Taiwan Trip Day 6: 12th Feb 2015, Thursday
台湾之旅第六天：2月12日2015年, 星期四
Attractions for the day:
Fu Hang Soy Milk 阜杭豆漿 [
Google Map Link]
Lungshan Temple 龍山寺 [
Google Map Link]
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 中正紀念堂 [
Google Map Link]
TAIPEI 101 台北101 [
Google Map Link]
Wufenpu Shopping District 五分埔商圈 [
Google Map Link]
Raohe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 [
Google Map Link]
Accommodation for the day:
Royal Palace Hotel 豪麗大飯店 [
Google Maps Link]
It was a pretty cold morning once again. Thankfully the hotel we were staying in, Royal Palace Hotel, had a coffee machine at the lobby for all guests to grab some free drinks. The plan for the day would consist of some cultural elements by visiting Lungshan Temple and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, then some shopping elements by visiting Wufenpu Shopping District, and also not forgetting the hunt for mouth-watering food such as Fu Hang Soy Milk for breakfast, Ay-Chung Rice-Flour Noodle (again!), and visiting the famous Raohe Street Night Market. Can't wait! We walked to the nearby Zhongxiao Fuxing Station and headed for Shandao Temple Station.
Grabbed some hot drinks before moving off.
There is a Shandao Temple (善導寺) opposite the building where Fu Hang Soy Milk (阜杭豆漿) is located.
After alighting from the train at Shandao Temple Station and taking Exit
5, we came across Shandao Temple itself to the left just across the
road. Ahead of us was the building where Fu Hang Soy Milk was located.
To our horror a long queue had already formed, disappearing into the
corner of the building. While Dear queued, I followed the queue, which
made a right turn, then up a flight of stairs, with people queuing on
the stairs itself, and into an indoor foodcourt area with many stalls.
Of course the only queue worth mentioning was that of Fu Hang. There
were many other customers having meals from other stalls, but majority
were Fu Hang customers.
Fu Hang Soy Milk, located on the second floor of this building.
But a horde of hungry customers were already queuing up all the way from the first floor!
They even show you how you should be queuing!
A simple menu with very simple items.
Did we decide to wait? Yes of course! I did some research on recommended breakfast places in Taipei and this was one of the spots that was near our hotel, therefore we had to give it a try. After waiting for half an hour, we finally managed to order our food from the counter. However the staff was pretty rude, probably because of the number of customers they deal with everyone. We ordered a feast which probably was not meant for two people to eat - their famous soy milk, both the sweet and salty versions 豆浆 and 咸豆浆, thick bread with youtiao (trying to do an accurate translation) 厚饼油条, thin bread with youtiao and egg 薄饼加蛋油条, and caramel flatbread 焦糖甜饼. There was an area where customers could watch the staff make the bread using the traditional way of a stone oven and charcoal. Not exactly sure how to describe that equipment, but the bread sure give the aromatic, charcoal taste which was sooo good. The sweet soy milk was...very normal. But the salted version was not quite what we expected. It contained bits of youtiao, and there were lumps of soybean fibre or beancurd. Tasted weird cos we were only used to sweet soy milk. But still, it was worth the wait since such breakfast was something we could never have in Singapore.
Each item is made by the skillful artisans, using traditional methods.
The staff kneading the dough skillfully.
Our heavy breakfast.
Soy milk 豆浆 (NT$25)
Salted soy milk 咸豆浆 (NT$30)
Thick bread with youtiao 厚饼油条 (NT$50).
Thin bread with youtiao and egg 薄饼加蛋油条 (NT$54).
The 焦糖甜饼, with sweet caramel in the centre (NT$22).
The salted soy milk actually contains lumps of beancurd.
Taking Exit 5 back to Shandao Temple Station.
Backtracking to Shandao Temple Station, we then took the train to Longshan Temple Station. Another one of the recommended attractions to visit in Taipei simply because it is one of the largest and oldest temple in Taiwan. It is also conveniently located next to the Longshan Temple Station, just one stop after Ximen Station, so it is recommended to drop by there if you are visiting Ximending. Then again, it is almost certain any visitor to Taipei would visit Ximending anyway.
Arrived at Lungshan Temple.
A popular place of worship.
There's a nice man-made waterfall within the temple compound.
Many offerings to the Gods can be seen.
A nice place of worship to visit in Taipei.
There was nothing else worth exploring in the area, we thought. However, there was a flea market just around the corner, with plenty of roadside stalls selling street food. We decided to head to Ximending instead.
A giant bell along the covered walkway outside Lungshan Temple.
Found a local flea market around the area.
A roadside stall selling some local dish. We are not that adventurous to try this.
Once we reached Ximending, the first thing we went for was Ay-Chung Rice-Flour Noodle 阿宗面线 again. You can never have enough of it. Dear then went to shop for some purses. That was the reason why we returned to Ximending, but then again 阿宗面线 was also good enough reason just to visit Ximending even though we already visited it on Day 1 of our trip.
Ahhh! 阿宗面线 is simply the best streetfood you can't miss.
Next we took the train to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to visit Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall. The train station itself had intricately designed tiles on the platform walls. We then exited the station and walked towards the Liberty Square 自由廣場. Unfortunately, we saw from a distance that the Gate of the Liberty Square 自由廣場牌樓 was under renovation! It would have been nice to take a picture of it as it was also another magnificent structure. The other structures in the area were the National Concert Hall and CKS Memorial Hall.
We walked through Liberty Square and climbed up the stairs to reach the top, where the interior of the memorial hall contained a huge statue of Chiang Ka-shek. Turning around, we had a bird's eye view of the whole surrounding area. Looked like the compounds of a palace. We also went back down the stairs and into the ground level interior of the memorial hall where there were many other areas to explore. There was the wax figures museum of sorts, depicting scenes of CKS doing his daily business. There were also shops selling food and souvenirs.
Very intricate design on the tiles inside the CKS Memorial Hall Station.
What bad luck! The Gate of the Liberty Square is under renovation!
At least this National Concert Hall building is not under renovation.
The magnificent Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
Plenty of flowers in Liberty Square to beautify the area.
A flagpole several storeys high stands in the middle of Liberty Square.
A closer look at the CKS Memorial Hall.
The view from the top of CKS Memorial Hall.
There is a huge complex within the memorial hall.
Wax figurine of Chiang Kai-shek in his office.
After exploring the memorial hall, we returned outside and found spot with many plum blossoms. Good time to witness these flowers in bloom. There were many people there taking pictures of these lovely flowers as well.
Cherry blossoms and plum blossoms could be found around the area.
A bird feeding on plum blossom nectar.
The elegant plum blossom flowers.
We walked on to the nearest bus stop and took a bus eastwards towards the Taipei 101. Upon alighting from the bus, the towering Taipei 101 stood right before us. There was the Taipei World Trade Center building diagonally to our left, which reminded us of The Interlace condominium in Singapore. We crossed the road and approached the Taipei 101 to find that there were many interesting displays in the area, mostly related to the year of the Goat. We entered the Taipei 101 mall itself and walked around for a little bit. We did not plan to go to the top of Taipei 101, therefore we exited the mall and roamed around the area in search of other interesting things.
The Taipei World Trade Center that looks somewhat similar to The Interlace condominium in Singapore.
The towering Taipei 101.
Some interesting display outside the building.
Found a Love structure too.
Chinese lanterns decorating the interior of Taipei 101 to welcome Lunar New Year.
Red damper baby welcomes you to Taipei 101.
Another view of Taipei 101.
It was definitely a better choice to be outside Taipei 101 and take a picture of it, rather than scaling it. There were plenty of other malls in the area to explore as well, but we found a spot right outside Shinkong Mitsukoshi, one of the many shopping malls in the area, where there were many plum blossoms. Once again we went into trigger-happy mode and took quite a lot of pictures with these beautiful trees.
Entertainment complex VieShow.
Shikong Mitsukoshi, another shopping centre in the area.
Found more plum blossoms next to Taipei 101.
After we were satisfied with the pictures taken, we headed north towards the Taipei City Hall Station and took a train to Houshanpi Station for our next destination, the Wufenpu Shopping District. It was a less than ten minute walk from the station. Although we had heard Momo Dear's friend bringing back tons of clothes from this place, Momo Dear did not manage to find anything of her liking, probably because most of the clothing sold were for the winter season. Although some of them were indeed really cheap, but it would not make sense to buy these winter clothing to wear in hot and humid Singapore. It was therefore another window-shopping session, and merely an eye-opener for us as we explored these shops along little alleys, very much like our very own Bugis Street.
Ready for some good deals at Wufenpu Shopping District?
From Wufenpu Shopping District, it was another ten minutes walk to our next and final destination for the day - Raohe Street Night Market. It was one of the other night markets not to be missed if you were in Taipei, with the other being
Shilin Night Market. We found something interesting at the entrance of the night market. It was a traffic junction with diagonal crossing, much like the scrambled crossing at Shibuya. Next to the entrance of the night market was also a Songshan Ciyou Temple. The entrance of the night market was easy to spot since there was a huge gate with lighting all around it with the words "饒河街觀光夜市", meaning Raohe Street Night Market. The only problem to deal with was going through it! There were tons of tourists and locals alike jamming up the entrance.
I feel that all night markets share one similarity. Having been to so many night markets in Taipei and other parts of Southeast Asia, I think all night markets are in the form of two rows of shophouses, often separated by a road during the day. At night, makeshift stalls would be set up in the middle of the road, separating the two rows of shophouses, creating two mini-streets. Somehow most night markets are of this layout.
Diagonal crossing at this traffic junction.
A "mechanical clock" facing the Raohe Street Night Market just across the junction.
The Songshan Ciyou Temple (松山慈祐宮) right next to the entrance of Raohe Street Night Market.
Can hardly squeeze through the entrance of Raohe Street Night Market.
Now for the juicy parts. We started off with some fried chicken cutlet. As we all know, Taiwanese chicken cutlet is famous for their juiciness and texture. Soft on the inside, crispy on the outside. And all the chili or seasoning sprinkled on the outside making it so irresistible. Something else caught our eyes and it was Ah Gang Golden Bursting Juice Chicken Roll (direct translation from "阿刚黄金爆浆鸡腿卷"). With such a creative name, one would not be able to resist giving it a try, right? Indeed it was quite unique because it was not your normal hotdog or sausage, but actual chicken meat rolled into the shape of a sausage and barbecued on a stick. The various choices of seasoning was also a good way to satisfy fickle taste-buds.
First for some fried chicken cutlet (NT$60).
Saw this Ah Gang Golden Bursting Juice Chicken Roll (阿刚黄金爆浆鸡腿卷).
Decided to give it a try. Only NT$35 each.
Juicy meat on a stick. Yummy!
Next, we found a stall, in fact a few stalls side-by-side, selling herbal pork ribs. Decided to give it a try. And what better way to go with it than a bowl of braised pork rice? Perfect combination. The herbal pork ribs remind us of bak kut teh, with the bowl containing mostly bones, but of course there was meat as well.
And then some herbal pork ribs (NT$70)...
...accompanied by braised pork rice 卤肉饭 (NT$25).
Saw a stall with a Caucasian selling tasty-looking fruit cakes.
The next part of the tour around Raohe Street Night Market was a very long stop at a shop selling bags. Dear even signed up for membership and bought
four bags at one go. But it was of course a great deal for her to buy so many at one time.
Came across a stall selling smelly tofu. Although it did not smell good, we decided to get a plate of it. Soft on the inside, crispy skin on the outside, certainly a good combination for a snack. Before we exited the night market, we got ourselves a cup of black sugar pearl milk. Soothing to the throat and great way to reduce the heatiness from eating all those heaty street food.
Do you smell the smelly tofu 臭豆腐? (NT$50).
Ah Gen's Smelly Tofu 阿根脆皮臭豆腐. Vegetarians can eat this too.
One final item to buy - Black sugar pearl milk 黑糖珍珠鲜奶 (NT$45).
Our main motive of visiting Raohe Street Night Market was of course just for the food. Scattered throughout the night market were also other stalls selling various handicrafts, souvenirs, T-shirts etc. Not a fan of these things. Hence all we did were to go for the food. And with that, we returned to our hotel, but not before going to a nearby convenience store to get some snacks - Taiwan beer and pudding. What a great way to end the day, although it was a very unhealthy way. But who cares? We were on holiday!
Realized there are free drinks in the fridge!
Wow not bad eh?
These fruits could be eaten too.
Enjoying some Taiwan beer since we were in Taiwan.
I love pudding!
