Second Day in Taiwan (27/4)

Before we left for Taipei, we had breakfast at the B&B cafe. The breakfast they provided was pretty healthy, and it tasted really nice. We had sandwich with fruits, and the drink is either tea, coffee or hot chocolate. It was raining, but luckily not heavy. 

We left Jiufen around 11 am, then took taxi to Ruifang station. Taxi cost is NT$200. The train is quite frequent from Ruifang to Taipei, and we were able to catch one at around 12 pm, and reached taipei before 1 pm.

Direction to the ticket counter at Ruifang:

As you enter the station, turn to your left, then left again, you will find the ticket counters are there.  

In Taipei, we stay at New Stay Inn. It is considered a budget hotel, but I personally experienced a very nice and comfortable stay when I was there. I forgot to take picture of the hotel, but if you go to their website, the pictures showing were similar to what I have seen there. The location is awesome, just by the side of Taipei Main Station. From the station, take direction towards the underground mall, then take exit z8, the hotel is located at the fifth floor of an old building. We booked our rooms by email and phone, and we were able to get better rate compared to online booking.

It was still too early for us to check in to our room, so, we just left our luggage at the reception, then proceed for our lunch at Din Tai Fung. 

You'll be able to find Din Tai Fung in few countries around the world, however, the one in Taiwan is the very first opened. We went to the restaurant at Daan district. It is the oldest Din Tai Fung. 

Appetizer (made from Seaweed)

Appetizer (Mushroom)

Xiao Long Bao

It's a must try. Some of my friends said that the pork inside that makes it different than the one in Singapore. 

Spinach

Not only the appearance of the vegetable looks so fresh, but also the taste was so delicious. 

Prawn Dumpling

Minced Pork Noodle

 

Pork Chop Fried Rice

Dan Dan Mian

Noodle with peanut sauce. It's slightly spicy.

Black Sesame Bun

 The black sesame filling is very rich and nice. From my point of view, this bun deserves the best dish of the day. As my knowledge about black sesame, it has a lot of health benefits in it. It is a good source of Vitamin B1 and calcium. There have been few scientific studies about the health benefits of black sesame seeds. You may click on this website to find out more about it.

Taro Dumpling

 The taro filling is very original, and it is very soft and creamy. I am not sure if we will be able to get the same quality of taro in Singapore. I rate the taro dumpling as the second best dish after the black sesame bun.

All of us were full after lunch at Din Tai Fung. If my stomach still had some space, I would have probably ordered second batch of black sesame bun. 

Our next destination was Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. After the delicious lunch, we decided to walk there, and it took us about 15 minutes. 

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂)

We spent about 1.5 hours taking pictures in front of the hall. Then, proceed to a sport hall nearby (opposite CKS memorial hall at Xinyi Road). Some of us were interested in getting new badminton rackets. I have done some research, which concludes that Yonex and Victor branded rackets are slightly cheaper in Taiwan. I got a Yonex Arcsaber FB. In total, we got 3 rakets from the shop. The owner was nice to give us more discount and also to agree to send our rackets to our hotel.

Actually, in Taiwan whenever you buy anything, you can ask if they can deliver directly to hotel. Most of shops have such service. 

Then, it's dinner time. Our last destination for the day was Gongguan area (near National Taiwan University).  First stop was Chen San Ding (陳三鼎) bubble tea. The famous one is their milk tea with tapioca pearl. The unique thing is the tapioca pearls. They cook it with brown sugar, and the taste of the brown sugar is pretty strong. Most of us ordered their specialty. However, after our heavy lunch and also knowing how much calorie a cup of bubble tea contains (close to 400 kcal which is roughly equal to 1.5 bowls of rice), I skipped the buble tea, instead, I ordered Xian Cao Hei Tang (grass jelly with brown sugar). I love its brown sugar fragrance, but, it's way too sweet for my taste bud. 

    

Picture was taken by Nicholas

When there is a popular and famous food, expect a long queue. Same thing happened here. But, the queue moved pretty fast. They even drew lines with chalk on the road to make people standing in line.   

Lan Jia Gua Bao 藍家割包 (Pork Bun)

This bun is really good. You can choose whether to have fatty or lean meat or their combination. We chose lean meat. 

After that, it was shopping time for the ladies. I wasn't sure what the guys were doing though. But, they claimed that they were mostly seated in KFC. Opsss.....

That's pretty much it for the day.