Taipei Day 2 - 24/04/2009

I know i'm lazy... and I am really very lazy to update my 2009 Taiwan trip.. (-_-;) Here was the 2nd day of Taiwan in Taipei 2009...

24/4/2009 Friday; Sunny day

Wake up early, prepared and waited patiently for Kenny to woke up. While waiting, i looked out the window of the hotel room and saw this...OMG "nice" view!

And also spotted this shop selling 蛋饼... tot the 蛋饼 was only 18NT as stated but it was 30NT...

Brought a ham 蛋饼 and the packaging was nice. Kenny liked the 蛋饼 and i liked the box.
We went to the nearby Mac for breakfast and ordered pork sausage muffins. I liked the muffin and Kenny still perfered the 蛋饼.
After breakfast, we went Long Shan Si to pray pray and take photos. There were alot of people there praying and chanting.




Our next stop was Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (CKS). But before that, we went Wanhua clothing wholesale area near Longshan si to have a look. Brought some clothes for my kids at one for only 99NT. While I'm buzy shopping, Kenny got bored and brought a box of 槟郎. I popped one into my mouth, chewed and i sweared that i will never ever eat this thing again! OMG, it's like there's something in my throat and suddenly i had a sore throat. Kenny ate 2 and also felt the same.

CKS - Walked around, took photos, climbed up the steps to the memorial hall, took more photos, climbed down the steps, took a few more photos and headed down to Xindian - Bitan Scenic Spot.

Saw a row of crafted bricks along the walkway to Bitan bridge, which we guess were done by primary school kids. Some of them quit meaningful and some quit funny.

Bitan Scenic Spot - It was windy and we felt relaxing there.



Next Stop - Wulai

While waiting for the bus, a taxi driver approached us asking whether do we want to share his cab with another 2 passengers for 100NT/pax to Wulai. Without hesitation, Kenny agreeded and pull me to the taxi.

Stay on the right hand side of the vehicles on your way to Wulai for best view.

It took about 25mins to reach Wulai by cab. The driver dropped us somewhere near the bus terminal.

Went to Wulai old street for hotspring. Alot of hotspring shops there.. Saw a shop with beautiful pictures of hotspring rooms posted at their entrance and so we entered. See the 1st photo below... We took the pic after our hotspring session. Tot the room will be as beautiful, but to our dismay, they gave us the room as shown below... 350/pax for 80mins. There were 2 tubs in the room. One for hotspring and one for coldspring.

After the hotspring, we ordered a bowl of mango shaved ice (150NT). The man gave us a lot of mango which was sweet and nice!

We continued to shop and eat... found a shop selling handmade mochi. Very nice! Kenny and I liked the sesame one. 150NT/ box of 12pcs.

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白木耳—菌中之冠， 素中之葷!

Email from a friend...
Hope to share with all of you who know how to read mandarin.
Enjoy :)

黑白木耳比一比! 菌中之冠 vs 素中之葷!
> 其實『膠質』和『骨質』在人體內就好比房子的『水泥』和『磚塊』
> 通常一些老化現象都是膠質缺乏才會引發。

> 白木耳是養顏秘方，卻鮮少人知道。

> 人隨著年齡的增長，皮膚內膠質(膠原蛋白)
> 會漸漸流失，然後皮膚漸漸鬆弛，失去彈性。

> 至於如何補充膠質(膠原蛋白)，用擦的是沒用的，因為膠原蛋白是大分子，用擦的只能到表皮層增加皮膚保濕度，無法補充到真皮層失去彈性的肌膚。

> 所以要用吃的補充膠質(膠原蛋白)像是豬腳,
> 雞腳,牛筋,白木耳,燕窩都是富含膠質的食物
> ，如果以現在女性在乎身材為前題，白木耳
> 絕對是補充膠質的最佳食物首選。

> 白木耳富含的植物膠質絕不輸燕窩，之前是
> 聽人家說：『有錢人吃燕窩，沒錢人吃白木耳』。

> 但最近有本雜誌說，辜家二少爺辜仲瑩也是
> 早上吃一碗，煮爛不加糖的白木耳，保養皮膚。

> 所以應該改成：
> 『外行人吃燕窩，內行人吃白木耳』。

> 至於如何煮白木耳：

> 1.去超市買盒裝 "黃"木耳，(! 千萬不要買純白木耳 ,因為純白木耳煮不爛)。

> 2.拿1片去泡冷水泡軟(可先去除底部較黃部份)約30分鐘。

> 3.倒掉前兩次泡黃木耳的水,因為有些腥味。

> 4.然後將黃木耳加水放進果汁機打爛。

> 5.再將打爛的黃木耳放進鍋裡煮約一個小時。(水加多少自己斟酌)

> 6.如何調味也看個人需要。(加龍眼乾紅棗，
> 加蓮子糖水，單加糖水，加蜂蜜，加果糖，
> 或冰糖! ...)

> 一星期煮1片約可吃五天。

> 一天吃一碗，照上面方法，用果汁機打爛黃木耳去煮，會發現：

> 吃起來根本跟外面賣的即食燕窩一模一樣。

> 所以愛美的人，愛美不假手他人，自己來煮
> 白木耳養顏吧!
> 白木耳是一種營養豐富的滋補品，被譽為
> [菌中之冠]，有滋陰補腎，潤肺生津，強心
> 健腦，提神補氣等功能，對陰虛火旺不受
> 參茸等溫熱滋補的病人是一種良好的補品。
> 因其含有天然特性膠質，加上它的滋陰作用
> ，女性長期服用可以潤膚，並有祛除臉部
> 黃褐斑、雀斑的功效。
> 黑木耳味道鮮美，含有豐富的營養素，可與
> 動物性食物相媲美，被譽為[素中之葷]。
> 黑木耳含鐵量極高，是豬肝的5倍，為天然的
> 補血佳品，適宜女性常吃，能養血駐顏烏發
> 、防治缺鐵性貧血。
> 黑木耳中所含膠質具有極強的吸附作用，可以把殘留在人體消化系統內的雜質吸附集中起來排出體外，可以說是'身體清道夫。
> 黑木耳對於中老年人有特別的好處，其中含有的磷脂類化合物，可以幫助延緩記憶力減退及減少老年痴呆症的發生﹔豐富的纖維素能促進胃腸蠕動，減少食物中脂肪的吸收，起到防止肥胖和減肥作用，對冠心病、動脈硬化、心腦血管病頗為有益。
> 從營養上來說，黑木耳更勝一籌，這也契合了最近吃黑色食品的風尚。
> 但吃黑木耳貴在堅持，最好每天都有一道木耳菜，不論涼拌或者炒食都不錯!

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Taipei Day 1 - 23/4/2009 Thursday

Taipei here we went...

Reached Taoyuan airport at 6.30pm and we were both hungry to try Taiwan food. Brought a sandwich and 2 bottles of drink (210NT).

Brought GuoKuang bus tickets @ 230NT/pax (return trip) and took the bus at 7pm. The journey was abt 40mins to reach the interchange near Taipei Main Station (TMS).

We took abt 20mins to find Cityinn hotel and the room they gave us was super small! This is a picture of the room i took, standing at the door way.

We headed down to TMS underground after we had found a place to put our luggages in the tiny room. At TMS undergound, there are a few shoe shops selling 1pair of shoes at 200NT and 2pairs at 300NT. Bag shops selling 1bag at 280NT and 2bags at 500NT. Didn't buy anything there on the 1st day. Just looked around. Tried frog layegg drink (30NT) and Ai Yu(35NT). Didn't like either of them.

Luckily we went to buy Hualien tickets on the 1st day. If not maybe cannot get any tickets liao. Actually wanted to buy Taroko Express tickets, but sold out. Hence no choice, brought Tze Chiang tickets @ 801NT/pax (return trip).

We zipped down to Shilin night market after we brought the easycards at the counter in TMS MRT station (500NT/pax).

TMS is REAl big and it is like a maze. We had got lost in there a few times throughout the 7days.

This is Shilin night maket( 士林夜市).

Tried 冬瓜奶茶(20NT), fried sweetpotato balls (30NT), 盐酥鸡(50NT) - All quit NICE!

We walked,ate, shopped, and saw this cute dog...

It was already 12.20am and we only managed to finish half of the night market. We quickly made our way back to Jiantan mrt station to take the last train (12:26am).

While waiting for the train, we spotted another night market which we did not explore on the 1st night. It is known as 公有士林观光市场 which has more food and we shall be back.

By the time we reached TMS, all the underground shops were closed.

As the night was still young, we spent sometimes to figure out the shortest route to the hotel. If you were traveling by MRT/TRA/HSR in Taipei and will be staying at CityInn, you can exit Z6 from TMS undergound. Pls note that the gates of the exits of the stations will be shuttled down after operating hour.