Hey Hive/Steemit!
So if you didn't catch the last couple of posts, we're currently on a brand new journey to Taiwan! This was back at the end of 2016 and was the second new year we spent overseas together! It was also my first time visiting Taiwan and I was really excited so here we go!
Last week, we started our journey in Taiwan proper by taking a train to visit the tallest building in Taiwan - Taipei 101! And since it was full of luxury boutiques, we didn't really spend a lot of time there and instead went to check out the famous Shilin Night Market and had a ton of street food for dinner!
28 December 2016. Thursday.
The weather was cloudy, slightly rainy and perfect for sleeping so we had a pretty late start to the day. In fact most of the day was gone by the time we left the apartment. But I was pretty beat from yesterday so Sean just let me rest.
And as always, the first thing we did was to get some food!
Now unfortunately I don't remember which part of Taipei we were staying in exactly, but I do know that right downstairs from our place was one of the outlets of the famous Ay-Chung Flour Rice Noodles! This was also one of the foods on many must-try lists so we had to try it at least once.
Google tells me that their most famous outlet is in Ximending, right next to the Ximen station but I think this might be a different outlet near Zhongxiao Fuxing station. Because the one thing I do remember about this place was that this place had tables and chairs for you to sit, unlike the one in Ximen which is pretty much like a street food stall. The interior was quite nice and comfortable and it wasn't crowded at all. And it didn't have a big signboard on the front.
I don't have pictures, unfortunately. But I'm pretty sure the one below is from that outlet:
Source: Klook
But anyway, I'm pretty sure their menu was pretty similar in that they only serve 1 dish which was obviously the flour-rice noodles, in either large or small size. Since we weren't sure if we were gonna like it, Sean ordered a large for us to share.
Tbh I didn't really know what the hype was about. If you've tried mee sua before, it's pretty similar. The noodles are silky smooth and thin, but the soup (or I guess its more like gravy) is thick and goopy. It had a slightly fishy taste which I learned is from the bonito flakes that they add to the gravy.
The bits that look like meat are actually cured pig intestines, which neither of us are really a fan of, but we did try a few pieces. They were really chewy and I didn't really enjoy the texture tbh. I guess a lot of people like it, but for me it was kinda meh. But at least we tried it.
Anyway, that didn't really satisfy me and on our first night, we saw that the nearest McDonalds still served pancakes even at midnight! It made me crave some hotcakes so we decided to go get some!
So some yummy warm pancakes later, we decided what we wanted to do today and we went to take the train to go visit a special place.
Since it wasn't too far away, we decided to head to the Chang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall! It probably wouldn't be open by the time we got there, but Sean assured me that the main view was the exterior of the building which you could go visit anytime.
Which was comforting since it was already 6pm.
So just some background info; Located in Zhongzheng District in Taipei, the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂) is a famous national monument, landmark and tourist attraction erected in memory of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China. The monument, surrounded by a park, stands at the east end of Memorial Hall Square. It is flanked on the north and south by the National Theater and National Concert Hall. (Cr: Wikipedia)
The weather wasn't too great that day, but it still looked pretty impressive.
This was the view from the front:
The very ornate-looking door with incredible details:
And the view from the top of the stairs where you could see the National Theatre and Concert Hall.
Sorry for the picture quality btw, but I think the blanket of clouds did make the sky somewhat brighter at night.
It's actually quite a distance from the stairs to the main entrance. I guess that's why so many parades and mass gatherings are held here. The gardens flanking the main aisle were also really nicely cropped.
It was tough to get pictures since it was pretty dark, so we played around with some camera settings and lights, which resulted in some pretty creepy looking photos like this:
The National Concert Hall and Theatre looked really impressive as well. I'm not sure which one this was, but they looked pretty similar. And the lights illuminating it from below made it look all the more majestic.
Here's a pic of the entrance, which looks really cool as well!
After taking a lot of photos, we started walking towards Ximending since that was pretty much the only place nearby that was open at night.
On the way there, we passed by this bridal shop that had something that was a little out of place:
I think it would've been funnier if the mannequin was holding the Pikachu. But I guess the bodice would've been covered.
We also came across this wall of custom tiles that reminded me of an art project I did in secondary school.
After about 15 minutes or so, we arrived at Xi-Men Walker, which is pretty much a shopping avenue similar to Shinjuku in Tokyo.
And there was a street dancer/magician performing there with a whole crowd around him. I don't remember what he was doing though.
We walked off after a couple minutes not wanting to get caught in the dissipating crowd after he finished.
And man, this place had soo many shops. Some were big brand buildings like the H&M and some were smaller local shops.
But what a crowd there was. I mean it was peak holiday season so it was kinda expected. It definitely reminded me of the Shinjuku or Harajuku crowds in Tokyo.
Just a reminder but this was in 2016, so don't freak out.
There were also some...questionable products being sold by small street stalls such as these phallic pastries.? They are indeed some unique souvenirs I'll give you that.
So along that whole stretch at Ximen we eventually came to a mini night market with street food stalls!
I wanted to try so many things but the crowd was ridiculous.
So we bought a drink and luckily found a stall with not too many people - this pancake stall! Or I guess I should say, asian pancake.
It definitely looked like a prata (fried flatbread from Indian cuisine), which is always a good snack so we decided to try it. This one had various types of fillings you could order such as vegetables, pork, sausage, egg, etc.
This was the bag it came in:
It was freshly made and piping hot so it was tough to hold and get a decent photo unfortunately.
I remember it tasting pretty yummy though. And eating it hot and freshly cooked in the cool winter weather was perfect.
After that we found an arcade so we stopped by to play a couple of games, and to rest our feet.
We played some Mario Kart arcade and obviously I won (Sean's just pretending 😅).
After that, we went back outside and passed by this cafe with a very good boi outside at the entrance!
He was so cute! And such a handsome boi. He must be pretty well trained; he didn't bark or run around or anything.
We wanted to go in so we could support him but it was too crowded unfortunately. At least he's doing a good job at getting customers!
We passed by this egg stall that smelled really good:
And couldn't resist not getting a stick.
But it was really just quail eggs lightly fried on the outside and drizzled with sweet sauce. I mean, still good, but nothing too special.
We also came across Ay-Chung Flour Rice Noodle's famous Ximen outlet which had a crowd of people standing around queuing and eating.
There were so many stalls selling all these different kinds of skewers that we decided to give it a try.
There were these bacon-wrapped enoki mushroom skewers that we couldn't resist:
And it tasted pretty much like what you'd expect. Crispy and savoury, absolutely delicious.
We also decided to try this sausage rice hotdog.? It's also a famous Taiwan street food that's basically a Chinese sausage wrapped with rice and vegetables. But the rice is sticky and glutinous so it can wrap around the sausage.
And the last snack we got was from this fried chicken shop that had a pretty decently long queue:
I think this is a famous chain that must've recently opened this outlet in Ximen. We've never seen it before so I guess it's only local to Taiwan. Regardless, we decided to try it. I know we're not really ones for long queues but for fried chicken, I'd do it.
We decided to try their signature popcorn chicken.
That was also really piping hot.
It tasted alright, I guess. There wasn't much spice on it so it was kinda just like plain fried chicken. But the queue got even longer after we bought it, and there was even a camera there.
I think I've gotten spoiled by the karaage in Osaka that nothing else can compare. But fried chicken is always good and this wasn't too bad tbh. Just maybe not worth queuing that long.
Anyway, that's all for now! Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #79 (Taiwan): Touring Taipei 101 & Savouring Shilin Market! 🍢
