Taipei Day 3

For our third day in Taipei, we started off with a late breakfast at this recommended place for four herb intestine soup. Yum yum. 

We then walked to Datong for lunch and on the way there were rows and rows of shops selling dried foods, nuts and tea. And I guess I was too engrossed in observing the sites I didn’t take any pictures!

Time passed by too quickly and we were soon in another night market called Shilin. 

Shilin night market is all street food...

...and my favourite so far is the popiah ice cream. (And I was obviously too busy enjoying to remember taking any pictures. LOL. I got these photos from ah-hong.com.)

The seller will first scrape the peanut block with lots and lots of energy and rigour. 

The grated peanuts will be placed on a popiah skin where two scoops of ice cream will be added with some cilantro. 

Cilantro with ice cream? Oh yes!



It’s then rolled up and you can ask it to be cut in halves or you can have it whole. 

Mmm...the yummiest dessert, ever. 

We were so tired with all the walking and decided to take a cab back to the hotel but it was only 6:30pm, though it did feel like it was 8:30pm. 

My mom have had it for the day but my niece and I felt the night is still so young and so both us decided to head off to Taipei 101. 

We walked to the Zhongshan station and on the way there we visited the elongated stretch of the underground Eslite bookstore. 

The only thing is that 99% of the books are in Chinese. 

We bought tokens via the MRT ticketing machine and took an MRT ride...



...and arrived at Taipei 101. 

Our necks ache just looking up. 

At the entrance was Din Tai Fung, with a long, long queue. The expected waiting time to get a table was 100 minutes. So, no thank you. 

I read somewhere about having coffee at the highest Starbucks in the world, but when we got to the observatory ticketing counter, the fee was NT600, which comes up to about RM85 per person. 

My niece and I decided it’s not worth the money going up and moreover, we will not be able to know any of the places looking out into the Taipei skyline. 

It’s not like “oh, there’s Cheras or oh, there’s Old Klang Road, or oh, there’s my old school.”

And so we went to the not-the-highest-in-the-world Starbucks at the lower ground floor. 



And after that we went out of Taipei 101 and started walking along the streets where the trees were mostly lighted up. It was a lovely atmosphere. 



And I had to have this picture taken. LOL

We then stopped by at ATT 4 Fun mall before heading to Ichiran Ramen for our late dinner, or supper or whatever you call it. 

We ate so many times, we don’t know what we are having anymore. 

But when we arrived at Ichiran Ramen, we realised we should have came to the restaurant first because shopping because the wait was to be at least an hour! 

But my legs were so tired and painful we just sat there to wait. 

Our numbers were called after half an hour of wait, earlier than expected, and we got into the restaurant...

...to queue up. 

What’s interesting about this restaurant is that you have your food in a cubicle. 

It’s philosophy is that when you eat, you focus on your food to fully savour the taste and aroma. 

No talking or socializing with anyone, just your food. 

So at your cubicle, you mark your preference on the order chit.

My preference was: Dashi-Medium, Richness-Rich, Garlic-Medium, Green Onions-Yes, Chashu-Yes (of course!), Chili-Mild, Ramen Texture-Firm. 

I ring the bell, they take my chit, they prepare and serve me my bowl of ramen and they let down the mat-curtain to give me privacy to enjoy. 

It was absolutely fantastic - the best ramen ever. 

We started waiting at 9:30pm, got in at 10:00pm and finished at 10:15pm. 

We took a slow walk back to the 101 MRT station and got back to the hotel at 11:50pm. 

I have never walked so much in my life. 

pearlie