Taipei - Day 3

It was a lazy morning... 真琴 rang to check if we were gonna have breakfast. 'Good Fren' took a look at the lazy curled up me, and told her that we would like to sleep in and skip breakfast. 

Then in all sense of great hospitality, she brought breakfast to us instead.

FWAAAAAAAH!! We are so pampered...

I hid in the bedroom when she served breakfast to us coz I hadn't washed my face. =D

With the good solid breakfast, we were on our way to the urban leg of our Taipei trip. Not before some snacks and macha...

On the first day, we had tried to tip the girls who helped us with the luggage. They refused. And on the last day, we tried to give 真琴 a good tip for her excellent service, and she refused too. Instead, she passed us a customer satisfaction survey form and smiled.

Kagaya was great. Beitou was great... Now to hit the streets of Taipei proper...

After a 20-minute MRT ride, we were back in town... This time, we checked into Tango Hotel Taipei Nanshi.

Because we were early, we left our luggage with the front desk, including our precious Guan Gong, and took a walk around the neighhourhood, i.e. the Zhongshan area 中山.

First up, Spot-Taipei Film House.

This arty establishment is managed by eminent Taiwanese film director and producer, Hou Hsiao-Hsien. He produced Raise the Red Lantern (大红灯笼高高挂).

The conserved building hosts a cinema, a gift shop, a cafe and a bar.

The gift shop is stocked with all sorts of arty yuppie shite which would have excited me a lot more if I were 10 years younger. I think I have severely aged in that department.

The Cafe Lumiere is visible from the entrance.

Part of the space was created by boxing up what looked to be a porch.

Seamless flow of space between cafe and gift shop, aided by beeping modern technology.

During our little rest in the cafe, we were bombarded with East Asian-ness. The waitress was of course a super deh Taiwanese with speaking cutesy Mandarin.

In front of me was a group of Hong Kongers, thumbing through their iPads and speaking in Cantonese.

This lone lady in the picture above was Japanese, also thumbing through her iPad thing.

An odd pair of men sat on my right and were speaking in halting English. Eventually, I figured out that one of them was Taiwanese, while the other was South Korean who had studied in Canada.

Then you have this weird pair of plainly dressed Singaporeans eavesdropping on all of them, and being able to make out what they were all saying.

Making our way out of Spot Film House...

I saw PPAPER Publisher opposite Spot Film House but didn't venture inside. My friend tells me it's like the Monocle of Taiwan...

... and into the neighbourhood filled with little artsy designer yuppie shops...

According to my friend, Kanpai is a popular yuppie F&B chain for some sake and meat. And that during the later hours, if you kissed a stranger, you would get a plate of that day's special. =))

Eventually, we didn't find a slot to enjoy Kanpai, but will make sure that we do the next time!! ROAR!

After walking for some time, we arrived at MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art.

It's all dolled up on the outside.

We bought tix and left our bags in the locker...

... then went about the exhibits...

There was an artists' reception going on, with many people in the room.

One of them did this...

While the other artist did a more interesting piece which made used of sound waves on a large basin of water to create patterns in a dark room. I couldn't take a good pic of it.

BM: Eh! Papa! That's Kang Kang 康康!
GF: Who's that?!
BM: He's a Taiwanese presenter?
GF: Erm... Dunno...
BM: Nair mind!!

Checking the map on his phone... Time for lunch!! YUM YUM!

Our target destination is this little Japanese joint called 肥前屋, which sells the best unagi rice ever. So let's go!!! 

And along the way...

Hello doggie!!

Police scooters all lined up along the road.

This looks familiar?! =))

Ooohh!! Yuppie shite!

Finally! Here we are...

Can you see the sign?

There is a resident bunny outside of the shop.

Eh?? How come no queue?!!

Coz lunch time is over!! RRROOOOAAAARRRR!!!

Nair mind... Our hotel is just round the corner, WE WILL BE BACK!!

Just next door, we saw this sign for Bi-Tai-Bak. Mmmmm... Looks good...

A simple and authentic-looking shop operated by aunties.

Featured in the papers repeatedly.

Erm... It was a pic I found along with the newspaper clippings. Pomelo bikini?!!

Here comes the fooooooooooooood!!!

Clockwise from the left: Bi-Tai-Bak in hot soup, Boiled pig intestines with soya sauce and ginger, Dry Bi-Tai-Bak in savoury sauce.

The Bi-Tai-Bak is different from that we find in Singapore. The latter resembled more like a mouse's tail and so its Cantonese name of 老鼠粉. The Bi-Tai-Bak in Taipei is more like fluffy thick noodles.

All three dishes were SUPERB!!

And now for desserts!!

HAR?! Bi-Tai-Bak for desserts too?!!

It sounds kind of weird, but think of it as the green wormy stuff in chendol. This dessert is like a cross between chendol and ice kachang without the coconut milk and red bean, and replace with chewy muahchee-like bits. Enjoyable.

On our way back to the hotel, we came across a stall selling plump cherries, and bought some.

Mmmm... We love cherries!!

Back at Tango Hotel, they have already moved our luggage up to the room.

At just above SGD100 per night and located just at Exit 4 of Zhongshan MRT station, this hotel room is a steal.

Of course, we just came from 2 nights at Kagaya, the room did feel a little tiny.

 But like all things in life, we got used to it pretty soon.

After resting our complaining feet, we made our way to Shilin Night Market 士林夜市 by taking the MRT to Jiantan Station 剑潭站.

Despite how they throw punches at one another in Parliament, Taiwanese are polite in the everyday life. Check out how everyone keeps to the right on the escalator. EVERYONE!

HO HO HO!! Here we are!!! Crazy Crazy!!

This is the food section of the Shilin Night Market, which is supposedly an interim building structure, but because the discourse on building the permanent market along the river has lost its momentum, this interim solution has become rather permanent.

'Good Fren's favourite... Oyster egg!!

This particular stall Zhong Cheng Hao 忠诚号 was exceedingly popular. Packed to the brim with people.

We also ordered pig kidney soup. I want to have some NOW!!!

I thought the chilli sauce was a little overwhelming in terms of volume. What do you think?

After a meal, now for some lemon juice with lovely Aiyu 爱玉 Jelly!!

FWAH! That's a lot of happiness in a basin!

Mmmmm...

Supersizeme Taiwanese sausages!!

大饼包小饼. How should I translate this?

It's more like a wrap in a wrap. You can choose from a variety of fillings, i.e. savoury (e.g. peanut) to sweet (e.g. sesame).

If you were to click on the pic to enlarge it, you'd see a super long queue for a particular stall.

Of course, we joined the queue (along with a group of 4 Singaporeans in front of us). =))

All for a chicken cutlet snack.

It's finally our turn!!

I was hoping it would taste much better than those of the same one could find in Singapore. I was wrong. It's the same, and we didn't like it. Watever!

Fruit juice never fails!!

Cross the road, and you will find yourself in the other component of the Shilin Night Market. SHOPPING!!!

 Despite us shopping in the area, I realised that I only took pics of the food and game stalls! ROAR!! The sizes of the crowd and night market were overwhelming!

Make the bottle stand! The stall uncle keeps proving to the audience that it's possible.

Erm... This is food.

FWAH! Oily meat with spring onion on the grill can never go wrong!

'Good Fren' had to try this.

It's alright...

Eh?? The Singaporean food looked weird...

You get the picture of that night. It was a lot of walking, buying snacks, and soaking in the atmosphere. It's after all an Asian city. Best to be experienced at night. =)))