My third Taipei trip has come and gone and I am very happy to rate this trip as a huge success, it wasn't a trip to explore new things, but rather, a trip to revisit old places I have been to before and places I had planned to visit during my last trip but couldn't because I got sick.
This trip felt more like a staycation.
I was initially a bit hesitant to post any Insta-stories about the trip, the previous time I did for my second trip, one of my friend replied to my stories and asked me…
“Taipei again? Aren’t you bored of it yet?”
… that was only my second time going and I was already feeling a bit sensitive about it because I knew it felt repetitive to be posting about the same shit on my insta-stories, but for someone to verbalize that thought to me , it just made me even more insecure about the whole thing.
So I didn’t take photos at the start of this trip, thinking I was not going to post anything because I didn't want to get judged for being unadventurous, I was still going to take photos to post on my blog, but since it was just for the blog, I didn’t have to document everything.
Well, I ended up posting on Insta-stories anyways because I was honestly bored in the hotel since this was another solo trip, and I made sure to disclaimer on my very first post that I was "too lazy to research a new country" and create a whole itinerary around that, that’s why I am back in Taipei again, and honestly, I just enjoy coming to Taipei and there should be nothing wrong with that.
A few friends responded positively to my postings and it just made me want to post more, so I did.
Day 1.
There was only a 10 minutes delay from Scoot this time around, which to be honest, is nothing, I have had flights that have been delayed for more than 10 minutes with no official announcement made, this delay had an official announcement.
I took Scoot Plus because once you go Premium Economy, you don't go back to Economy.
The flight itself was surprisingly empty, I was seated in the front row window seat and had 2 chairs to myself, all the seats in every row of the middle aisle was pretty much empty except for 1 single guy in the front row.
My only complaint about this flight is that fact that the Toilet for the Scoot Plus passenger had to be closed off for some reason (thus the permanently occupied sign), so if I had to use the toilet, I would have to go to the Economy side, which I did, and when I did that, someone was hogging the toilet closest to the Scoot Plus side, I was waiting for a good 10 minutes before the girl who had originally been in front of me gave up, went to another toilet queue, did her business, came back and then told me that whoever was in the toilet I was queuing for had already been in there for like 10 minutes, I gave up and went further back to join another queue for another toilet, by the time I was done, whoever was in the first toilet still wasn't done.
Aside from that, everything else was great, the flight actually managed to reach Taiwan 40 minutes earlier, so we touched down at around 4.45pm, it was my first time reaching Taipei while the Sun was still up, but it didn't stay up very long because by the time I was in the train to the hotel, it had already set, and it was still only a little before 6pm.
This was the express train situation from Taoyuan Airport to Taipei Main Station, not great, I was at the end of the last cabin, so I was pretty much against the wall for 40 minutes because that's how long the Express Train takes to reach Taipei Main Station. This train skips a lot of stations, and it's already so crowded, needless to say, Taipei Main Station itself was another crowd fest, and I had to carry my luggage around the maze that it is.
Anyways, I got to my hotel, checked in and settled down in the hotel by around 7pm, my original plan had been to either visit Ximending if the plane landed on time or Raohe Night Market if the plane landed a little later since the night market operates until midnight, but if the plane had an unexpected delay like the last time by 2 freaking hours, I will just go grab Mos Burger from nearby.
Well, the plane was early, but I felt a bit tired and started contemplating if I really wanted to head over to Ximending right after I had landed.
Yes, I had to!
In order for this trip to feel worth it, I was going to have to go start off strong, so I freshened up a bit and headed to Ximending to look for dinner.
Michelin Guide Beef Noodle store Lao Shan Dong.
First meal of the trip, Beef Noodles!
This store was located in one of the old malls around the Ximending area, and I had to research online to find out how exactly to get there...
They had a very efficient system, and the crowd wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I was able to get seated after maybe 2 minutes of waiting, there was only like a couple in front of me, during that 2 minutes, I filled up the order form for what I wanted to get, headed in, got seated and got my food in like 10 minutes.
Honestly wasn't sure what I was getting, I had wanted Beef Noodle with Beef, and I thought Tendon was the meat, so I ordered that, it wasn't, Tendon is the cartilage.
The English Menu wrote it as Beed Noddle with Tendon.
The Chinese Menu wrote is as "All Tendon Beef Noodle"
It was a good meal, I really like the noodle and the soup, but it could've been better had I ordered the regular beef noodles. I also made sure to order the smaller size because I wanted to save space for Crispy Milk Donuts.
Crispy Milk Donuts.
This was the queue, also this bugger in front of me on the bottom left corner (a Pinoy tourist) bumped into me on the escalator when I was making my way out from the Metro into the Ximending area, my phone would have dropped on the floor had it not been for my the wrist strap that I have on it hooked around my finger.
Fucker didn't even apologized.
Anyways, that this kanchiong spider aside, the queue was very slow moving because the store was making the donuts fresh, so I think I was standing in line for 15 - 20 minutes. At one point, I was starting to question if I was even in the right queue because the queue was eating into the Pan Fried Bun store area, it was only after I had a proper view (as per the photo) did I finally felt a sense of relieve.
15 - 20 minutes later, when I finally got to the front, the guy in front of me and his daughter (I assume) ordered 8 pieces, I, on the other hand, didn't let my Singaporean kiasu-ness take over, only ordered 1 piece.
One of my goals for this trip is not to overeat and get acid reflux and heartburn.
This was good.
I probably could've eaten 1 more, but I am glad I only got 1, very very important for me to consume in moderation.
(I also found out recently that they have another store in Zhongshan area that doesn't have any queue, so take note, future me)
I then made my way over to PopMart while munching on my donut because I have an addiction problem , and it's the Taipei flagship store, so of course I had to drop by.
There was however a long line at the entrance, so I left, but not before taking a photo. Funny thing is I have been passing by this PopMart multiple times during my previous few trips, but at that time, I still hadn't gotten into PopMart yet, so I just didn't care for it at all, it was also popular then, but it wasn't as popular as it is now, so it was quite a fascinating experience for me and this was just the start of series of PopMart visits during this trip.
Walked over to Lush that was just across, wolfed down my donut and then went in to get some bath bombs.
I specifically booked a room with a bathtub, so I have to make full use of it, and what better way to fully utilize it then to have bath bombs for bath time. It comes in a set of 3 small bathbombs, so it was perfect for me.
Came across a Nougat shop called Cherry Grandfather right after, which was a store I had planned to visit somewhere else on the last day, to get some Nougats, figured since there was one in Ximending, I might as well get them from there instead, so I got like 3 packets of Nougats. The salesperson kept trying to get me to buy more items, but I stood my ground and told her 3 packets of Nougat was all I was getting, she tried to offer me samples to try for their Pineapple Cake and I just rejected her offer, she eventually got the point.
I mean it's my very first day, I had only just landed like 2-3 hours ago, I am not going to start piling up on the souvenirs on the very first day.
Right before ending the day (or night) at Ximending, I wanted to get a cold drink to bring back to the hotel to consume, came across this store and thought it looked like a refreshing option.
I had assumed this was going to be some store selling fresh fruit juice
They were selling Starfuit in Ice, which should have been obvious from their English signboard, but I'm an idiot, they also didn't have any English menu, or at least none that I saw, so I could only order what I knew how to read, I saw they had what I thought was Peach written in Chinese, a Pineapple option and something else I couldn't read, so I ordered the "Peach" one, it wasn't Peach, it was Starfruit.
It was a refreshing snack before bed time, just not really what I was looking for.
I then headed out to the 7-11 nearby to try and get a big bottle of drink, just something I would always do in case I ran out of water to drink in the middle of the night in the hotel room, and I severely underestimated the weather.
When I was in Ximending, I only had 1 coat on and I thought that was fine, I think because Ximending was also relatively packed, it didn't feel too cold, but when I was walking over the 7-11, I also only wore that single coat and it was fucking freezing. The wind was really picking up and I was on the verge of shivering as I quickly made my way into the Metro to get to use the other exit to get to the 7-11.
Spoiler Alert, I didn't end up drinking much of the drink I bought for this trip and actually dumped like half of it away in the airport right before I entered the departure area.
Day 2
I didn't opt for Breakfast with the Hotel this time around, so I had to go and look for Breakfast options outside, and when in Taipei, I definitely need to have Soy Milk for Breakfast, so I came to this place called ShiJie Soymilk King.
It's a 24 hour Soymilk place and they even have their own mascot.
Compared to the other Soymilk places I have visited, this one felt very modern, and they didn't have any queues, which was great.
A comfortable amount of people when I visited at around 9.30am, staff were also friendly.
The usual suspects, cold Soy Milk, Salty Soy Milk and a Onion Pancake with Egg.
Again, the goal for this trip is not to overeat, so I technically only ordered 1 food item, salty soymilk doesn't count because that is curdled soymilk, so it is technically still a drink, just chunky.
I really really like their soymilk, it is charcoal soymilk, so there is a charness to it, which adds a layer of depth to the flavor, salty soymilk is what it is, nothing to scream about, the pancake was also alright, it is good for what is is, surprisingly filling though and I was glad I didn't order any other food item because this was the perfect amount.
I was very happy with breakfast, definitely will visit again when I eventually go back to Taipei once more.
After Breakfast, I headed straight over to Songshan Cultural and Creative Park
I did not re-visit this location during my second trip because my plan then was just to visit Huashan 1914 Creative Park, that ended up a big fail, but I knew I wanted to come here again for this trip to get the handcream from this brand called eyecandle that I had gotten previously because it smells really nice and I was running out.
The stupid thing is I am barely using that handcream, that's why it is able to last for 2 years, so when I was actually physically there looking at the handcream, I started thinking to myself if I really wanted to get it or not.
They also had these roll on perfumes as well in a glass packaging that is shaped like a plastic tube, it looked really cute and I was contemplating about getting it instead just for the packaging, so I smelled the available scents they had and they were honestly just alright, not really something I felt like I wanted to add to my already excessive collection of perfumes, the one that left an impression was the chocolate and chili scent, because it was an interesting perfume scent, however, I wasn't a huge fan of it.
Anyways, I started exploring the shop a bit more and came across another section of perfumes by a different brand Odor Funder.
Everything was written in Traditional Chinese, so I could hardly read what the notes for each perfume was and had to rely on my nose to determine if I actually liked them or not.
I didn't have any plans to get any of them, the goal was just to smell them...
... then I came across this scent.
I really liked it, but is was $60, so I was seriously contemplating for a while, I sprayed a bit of it on my hand and continued walking around the shop whilst whiffing it every once in a while.
I saw this item...
...soft soap that looks like stone.
...and this one that literally looks like a rock, but it's squishy, super interesting, but it's pretty small for it's price point. Also I couldn't think of anyone I would want to get this for, so it just remained as a gimmick in my eyes.
After that, I knew I wanted to leave the place with something, I mean I came all this way to get the hand cream, but if I wasn't going to get the hand cream, then I definitely wanted to get something similar, so I thought about it for a while and decided I was going to get that fragrance that I had been whiffing on my wrist.
I am happy with my purchase, but truth to be told, it is probably gonna end up sitting on my shelf at home for the next 2 - 3 years, barely ever making a dent.
Did a bit more walking and headed over to the eslite departmental store nearby, I had wanted to get a small bite at the Chun Shui Tang, which I had visited during my very first trip, sadly, the outlet was no longer around and eslite had reclaimed that section and converted it into part of their bookstore.
Decided I will just look for a cafe instead to get my morning caffeine fix since I only had Soymilk for breakfast.
Came across this store on the first level. I love the aesthetics of this cafe, the whole monochrome look with the concrete floor, this is the theme I want to do for my own home, but of course with warm lighting.
I really don't get to do this type of theme a lot since a lot of homeowners like warmer homes.
The department store had just opened at 11am, so this cafe was pretty empty...
... I got myself a cup of Sesame Mochi Latte, it's essentially iced cafe latte with a layer of black sesame foam on top, served with mochi balls that have been dusted with grounded black sesame.
It was a pretty nice cup of coffee. I didn't actually know if there was going to be coffee in it initially because all I was drinking initially was the sesame cream foam on top, which was really nice, The mochi was served warmed as well, so it offered a really nice contrast to the cold drink, I did eventually start stirring the drink and that was when the coffee finally came through.
This was a good drink, would definitely visit again.
First morning was very eventful, after this, I took a train over to Zhongxiao Fuxing, which was where the hotel I had stayed at previously was located, to visit SOGO to get some stuff for my friend. It was nice to revisit that location, it's like familiar territory to me because it had been less than a year since I was there.
She had wanted me to help her get some chocolates from MUJI that Singapore doesn't sell.
Unfortunately, the flavour she wanted, Shaddock aka Pomelo, wasn't available, so I ended up getting her one of each of the other flavours instead.
Pomelo and Dark Chocolate honestly doesn't sound like a good combination, she clearly had the same thought when she first got it, that's why she didn't stock up then, but she was surprised at how good it was when she actually tried it, and the fact that it is actually out of stock in the store is proves that it is a good combination.
Headed back to the hotel to rest after this feeling really satisfied with how much I have done in the morning.
Here is the view from my hotel room window.
I am not very happy that I was on Level 3, it is way too low, the window also isn't tinted from the outside because I did look up when I was on the walking back to the hotel to double check and you can see inside of the room if the shades aren't down, so sadly for me, I had to keep the shades down pretty much all the time if I wanted privacy.
One great change I have made for this trip was to go out later than I would usually go out for my meals, so instead of heading out at 11.30am and 4.30pm for lunch and dinner respectively like I did for my last few trips, I am going out later, which made more sense because I was eating whilst feeling hungry instead of eating for the sake of eating to avoid the crowds.
So I dropped by Zhonghsan with the goal of having Waku Waku Pasta at around 2.30pm, a restaurant I had wanted to visit but had to give it a miss during my previous trip because I got sick.
Well, this was another fail this time around, and not because of the restaurant, but because I am an idiot who doesn't know how to read.
When I came to this resturant, I noticed from the outside that it looked pretty full, I knew I had to scan a QR Code to join the queue from online reviews talking about this place, and when I saw this sign right outside it with the QR Code, I immediately went to scan it, expecting to get like some online form for me to sign up to get my queue number...
I got this page, and at the bottom, I am assuming the queue number is suppose to appear, but it only presented me with a text that reads...
"Currently not opened to queue numbers"
... direct translation from the text, which I assumed meant they were currently not accepting anymore customers, I didn't want to go into the restaurant to double check with the staff because it was packed, it would be so embarrassing for me to go in and then potentially get chased out. So I left the place feeling a bit upset.
I already had a second location in mind and it was like a pretty far walk, but still a walkable distance away, and with the current weather of 15 degrees, I was more than happy to walk.
This is the second location, my plan was to have Dan Dan Noodles.
Imagine my surprise when I only saw Luo Si Fen on the menu, which I ordered and ended up not liking it because I do not like Luo Si Fen. The serving was generous, way too generous for me, so I didn't end up finishing it.
It's a sour and spicy dish and I didn't like it.
Whilst I was trying to eat this noodle dish that I did not want, I was also looking through my photos and decided to read the sign that was written on it...
... I had originally just assumed it it was informing the customers to scan the QR code to join a queue, but it isn't, the sign reads...
"Seating is currentl Available, Walk-Ins are Welcomed"
... they stopped the queue number because there was no need to queue, I could have just freaking walked into the restaurant and I could have been having Pasta right at that moment instead of the Luo Si Fen.
OMFG.
That was blunder number 1, blunder number 2 was when I was done with my meal and headed out of the restaurant to take a photo of the exterior.
I went to the wrong fucking shop! The entrance to the Dan Dan Noodle shop was on the left, circled in red, I walked into the blue one thinking it was the same shop!
I didn't just fuck up my first option, I even fucked up my second option and had a meal that I would never have opted as a third option because I do not fucking like Luo Si Fen.
My plan after this was suppose to have Beancurd that was literally about 2 - 3 stores down, reason why the Noodle Shop was my second option because the Beancurd shop was just nearby, but I was so full from the Luo Si Fen and my mouth was just burning from it, so I ended up giving it a miss.
Big Fail!
To try and make the day a bit better, I decided to walk back to Zhongshan area and visit the PopMart near there, so this is just a random bridge I was walking through.
Second PopMart visit for this trip and the first one where I actually got my first 2 blind boxes from. I was going to a few mainly to also help another friend look for some PopMart stuff that he was hoping I could help him get because it was sold out in Singapore, but alas, that shit was also sold out in Taipei.
After the PopMart visit, I went to get Cremia that was located in the Zhongshan Metro, visited this place during the last trip, had to go take a dump after eating the Ice Cream then, glad to announce I didn't have to this time around and was able to enjoy my Ice Cream worry free.
It was definitely a lot more crowded during this visit, I think it's also because of the timing, it was like 4pm when I came here and almost all the seats were taken up, so I was just squashed between 2 random girls.
Finished my Ice Cream and made my way back to the hotel to rest, but not before going to the PopMart that was located a walking distance away from it.
No queue here because the location isn't as great as the Zhongshan one I suppose, it was weird coming into this PopMart with a bag of PopMart items, it just reeked of addiction.
Came here to help my friend look for his stuff, very much out of stock here as well, I also exercised self control and left this store empty handed.
My PopMart loot from the Zhongshan store.
After opening them in the hotel room, I didn't like it at first, but after looking at it more, it is starting to grow on me. This was the Christmas collection from SkullPanda, it's already January so I am like 2 weeks late, but at least it looks nice.
Had a good rest in the hotel and decided I was going to give Roahe Night Market another shot, this time I was going to visit the Night Market at night, like I should.
Left the hotel at around 7pm, it was alright dark by then...
This is the first time I am being greeted with the temple fully lit up.
Place was crowded as fuck, but this time, I told myself not to be dissuaded by the crowd, if I really want to get something, just queue up and don't overthink too much.
I didn't take a lot of photos because this is my third time there, it's just gonna be really repetitive if I keep taking pictures of the same thing.
But being in the crowd made me realize why I actually hated the crowd in the Roahe Night Market in the first place, it's because the traffic slows to a crawl when people would randomly decide to stop in the narrow walk way to look at the stores instead of moving to the side, there were a few times when the traffic just stopped completely because there were dumb fucks who would literally just stop right in their tracks, in the middle of the human traffic, to observe their surroundings, mainly dumbass tourists with no common sense. Fucking move to the side for fuck sake, I was actually getting so pissed off.
Then there are the ones who area travelling is large group of 5-6 people who want to constantly be walking in their group, but because some of them are a bit slower than the rest, I would end up finding myself standing awkwardly between them, and when they realize I am kinda in the way, they would attempt to go pass me, but once again, because the traffic is really heavy, they would just end up walking really really close beside me, like way too fucking close, so that was pissing me off as well. All the slow fucks who are causing the traffic to jam up and group fucks who don't understand the concept of personal space.
For this visit, my first goal was to get a drink, so I got a Cranberry Juice from a stand with the least people, it was good, then I got myself a Taiwanese Hotdog wrapped in Glutinous Sausage, which was something I had wanted to try, that was also really good, I had a drink in one hand, and a food item in another, it was a good start, despite some idiots in the crowd of people that were just getting on my nerves.
Sadly, I didn't manage to get any Smelly Tofu this time around because the stores were like crazy packed and the queue was unfortunately kinda all over the place for a few of these popular stores, so I didn't want to really bother. I don't mind queuing up for the food, but there needs to be a proper system in place because I don't want to end up queuing for 20 - 30 minutes, only for my turn to the table to be completely stolen by other people who are squeezing their way in.
As I was on my way out of the Night Market, I came across this store! I had wanted to try this place ever since I visited Raohe on my first trip, but I could never find it, and I finally came across it out of the blue!
There was a queue, but this one more a lot more orderly, the queue was maybe 10 minutes long.
And I got it! Tang Yuan on Shaved Ice with Osmanthus Syrup!
I was so happy to have found this place, this made the trip to the Night Market so worth it. It wasn't so much that it was super delicious, I mean I like Tang Yuan, so I am very bias towards it, but I am just very happy to have been able to have the things I wanted to eat from the Night Market.
I had originally planned to get a cheese dog that was right outside this shop after I was done with it followed by a Polo Bun with Ice Cream, but this bowl of Tangyuan was surprisingly filling, and the amount of shaved ice I had been eating left me freezing, so this ended up being the last item I had in the Night Market. Shouldn't be a surprise because I always only can take up to a maximum of 3 different food and drink items during all my night market visits.
As I was on my way back to the hotel in the train, I was worried that what I had wasn't going to be enough for dinner, I mean I technically only had one savory item in the form of the sausage glutinous rice, there was a chance I will get hungry in the middle of the night, so I went to the Starbucks near my hotel to get supper...
... was planning to get a savory item but ended up getting a strawberry tart and a cup of hot cocoa, I'm stupid.
I didn't end up eating the Strawberry Tart that night because what I had at Raohe actually managed to sustain me through the night.
Day 3.
Going to Fuhuang for breakfast at least once has become some sort of routine for me every time I come to Taipei and this time, it is no exception.
My hotel is located 1 stop away from Fuhuang and I could technically walk over from my hotel if I wanted to, but I didn't, so a train ride it is. I figured since it was only 1 stop away, I will not bring my umbrella out this one time, it didn't rain the past 2 days and the weather forecast indicated clear skies, so it seemed fine.
Then it started to drizzle....
But I didn't want to head back up to my room to grab the umbrella, so I figured I will just go get my breakfast and if it rains, then I will just have my meal slowly.
Recently, someone I knew went to Taipei and I told him about this place, he visited the location twice and it always had an insanely long queue, but being a veteran visitor to this place, I knew it probably won't be as bad for since I am visiting on a weekday at 8am, and I was right. There was no queue that was formed outside the building, I actually thought the store was closed and had to double check Google Map, it was only after I entered the building did I notice that there was queue, it was just short enough to be contained within the building.
The drizzling had stopped by this point, but the winds were still really strong, so I contemplated whether to take-away or have my meal there, figured I would rather takeaway because if it does rain, I would prefer to be trapped in my hotel room than in the food court.
This was what I got, a warm Soya Milk, a cold Rice Milk (it's more peanut than rice so I have no idea why they call it Rice Milk), and some carb on carb action in the form of fried dough fritters wrapped in an onion pancake.
I ended up undressing the dough fritter from it's onion pancake jacket and just started dipping it in the soymilk because this is the superior form of eating it.
The meal was filling, but I realize I actually prefer the Soymilk from Shijie Soy Milk King so much more because of that charness that it had.
Continued chilling in the room for a while, but then housekeeping came and wanted to clean my room, so I excused myself to the hotel lounge to just wait it out.
It was a nice spot for people who wanted to get work done, they had free flow coffee, tea and bottled water. I felt a bit out of place because everyone else was working whilst I was just there sipping on my cup of coffee that I had made wrongly using the coffee machine. I threw it out after like 2 sips because it isn't worth getting a tummy ache for.
Honestly would have been better if I had just went out to the nearby mall for a short walk then waiting in the lounge. The drizzling had stopped at this point.
After that, it was time to go for an quick bite, my hotel is located near Huashan 1914 Creative Park , I had visited the location during my previous trip to much failure because I had gone on a weekend and the crowd then just ruined the vibe for me, I was also about to fall sick then so that affected my mood tremendously.
This time however, it was a weekend and even though there was still a crowd, it was still within a comfortable amount of people for me, like there are still seating available if I had to rest and people won't hogging the restaurants and gift shops.
This spot would have been littered with a bunch of people taking photos on the weekend, but look at how serene and quiet it is.
The purpose for coming here was to have Chun Shui Tang, another routine visit every time I come to Taipei, and this is walking distance from my hotel, so huge win for me.
Again, only moderately crowded and I love it.
The section that I was in was pretty much empty, mainly also because it was not really lunch time yet as well, it did start to slowly fill up by around 12.30pm, but it was never uncomfortably crowded and loud.
Ordered mainly appetizers because it was not really lunch for me, but I wanted to have something to last me till 3pm, since I was going to have high tea later and I knew I needed to save space in my stomach for it.
It's a pity they no longer have the fried turnip cake, so I could only get the steamed ones, and then also some dim sum and a cup of hot milk tea, the milk tea was a mistake, should have ordered a regular cold bubble milk tea instead because it was scalding hot.
After my meal, I also visited a few of the exhibition space...
... there was a Snoopy one, but there was nothing much that piqued my interest, so I left empty handed.
Went right back to Ximending once I was done with my meal to visit the PopMart there, figured the crowd won't be as bad as it was on my first night and I was right, it wasn't very crowded, there was no queue so I was able to walk right in.
This is Taipei's flagship store, so it was big, like 4 levels worth big that I was able to explored, the first 2 levels were pretty much selling the blind boxes, the 3rd was showcasing and also selling the larger figurines and 4th level was like an exhibition space that showcases a different artist every week I think.
Third Level stuff, I can never see myself getting this huge figurines, it's honestly such a waste of space in a small home, but then again, that's what I also felt about the small ones originally, and now I have so many of them.
This was what was being showcased on the fourth level when I was there, Carrot Street, it's so stupid looking that it's cute, it reminds me of the Richard Watterson from The Amazing World of Gumball.
The staff who was manning the floor was saying that they were selling this series on the first level, and I had wanted to get one, thinking it was a blind box, it's not and it cost NT4000 for one, that's around $170, immediately no.
They are a bit bigger than the regular blind box figurines, so I was thinking f it was like SGD$40 - $50, I would still consider getting one, but once I realize it was in the 3 digit range, forget it.
I didn't leave the store empty handed though, I wanted to get another stupid looking figurine that was much more affordable, so I did...
This is the normal blind box price, and I like this because it looks like it is handmade from clay, plus it is so stupid looking. Not the design I wanted, but I wasn't going to get more than one.
Had a short rest at the hotel and then headed back out again for high tea, and the reason why I was saving space in my belly for....
Coffee Alley for Waffles!
When I entered the door, I was greeted by a flight of stairs that leds up to the cafe on the second level, I could hear from the chattering that it was a bit more packed than I would have liked it to be and was honestly a bit worried that I might get a bit uncomfortable dining alone in a crowded cafe, when I went up, the waiter directed me to an available table, and I was seated right smack in between 2 tables that were occupied, on my left were 2 Koreans and one of their daughters, couldn't understand what they were talking about, and on my right were 2 Taiwanese talking about horoscope and their love life, I was eavesdropping on those 2.
Would've really preferred to be placed in a corner, or at least somewhere with less people, but nope, the waiter had to put me in between 2 groups of friends to really highlight my lonesome self.
Anyways, they had a minimum order for 1 Food Item and 1 Drink, the waiter was wearing a mask the entire time and just mumbling in Mandarin, so I honestly didn't know what he was saying to me half the time, I got myself the waffles and told him that was it, he then had to reiterated that I needed to get a drink, so I opted for an Americano, but decaf, he thought for a while and recommended me to get a latte instead because a decaf Americano would almost be akin to drinking a hot cup of water, so I took his advise....
...got myself a decaf latte and the main attraction of this visit, the strawberry waffles. 1 full size waffle, 1 scoop of custard, 1scoop of ice cream, a generous handful of strawberries and a generous drizzle of strawberry sauce.
Looks delicious, and it would have been amazing had the waffle not been so jelak. I was expecting a light fluffy Belgian waffle, these were dense and heavy! The batter must have been super thick because eating these waffle reminded me of the time I was stuffing my face with Nigiri and Rice Rolls during my previous trip, it was too much.
The first quarter was fine, it was enjoyable, I had initially thought both mount were ice cream, so I was being very generous with it on the first slice of waffle, but then after realizing the second mount was actually vanilla custard, I had to really cut down on the ice cream.
The waffles itself is already so dense, you really don't need to pair it with something as heavy as vanilla custard, a light vanilla Chantilly cream would have been such a better option.
I gave up, I really didn't want to force that last bit of waffle down because I was originally planning to leave the last quarter untouched, so this was already me pushing my limit, I was very worried that I would end up overeating and cause another acid reflux.
It was also a good idea to not have added any sugar in my latte, I really needed that bitterness to counter balance jelakness of the waffles.
This was definitely a dish that needs to be shared with someone else. 1 slice would have really been the perfect amount for me.
After this, I took a very very long walk at the Underground Metro Tunnel that links the station this cafe was closest to the next one, next one being the station where my previous hotel was located in. I am just visiting and revisiting all these locations over and over again.
If the station was linked to the station where my current hotel is located, I honestly would've walked the entire stretch because that's how much walking I felt I needed to walk the bloatedness away.
Ended up taking a long rest after that in the hotel, took a bath and just had a long soak, was even contemplating to just visit the restaurant in the hotel to settle my dinner at a much later time, just because I was soooo full.
But no! I really didn't want to give in to my laziness and just stay within the confines of the hotel, so I headed out again at 7pm to Yong Kang Street, which I had visited during my first and second trip! This time, I visited at night and it was honestly such a better timing because it was, once again, comfortably crowded.
I got myself the famous Tian Jin Onion Pancake, there was a small orderly line of people queuing up for it and the store was just being manned by 3 Aunties, because I have been to this area before, I know how long the queue can get in the day time, and because it was always uncomfortably crowded during the last few times I visited, I always ended up giving it a miss, this time, also because I was never in the mood for Onion Pancakes when I visited, thankfully, this time I was in the mood for it.
Here are the Aunties at work, and at one point, this Aunty and the one in the back starting arguing with one another, so that became my form of entertainment during the queue.
I got the Taiwanese Basil and Egg option, no meat because I didn't want it to be too heavy, this was exactly what I needed. The first bite tasted like Roti Prata, but then I was immediately hit with that spring onion flavor and it was good, I will definitely come back to order again when I return to Taipei, maybe keep my stomach a bit more empty so I can get the ones with more ingredient inside.
Also got myself 50 Lan, this was the first and last time I got 50 Lan for my trip, I always have this problem when I visit Taipei, and that is that I am not making full use of the fact that there are bubble tea stores at almost every other corner.
Well, I am very sensitive to caffeine, so I can't have any "pearl milk tea" after 12noon, otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep, so that's a bit annoying, I am jealous of friends who are not affected by caffeine.
Caffeine doesn't keep me awake and energetic, it keeps my mentally awake, but I am still physically tired, so it really sucks.
Anyways, I got myself their seasonal item, a large Yakult Pomelo. No caffeine, but full of probiotics, nice and refreshing.
Great thing about Dongmen is Yong Kang Park because I had a nice place to sit and people watch whilst having my meal, the weather was chilly but I just felt really comfortable there, it was a great way to spend my last night in Taipei for this trip.
I was very glad with my decision to come to Yong Kang Street instead of staying in the hotel, after I was done, I popped by one of the many gifts shop there and got a bunch of chopsticks for home use.
Visited another PopMart on my way back to the hotel....
...because I have a problem. This outlet is like 1 train station away from my hotel, and I have 1 near my hotel, PopMart is literally everywhere and that is really not helping me at all...
I did get one more SkullPanda blind box, and it was like the only box that was left, which was the same situation with the previous 2 SkullPanda that I had gotten, so I didn't have the option of actually choosing which boxes I wanted, I just got what was leftover...
Here are my PopMart purchases from this trip, thankfully I only got 4, so it's an average of 1 box per day. They are also slightly cheaper here in Taipei as compared to Singapore by like $2, I can only imagine how much cheaper it will be in China where they originate from.
I think the Pucky one will be my the one that trigger my memory for this trip because it is the first Pucky figurine I have gotten from PopMart.
I also had my Starbucks Strawberry Tart from last night that I had to finish, so that was supper...
... I didn't really look forward to having this because I was still recovering from the Strawberry Waffles from the afternoon high tea session I had, so it's not this tart's fault that it was not enjoyable, it was the waffle's fault.
Day 4
I had originally planned in my itinerary to go back to Fuhuang for my last breakfast of this trip, but after having Shijie Soymilk King, it was just a better option.
1. It is less crowded, so I will definitely be able to get a seat.
2. I prefer the Soymilk here.
3. It was on the same train line as the place I wanted to visit, Leechi, to get Pineapple Tarts after breakfast.
So here I was, and here was my final breakfast for this trip in Taipei.
Iced Honey Black Tea
Hot Soy Milk (with slight spillage)
Sweet Rice Roll, which was literally just an egg with sugar in it, wrapped with glutinous rice.
It was a nice meal, after this I headed over to Leechi, which I think was just a few train stops away, didn't really take any photos of that place, it wasn't very packed, so the purchase was really quick.
I check on Google Maps and realize that the mall that was close to my hotel with a POPMart in it was close-ish, only about 500m away, so I decided to walk back instead of taking the train....
just a random photo I took during the walk
.. I would definitely be hitting my daily steps very easily if the weather is this cooling in Singapore.
The area I was staying in is like a tech zone, so there are a lot of tech related shops nearby, I guess it would be akin to living in a hotel near Sim Lim Square type of vibes.
Anyways, the mall was closed and would only open at 11am, I took this photo at 10.40am and there was already a queue forming outside, I am assuming the queue is for Popmart because I did notice some of them queuers had Labubu merch hanging from their bags, it was a good thing the mall was closed, otherwise I would have definitely convinced myself to go get another blind box.
Reached the hotel and started packing up...
... took one final photo of my view from the room.
Checked out of my room at around 11.30am and then walked over to Huashan 1914 Creative Park to have my final meal for this trip.
Oh, I just love how empty it feels on a weekday. I will never plan a trip that will fall on weekends anymore, unless I am reaching the country on like a Sunday evening or something, because I fucking hate crowds and it's just so much better to feel like I have the place to myself.
Of course, my final meal is to have Chun Shui Tang, I also made sure to order a proper cold cup of Bubble Tea this time round, this is Soya Noodles and Brown Sugar Bubble Tea.
My hands for comparison, and I have pretty large hands. It was good when stirred thoroughly, but I really should have just stuck with the traditional Bubble Milk Tea.
Booked my Uber to the airport in advance during my my meal as well because I am efficient like that.
Had some time to kill after my meal, so I went to look at the gift shops around the area again...
Thought this was pretty cute, but it would probably only be suitable if I had a car, otherwise I don't see the head being able keep bumping like that, it was also bumping a lot more aggressively in the video, there's just not enough framerate in this gif to really capture how crazy it looks.
With nothing else much to do, I headed back to the hotel and just waited in the lobby until my Uber arrived.
Random shot on the walk back to the hotel
Just chilling in the lobby.
The Uber actually arrived 15 minutes early, which I didn't mind, Ubers have always arrived like 15 minutes early even during my last 2 trips, so they have been very reliable for me, it was 40 minutes ride that cost me SGD$60.
Reached the Airport around 1.40pm, headed to check-in my luggage and it's nice to have gotten Priority Check In with Scoot Plus, I was able to just skip the long line of regular Scoot passengers who were queuing up to check-in.
The Airport itself wasn't very happening, there wasn't really much to do, I got some last minute food item from the souvenir shops, and then headed into the departure hall.
The plane had a slight delay, but nothing to complaint about, and since I was ScootPlus, I had priority boarding. Flight itself wasn't full, I was seated on the outer left side of the middle aisle seats, there was someone else on the outer right side, our middle was however empty, so that was nice.
I picked Nasi Lemak as my choice of food...
... this is how it looks like. Looks like they have tweaked the dish because this wasn't how it looked like last time, when I was went Thailand and took Scoot...
.. it looked like this.
So that was a bit disappointing, it was also surprisingly spicy, and I didn't refill my water bottle for this flight because I realized I never ever drank from it during the flight, well talk about bad timing because I could have really used it with this meal.
Oh, and the shows that I had download on Netflix and Disney Plus before the trip to Taipei, that I had been planning to watch on the flight, they were region blocked except for The Boy and the Heron, which I had watched midway during the flight to Taipei, so that gave me only about an hour worth of the movie to watch before I had else to do except listen to music.
But overall, the flight went well and I landed back in Singapore at around 8.55pm, called a Gojek and managed to reach home at around 10pm-ish.
Next day it just started raining the entire day and it hasn't really stop since, so I didn't really have to acclimatize back to the humidity since the cooling weather followed me back from Taipei. The non-stop rain has however caused my glass block window section of my room to start leaking again, so that is a downer.
Scent that I used for this trip that will hopefully bring back memories of it when I whiff it.
Le Beau Jean Paul Gaultier for Men.
That was what I sprayed on myself for this trip. It wasn't the original perfume I had intended to use, my original plan had been to use Cloud 2.0 by Ariana Grande, but that was too musky for me, so I didn't really use it during the trip itself as much and relied more on Le Beau.
Next country to visit will probably be Switzerland at the end of the year to visit my Sister when she starts her overseas studies there. Nothing has been decided yet, except for her actually going to Switzerland to study, but it would be nice to visit a country I have never been to before and actually have someone there who can bring me around, the insta-stories that I will start spamming also will be more interesting.
