge Liang as its 门神 doorguard.

It's an entire store full of cute-sy stuff from Japan.

Check out the cat-face super hero with moobs. =))

Notepads in the form of tofu.

I love this display. Was tempted to buy some, but restrained myself by telling myself that it was only Day 1.

The food court was huge, modern and packed.

Eh? Hainainese chicken rice? It looked a little weird.

We didn't see the all-so-popular Gong Cha (which claims to be from Taiwan) in Taipei at all. Instead we saw this brand 奉茶 and others. It's too damn sweet. I had a sugar rush afterwards.

I succumbed to the Wenzhou dumplings. They were alright. Not too special.

By then we were super spaced out. We hadn't had a good sleep because of the red-eye flight, and our bodies were protesting against the alien air and temperature. So we decided to make our way to the hot spring hotel.

Along the way in the underground link, we saw this stainless steel sculpture of balloon doggies in rather compromising positions.

Social commentary by a local artist.

At the train platform, we see a somewhat familiar yet distant sight.

People queue-ing up in an orderly fashion while waiting for the train.

The train ride is affordable. The trains are frequent, not packed to its brim...

... And are wider than those in SG.

The train to Xinbeitou has arrived! It's done up to reflect the rest and relax atmosphere of Xinbeitou.

The God of Hot Springs! Don't mess around. Remember to strip to nothing and shower before you enter the hot spring. =)

'Good Fren' checking out the touchscreens in the form of a hot tub inside the train. Basically, it provides information on what to do in Xinbeitou.

Once we got out of the Xinbeitou station, we spotted our hot spring hotel, the Radium Kagaya 日腾生加贺屋. It's about a 5-minute walk from the MRT station.

This is a new Japanese hot spring hotel (opened in Dec 2010), and is the only branch outside of Japan. The flagship in Japan is apparently the favoured hot spring hotel for the Japanese royal family.

Corridor

Entrance to gift shop

Natural lighting

Lovely view of Yang Ming Mountains 阳明山 from the living room.

Click on the pic to expand the view.

You can choose a room with a bed or Japanese-style 'bed'. Each room comes with a living room, bedroom and bathroom. And I love it that internet access for both our hotels in Taipei were part of the package. No hassle.

I love the bathroom. Hot spring water is pumped from the hot springs and comes through the convenience of a tap in the bathroom. Soaking in the hot hot bath tub, you can open the lourver windows and enjoy the view.

And of course, being a Japanese creation, everything is Japanese.

Each room comes with a butler, who is Taiwnese and dressed as such. They all speak Mandarin AND Japanese, and have Japanese names. Our butler is a cute little girl from Kaohsiung 高雄 and her Japanese name is 真琴.

The hotel smells like a rabbit. It sounds weird, but 'Good Fren' thought so too. So it's not just me and my imagination. It's probably because of the vast amounts of wood used on the inside of the hotel. In fact, the smell is rather comforting. I can almost smell it when looking at these pictures. =)

Male and female yukatas.

We wore them everywhere in the hotel. To the spa, the breakfast, to explore the hotel etc.

We enjoyed a soak in the hot spring, then headed to the spa for a massage.

The soak was uber uber hot! I thought it'd cause me to break suffer from dermatitis but instead the existing patches healed over the next couple of days!?!

The massage at the spa was so-so. We've had better in Singapore and Bangkok.

Breakfast and dinner are provided as part of the package. And dinner was served, as part of tradition, in the room. Hence, the need for a living room.

And the dinner turned out to be a THIRTEEN-course meal that lasted for at least 2 hours?! It's like one of those hot spring dinners you see on Japan Hour.

And because the room is partitioned with Japanese sliding doors, there was a lot of bowing, kneeling and shuffling by our butler, all strung together with her bright voice exclaiming,"不好意思，打扰了哦!"

By the end of the trip, we could not get her favourite phrase and hospitality out of our minds.

Here is the menu.

Sesame cold tofu

I have no idea what we ate, but I know it's delicious... =))

'Good Fren' reckons this is one of the best sashimi he's had, especially that little cube in the middle.

Grilled crab and abalone... by this dish... I was about to give up oredi... And it was only the 4th dish... out of 13??

That's our butler, 真琴. Don't for a moment think she's merely a waitress or hotel staff. She's in fact holds a Bachelors in Japanese Studies, which explains her ability to speak Japanese.This is her first job.

Time for a break. Some tea in an exquisite chawan.

Here we go again!!

This is called 蟹真丈. Crab meat wrapped in fish paste and steamed.

While I was gonna explode... She brought us a dish that was not on the menu. WHAT?! An additional dish?! With compliments from the General Manager, she said. It was fried blowfish.

We placed the blowfish in our mouths while we watched the seafood come to a hesitant boil in the background.

Then she brought a performer into the room. A Taiwanese who sang beautifully in Japanese.

By then, the room was getting rather warm. It must be the yukata, the food, the alcohol, the lack of sleep, and the passionate service...

Eel with a curious sauce. Lovely, regardless...