The Legends of the Pugilistic Leader: Adventures of KS in Taipei, episode 2

This was Day 2 in Taipei!!! It was the day of the guided tour! There was this really prettie lady tour guide to bring us around Taipei today!

Our first stop was Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, or 中正纪念堂. There was really nothing much to see, and this was a really cold day cos it was raining cats and dogs. No la actually it was juz drizzling... but cos of the wind every single drop of rain felt like ice. So basically this was a toilet stop.

The focus of this picture is that building in the distance.. the blurry one? YES! That's Taipei 101!

Next stop was 九份! Ja's favourite place!!! How did the name come about?! According to the tour guide, it was cos long time ago, there were only 9 families living in this area.. cos it was mountainous, and hard to access. Hence, everytime they bought stuff, they only bought 九份. Wahaha dumb rite?! I felt like she was smoking me leh!

Breathtaking view from the peak of that place called 九份. WALAU dont see this picture machiam nice nice swee swee.. came at a great price! I tell u.. that place was positively FREEZING! Firstly, this day was the coldest day in our entire Taipei trip, and then it was raining, and then on the mountaintop where u are exposed to the elements, rain and wind, OMG I tell u.. I was becoming an ice cube juz trying to take this picture and preventing my hands from shivering and shaking.

After a while, we really buay tahan.. we hid into this small warm 小吃店 to have some HOT soup! This is the famous Taiwanese 贡丸 soup! That 贡丸 is actually something like meat balls, and the soup actually tastes quite nice! A steaming hot bowl of soup is all you need to lift your moods in a freezing winter... now I start appreciating warm weather.

The Taiwanese juz DIG kawaii stuff... check out this 贡丸 soup bowl... walau! Haha in case you are wondering, yes all their food stuff are sold in such kawaii containers.

Then that shop oso had this soup they call the "花枝丸汤". At first we were wondering what that is. We thot of trying it. And then we went to ask the 老板娘 what is 花枝. Then she replied, "啊花枝就是那个花枝啊!" Then we thot is that kind of flower stalk..... then they mash it up to make it into a ball... then we hum.. then we dun dare to try.

And then we walked down the street some more.. and then we saw this! WALAU see that tiny sotong at the side??? 花枝 means SOTONG la!!!! 花枝丸 means sotong ball!!!! WALAU then we buay gam wan... cos really smells very nice.. so we bought some from this stall! BTW that lady selling it was oso damn chio.

After our 九份 trip, we went for lunch at this Mongolian BBQ place! WHOA it was DAMN NICE! It was buffet style, with loads of stuff like sushi, bee hoon, meat, dumplings, etc etc...

And there was teppanyaki and steamboat too! The steamboat was like Singapore style, half hot half normal soup base. Or maybe Singapore copied them I dunno...

After lunch, we went to this museum called 故宫博物院. ALL the artifacts inside were actually "taken" from China over to Taiwan when Chiang Kai Shek and gang went over. So they actually belonged to China. Hahahaha but whoa you will be STUNNED at the sheer beauty of those artifacts!

There were these ivory carvings so intricate the designs can only be clearly seen under a microscope. A magnifying glass was placed there to allow partial vision of those designs, but only a microscope can fully detail those carvings. And there were also really prettie jades dating back a long way.

Too bad no pictures allowed inside.. and when we went, a large portion of the museum was closed for renovation. SIGH!

There was this Confucius statue outside the museum. Then all the Japanese and ang moh and OF COS the kiasu Singaporeans rushed forward to take picture with him!

My mummy said, "Go 跟孔子拍照! 这样会变聪明的!" Then she forgot lower her voice.. the auntie beside oso heard. Then they more kiasu... whoa before u can say "one two three" they RAN and chope 风水位 over with brother 孔. Then bobian lor.. we had to wait till they finish. Some more walau.. that auntie I tell u.. first time I see some auntie more kiasu than my mum. Take one picture not enough. Must change position change pose take dunno how many zillion pictures until they song song.. oso buay paiseh got so many people waiting for them to finish... walau!!!

Eh dun mean the more pictures u take the smarter your son will become ok! Later 孔子 buay song u too kiasu oso he wun let ur son get As!

Along the way we saw these 法轮功 protestors everywhere... and there was even this giant poster proclaiming "法轮大法好!"

Anyway, next stop we went to see this 交接仪式. It was the changeover of the 仪仗队. Kind of like those English soldiers with those furry furry tall black hats standing outside Birmingham Palace passing over to the next batch of palace guards. Or a more Singaporean way to understand this would be those guards standing outside Istana.. when they passover.

These two 阿兵哥 standing outside.. they had been standing without moving for the past hour. In the freezing rain. See that black metal box they are standing on? Whenever they bang their boots, got this sharp sound. Very smart.

Oh btw.. this may be a very unglam way of putting it.. but right, I kinda feel their boots look a bit like Mickey Mouse boots. Hahahaha

Their comrades marching out from the inside, ready to take over. The guy on the right at the front is REALLY swoonsome.. I took a picture with him but it's in the other camera and I'm too lazy to load that camera into the com.

Meanwhile, the guy handing over does some stretching exercises. Touch cap, stretch out hands etc...

Marched to the front alreadie!

After handing over, these 苦命 soldiers still had to stand in line and allow the tourists to take pictures and shake hands. My mum went to ask one, "可以握手吗?" He nodded. Then she asked again, "可以拍照吗?" Again, he nodded. Then she said this, I suspect, specially to xia suay me, "喔我女儿好想和你们拍照喔! 来来来!" WAH I seriously almost fainted there.. I think ah.. she did it on purpose one.. cos rite in the morning I stole her 花枝丸 from her. So she 报仇.

This was the sign outside the shop selling all the 风梨酥. Commonly known as the pineapple tart. It was supposedly the shop selling the best pineapple tarts in Taipei!

After that, we went to 泡汤!! WOOHOO! Skinnydipping! No lar.. haha juz some hot spring for us to relax in! WOOHOO!

The words say "女汤".. meaning it leads to the common hot spring area for females.

But of cos, we didn't go here. We went to the private rooms one! Meaning 2 to each room!

This was how the room section looked like from the outside.

Hot springs are not for everybody... those with heart diseases and high blood pressure shouldn't go for hot springs.

Anyway, this is how the inside of the room looks like! There is a shelf for u to leave your stuff. That lil basket holds the shampoo and stuff. There is a shower apart from the hot spring, so you can bathe after dipping in the spring!

That is the bathtub.

No wait a minute.. hahahahaha

It IS the hot spring!

So you thought the hot springs are really like those u see on tv.. in some mountain, a hole spewing hot water with some naked women sitting inside?! NO LAR! There are taps to dispense the hot spring water. You can even adjust the temperature!

WALAU y the water so dirty KS still wanna go in?!

NO LAR that is actually sulfur water! And sulfur is actually the substance that provides the medicinal value of the hot spring!

So you think hot spring very shiok huh.. especially in the cold winter weather. Yeah I guess.. the front part when u first enter.. wah feel like heaven! Then when u step outta the steaming hot spring and into the air... WHOA the cold will chill you to your bones! And worse, u cant get dressed immediately.. u gotta bathe to wash off all that sulfur water! So by the end of it all, I was shivering. And oso, each bout of hot spring dipping should not last longer than half an hour.

So after the hot spring experience or ordeal or whatever, we went to Shihlin! YES the famous night market for the HUGE XXL fried chicken!

That's the 捷运 station outside Shihlin. They don't call the subway 地铁 cos most of it lies above ground, and 地下铁 means underground subway. So there..

That's the food section of Shihlin. It used to be in the same area as the clothes and accessories section, but then later it got too crowded and there was possibility of it becoming a fire hazard. So the government shifted it aside.

OH they have these circular plasma tv in Taipei and HK! I know it's not clear here.. but that thing in the middle on the stand emitting light.. that's a flat screen tv! And it was advertising for 无极 at that time!

That's the famous XXL 大鸡扒 in Shihlin! Shihlin has helluva lot of food man! WHOA almost grew 10kg heavier gorging myself there!

Ate helluva 上火 stuff.. of cos muz try to drink some cooling stuff! Coincidentally, Shihlin was also famous for their bitter gourd (in white!) which can make some cooling juice!