Category: Overseas Travel

Christine and I, after our adventures in the country (which ended with me drinking a lot of moonshine, passing out and snoring loudly) made it back safely to Taipei straight to the open doors of Din Tai Fung #1. This is THE original shop which, due to a very busy November with lots of guests, Christine has been to FIVE times this month.

“This is the fifth time I’ve been here this month”
Because of the late lunch (or early dinner because of the quantity of food), we had supper as I tried to snap out of my moonshine induced blurness. We found out that we could order half servings which fit us perfectly.

Gotta have xiaolongbao! And I even remembered how to eat it correctly!
What else can I say? This is a Din Tai Fung, the soup inside was at just the right temperature, the skins were not too thick and had the prerequisite number of folds on them. In short, heaven!

Christine ordered dumplings with greens inside. Healthy…

These are itty bitty red bean dessert-type dumplings.
Unlike the Din Tai Fung branches I’ve run into in Singapore, which are more fancy and swish, Din Tai Fung #1 feels more like a modern yum cha place. Seems appropriate considering the cuisine served which is unpretentious and down to earth.

This is where the good xiaolongbaos are!
Of course, after eating various dumplings and downing at least a liter’s worth of tea, it was now time for dessert. Down the street from Din Tai Fung is a neat little place called Ice Monster.

This is the original shop…
They have a silly website (watch with the sound on) but the mango was very fresh and the desserts were hella refreshing. It was a perfect end to a busy day, sitting with dessert while watching the people walk/drive/ride scooters by. After this, it was time to head home. One of us had to work at 0800 the next day and the other had to leave for TPE for a long flight back to SFO via HKG. You figure out who had to do what the next day…

Mmmmm…dessert!
Din Tai Fung
194 Xinyi Road Sec. 2
Da-an District
Taipei City, Taiwan
(02) 2321-8928
Ice Monster
15 Yongkang Street
Da-an District
Taipei City, Taiwan
(02) 2394-8279

On my last day in Taipei, my friend and Taipei native Christine invited me for a drive outside of the city for lunch at a “bed and breakfast near the beach”. I thought, sure why not? It would be nice to see how the countryside looks since Taiwan is supposed to be pretty scenic. And from what “scenery” I saw in Taipei, I thought that outside should be just as amazing.
So we drove up with a bunch of Christine’s friends, one of who was a magazine writer and our contact with the establishment that we were driving up to. We were the third car in a three car convoy that wound up driving out of Taipei and (eventually) up a mountain. The people in front were using the Force to navigate instead of one of those handy dandy GPS units, which would had been more appropriate, I think.
Eventually we found the place. It wasn’t really a bed and breakfast, but rather an organic farm/restaurant in the countryside. Of course, Christine came dressed for a “bed and breakfast” meal and I came in sandals appropriate for the beach.

Stylish but not really weather wise
Of course, all this was moot, since it was RAINING! Clouds all around. Wind whipped storm. And the like. And lunch wasn’t ready. So the owner of the restaurant suggested that we check out the nearby peak where you could get a view of the ocean. Keep in mind that it’s raining and a storm front was going through quickly. So we drove up single lane roads. Scary drops and no guardrails. Before we reached the end of the road and hiked up a hill, umbrellas in tow to the top.

The clouds broke just enough for us to catch a glimpse of the ocean

It almost looks like a painting. It was hella windy and wet, I tell ya!

This is how it looks like when you remove the rain and clouds
Eventually it was time to go back because lunch was ready. So how to go back? Naturally, you go back the way you came. On one lane roads.
Right click here for 13 MB video because it won’t upload right to YouTube (not ready yet)

Imagine 25 minutes of this. And this was coming DOWN the mountain. In the rain. In some spots, the rain cleared up enough so that some of the local wildlife came out. We drove past this big fellas’ friend so we slowed down, rolled down the window and took his picture.

Bloody tourists…
Eventually, we made it back to the compound where, at 1545 or so, we sat down to a full Chinese banquet, although we didn’t know it at the time. We thought it would just be “lunch”. The meal began with toasts and drinking of wine coolers, beer and some homemade witches’ brew that was allegedly “good for you”.
Last time I heard an explanation like that, my grandmother was trying to get me to drink some mystery soup that was black like an oil spill and had mysterious bits in it.
Christine theorized that it was a liquor (yup) with a rice base, like sake. However, what gave it its amber color? What else was in it? No one was telling. I can tell you that we went through (in no particular order): two veggie dishes, a very fresh chicken, little crispy shrimp, fish cakes and a fresh fish. Also more beer and moonshine. A lot more. When the part of the meal came for KTV, Christine and I beat retreat by pointing to the sky (it was dark now) and telling our hosts that we had to head back to the city.
Now I do remember climbing into Christine’s truck and her lowering the seat back for me. I don’t remember the next 90 minutes as we drove back to Taipei. She said I was out like a light, snoring all the way back. I don’t recall that…but I do remember waking up about 6 minutes out from Din Tai Fung. Wah, what timing!

Generally, I dislike advertising, unless it’s done right, like in Taipei. Like this!

Now what are they selling? Some hair product, I think.
UPDATE: Here’s a site featuring Moe, the model in the advert! Just click on the kana in the middle of the page! And here’s her official website! Waaaaah…

Back in August, I visited the Petronas Towers which was the tallest building in the world prior to the completion of Taipei 101 in 2004.

It doesn’t look tall but it really is!
Unlike Petronas, which only takes you up to the skybridge midway up, Taipei 101 takes you up to the 89th floor which is closer to the top. 89 stories is hella high! From that height, everything looks like small landscape models.

People live down there…
There’s also a recently opened outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor. When I went up there, it was hella windy and there was a storm moving in. But it was neat to be up that high and outside.

Floors 92-101 are for VIP events. Not VI yet so couldn’t go up…

I thought Singapore had all the rules!
Taipei 101 also has the world’s fastest elevators which are pressurized because they get you to the top in under 40 seconds going 37.5 MPH. If they weren’t pressurized, your ears would really pop. And you’d probably get sick too…

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about fast elevators
Like Petronas, Taipei 101 has about six floors of mall at the base filled with high end stores, so you can spend a lot of time (and money) here. The food court here is very good and the prices are decent. One difference between these two landmarks is that going up to the Petronas skybridge is free and there’s no outdoor deck. Taipei 101 charges NT$350 to the main observation deck and another NT$100 to go up to the outdoor deck. But it was worth it! From the observation deck, you get a commanding view of the entire city. Cool!

So there I was in Taipei last night, waiting for a cross-town basi to get me back to the hostel since the MRT shuts down at midnight.
Waiting 35 minutes in the rain.
Then the 203 Basi comes into view…
and ROARS by at full speed, right past me and the basi stop. Frakkin’ basi!!!
Wound up taking a taxi back, NT$220 I could have spent on drinks and food!!
I dun like basi…!

Taipei in its current incarnation is a young city; most of it was built since the end of WWII. There are famous landmarks here that look really old, but were constructed bewteen the 50s and the 80s in the Tang Dynasty style and layout. I visited the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Park that has the CKS Memorial Hall, the National Concert Hall, Theater and two gates that remind me of the layout of Tiananmen Square and its related buildings in Beijing.

The Concert Hall near the MRT

The National Theatre on the other side of the square

Continue reading “Old Taipei Landmarks”

Like all lost evenings, it began with the most innocent of occasions. Well, first it was Friday night, the official start of the weekend. And second, my fren Wallace, who was visiting HKG with our other fren Coy, was flying back to the land of tax (AKA USA) on Saturday. So there were two excuses to debauch!
We began the evening at Alcove, a restaurant located in the upper part of Central. It’s a very very small place that serves Beijing style fusion food. The dishes didn’t necessarily match like a typical Chinese banquet but it was very good and the decor was funky in a mainland sorta way.

The front door!

Our table was the entire depth of the restaurant! That’s how small lah!
I broke one of the rules of food blogging…I put the camera down and enjoyed the meal and the company. If you want to check the place out, call first! It’s one of those places that great for a party or great for a date…

Alcove
55 Peel Street
Central, Hong Kong
+852 29759788
We then adjourned for several hours of debauching. Actually, it was from 2300 to 0330. Hong Kong is one of those progressive places where there is NO last call and the owners of the drinking establishments determine when to close. What a concept! Since I was inebriated (that means “drunk”) for much of the evening, I don’t remember specifics. We went to three different places as a group and I took silly pictures (and drank a lot).

Here’s an outtake

Here’s the real picture!

This is what happens when you collect for the bill for ten people…and you’re smashed!

Wal and Helen. Helen’s the one who prepped the hairy crabs…thank you!

Helen and Kevin. They live in HKG. She’s from SFO. He’s not.
We went on like this, gradually losing people on the way, until we called the evening at 0330. Then Wal, Coy and I got the munchies and wound up in Causeway Bay at some late night place. It was fine for me because I was 5 minutes walking distance from my place. It wasn’t so fine for Wal and Coy because they were staying in Kowloon Tong, it’s a HK$300+ cabride back & the MTR dun open until 0550. So what do you do to kill time?

You haggle for porn!

and take pretty pictures…