Kyo Does Taipei + Keelung

[Kyo]

Day 1 - Taipei, Here Comes Kyo!

My first ever TR on SQTalk. Do be gentle.

Uneventful take-off from T3, meal was boring and just wrong. Honey dripping over sausages and a Y omelet. Decided it was far better not to take pics this time round.


Southern Taiwan - First glimpse of Taiwan


Above Taoyuan - Approaching Taoyuan International


First glimpse of Taipei 101 - From a taxi


Howard Plaza Hotel - From the front entrance


Howard Plaza Hotel - From the window


Then on to the... CKS Memorial - It's big (glory shot)


Chiang Kai-shek - VIP - He's got da wheels, even back then


The man himself - And he's got the office!


And the memorial - It's big

Don't believe me? - it's really big, it's quite a walk and it comes with a flag!


View from the top - Taiwanese people love their memorial spaces, but I was exhausted so we decided to go to...

[Kyo]

Shihlin! - Place to be on a Friday night


Shihlin Night Market! - Where to eat on a Friday night


Jiantan MRT Station (take note, not Shihlin MRT Station) - Where to stop if you want to eat


Fried fish paste - Strangely chewy


Infamous smelly ('chou') tofu - It smells, even when deep-fried


Oyster 'mee sua' noodles - Another local delight, aka 'oh luak'


Inside the Shihlin Night Market - Cue mayhem.


These buns sure are popular - Even the vegetarian ones


But 'zha zhi pai' is the one to beat - Famous and delicious


Zha zhi pai 'glory shot' - Ate it right in front of the store, I did


To wash it down - Green tea 'milk-ice': it's a spectacularly soft dessert, this comes with red beans


Stilll more 'milk-ice' - Also available in 'original' + mango

[Kyo]

Amazing Race GK Teahouse - World-famous (appeared on The Amazing Race, so I had to go), too bad not as famous locally.


Typical Taiwanese Pose - Obligatory.


Excellent teas served - Wolfberries, chrysanthemum and slightly savory, surprisingly


Roasted mushrooms - Strangely Eastern. Crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. Spices on the side.


Creme brulee - Here's the western bit. Full and sleepy after this, back to the hotel.



~End of Day 1~

Day 2 - Typical Tourist


Breakfast in Dingxi - Delicious. But heavy!


The Dark Knight in Dingxi - After the heavy breakfast, we go to Dingxi to walk it off. Lots of posters everywhere, the size of buildings promoting mainly Batman.


The Dark Knight is gearing up for release - One can only imagine how packed today (release day is gonna be)


Ximending Egg Shop - Local youth hangout. They do eggs many, many ways.


Famous Red House Theatre Building - Used to host plays, now it's got random teenager-ish stuff


Something for all of us - Random window display. Mankinis. 'Nuff said.


Modern Toilet: The Restaurant! - Famous for being toilet-themed. Also, our lunch.

[Kyo]

Bathtub = Table - And vice versa.


Delicious - Yet pooey.


Toilet Food - Poo 'Cream' - Vanilla + Chocolate


Determined not to let 24 hours go by of my landing in Taipei without even hitting their biggest attraction, I proceeded to...


The Main Event - What-A-Whopper!


The Big 'Un - The tree is almost as tall as the building. No, seriously. (j/k - of course it isn't)

Anyway, I wasn't just going to stand outside taking photos... so we went in!


Level 3 of the Taipei 101 - Notice the cloud motif everywhere.. then we saw this...


Bose 101 - Excellent ad. Had to take it.. (at the Bose store, obviously). Then off to the top!


The World's Fastest Elevators - Blurry, best I could get in the darkened elevator


View from the top - Feels like you're flying... the view just goes on and on


Taipei City - and on.. and on.. and on.. you get the idea


Taiwanese love their Damper 'baby' - It becomes you.


Massive Damper Ball - This massive ~650metric ton 'ball' stabilises the Taipei 101 Tower (only one of its kind), through the use of pulleys and hydraulics covering 3 levels. Really stunning and painted in gold.

[Kyo]

Damper Room - In keeping up with the Damper Baby theme... Do the Robot


On the 91st floor - View from the 92nd - 101st floor. The sun set shortly thereafter. Dinner time and it's time to try


Dinner Part 1 - More local delights, however it was the start of our mission to discover the best Beef Noodle Soup Taiwan had to offer!


Dinner Part 2 /Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup - Part 1, in this store they were famous for their simple beef noodle soup (clear broth = no soya bean paste has been added. Unadulterated)


Dinner Part 3 / More Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup - This soup is made with soya bean paste. YUMMY in Capital Letters describes this and I found myself preferring this one more (I must be influenced by Hong Kong Beef Brisket noodles). Taiwanese Big Kahuna (aka President) Ma Ying-jeou has his beef noodle soup HERE. If it's good enough for him... (also, big trophy presented to the shop by the President for their beef noodle soup)


Ice Monster - After that monstrous dinner, we decided we needed a breather. So of course we headed for Ice Monster. A shop infamous for desserts! (the irony)


An Ice Monster - With the lot!!! And it was ALOT! (side-note, they also have a branch in Plaza Singapura, so you can get it here in Singapore, but I have not yet tried it)

To recover we decided to do what any sane person would do...

not...


Went for a 100-minuter @ 6-Star Massages - My 2 cents:Massage itself was interesting and quite good after a whole day's walking. But 3-stars max as ambience was lacking, a little noisy (we had to 'upgrade' to a private room later. Maybe I should ask taipeiflyer where he patronises... traditional massages only, please, not that kind!)

And with that, we were knocked out for the day.

~End of Day 2~

[Kyo]

Day 3 - Kyo does Taipei County + Keelung!


View from Howard Plaza Hotel - Woke up, took a photo out of my window. One of the main boulevards in downtown Taipei - lots of trees, one of the least dreary streets in Taipei city I came across.


Another 'Oh Luak' mee sua - This was a takeaway by my friend in Dingxi before we set off for Keelung. Way better than the Shihlin one, bigger oysters, soft deep-fried batter. Healthy start to the day, of course!


Taipei County - Countryside. Lush.


Arriving in Keelung - Just a 30 minute drive
Not so much for sight-seeing, it's a port city! D'oh! (side note - I wanted to come here because I thought there was a beach. Also, job-related: we send some ships here sometimes, so I was quite curious)


Keelung Port - Not so much for sight-seeing, it's a port city! D'oh! (side note - I wanted to come here because I thought there was a beach. Also, job-related: we send some ships here sometimes, so I was quite curious)


Tianshi Temple - Caves inside (nearly got stuck). Was a convenient 'attraction' as we were actually having snacks at the cafe next door..

So what comes next... more eating, of course! We proceeded to the Miaokou Night Market, during the day.


Miaokou Delights - Super deep-fried hotdog, essentially a hotdog, with double the deep-frying. Will clog arteries.


Seafood Soup - Pitiful attempt at unclogging said arteries.

Then we decided it would be wise to stop eating and keep moving.


Mountain Temple - Across from our carpark. Might be famous.


Goodbye Hollywood! - I mean, Keelung!

[Kyo]

In Keelung, we also had a very famous pineapple cake, but I can't find any pictures without the faces of my friends (who may wish to protect their anonymity so I've decided not to post pics of that until I get Photoshop).

We were now finished with Keelung town (which we admittedly didn't too long to explore) and decided to visit somewhere more exotic...


Chiufen Mountain Village - In the Rueifeng province, perched on the mountainsides overlooking Keelung, very scenic, a bit misty and truly unique.


Chiufen! - Entrance to the narrow mountain alleys of Chiufen


This is one packed alley - Choc-a-bloc full of tourists from Korea, Japan and China, here to sample local Taiwanese fare


Starchy desserts - Picture of said fare. Popular in the mountains, it seems. Too starchy/glutinous for me


View from one of the lookout points - Suddenly you emerge from the alleyways and behold, a splendid mountain view!


View towards Keelung port - No idea what that sign says

Due to concerns for our car (which was on the verge of breaking down climbing up the slope to the mountain, we decided to head back to Taipei)... and ended up at the...


Grand Hotel, Taipei - Stunningly striking design (made out of wood apparently). Very imperial and straight out of a Jet Li shaolin movie.


Inside the Grand Hotel - I have no idea why I took this photo but since I did, I've uploaded it anyway... be merciful with the Photoshopping..

Of course, this TR would not be complete without: Day 3's Dinner photos. Without further ado


Shabu-shabu dinner - Tasty


Spicy Shabu-shabu! - Remorseless scenes of even MORE food... hey, I did climb a mountain after all!


Charcoal-grilled delights - Crispy and seared to perfection, my last dinner in Taipei ended on a tender note.

After dinner, I said goodbye to my friends and headed off to the Taipei 101 for some night shots by myself - I present:


It's that tree again! -Midnight shot of the 101...It was very hot and humid, but I wanted some photos for my desktop's wallpaper! Too tall for the whole building to fit into my P&S camera's frame!

~End of Day 3~

[Kyo]

Day 4 - Goodbye Taiwan

My last day here - I decided to pack my bags early and head out for all the last-minute touring I could handle... we kicked the day off with an early morning visit to the...


Sun Yat Sen Memorial - It's big. It's yellow. It's nice to see on the outside, inside, not much that I found interesting, perhaps a precious stones collection of sorts, that was about it.

All this touring of course, like everything else, makes me hungry. So we went to...



Malar Steamboat Buffet! Very Hot Malar + pig's blood - Well, you only live once...So much fooood.. groan

Then I decided to hit as many shopping centres as I could in quick succession as I had to hurry for the airport:


Shopping Centre Dash Part 1 - One last hour rush to hit major shopping centres for pressies. But didn't find anything I liked here at 'Mei Li Hua' Shopping Centre. I did find a huge ferris wheel built into the side of the shopping centre, though!

Rushed to do New York, New York - Had to dash across the river running through Taipei city. However, it's called the Keelung river... hmm...


Shopping Centre Dash Part 2 - Did 'New York New York' Shopping Centre! 30 minutes to go! Then rushed back to the hotel to get my luggage and go to...


Taoyuan International Airport - SQ counters...




Hello Kitty-themed departure gate - For real.


Rolling with Hello Kitty to Hong Kong - Hang on, Hello Kitty flies BR!?! - She is a member of the Evergreen Club!


Looking for / finding the Johnnie Walker shop - More explanation of why - here. In the other terminal. One hour after they took away the engraving machine!


Depressed, I decided to divert my attention to food - One last bowl of authentic Taiwanese Beef Noodles. Accompanied by Tsingtao Taiwanese Beer! Booyah.


Friendly sight. - Looking out onto the tarmac, I spot 9V-SRE (I believe) preparing to take me back to SIN.


Fond farewells - From the groundstaff


He really likes SQ - Can't stop waving.

GOODBYE TAIWAN!

The flight was uneventful and for photos of the food served you can find that - here.

~End of Day 4~

That's the end of the TR! Hope you enjoyed!

[jhm]

Looking great, Kyo, thanks! Please keep them coming!

[flo]

yeah keep em coming, Kyo! I also stayed at the Howard Plaza 2 years ago. It's actually pretty nice.

[nickbot]

Enjoying the TR so far Kyo,...making me feel very hungry, although I reckon smelly tofu probably looks nicer than it tastes

[jhm]

I reckon smelly tofu probably looks nicer than it tastes

Actually, it tastes really quite nice but it's just the smell which takes some getting used to! You should try it the next time you're in HKG or TPE, Nickbot.

[nickbot]

Actually, it tastes really quite nice but it's just the smell which takes some getting used to! You should try it the next time you're in HKG or TPE, Nickbot.

Hmmm, after having the smell described to me by SQTalkers in SIN recently as being akin to a garbage dump, I think for the moment the photo is as close as I'll get to it for a while

[G_G]

thanks for sharing this nice TR

[vincent0720]

I am hungry after Shilin night market! btw, I live in taipei XD
nice trip report!