Playing catch-up (Part 2 of umm...)

Am sitting in a Starbucks while waiting for my mom so I thought I'd take this valuable time and update the blog.
By the way, Starbucks does not seem to offer free internet. Instead, they have WiFly (a wireless network you can set up an account at 7-11 and have to pay for). Luckily, I was able to crack the Taipei University Hospital's internet. Worst password ever. It's their network name.

Okay, back to topic. I STILL haven't gone all crazy on snack foods like my bro James (we have a competition going on to see who can spend the most in one shopping trip on junk food). It's been lunch/dinner out almost every day and I don't know if my stomach can take it much longer. One of the things I did buy was egg pudding (See left). One of my favs when I was little. It's a classic and has been around forever. The brown layer is like a cross between chocolate and caramel. There are several ways to eat it: 1)You can either mix it all up with a spoon ; 2)save the bottom layer for last; 3) Scoop from the side all the way to the bottom which gives you the pudding with the chocolate caramel but without having to shred the pudding into little pieces. It's like Oreo.

I actually don't remember where I took this pictures but I love the fact that in a foodcourt, there are huge electronic number signs in each stall that tells you when your order is ready. It's more convenient than having to wait right next to the stall and no yelling out numbers by the vendor is required.

These claw machines are still pretty common in Taipei. It's 10NT per try. I HAD to try it at least once (even though I know these machines are totally rigged). I managed to lift one, but it "somehow" managed to fall out of the claws right before the hole. Oh well. I can see how kids can get addicted to these machines. It's the "almost almost almost... Gah!" factor.

Of course, I had to go to Danshui. It's a harbour north of Taipei famous for its old street and night market. Unfortunately, I went during the day so I missed out on the night market. But in the retrospect, it was really nice just strolling down the old street without ten other people trying to enter the same store as you. If you're ever in Danshui, you need to try Ah-Geh (right). It's tofu stuffed with vermicelli and drenched in a special sauce. I don't know what is in the special sauce but IT IS GOOD. A little bit sweet. Kind of like plum sauce but much better. The fish meatballs are also pretty good.

It was 30+ degrees that day. Which made this outfit entirely inappropriate. I was melting walking next to the Danshui river. Always always always bring an umbrella (Invest in a collapsible one that's super light!). When it's sunny, you can use it to block the sun. And Taipei weather is like a two year-old. You never know when it's going to pour all the sudden.

On the old street, there was a patisserie that's over a hundred years old. (FYI, Taiwan government is only 99 years old.) It was so awesome. Not only were they offering free samples of all their cakes (I had about 10 different cake samples. They were really small but really dense and so very very good! My favourite was the one stuffed with date paste and duck egg. For those you unfamiliar with mooncake may find the combination disgusting but trust me, it is good. It was kind of like mooncake but the outerlayer was different). The store was part museum displaying old tools for cake and candy making (left). This is just a small section of all the molds displayed. Look at the intricate craftsmanship. Usually each mold featured auspicious sayings/words along with floral/animal motifs. So crazy! 

Pictures of the the habourfront.

Later days!

Playing catch-up (Part 1 of umm...)

First of all, sincere apologies for the lack of updates. Originally, I resolved to post once a day at the beginning of the trip. Alas, like most of my resolutions, it was not to be.

I've been kept pretty occupied with family events, not to mention the internet that I've been "borrowing" from my neighbour has been quite moody of late, making posting really difficult. I also went to China for a week (more on that later). So the next few days, neighbour's internet permitting, you'll see more post as I try to catch up

So, in case any of you are wondering, I actually have yet to hit a night market. Partly because of jet lag, partly because of family dinners, and partly because of the China trip taking the entire last week out of commission. What I did do before the China trip was therefore mostly in the morning/afternoon. I went to a early morning flea market with my aunt and uncle, which was pretty insane. It's about 4-5 times the size of the Kingston one and most of the vendors are on the ground. You've got your average trinket stalls mixed with electronics (cellphone batteries anyone?) mixed with books mixed with food vendors mixed with fresh vegetables. It was insane, in a very Taiwan sort of way. The motorpeds (Taiwan streets are full of motor scooters - bastard children of motorcycles and scooters) weave through the crowd.

I didn't see anything I was interested in, but I did try several types of "cakes." There was the standard scallion pancake, but my favourite was the one stuffed with seasoned pork and scallion. So good! But my mom says there's a store closer to my house that makes even better tasting ones. Can't wait.




October 10th (The tenth of the tenth month) is Taiwan's anniversary. This year marks the 99th year of Taiwan's inception (Go Taiwan! Woo!). As an overseas citizen, I got the chance to attend the celebratory ceremony.This is me (wearing my Queen's shirt. Go Queen's pride!) at CKS memorial as the giant balloons are being set up. You can see a birthday cake in the background.


We marched to the presidential palace (although it's a place of office, not a place of residence). I saw performances by the military marching band and high school students. They were pretty good. I kind of miss those days where schools actively participated in national events, your average marching/performing/etc...

I actually didn't stay for the whole things. I left right after the presidential speech. I don't really have a good excuse other than that I was starving and in desperate need of lunch, which I promptly got here.
My uncle recommended this place and he was right! This place has really really good beef-stuffed cake (牛肉餅). It was so good that I forgot to take pictures. My bad!

Shopping Day

Apparently, I arrived in Taiwan during one of the many "shopping seasons." A LOT of the major department stores are having their anniversary sales (which is a little strange since why would these stores choose to open at the same time of the year?).

In any case, it was insane! The amount of people in the store on a weekday morning. I went in expecting no one but instead I was bombarded by people (mostly women) left and right. There were people at every cosmetic counter (unheard of back home!)

If you shop $5000 NT (the equivalent of $165 NT, approximately), you get a $500 NT voucher (so basically it's a 10% off scenerio). But, in addition, there are all kinds of prizes (e.g. Snoopy dish set) if you hit a certain amount. There's even a prize for going over your credit limit (or, "bust your card"!) The 10% off is not really a very good deal, but the merchandise are usually already on 40%-60% off sale so it's actually pretty good savings in the end.

There was one floor dedicated to gift exchange/voucher redemption. If I had thought downstairs was insanity, this floor was complete chaos (okay I exaggerate, people were actually nicely lined up. It's just there were SO MANY people...)

In the end, I was able to snag some nice footwear (nothing too frilly of course, which was actually kind of difficult to find), but was too tired to look at any business casual clothing. I'll have to go back, but just have to muster up the courage to venture back in that crowd.

Whirlwind

Aside from the 3 hour delay due to "maintenance issues" (which is always a terrific thing to hear before you're about to travel at 20 000 ft in a big metal box that every instinct tells you that it's impossible to stay in the air even though you know that scientifically that's not true due to Bernoulli's principle), I arrived in Taiwan safe and sound a couple of days ago.

By the way, EVA needs to re-check their definition of "Hollywood Classics" because "The Lakehouse" or "No Reservations" are by no means classics. No no no. Give me "Indiana Jones" (1 or 3) any day. Actually, they prob. shouldn't show Indy3 since it contains a blimp crashing and might induce minor hysteria amongst some of the passengers.

The last two days have been a little bit of a blur, jet lag and all. I do remember going to a great hot pot/shabu-shabu place on day one (no pictures sorry). And I'll do a follow up post for day 2 (when I was a bit more conscious).

I am going to miss you, Tim Hortons

So... the original plan was that I would hit Timmy's in the airport, grab a farewell cheese croissant before boarding, but like most plans, it was not to be. There are only two Timmy's in Pearson airport's terminal three but alas both were far and out of the way from my departure gate.

Instead, I settled for a plain croissant from a random cafe/bakery. Thank goodness Pearson has free wi-fi (courtesy of Rogers) for me to kill the time with. Of course, I could opt to sleep on the chairs like so. The arm-less chairs are actually quite comfy.

I can't wait until I get on the plane and can finally crack open my copy of "Mockingjay," which I actually received more than a month ago but waited and waited until this trip to read. You guys all know how little self-control I have (especially if you've seen me tear through a bag of chips/junkfood in less than an hour. Not to mention those cases where I just skip right to the end of books/movies) So this is actually a pretty big step in terms of self-improvement. I feel so mature!

So it begins...

So, I had always thought now that I'm done with school and begin my vacation (whoo!), I had officially left my days of staying up past midnight behind (at least until I start working).

So very very naive of me...


It's 1:22 AM (a mere 48 hours since I left dear ol'Kingston) and I'm still wide awake.

Why?

Because me being OCD, I have to check in my airline tickets as soon as humanly possible, which is 1:30 AM. Gah! I hate myself sometimes...