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Thursday, February 28, 2019

Jiufen

Jiufen is an adorable mountain town and worth a day trip from Taipei.


Shengping Theater is located near Old Street (before you climb the stairs). It's one of the oldest movie theaters in Taiwan. They still show movies and the best part is that they're free! 


The theater is also a museum, with old projectors on display.


From the theater, climb the narrow stairs to reach Jiufen Old Street.


You'll pass A-Mei Teahouse.


before reaching the main shopping street. The street is covered, in case you happen upon rain.


There's food to be had everywhere. This shop sold soy sauce braised foods.


Glutinous rice balls stuffed with preserved vegetables or red bean. These were surprisingly quite good. You have to eat them right away. If you tried to refrigerate them, they get hard.


If the snacks aren't enough, you can also have a sit down lunch. Appetizers on display.


Thousand Year Old Eggs with Tofu. Cut up the egg and the tofu and blend the two together.


Braised Pork Over Rice.


Beef Noodle Soup.


Wonton Noodle Soup.


Fishball Soup.


For dessert, we got Grandma Lai's Tapioca Soup. It had taro balls as well. There are rooms set up with tables and chairs which are not associated with any particular food stall so buy your food and grab a table.



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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Road Trip to Jiufen

We hired a driver and car for an entire day and traveled northeast to Jiufen.


Along the way, we saw the Elephant Trunk Rock at Shen'ao.


Nearby is Nanya with peculiar rock formations, including Bamboo Shoot Rock.


The Golden Waterfall is near the Gold Ecological Park. The water has a yellow hue from the gold and iron deposits it picks up as it passes through the old mines.


You can see the Remains of the 13 Levels in the hillside. This was a copper smelting refinery.


After the Golden Waterfall, we stopped at a temple (but I didn't get the name of it).


It featured a giant warrior reading a book.



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Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Ningxia Night Market

Taipei's night markets are a great place to search for street food. Bring small bills because it's not expensive.


Ningxia Night Market is located in the Datong District in Taipei. It's a 10-minute walk north of the Taipei Main Station.


The main street is lined with covered stalls.


The street is full of small businesses selling food. This shop is famous for oyster omelets and has a Michelin rating.


Oyster omelets are my favorite Taiwanese street food. The oysters are small and are incorporated into a gelatinous/egg base with green vegetables. A sweet sauce is served with it. The description is not appetizing but it sure is good. NT$70 ($2.25).


Peanut Ice Cream Roll stall.


Shavings of peanut brittle


The shavings are placed on a flour wrapper. Next, taro ice cream and cilantro are added then it's rolled like an egg roll. You might think cilantro is a strange addition but it makes this so tasty. NT$45 ($1.45) or 3 for NT$120 ($3.90).


The Liu Yu Zi stall sold deep fried taro balls.


Salted egg yolk or pork floss can be wrapped inside the taro ball before it is fried. NT$30 ($0.95) & NT$25 ($0.80).


This is the rice with braised pork stall.


The braised pork was so good. NT$30 ($0.95)


This stall was the only disappointment of the night.


I like rice stuffed inside pork intestine casing but this was too chewy. NT$50 ($1.60).


This is a Taiwanese burrito stall.


The fillings are mixed vegetables, eggs and ground peanuts. This was okay. Mine are better because I add hoisin sauce. NT$45 ($1.45).


We saw these candied tomatoes but didn't have a chance to try them.


Just outside of the Ningxia Night Market, we found this man making pork buns.


He slapped the buns inside this heated oven.


They were quite good and cost NT$35 ($1.15).


Nearby is this shaved ice shop.


We added green beans and peanuts on top. NT$40 ($1.30).


They also have soft tofu desserts. The tofu is so good in sugar water with boiled peanuts on top.



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Monday, February 25, 2019

Costco Taipei

I love visiting Costco when I travel. You find such interesting things, especially overseas.

The Costco in Neihu was easier to get to by public transportation so off we went. We took the MRT  Bannan Line to Houshanpi Station, walked across the street then bus #207. This dropped us off a block from Costco. Because there is no transfer and you pay for both the MRT and the bus, it might have been cheaper to go by taxi since there were 3 of us.

This Costco has 2 levels. The upper level has everything but the groceries, which was located on the lower level. This Costco gave samples of whiskey and wine, in addition to all the usual snacks on offer.


They sold pre-prepared hotpot items for NT$269 ($8.75). That is dirt cheap--I wished I lived in Taiwan!


They also had Pao de Queijo. I wish we had Brazilian bread in the US.

We found Ruffle's Chili Crab and even though it was a huge bag, we bought it.



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Sunday, February 24, 2019

Breakfast in Taipei

Our Airbnb had a great location. Not only was it convenient to the Taipei Main Station, but there were lots of places to eat nearby.


At Tim Ho Wan, we turned right then right again at the 7-Eleven. We found this place for soybean milk. There is no English here so you have to know what you want. Order at the counter and tell them if you want it to go or to have there.


There are some tables inside. Don't be afraid to share with others.


I like the savory soybean milk (shen dou jiang) better than the sweet (tian duo jiang). Order you tiao (literally translates to oil stick) with it. You tiao is a Chinese savory cruller. The perfect you tiao is crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and not greasy.

Breakfast was cheap--NT$175 ($5.70) for 3 bowls of dou jiang, 3 you tiao and 2 shao bing (sesame layered flatbread), You can stick the you tiao inside the shao bing and have carb on carb.


Before our duo jiang, we had seen a long line in front of this stall and got in it. We weren't sure what they were selling but we figure any line must mean it's good.


Turns out they were making rice rolls. Watch what those in front of you are ordering. When it's your turn, tell them what to put inside--I simply pointed and asked for them not to add mayo (which I had seen by watching the orders before mine).


The rice roll was delicious. It had egg, pickled vegetables, you tao and pork floss wrapped inside a rice ball. The rice ball was wrapped in seaweed. NT$37 ($1.20).


The next day, we walked around the block again to pick up breakfast. We found this lady making rice ball. She had no line. My sister thought her fillings were better but I couldn't tell the difference. She did not have seaweed around the rice ball. I think the other stall had the line because it was closer to the station.


Another line and we got in it. This guy made eggs wrapped inside a Chinese tortilla-.


He had pictures and letters so it was easy to order. I got the "B" for NT$40 ($1.30).


Our breakfast at the airbnb. Starting from the upper left: shao bing & you tao, shen duo jiang, rice ball, egg in Chinese tortilla and rice porridge.



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