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Day 4: Taipei- Ximending, Taipei Main Station
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Day 4: Taipei- Ximending, Taipei Main Station
It was still raining in the morning as we hauled our luggage down the stairs to a nearby bus stop.
By the time we reached the bottom of the hill, the rain had stopped. We then walked down the street to another bus stop to get us to Taipei. It was scheduled to come at 12pm, but there was no sign of any at 12.30pm. We managed to takeaway KFC for the long bus journey to Taipei before that bus came at 1240pm. KFC there sells chicken and zingers just like wat we hav in spore, but they have sth new.. MOCHA tarts. I missed those tarts. I had 2, they are heavenly good! Very rich.
How I wish somewhere in the near future, i could get those from KFC in Spore
The bus journey to Taipei was very long. Fell asleep shortly until my neck felt stiff, woke up and realised that we are no where near Taipei. Went back to sleep again and woke up again repeatedly throughout the journey. 3 and ½ hr passed and we finally reached of Zhongshan of Taipei. Took the MRT to Ximen station. Our hotel- Rainbow Hotel, is located at the heart of Ximending. A very accessible location. We were allocated a 5 person room for our 1st nite as our original 3 person room was not ready yet. Our eyes lit when we entered the room. 2 Queen sized and a super single bed greeted us. 2 TV sets, a large washroom and a helicopter view of XiMenDing. Thanz to Jess, she volunteered to slp on the super single bed while CP and me got a Queen sized bed each.
It was already late afternoon by the time we unpacked our stuff. We roamed around the area of Ximending and I felt quite alien… I was telling Jess that our dressing were very ‘lan4’ leh. Most youngsters’ dressing are quite ‘in’, comparable to those we saw along Orchard road. Haha, but too bad, we have to make do with wat we have, unless we get some of those clothes off the shelves. We starting our shopping spree… many nice clothes caught my eye, but I cant get those casual clothes any more. My cupboards are full of these kinds of tops. I need to change my wardrobe. I should be getting those more formal tee as I may be entering the working society in few months time. As we wandered from streets to streets, I set my eyes on a collared tee with ‘ROXY’ imprinted on it. Sceptical about its authenticity, I decided to K.I.V. It was not that cheap afterall.
CP brought us to a popular stall selling oyster mee-sua for dinner. All the customers were standing around the stall feasting on the delious mee-sua. We too, joined in the crowd. I was happily slurpping my mee-sua and chewing one of the oysters, when I overheard Jess’s conversation with CP. “ u sure this is oysters?” It was then we all realised that it was pig intestine mee sua!! Haha.. Before I could stop her, Jess immediately started to transfer all the pig intestine into my bowl! In the end Jess couldn’t bring herself to finish her portion. She poured them away. Well, u see, Jess detest any thing that got to do with pork. I never dare to try eating pig intestine before because I have the mind set that- ‘intestine store shit’. After subconciously eaten a piece of the intestine, the taste was not bad actually, kinda chewy chewy, not bad after-taste. But I still cant sudue the thoughts that ‘intestine keep all the waste of pigs’. In the end, I devoured the tasty mee sua and threw all the intestine away.
CP then brought us to a dessert restaurant- Sweet Dynasty via MRT. It was said that the restaurant was opened by the notorious Jacky Wu.
I had sea coconut cubes with jelly
Jess had sth that look like ‘hong3 dou4 sa1’ red bean paste
While CP had white fungus with sea coconut. We oso did order some dian sin.. if I remember correctly shud be fried water chestnut. It come in rectangular shaped, beneath the crispy skin was crunchy chestnut. Quite unique, dun get to get then in Spore.
The rating overall for the dessert was ‘ok’, above average, nothing exclusive. It was so far the only restaurant we visit that practise 10% service charge.
After that, we proceeded to a 24hour bookstore, and those 2 chi book lover spent a hefty hr or two. At the basement was an photograph exhibition open for all, F.O.C. It was a showcase of photos taken all over the world of different theme, ranges from warfare to sports to religions to bio stuffs. A very enriching exhibition indeed.
We later walk to ‘TOPVIEW TAIPEI’, the 3rd tallest building in Taiwan after 101. It was within walking distance from Taipei Main Station MRT Station. We went up to the top floor, hoping to catch the nightview of Taipei city. But to our dismay, the view wasn’t as charming as it should be. All thanz to the rain.. it was drizzling then. The glass window was smudged badly by the raindrops.
Neither of us could capture any good photos.
I was later appointed to lead the way back to our hotel. After 15 mins of walking, I succeed. Phew! We were back in our room safe and sound. I had a stressful 15mins, in peril of getting K for leading the wrong way back. Haha.
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