Adventures of KS in Taipei, episode 4!

Woke up the next morning to hit the books!

No la.. juz to check out that fantastic 24 hour 誠品 bookshop Wendy was going on and on about.

Took the Taipei Metro again.


That's the bookshop! Not as fantastic as Wendy said it was. Hahahaha but right, think I went to the wrong one. There is another one larger than this in 西门町. Hahaha paiseh. Cos this one was a tad too small.. even smaller than Kinokuniya, that one at Taka.


Spent half a day there.. and then went to have lunch at 鼎泰豐! OMG I tell u.. the Taipei outlet is seriously TONS nicer than the Singaporean one! Now I know where they attained their fame! But I think they should seriously QC their franchises.


The prices of all the noodle and fried rice etc were cheaper than in Singapore, but the dim sum was more expensive.


It was all very neat and orderly, and all the waitresses and waiters were very fast in clearing your plates and refilling your teas. A far cry from that of Singapore! You have to signal them to do that in here!



That's how it looks like from the inside!




The waitress went, "不好意思, 这有个架子让你们放东西喔!"


Think ah.. should call it the "不好意思" shop. Everything oso they go "不好意思, 不好意思" Collect used cutlery oso "不好意思" refill tea oso "不好意思" serve food oso "不好意思"...
"不好意思給你们上菜喔!"
"不好意思給你们添茶喔!"
"不好意思收碟子喔!"
Everything they come to our table to do they "不好意思". They say until I oso very 不好意思 alreadie.. hahahaha this is what I call good customer service!!!!


The siew mai!


The 小龙包! OMG it was HEAVENLY! They also automatically add ginger slices for you! With the same 不好意思 of cos. OH man.. u wanna see the best customer service ever? Go this place!


This was the 担担面! Very nice!!! Oishii desu ne!


The fried rice! OMG it was seriously the best ever! Every grain of rice was nicely done... the taste not too salty not too bland.. just... the best!


After that, we went for a snack at the famous 阿宗麵缐!


WHOA it was really nice! The mee sua was really soft and the gravy added was vinegar-ish.. but really nice all in all!!!!!! YUMMY!



Next we went to visit this temple.. they call it 龍山寺. It's supposed to be very very 灵验.

Some random things.. I found really interesting this thing.. haha there were these Christians holding placards protesting opposite the temple, beside this chanting monk. Haha nothing against any religion. Just found it an interesting sight. But sorry.. no pictures. I scared later they stand up and whack me! U wan u try and go take la! WALAU I oso kia see one leh.

Anyway that's the temple.. really grand.. all gold and glitter...


Next we went on to this Hwah Si 華西 night market they were all telling us about.. they said it was really famous in Taipei. So we gotta go!


And that's where the most disgusting encounters I had in Taipei came in.... this night market.

Brace yourself. BTW.. SHIHONG please read on! Don't hum! Not scary one! =D

So we went to Hwah Si. And at first it was really quite ok. All the food sold were normal. Nice. All these fried crab claws etc.

So we walked on! And we finally found out.. what Hwah Si was most famous for..... this delicacy...


To our horror, it's SNAKES! OMG!
And it's not jus snakes snakes. It's TERRIBLE snakes. Ok not terrible snakes.. shit the memory is making my skin crawl. This is the first time I ever felt anything like pity for creatures as ugly as snakes.

Anyway, they wanted to drink those snake blood and some gall juice. I dunno what the hell for.. dun ask me.

So to get those fluids out from the snake, they had to do some really terrible stuff. From what I saw, they hung the snakes by their heads and then they slit the snakes from head down to somewhere about midway thru the length of their body, and then the snakes are still alive and writhing.

And they pull the gall bladder out and let the snake bleed. While writhing in pain with that huge metre long slit in their bodies. There's this container below the snakes to collect the blood, which must be taken fresh. The gall juice must be taken fresh from the body as well. Hence the cruel treatment of the snakes.

It was really a horrible sight.. onlookers would cringe in pain just seeing that gaping slit as the snakes writhed left and right and curled up halfway in pain. Only the tail parts could curl cos the rest of the body was alreadie slit apart. Really horrible. Yucks. And to think some of those sitting in the restaurants were ang mohs.. thot they always had this thing about animal rights?

There was this sign that said "no cameras or videocams allowed". For a very good reason too I guess. And that's why there were no pictures. But I doubt anyone would wanna see such terrible pictures am I right? Yes Shihong? Haha


And that was not all that Hwah Si had to offer. They actually sold these really nice Oolong tea that came from some highlands in Taiwan as well. Tastes really not bad. So we bought some back.


And then there was more. We saw these really really really cute pups selling at the outdoor section of the Hwah Si night market! OMG they were really uber cute.. puppies... with those warming lamps shining on them. They are that young. I was sooo attracted to them I almost wanted to bring one home!


And then guess what?! On the way home, my dad whispered to me... telling me that those puppies were sold to be eaten for medicinal purposes.

I almost fainted in the cab. I'm beginning to see some parallels between Taiwan and China.



After an exhausting day, we ended the day at this 永和豆浆 place near our hotel. I dunno if it's related to that famous one in Singapore, but I do recall that owner of that place in Singapore saying their shop was modelled after some Taiwan stuff. Anyway, this one in Taiwan was not bad. The one in Singapore was not bad too. But the carrot cake was done differently.. I wonder why??? Especially when the 老板娘 of the Singapore one told me their carrot cake was "Taiwan-style" and hence it looks different?!


Ok back to some random ramblings from Singapore.

I just finished watching that channel 8 show.. 舞出彩虹. It was the final episode today. I think, I believe, that channel 8 drama standards are seriously improving. At least, plot-wise. I was watching the ending.. and I realise OMG! They actually added this twist at the end, with this not so subtle "hidden implication"!

Ok to those who dont really follow it closely, here goes. Long story cut short.

Once upon a time, Michelle is Jeanette Aw's mum's buddy. But when Michelle realised her lover, (who was to become Jeanette's dad) fell in love with Jeanette's mum, she was devastated. And then there was this upcoming dancing competition they had to join, Michelle and Jeanette Aw's mum (Xiao Ai). So Michelle thot if she lost her love, she cannot lose her career as well. So she resorted to underhand means to get Xiao Ai to lose the competition. Michelle won the competition and became the top dancer.


Since then, she has regretted her actions very much, and said she got her due punishment cos she never managed to find true love all her life though her career was really great. So she adopted this girl to make herself less lonely.


Finally after much has been done, Xiao Ai forgives Michelle. But Yoyo (acted by Jeanette Aw), her daughter, hates Michelle to the core and no matter what Michelle does for her, she ignores. She fails to understand it from Michelle's point of view.


So finally, there came this day, Yoyo and Michelle's adopted daughter, Xiaoqian had to join this dancing competition together. It will decide their future career. In the end, Yoyo won the competition together with her dancing partner, Jianyi, whom she loves very much. But Jianyi loves Xiaoqian.


So in the end, when the time came for both Jianyi and Yoyo to leave for the high-flying career that awaits them, Jianyi told her he cant go with her cos the one he wants to be with is Xiaoqian. So he gives up the career. And so poor Yoyo was put in the same situation as Michelle decades ago... when she won the competition to further her career at the expense of her love.


Cos till the end, the scriptwriter never made Yoyo forgive Michelle, I think this ending was sort of a subtle way of explaining how she finally understood Michelle's point of view. A sort of closure for the show, a really special one. A rare one in Channel 8 dramas.

But you see, you could have this fantastic script, but terrible actors would juz spoil it. Take a look at the Jap drama 白色巨塔. The plot is pretty normal. But throw in a powerful cast, and VOILA you get a really captivating show. Cos the way they act just draw u into the drama. Very powerful acting, very convincing. You can't help but get caught up with the drama.

But in Channel 8 dramas, I dunno man.. issit Singaporeans in general? But their acting seriously suck to the core. Like that Jeanette Aw uber act cute voice.. oh please.. I seriously wish I could stuff my ears when she talks. Super "teh" and like that kinda voice girls use when they are trying to 撒娇. And she talks like that ALL THE TIME in the drama! This was never the case when she was in Channel U. Don't tell me that's her usual way of speaking. If only all the actors could carry off their roles as well as 米雪.. SIGH but I guess such things come with age. The older you get, the better honed your acting skills get.


Ok enough of ramblings. OH GAWSH look at the time! I'd better be sleeping.. gotta wake early tmr!!! SAYONARA!