Fortunately (and amazingly perhaps?), we did not get lost and we ended up in the middle of many DIY and beading stores. We shopped around for a couple hours, got a few awesome crafts stuff (Jordan got some too!) and starting heading back to the MTR (subway) station. BUt we realized how hungry we were, so we followed our hungry stomachs to the smell of yummy street food. It was the first time we looked for street food without my dad or uncle's help! We ended up eating some awesome fish cakes, dried stewed beef noodles and also so dumpling-like pancakes. Our next stop was the Long Shan Temple (龍山寺), because Jordan really likes looking at the different temples. It is right beside an MTR station, which is really convenient. I love the Taipei MTR! There is just so much to do at many of the MTR stations, and the MTR is so fast, efficient and cheap.
Lunch!
Food Stand 2!
Long Shan Temple is yet another beautiful temple. It differed from the other temples in that it was super busy! I guess being near the heart of Taipei City and being so close to the MTR, people choose this as a temple to practice in. One thing we noticed is how peaceful it still was amongst the busy-ness and crowds.
In front of the temple!
The waterfall that drowns out the sounds of the local traffic
Inside the temple, a giant incense burner
Fountains outside the temple
The bustling street, just outside the temple
We stayed at Long Shan for a couple hours and then continued on our adventure. Our next adventure consisted of visiting this well-known mall in Taipei, called The Core Pacific Living Mall (京華城 or Jinghua Cheng). The reason why I wanted to see this place is not for the shopping, but for the escalators. Yes, the escalators. The thing is, I remember from my summer in Taiwan about 6 years ago, that there was a building my sister and I visited in Taiwan where they had long, gi-normous escalators. I mean, escalators that spanned from floor 3 to floor 5 or 6. There were many of them, and they were all gathered in the middle of the large and vast open area of the building. I initially thought it was in Taipei 101, but realized that Taipei 101 wasnt even built when I was back in Taiwan last time. Then I thought my mythical elevators may be in this JingHua Cheng building. I was wrong. But I know they exist! People may not believe, but I do...:P
My dad was finished with his appointment so we met up by our hotel. We were all really hungry (no surprise there), so my dad took us to a famous Ramen place. We went at the perfect timing, because after we sat down, about 6 more groups came. When we left the place, there were about 6 more groups sitting outside waiting :0 The Ramen was incredibly good - my dad says that the stew the pork bones for at least 25 hours to get the flavour of it into the soup. The soup was incredibly rich and creamy and amazing. My dad also ordered many side dishes, one being a dish called "Golden Egg" which is nearly the same as a hard boiled egg (or tea leaf eggs) except the yolk wasn't cooked completely, so it was still slightly liquidy. It gave the egg a really smooth and great texture!
Infamous Ramen
Very tasty. Sodium and Calcium galore.
After ramen, my dad took us to walk around the urban, busy area of Taipei. There is a theatre there called Vieshow Cinemas and many department stores in the surrounding areas. In the middle, there is a outdoor path that apparently hosts many outdoor performances during weekend nights and such. We didn't get a chance to see a performance but it was nice walking around, taking in the scenes of busy Taipei. We then chilled out at my dad and uncle's favourite cafe (L.A. cafe, where they are both VIP! Seriously) and went home. It was a pretty chill evening, but we both definitely needed it because of the busy and hustle first couple of days.
Day 5, Jan 21st, was a day where we ate A LOT of seafood. Journal coming soon!
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