Taipei (Day 65): Comfort Food

May 4, 2016

We spent a good chunk of the morning organizing our backpacks and giving items for Mom to bring back home for us. What a load off! My luggage feels like it’s 10 pounds lighter (Tim: probably because it is 10 pounds lighter). I caught up on my blog entries while Tim went to Yong He (our regular breakfast place) to get breakfast for everyone.

We didn’t end up leaving the apartment until just before 2pm. It was nice to be able to just hang around and fully relax and not feel like we had to see something or go somewhere. We didn’t have anything on our agenda since Mom was busy with her own plans. Since we’ve been in Taipei with her, she’s been non-stop busy meeting up with people who want to see her. The one thing that I wanted to have before leaving Taipei was bubble tea (a few times) and the gua bao (pork belly hamburger) we had in March.

Tim and I walked to Gongguan and cut diagonally through the National Taiwan University (NTU) campus along the way. It’s very hot here, about 32 degrees celsius with humidity. My back was sweaty the entire day since I was wearing a backpack and a cotton dress (it wasn’t pleasant). This is preparing us for hot weather to come during our SE Asia part of our trip in June.thumb_IMG_2537_1024The pearl milk drink and the gua bao stand in Gongguan was highly recommended to us by Tim’s cousin, Karen. Unfortunately, when my sister and Noel were in town, we didn’t hear about it until the day they were closed. We’ll have to come back with them another time. I feel bad, the gua bao was on my sister’s top eats for Taiwan.

Walking through NTU
Walking through NTU
Double decker bike racks
Double decker bike racks

When we arrived in Gongguan, the pearl milk stand had a line up but surprisingly, the gua bao stand didn’t have a line up (Tim: maybe because it was not really lunch time). The pearl milk line wasn’t too long but by the time we got to the front of the line up (5-10 minutes) the line up had curled around 3 times! We just beat the crowd of students. We took our lunch to the NTU entrance benches and sat and enjoyed our cheap and delicious lunch. As I was eating the gua bao and biting into the best pearls I’ve ever had (super soft, warm and chewy), I kept thinking, “this is amazing”.  I’m really savouring the good and cheap food in Taiwan because I know when we get to Australia, everything is going to be more the double the price and probably not as delicious.

Gua bao stand (50 NT = $1.98 CAD) for one
Gua bao stand (50 NT = $1.98 CAD) for one
Pearl Milk stand in Gongguan. 35 NT = $1.35 CAD for one drink
Pearl Milk stand in Gongguan. 35 NT = $1.35 CAD for one drink
Delicious warm, chewy and sweet tapioca (pearls)
Delicious warm, chewy and sweet tapioca (pearls)
The line up after we left
The line up after we left
One of our favourite Taipei combos.
One of our favourite Taipei combos.

After we finished our lunch, we decided to walk to the Roots Canada Lodge store and an Eslite Bookstore. We had noticed that Taiwanese people love Roots clothing when we first arrived in March. Even when we were in Korea and Japan, when we saw people with “Roots Canada” t-shirts, we knew they weren’t Canadian, they were Taiwanese. Coincidentally, Mom brought a brochure back from Roots back home that says “Roots loves Taiwan”. There’s a campaign by Roots Canada and Tourism Taiwan that shows pictures around Taipei as well as suggestions on where to go (it’s a pretty nice pamphlet). The store on Robson just had a grand re-opening on May 3rd and Mom was asked to look for Taiwanese dancers for their event. Pretty cool!

Last walk through Daan Park
Last walk through Daan Park
Dunhua boulevards are all tree lined
Dunhua boulevards are all tree lined
Roots brochure from Vancouver
Roots brochure from Vancouver
In front of the Roots Lodge store in Taipei
In front of the Roots Lodge store in Taipei
Nanaimo bars look so fancy here
Nanaimo bars look so fancy here

Any how, we were both interested in going to a Roots store in Taipei and the one we saw the other day while in the car had a Roots Canada Lodge restaurant. They served Canadian food – like Nanaimo bars, bacon cheeseburgers and poutine. We went into the store to see if they had any t-shirts that said Taipei on it because one time we saw someone who had one on. Tim asked the sales associate and she said those t-shirts only come out once a year and it’s usually in September. Roots clothing isn’t cheap and it’s definitely not cheap in Taiwan. A plain zip up hoodie is around $140 CAD (almost double what it would be back home).

We then made our way across the street to Eslite (the 24 hour bookstore). We hadn’t been to this location before, only the one near Taipei 101. Tim was looking for the Marie Kondo book, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” in Chinese. He has been recommending this book to a lot of people and wants his parents to read it as well. I haven’t finished it yet, and I’m recommending it to others (Tim’s not happy that I haven’t finished reading it since it’s so short). We wandered around Eslite and browsed around at all the floors – besides books they have a lot of neat shops to look at.

On our way back to the apartment, we stopped at a CoCo bubble tea and ordered a passion fruit tea. This was one of our favourite drinks here as it’s super refreshing. With the heat, I wouldn’t have minded if it were all slushy. I know they opened a CoCo in Vancouver and I probably won’t go there this summer since it’s going to cost 4 x the price for what we had and I would have had enough bubble tea in the past 3 months to last a year.

Passionfruit tea with pearls and coconut jelly 40 NT = $1.58 CAD
Passionfruit tea with pearls and coconut jelly 40 NT = $1.58 CAD

We came back to the apartment to rest up and cool off before dinner. Tim and I had been going to a hot pot place a lot in March and we had a stamp card that only needed one more meal before we got one free (yes, we went that much). Hot pot isn’t something you crave during hot humid weather, but since they blast the AC so high in Asia, it’s always perfect.

As soon as we walked into the restaurant, the waitress recognized us. For the most part, the restaurant isn’t a tourist destination or even on most people’s radar (we couldn’t find any information on it in English at all). I guess she hadn’t see us in a month so when she saw us she asked us where we’re from etc. It’s basically Tim answering for both of us explaining that he’s Taiwanese and his parents were born here and then they look at me and ask what I am. Then he says, her family is from “Tai San” then they say, “you should teach her some Mandarin” and we all smile and laugh.

Our last shabu shabu. Going to miss this place!
Our last shabu shabu. Going to miss this place!

We ordered two types of beef as usual and enjoyed our last meal there. We both put a lot of fresh garlic in our sauce, so now today we both have severe garlic breath. When we were done, Tim showed her our stamp card and she said usually you are supposed to use the free one during your next visit (which is what Mom told us would probably happen) but Tim said this is our last day in Taiwan so she let us have the free one. Our meal was 270 NT = $10.71 CAD for the both of us.

After dinner, we walked back towards the apartment and went to the Linjiang Tonghua Night Market (this is like our neighbourhood market since it’s so close). I wanted to buy some more dried guava for my family, fresh cut guava (for me to eat tomorrow), and a phone case (since mine was in horrible and dirty shape). We didn’t eat any food at the night market since we just had dinner. I bought a new phone case, which wasn’t that cheap but cheaper than home ($9 CAD). I know how cheap these phone cases could be, so anything sold in Taiwan isn’t cheap compared to China. My former co-worker asked me if I wanted phone cases before she went to China one year and I said I wanted one that you could put cards in. She told me it’s buy 1 get 9 free and showed me the Chinese website. I said I only wanted one and she’s like, it’s okay you can have them in 9 colours. So when she came back she gave me a box with 10 cases in it, and they’re the exact same ones in the night markets here.

Our fruit lady at Linjiang Tonghua. Cut guava for 20 NT = $0.79 CAD
Our fruit lady at Linjiang Tonghua. Cut guava for 20 NT = $0.79 CAD
Dried guava and plum lady we go to. Larger bag of dried guava is 100 NT = $3.90 CAD
Dried guava and plum lady we go to. Larger bag of dried guava is 100 NT = $3.90 CAD
See you again, Linjiang Tonghua!
See you again, Linjiang Tonghua!
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My Hello Kitty suitcase tag, hopefully It won’t get lost. 80 NT = $3.15 CAD

We headed back to the apartment and packed up and went through all the items Mom is bringing back for us. It’s such a big help that she’s here to bring a lot of things home for us. I have a bunch of clothes that I didn’t end up wearing much and I know won’t be good for Australia and SE Asia. You really don’t need much clothing while traveling (Tim: which is pretty common advice, yet lots of people don’t adhere to) and especially in the humid heat, Lululemon or any dri-fit type of items are the best.

I’m a pretty sentimental person so whenever it’s the last day or last of anything, I do get a bit sad and reminiscent of all the good memories. During our time in Taipei, we became very familiar with the Daan area. Even as someone who isn’t great with directions, I got to know Daan very well. I’m happy that we got to see so many people while we were here and were able to spend 2 weeks with my sister, Noel, and Nate. Even passing by the apartment we stayed at or going around to sites we visited together, I think about them.

Steps today: 24,000

Taipei (Day 27): Happy Easter!

March 27, 2016

Happy Easter from Taipei!

This morning felt a bit weird/sad without hearing Nate waking up and calling our names. After an emotional night (for me), we woke up and got ready to go to Easter Mass at Holy Family Catholic Church. There is only one English Mass at 9:45am so we had to make sure we didn’t miss it! We power walked from the apartment and through Daan Park and got to church right on time.

The Mass was lead by Monseigneur Paul Russell, an American who has been in Taipei for the past 8 years working as a diplomatic representative for the Vatican. According to the announcements at church he has been very influential in trying to connect Catholicism to the Taiwanese population (Taiwanese Catholics only make up 1.5% of the population and Christianity as a whole is only 4.5%). It was announced last week that he was appointed by Pope Francis to become the Archbishop and nuncio (permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See) in Turkey. The way members of the congregation spoke about him, showed he has made a significant impact on the church in Taipei and he will be greatly missed. We didn’t even know him and Tim got a bit teary eyed during his goodbye speech at the end (Tim: I get moved thinking about a person with no past ties to Taiwan, who can serve the people of Taiwan for 8 years of his life, and express a deep love for a country that I’m only tangentially able to connect with, even though I’m “Taiwanese”).

Waiting to go into the church
Waiting to go into the church
Inside Holy Family Church
Inside Holy Family Church after Mass ended

Our only plan for today was to meet with Austin (Tim’s cousin, in town for a wedding) for a late lunch. We finished Mass at 11am so we decided to take a walk to the Gongguan area, an area close to National Taiwan University (NTU). We planned on going to Gongguan earlier in the week with my sister but the gua bao (Taiwanese “pork burger”) place we wanted to try was closed on Mondays so we didn’t end up going.

Tim’s cousin, Karen, recommended two places in the area to try, the gua bao (Lan Jia Steamed Sandwich Shop) and a fresh milk with pearls (no tea) stand. It was easy to track the places down since they were across from each other and both had line ups. I stood in the pearl milk line while Tim went to the gua bao line. We took our drink and baos across the street to NTU and sat on the bench and ate.

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Cute signage around Gongguan
Pearl Milk stand. 35 NT = $1.40 CAD
Pearl Milk stand. 35 NT = $1.40 CAD
You can ask for regular pork, fatty pork or half half. I got half half and Tim got fatty pork belly
Lan Jia Steamed Sandwich Shop: You can ask for regular pork, fatty pork or half half. I got half half and Tim got fatty pork belly. (50 NT = $2 CAD)
Line ups for both pearl milk and gua bao places
Line ups for both pearl milk and gua bao places
Forgot to take a picture before we drank half the pearl milk.
Forgot to take a picture before we drank half the pearl milk. The pearls in this are cooked in brown sugar so it sweetens the milk. They’re the best pearls we’ve both ever had (Tim: I never said that, I just said they were good), they’re warm, soft and still chewy.
Gua bao - delicious!
Gua bao was delicious! It has pork belly, cilantro, peanut & sugar dusting, and pickled vegetables on a steamed bun
Entrance to NTU
Entrance to NTU

After we walked around for a bit, we took the MRT to meet Austin at Zhongxiao Xinsheng station to go for beef noodles at a restaurant called 72 Beef Noodle (this was another Karen recommendation). The restaurant is called “72 Beef Noodle” because that’s how many hours it takes for them to make the soup.

Outside of 72
Outside of 72 Beef Noodle
This was their special appetizer dish (small size). It was a stir fry type of dish with tofu, peanuts, chives, egg, and fatty pork. (120 NT = $4.90 CAD)
This was their special appetizer dish (small size). It was a stir fry type of dish with tofu, peanuts, chives, egg, and fatty pork. (120 NT = $4.90 CAD). This was very flavourful and tasty – my favourite dish here.
Soft tofu with century egg with thick soy, cilantro and benito flakes (120 NT = $4.90 CAD)
Soft tofu with century egg with thick soy, green onions and benito flakes (120 NT = $4.90 CAD)
Tim's beef noodle (160 NT = $6.50 CAD). He says this is favourite broth so far.
Tim’s beef noodle (160 NT = $6.50 CAD). He says this is favourite broth so far, but the meat wasn’t as tender as Yong Kang
72 is known for this herbal "clear" base. I preferred Tim's soup instead. (160 NT = $6.50 CAD)
72 is known for this “clear” soup broth. I preferred Tim’s soup. (160 NT = $6.50 CAD)
Us with Austin at "72"
Us with Austin at “72 Beef Noodle” (I think there’s a spotlight right over Austin’s head)

After lunch, we were feeling pretty tired. We made our way back to the apartment and rested. For dinner we wanted to go somewhere casual and close by. We decided to just walk back to Tonghua St. and see if anything looked interesting. Nothing caught our attention so we decided to go back to Formosa Chang’s to have something small.

Our walk towards Tonghua. Taipei 101 is lit up nicely
Our walk towards Tonghua. Taipei 101 is lit up nicely
Our dinner at Formosa Chang's . (240 NT = $9.80 CAD)
Our dinner at Formosa Chang’s . (240 NT = $9.80 CAD)

We walked back to the apartment through the night market and picked up some fruit on the way back from the quick fruit lady who Noel kept buying fruit from last week. We got one guava and an apple pear (one of my favourite fruits) for 75 NT = $3 CAD.

We’re back at the apartment now and going to start planning for our Japan leg of the trip. We’re planning on watching Batman vs. Superman tomorrow (or Tuesday) and then we’ll have dinner with Tim’s relatives. My family at home is having a big Easter dinner on Sunday (tomorrow morning for me), I’m sad I’ll be missing out on dinner. I always look forward to our big family gatherings and being surrounded by all my loved ones on Easter.

Today’s steps are: 15,000