Before we slept we’ve decided to give the hotel breakfast a miss and eat what the locals eat. So we got up head towards a shop we pass by yesterday. Generally, the weather was supposed to be around 14~21 degrees but that day was a freakish 10~11 degrees. So whatever sleepiness that was clinging on to us was stripped away by the freezing wind the moment we stepped out of the hotel doors.
The streets were so different in the morning light! The wind is cold but it’s very refreshing. We strolled hand in hand and found the breakfast store, 豆浆大王 and we settled down to order whatever that sounds good. So we had 2 servings of hot 豆浆 (soya milk) with 油条 (fried dough), some 葱饼 which was super salty, and 葱蛋(omelette with spring onion) which was pretty tasty.
Salty.... didn't finish...After breakfast we took the MRT to our first destination, back to the Taipei 101 building. The other time we were there, we didn't go up to the observatory, so this time we were going to make it happen. :)
The MRT station nearest to our hotel...
We settled down for our coffee fix – I name mine “Shittuccino” because the stupid waitress spilled my cappuccino and made it look like a busted toilet bowl. Gross...
Haha… So we sat there and stoned awhile and waited for the caffeine to kick in.
Little chocolate violin! Cute!
Eh who took a bite off my violin?
After coffee we strolled around at the Page One Bookshop and I found this super cute Lilo and Stitch organizer which I think sis would love! We’re paying for the item we got a rude shock! Apparently the one thousand Taiwan currencies that we’ve changed from Singapore were no longer accepted for use in Taiwan! We can exchange the old notes for new ones at the Bank of Taiwan, unfortunately it’s NEW YEAR DAY so the banks would only be open tomorrow. So for the next hour or so we were wandering around, considering our options:
1. Exchange Singapore dollars for new Taiwan currency – Strangely, we can’t seem to find money changers around. The banks that are open do not buy Singapore dollars! I wonder why…
2. Withdraw money from ATM – Sadly we do not know the PIN for our credit card.
3. Hope and pray that the rest of the money we left in the hotel are new notes. At least have enough money to last till next day… Sob sob….
The one on top is the new note...So after failed attempts at options 1 & 2, it was lunch time and our stomach growled. We’ve decided to use the cash to settle lunch, use the credit card to pay for the tickets for the observatory, and go back to the hotel to check the remaining cash. Wah the food court was an eye opener! It’s huge! And since it’s a holiday, it’s naturally packed with people. There was SO many stores to choose from, but in the end, I chose the Japanese Tonkatsu specialty store.
Wah it is restaurant standard with food court pricing man! (ok lah, higher end food court?) It’s Good LOh…haha…
What a treat! After lunch, not only did we go up the tallest building in the world, we sat on the fastest elevator in the world too!
We reached 89 storeys in less than 1 minute! Whao you can see SO far up there, people on the streets below where like little ants crawling around.
Pink arrow: That's where we were sitting last night!
We then saw “Damper Baby”, a giant sphere hanging within the Taipei 101 to prevent the building from collapsing in an event of an earthquake.
I like it that the Taiwanese can make everything cute. Even a plain giant metal ball...
We paid to go up another two storeys to the outdoor observatory and IT WAS COLD OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!!! The wind was so strong, it made the safety fence vibrate, making a loud whistling sound.
The wind is SO COLD, my exposed hands hurt when taking pictures! But what a great experience it was! WHooHoo!!!
With our wind swept hair we left 101 and headed back to the hotel with excited conversations. We didn’t have much money left, but we couldn’t resist when we saw a lady selling red bean pancakes on the street! They may look like the usual ones we eat in Singapore but it’s not! The pancake is so thin, it’s actually crispy! And you can actually feel whole red beans in the filling, it’s not too sweet and oh so good!
We quickly went back to the hotel and were absolutely delighted to find that ALL the remaining NT are NEW!!! YEAH!! 有钱了！感动。。。The remaining old notes the hotel reception was kind enough to exchange with us, so… we’re saved!!! We took a short break and watched some tv before heading out again for dinner.
We took the MRT to 西门丁夜市(xi men ting) and first stop? 阿宗面线 of course!! Cobby’s ultimate favourite ~ pork intestine’s noodles.
Super super good. No chairs, just a bowl of heaven, put in some garlic sauce, vinegar and chilli sauce yourself and you stand at the side of the street and slurp it all up. Warms your whole body!!!
Next! Come to Taiwan of course must eat 臭豆腐！(Stinky Tofu)
There are so many mobile stores moving around the area! We were munching from store to store. After the stinky tofu, we had 葱抓饼, which is like roti prata with spring onion inside, egg and special sauce. We also had little gultinous rice balls with red bean filling and coated with peanut powder, all handmade by a nice auntie. Ah.. and of course, how can we resist a giant donut store!? Cobby had a chocolate cream filled one while I had a custard filled donut. They were really generous with the filling! One bite and the cream Oooze out. WHOOHOO! SHIOK!
I must have eaten too much, cuz when I was just looking around in the stores, I thought I heard Cobby said, "Come see! Squirrels performing!" I went out and saw a man with a cage of big fluffy squirrels!! He had a box, so you can "donate" whatever amount you like and you can take pictures with the cute little fluff balls! They are very soft and clean, but they are hyper-active! Quite difficult to take picture of them! Fortunately got some good shots. One was leaning on my cheek, they're so soft!
What a great way to end the day! They are soooooo cute! Can I kidnap them home...?
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