25 Oct 2014 - Taipei Day 2

Day 2 - Longshan - Yuanshan Gardens - Lin An Tai Historical House - Danshui - Beitou - Ningxia night market

Longshan
Woke up early in the morning and took the Blue Line to Longshan. Missed Chen Ji's oyster and pork intestine vermicelli. Price had increased to 50NT for a small bowl (from 45NT), and it wasn't as thick or savory as he remembered.

Plump oysters and braised pork intestines

Walked around and bought some Aiyu Jelly drink to fight the morning heat. Wasn't it supposed to be cold already? Along the way to the shaved ice shop, this sexily dress lady suddenly came out from one of the shophouses, grabbed his arm and asked he wanted services. Walked on, and realized the ladies of the night started really early. It was only like, 9am? Noticed some of them lingered at the square above Longshan MRT, and went around speaking with old men seated in the area.

Lin An Tai Historical House
To get to Lin An Tai, you'll have to walk past the Expo, through some gardens and parks. Along the way, you could also stop by the Taipei Story House for some photography moments.

Expo

Some food exhibition going on

Beautiful clouds in the sky

In love with the colors

Exterior of Taipei Story house. Didn't go in though.

Walkway of overhanging plants

Another walkway

Designated smoking area in the park

Finally reached Lin An Tai

Intricate window

Difficult to pass with a backpack. people here must have been very slim.

Another quirky door

Models

Final shot from vantage point before moving on

With the mobile

With trusty old IXUS60

Huge caterpillar. Manicured.

Proud of his catch at the aboriginal village

In preparation for the 2016 design expo

Love the backdrop of the MRT station. Cloud covered peaks.

Danshui
Took the train to Danshui, wanted to buy some of the spicy paste, but ended up forgetting about it. Walked to the Mackay Church, the Little White House, and then finally Fort San Domingo. Sent out some postcards from here. Judging from the crowd, decided against proceeding any further to the wharf. Walked along the coast and ate squid (which sucked, 100NT), stinky tofu (virgin try, 40NT), and a stick of 3 birds' eggs (10NT). Mustered enough courage to eat the stinky tofu, this one was smelly, but did not taste good. Had a hard time eating it.

Fear factor. Bali in background.

Fish-eye view facing the MRT.

Beitou
Achy all over, headed to Beitou to relax some muscles (Beitou MRT - Xin Beitou MRT) . Turned out that the "stream" was out of bounds to the public, no more free foot spa. Splurged 990NT at Broadway Hotspring Hotel for a 1.5hrs soak. This is the sweet spot, since you need to get the tub filled up, and really have a relaxing soak.

Hell's Valley.

The reception called about 15 mins before time, quickly washed up and thought about what to eat. No more aches, but hungry and extremely sleepy.

Went to Bar-Hi, from Beitou MRT. This was "featured" in Wikitravel, so went for some green spirulina beer (150NT). "Top notes" were a little like the wheatgrass drink endorsed by Fei Yu Qing. Refreshing. Had some Xinjiang Grilled Pork (150NT) too, nothing fantastic. Ordered another pint of rye beer (150NT), and the total came up to 495NT, probably 45NT for the pickles. In all, food was normal, but service excellent. The waitress had a difficult time deciding if he were Japanese or Korean.

Bar-Hi restaurant

Japanese style room

Spirulina beer

Rye beer.

 
Ningxia night market
Went back to Taipei Main Station feeling hungry. After putting down the heavy backpack, went to Ningxia night market to fill the stomach. Alas, it was so crowded that it would have been a good test of patience for anyone. Opted to head back to the first stall selling braised meat. Bought duck gizzards, duck intestines, braised tofu, duck skin, and duck "heart" (later found out to be buttocks, zzz).

Braised stuff.

Just gotta break one zip every trip.