5D4N Taipei - Day 3

Woke up earlier than my alarm. So I sneaked quietly down to the gym before 8.30am only to find the gym quite packed with 3 men. Luckily the elliptical was still available for use. The gym had a grand total of 3 equipment - treadmill, elliptical and bike. Not a fantastic gym but at least something. 

The breakfast at Westgate is just okay but no complaints cos I brought my buo luo taro bun and the san xing cong egg rolls down to supplement. Then it was haircut time before we walked around ximending. Lunch was at san ge mian xian. We got a deal for 219twd only that consists of 2 bowls of noodles, 2 drinks, 1 side dish and 1 appetizer. Super good deal. Then it was more snow ice at ximending mango ice. Super stuffed after the 2 bowls. 

Shopping around ximending is hard without unlimited luggage space. I finally found the highly recommended Sally.com shoes. Will probably get a few. There's a bag from PG Mall that I may get as well. Hm. They also have A grade bags. Hehe. Watched street buskers and donated to the gangnam style guy. 

Then it was down to Zhong Shan to collect another deal before cabbing down to Ningxia night market again. I quite like Ningxia for the feel and the food selection. I went straight to queue for the yam puffs while Tobs went to get the da chang bao xiao chang. Even after he got it, I was still queuing so he went to get the run bing. It was then back to hotel and we pigged out in the room while watching variety programmes. Watched one where teams compete against each other to sing a complete song with a conductor giving members the cue. We were super tickled by this tarsus-looking person who can't seem to get it right and keeps going at the wrong line. 

 

5D4N Taipei - Day 2

Day 2

Woke up at 11.59am and had to check my iPhone, iPad and watch to confirm that's the time. We slept  at closet to 1am this morning so that's close to 11 hours of sleep. !!!

Changed up and went down to Yong Kang Street for Yong Kang Beef Noodle. Ordered 1 large beef noodle, 1 beef soup, 1 fen zheng pai gu and 2 hong you chao shou. Then it was a mandatory zong he Tianjin cong zua bing at the corner stall before we had zong he mango snow ice at smoothie. 

Headed down to Yuan Shan station for the Taipei Expo Park. There's a rice exhibition with lots of stalls for rice and rice-related products. We headed for the Pavilion of Dreams. I read about it ystday night while trying to find an alternative to visiting Dan Shui. 

At the Pavilion of Dreams, you are given a handheld device called the Dream Time Machine. We then went through the Grand Hall with kaleidoscopic screens and a short film on a drop of dew. The. It was the Square of Aspiration where users were able to see themselves in their dream story. The Hall of Cooperation is not too exciting but the Station of Courage was quite pretty with the 360 degree circular screen. There were also special effects based on the story scene. The Terminal of Action was on flight and didn't mean much. It ended with the Music Box of Dreams which was quite fascinating to watch.

Then it was off to Shilin where we got Bei Hui papaya milk (super love). We also found a lot more new stalls open, including an excellent Beijing meat skewer stall (3 for 100twd). Probably should not eat hao da da anymore since it is so super unhealthy and heaty. It has lost favour with me. Sheng Jian Bao has shifted its stall to a more secluded area. 

Cabbed to Ningxia for round 2. Our favorite: Yam biscuit and yam ball. The queue is quite long. It totally worth it. Yam biscuit has pork floss and salted egg yolk in it. Quite like a moon cake. It what's surprising is that it is not oily at all and the yam has a very nice natural flavor without being too sweet. Tobs had 2 sausages from different stalls and we shared a kimchi cheese roll. Got there too late and Guan Zhi Lin was closed (da chang bao xiao chang) and also a spring roll stall that I would have wanted to try. Maybe will go down earlier one of these days.