Taiwan Trip : Day 2 (Culinary, Xi Men Ding)

Another day another entry. I hope you guys see this positively and not get bored of us, okay?! Pinky promise? Hahahaha...

So anyway, we're continuing with our journey in Taipei. Still day 2 (OMG really?! Felt like we've been writing forever and why are we still on day 2?!), but this is the story of the night of day 2: DINNER TIME!!! *gleeful*

Teaser photo first of (the frumpy) us in front of XiMenDing!

We however need to back up a little bit to the afternoon when hubby was dragging us (figuratively speaking obviously) all around Taipei to his all time fave resto (yes, the roasted duck place). And like #Pink said, we were lucky it took us quite a while to get there because we were so so so full after all the dumplings and cake hahahaha... 

We took a bus and here's a photo of me and hubby's oldest bff Eko (yes, he is AMC's son, Joe's step-brother). 

Was holding #Pink's hunny's backpack - can't remember why... 
(because we were standing up and the driver drove like a maniac and we were thrown from side to side BB!)

It's #Pink again here! Yes, we're going to mainly talk about FOOD (yeah, our fave topic *glum* *gluttons*) today! After being thrown around like a rag doll, Eko told us to get ready and scout for a seat when we're approaching one particular stop because a lot of people would get off the bus (but equally as much would board, that's why we had to HURRY!!!). I did found a seat at the front of the bus earlier, but as soon as my butt touched the seat, a mother with a sick toddler boarded the bus. Of course i had to give up my seat because i didn't see anyone else bat an eyelid zzzz. Anyway, we finally got a seat at the very back row and i managed to snap a few pictures of Taipei's streets from the bus.

And finally, we got off the bus! Still had to walk very far to the little duck restaurant. We're no longer in central Taipei, this area's called New Taipei City, and i'm guessing it was more of a suburb area.

Eko departed the bus much earlier than us because he had to fetch his motorcycle and then caught up with us there. He offered us to ride with him one by one *super sweet of him, but noh! You're not a mas ojek, Eko! Won't do that to you LOL. And we needed to walk off the foods we had earlier to make room for the upcoming one you know hahahaha*, of course #Undecided's hubby jumped on that! OMG! LOL. Eko was like "That's ok, make him wait longer for us." and #Undecided was (correctly so, of course) like "Wait? What wait? He must be eating already! He'd be finished by the time we arrive." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Exactly!! What wait?! He was halfway with his plate once we got there!! LOL...

The infamous duck place

Little Ashley was sulking because she was sleeping soundly when we arrived at the bus stop and she had to be woken up rudely hehehe. Look at #Undecided's hubby already munching on!

Posing before eating hahaha, Hunny got scolded by an Ah-ma because he opened the teapot's lid *because the tea was scalding hot so he was trying to cool it down faster*, apparently that means the pot's empty and you're asking for a re-fill!

Look how happy hubby looks hahaha... Yes of course he had finished his plate by the time we started snapping photos...

And the roasted duck was crazy delicious!! But to say that the portion is big would be an understatement of the week! It was MASSIVE. The aunty was so generous hahahaha... #Pink and I could have shared the plate and would still be super full... So as much as I regret it, I couldn't finish my rice huhuhuhuhu (note: both #Pink and I are rice lovers, okay. We always say that everything tastes better with rice. But not steak! Oh well maybe steak would... Or not... *someone slap me now*)

yum!

Look at those sliced pork... and you may not see it from the photo, but the slices of roasted duck were so big, they would so make Duck King's roasted ducks cry! LOL.

And finally us and the extremely happy hubby went back to our hotel. By taxi, I believe... The 4 of us shared a cab and Eko drove Joe by motorcycle (if I'm not wrong - can't remember). Surprisingly, the taxi driver was a very nice uncle!! *faith in Taiwanese slightly restored* I remember bracing myself for hostility when we got into the car, but noooo... The nice uncle chatted with hubby (the only Chinese speaking person in the taxi - well yeah besides the uncle) and waved goodbye cheerfully when we got out of the taxi! *faith in Taiwanese restored some more* What a nice change after being scolded by our taxi drivers the previous night hahahaha... 

How come my hair was the only one that got blown away badly like this? LOL

We went back to the hotel because #Undecided's hubby needed to go to the bathroom *LOL*. We planned to go to Ximen Ding night market (just a few steps from our hotel) but i didn't know the plan was still on because we were already so full *the point of a night market was to sample out their street snacks, okay!*, plus i was super sticky and sweaty, not to mention annoyed by those coffee stains that won't go away after i rubbed it for hours with wet tissues zzz. Also we talked about having an early nite (pfffft), just hanging out by the cute guest area, drinking ginger (that #Undecided specifically bought earlier in an Indonesian supermarket because we were bloated like crazy) and doing a laundry hahaha.

So, i went to have a long and luxurious shower, washed my top and lazed around in my pajama. #Undecided's hubby kept on calling our room, asking us about the Ximen Ding plan. I told him to go ahead and leave me behind, also told hunny to go with them since he wasn't so tired. But then #Undecided's hubby purposefully went knocking on my door and almost dragged me kicking and screaming to Ximen Ding zzzz. That explains why i was wearing my glasess, hunny's sleeping tee (proudly displaying the word "Jogja" on my chest that night) and looking like hell in the first picture! 

The guys posing in front of the cute room number, we kept on wondering how come the room number's much cuter than our simple/basic one? Is this a VIP room?

Yep, he forced me to go, and of course i ended up having way too much fun. Shopped quite a lot at Sasa even though my glasses made me a bit disoriented *i don't use glasses outside my room/house mainly*, i was there like, forever-until #Undecided laughed and said her hubby must be regretting his decision of forcing me to come hahaha.

Oh yeah, it seems like street performers are really common *and well appreciated* in Taipei. We stumbled lots and lots of them. Some of them were teenagers raising funds to go to music school, etc. Also saw some people bringing their pets and asking for donation so they can keep their pets (?), they didn't have money to pay for taxes or something like that.

Hah bb, what pets? No bb, they were not someone's pets... They were stray dogs that were scheduled to be put down *sigh - the animal lover in me feels so bad typing this* unless they are adopted. I first thought that they were selling the dogs but then after a close look I doubted myself because the dogs in the cages were quite old. Which petshop sells old dogs, right? So I asked Joe and he explained that those people were actually rising awareness (and yeah looking for donations as well) for the animals' sake. Ugh, how come there are animals abuse and neglect everywhere I go!? I kiss the souls of those people fighting for animal rights! Bless you, Sirs!!

Oops, sorry BB i wasn't paying attention, just heard bits and pieces hehe :p!

One of the street performers, he's rapping

Btw, my camera's battery died soon after (ya think? We snapped so many pictures in C.K.S Memorial Hall and Hello Kitty Cafe!), and i looked like a crazy person anyway so you won't be seeing much pictures of me for a change *LOLOLOL* and most of the pictures below (and all of the food) were taken using my stupid BlackBerry, so please excuse the quality!

One of the many streets of Ximen Ding night market

And finally we got to this very crowded place that sells... wait for it... rice noodle with swan meat! Which happens to be one of our fave street snacks (it falls into the category of street snack, okay! Look at the small bowl hahaha)!! We were quite *ahem* full, but ended up sharing 2 bowls amongst the 5 of us LOL.

Just a small stall with several chairs outside - no table. It's so famous that even in summer (it was super hot, even at night, FYI) people were still lining up to get a bowl of HOT rice noodle LOL

OMG I'm salivating... Me. Want. This. Now!

Too hot, hubby?! Hehehe...

Then we wander around, this time we're looking for mango shaved ice! Totally appropriate, it was so hot needed something to cool us down! But that's i think when we got distracted  (fine, i did!) by the huge Sasa and spent some time (FINE! A LOT of time!) browsing and (me) biting my lip in nervousness, because everything was so pretty and DARN cheap! Why are you doing this to me Sasa? HURRY COME TO INDONESIA!!! (But then again prices in Sasa Taiwan were ridiculously cheaper than Sasa Singapore/Malaysia, so... i probably should go back to Taiwan instead...)

Family Mart! I also heart u!

And Ximen Ding, i miss you! Wish we had more time exploring this place!

There were quite a few delicacies that hunny listed as MUST eat, he's been googling and browsing for them for months prior to this trip, but there's one snack that he's been wanting to try FOREVER. So not exclusive for this trip. And that is chou tou fu (or stinky tofu) hehehe. Imagine his delight when Joe suddenly pointed this seller and said "That's chou to fu!"

Cho tou fu seller than we bought from twice during this trip until he remembered hunny hahahaha

Sorry for the fugly pic, stupid Blackberry... I have better pictures on next days' entries so don't miss them!

So, hunny and #Undecided can testify that i am not an adventurous foodie (at all). I refuse to eat anything that's too scary (i.e : live tiny shrimps that still jumps around *shriek* NOOOOOOO. You'll see that in our Hualien entry), i rarely divert from the safe choices, but somehow i was intrigued by this chou tou fu.

First of all, i dunno why, i do agree it stinks to a certain levels (the smell even penetrated a little boutique opposite where the stall currently was) but it's not the kind of smell that bothers me too badly (and that's saying a lot because i have a very sensitive nose), it didn't choke or nauseated me. Hunny and #Undecided seemed to be enjoying them so much that i bravely took a bite, and guess what... I liked it a lot! Hahahaha... Surprising even myself. I think when it comes to chou to fu, it's similar to durian. You either like it (a lot) or hate it (like death), no in between!

Yes #Pink, totally... And I like it a lot... I miss you, cho to fu *glum* *salivating* 

#Pink's hunny was being an arse the other day, he tweeted me lots of food pictures from our Taiwan trip when I told him I am on a diet. And now I WANT CHO TO FU!! 2 PORTIONS PLEASE!! Tisk! My diet is ruined, and that's all his fault!! Now I understand why hubby badgered me about going back to Taiwan... It's the darn good food!! 

So yeah, we got to this place that Joe said was famous for its mang guo bing (mang guo = mango | bing = ice) and okay we just listened to what the guy said and ordered two. Again, the portion was generous (it always was wherever we ate in Taiwan - but how come people are skinny there?!) but we were so taken aback when we saw a family on the next table being served 2 massive plates of mixed-fruit shaved ice. Our mang guo bing looked petite compared to them hahaha... We didn't take a photo though (yes, we were embarrassed), so you'll just have to take my word for it, okay? LOL.

Not a fan of shaved ice in Indonesia, but this one's good... Me likey...

I was intrigued by the lines of an unfamiliar looking fruit, so I asked Joe about it...

Up close look to the fruit. Joe tried explaining to me (with difficulties considering none of us knew what this fruit is called in English) and finally we came to an understanding, but now I totally forget what it was FML. Sorry I wasted your time, Joe hahaha...

The upper level was packed, but apparently they have an underground level and the walls were all filled with graffiti. I was intrigued and obviously wanted to jot something down as well...

... But then this came and I was distracted!!! Hahahaha...

The shaved ice is so fine, the texture is almost like cotton candy's.

Hubby enjoying his mang guo bing with the graffiti and 2 HUGE-ASSED watermelons on the background (told ya everything is big in Taiwan - even the fruit!)

Soooooo there you go folks! The end of day 2. Fret not, there are still many many days worth of travel report to come (provided that I'm not too lazy to write them - but again, I'm pretty sure #Pink will make sure it won't happen hahahaha). 

On day 3 we moved on to our next destination: Hualien - a place where you can get both ocean and mountain views at the very same spot. Sounds good?! It is good!!

Stay tuned!

#Pink and #Undecided

Proof: we SHOPPED at SASA :D
Pay attention to the paperbag and not my fringe, okay?! Good!