National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part VI (故宮)

Last of the National Palace Museum (故宮) photos and the conclusion of our [too] short Taipei trip :(

Here are some really intricate carvings on a variety of materials like jade, stone, ivory, bone, wood, etc. Click to zoom.

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part V (故宮)

Still more photos from the National Palace Museum (故宮)! We're almost through, folks. Almost.

These are of metal-crafts in a religious context, in this case, Buddhism.

Top row: Mahakala ("beyond time/death," Daheitian or Daikokuten, 大黑天), the ultimate form of Shiva and consort of Kali. 

Bottom row: Virudhaka Lokapala, ("he who causes to grow," Zeng Zhang Tianwang or Zocho-ten, 增長天王), one of the Four Heavenly Kings, namely the Heavenly King of the South.

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part IV (故宮)

Even more photos from the National Palace Museum (故宮), this time of the ceramic and calligraphy collections. Click to zoom.

Taipei Tianhou Temple (臺北天后宮)

As J., hubby, and I were leaving Fong Da Coffee (蜂大咖啡), we spotted an interesting sight right across the street: Taipei Tianhou Temple (臺北天后宮), she of the many names, one of which you'll probably recognize: Mazu (媽祖).

Much like Taiwan City God Temple (臺灣城皇廟), what really drew our attention was the neat sight of the temple snuggling in between two neighborhood buildings. 

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part III (故宮)

More photos from the National Palace Museum (故宮). These are from the jade collection.

TL;DR: jades were tools first before they became jewelries. From a practical stand point, it makes sense. We use diamonds as tools now too. Other than in a social setting blinging others into blindness, diamonds are set into gold cutting and carving machines, for example. They are rocks, after all.
 

Taiwan City God Temple (臺灣城皇廟)

On the way to Sanmin (三民) Book Co. store, we walked by Taiwan City God Temple (臺灣城皇廟) and decided to cross the street for a quick peek.

Taipei Eats - Ximending area Part III (西門町)

After a failed attempt to visit the National Palace Museum, we took J. to Ximending (西門町) for her to try Yu's Almond Tofu (于記杏仁豆腐). Yup, even a typhoon couldn't stop us from getting some delicious almond shaved ice and as you can see, we weren't the only ones there.

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part II (故宮)

After snacking through brunch at Yongkang Street, hubby and I thought to go back to the National Palace Museum. It was a rainy day when a typhoon was slamming into Taiwan, so spending the day indoor at a museum was preferable to trekking outside in the wind and rain. Plus when we were there last with A-san, my sister, and my cousin Q. and her friend, we rushed through the whole thing because a bigger group means people get bored faster. Now with just the two of us, we could take our time and see the whole place in leisure.

Turned out the typhoon forced J. to cancel her hiking plans at Maokong, so she ended up tagging along with us also. After checking with the National Palace Museum website and saw no warning for closure, the three of us headed over by train then bus. Holy cow it rained cats and dogs, and the wind was so strong it blew over my umbrella a few times.

Taipei Eats - Yongkang Street area Part III (永康街)

On our second day in Taipei, hubby and I wandered around Yongkang Street (永康街) and snacking through brunch. We'd planned a hotpot dinner with J. that evening you see, so we were trying to be strategic.

Ding Wang Spicy Hotpot (鼎旺麻辣鍋, Chinese Cuisine)

My friend M. who recommended Kiki's to us also recommended Ding Wang Spicy Hotpot (鼎旺麻辣鍋). She said whenever she visits in Taipei, this is the first meal she'd have with her friends and family the day she arrives.

But here's the funny story: there are actually two Ding Wang's! M. told me about a Ding Wang, with the name in Romanized letters instead of the Chinese name in characters. So I unwittingly googled "Ding Wang" and found a Ding Wang Spicy Hotpot (鼎旺麻辣鍋) with 2 locations and an official FB page. I called and made a reservation for a super early dinner at 5:30pm.

Shin Yeh Part II (Taiwanese Cuisine)

J. arrived into Taipei early the morning after hubby and I did, so we all went out to lunch together at Shin Yeh. It was a beautiful, clear, and sunny day before a typhoon hit the city. Great timing for a short vacation, right? ^.^"

We picked the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi branch on the 8th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store. I'd made an advance reservation so we didn't have to wait. The moment we got there, we were ushered in right away and placed at a table by the window. Here's the nice view that came with our lunch.

Taipei Eats - Zhongxiao East Road area Part III (忠孝東路)

The night hubby and I arrived into Taipei, we checked into our room at ALoft Hotel Taipei Zhongshan and then ventured out for dinner. We both had been craving for Kiki's since leaving Taipei near the year end in 2012, so of course our first dinner in Taipei after 4 years of longing must be at Kiki's. Hell, we're still craving Kiki's right now T.T

We picked Kiki's Fuxing branch, a 10 minutes walk from MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Station (忠孝復興站). It was the night of September 15, 2016, right smack on Mid Autumn Festival. The whole city was quieter than usual and many shops were closed for business. So we were counting our blessings that Kiki's was open that night. There was a long line even, and we waited for about 30 minutes to be seated.

ALoft Hotel Taipei Zhongshan

Last September, having just one month left in Tokyo hubby and I decided to take a quick trip to Taipei just to visit our favorite eats. J. joined us and helped book our camp site: ALoft Hotel Taipei Zhongshan. It was centrally located and convenient, being just one block away from the MRT Zhongshan Elementary School Station (中山國小站).

U-Bike Taipei

Very last post on Taipei! 

I walked by this U-Bike Station everyday on Heping East Road and was always curious how it works. It's located right in the intersection of Heping East Road and Shida Road, making it super convenient for tourists and college students alike with the Shida Night Market right down the street as well as the university next door. We also found another rental station at the corner of Zhongxiao East Road and Guangfu South Road (光復南路), I suppose so people can ride their bikes down to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and the Xinyi shopping district where Taipei 101 is.

Hubby and I had imagined a whole day of biking around town on these, but between school and visitors, the next thing we knew Thanksgiving was already around the corner. And then the rain came. God, it rained, and rained, and rained. And it wasn't until right before we left Taipei did the sun came out for, like, a day. 

Shida Night Market Eats, Taipei, Part II (師大路夜市, Picture heavy!)

Really struggling to put up these last Taipei food posts here...

Lantern Soy Sauce Braised (燈籠滷味) is one of the more well known and popular stands at Shida Night Market.  We actually stumbled onto it prior to reading the CNN 40 Taiwanese Food article and went in head first, not knowing what to expect. There was always a giant crowd gathering around the stand, and given there were several similar food stands at Shida Night Market that were often deserted, our curiosity couldn't resist the consistent stream of business this particular stand got and so we got in line ourselves ^.^

Basically, this is a Taiwanese version of the Japanese oden. Mind you, this is not to say "who came first". I honestly don't know and I don't give a rat's ass. I just know I love oden, and when I saw this I must have it, because I miss oden very much T.T Of course it's not identical to oden, but it's very similar in terms of ingredients: eggs (quail, versus chicken in oden), a wide variety of fish cakes, konnyaku, tofu,  mochi, a variety of vegetables (daikon, shiitake, enoki, green leafy greens, etc.), with added extras of noodles (cellophane noodles 冬粉, ramen, etc.), even meats, seafood, and intestines (a Taiwanese favorite!). 

Taipei Eats - Ximending area Part II (西門町)

Want to get these food posts up too lest I get too distracted and forget about them!

I went back to Yu's Almond Tofu rather frequently up until we left. I just couldn't get enough of their almond milk shaved ice! And then one night, I worked up the nerve to branch out and tried the old style breakfast almond milk with almond jelly in it. It was served warm and oh my I loved every bite of it! It was mildly sweet but was warming and soothing, especially when the weather was cooling down a bit.

Still like the almond milk shaved ice better, but I was glad to have tried something else too. Every subsequent visit thereafter I ordered both the shaved ice and the breakfast milk with jelly LOL! 

Old breakfast style almond milk with almond jelly - yum!

Taipei Eats - Zhongxiao East Road area Part II (忠孝東路, Picture heavy!)

More food ^.^

Hotpot is a must-try in Taipei, especially spicy hotpot (麻辣火鍋). That said, surprisingly hubby and I weren't too thrilled. I like it enough and hubby does too, but for some reason the spice really bothers his stomach and so we didn't eat it as much. When my sister visited though, we did take her along with J., her old friend from high school, to a hotpot restaurant, Artisan Hotpot (火鍋世家). 

The place is a chain, and it's nothing fancy or "famous," but it's unique in serving "individual" hotpot, as in everyone gets their own hotpot and no sharing is required. If you ask me, it really defeats the purpose of hotpot but whatever, we weren't too picky and the place was packed, so we figured it couldn't have been that bad.

Taipei Eats - Heping East Road area Part II (和平東路, Picture heavy!)

Just a few more snack stands and a review for a couple of restaurants on Heping East Road (和平東路) here. 

This little cart selling fried scallion pancakes was at the mouth of my alley at the intersection of Heping East Road and Roosevelt Road (羅斯福路), right outside MRT Guting Station (古亭站) Exit 6. 

Adding an egg and/or spicy sauce and you have you'll have a yummy, satisfying, and filling snack. There were a couple of times when hubby and I had a huge lunch, so for dinner we each got one of these scallion pancakes and called it a night. Not the healthiest way to eat, but it worked for the time being. Better than instant noodles!