We begun our day by heading to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and had our breakfast at a shop we found on Trip Advisor called Din Yuan Soy Milk. I've read reviews recommending the salty version of Soy Milk or Sien Dou Jiang, which is one of Taiwanese staple breakfast and thought we really need to try it!
Getting there is quite easy: At Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall MRT, it is at the back lane of the MRT exit, in the opposite direction of CKS.
We ordered two bowls of salty soy milk, one hot and another cold sweet soy milk.
We were quite surprised the salty version came with eu char kuay or Chinese fried cruellers, spring onions, a dash of sesame oil and peppers in them and the textured is a combination of soy bean curd and soy milk.
It has an odd, salty taste which I didn't fancy but tasted just like chinese breakfast porridge when eaten with the slices of eu char kuay.
I was quite meh over it but my friends were in love with it!
And yes, the portion of the soy milk is huge and quite satisfying. I drank most of the sweet soy milk after spooning an additional 2 spoonful of sugar cause it tasted pretty bland without them.
After that we walked to CKS and was welcomed by this view.
The place is HUGE!! They have a really nice park close to the entrance so we headed there first to check the place and for some photo taking.
Caught this awesome shot.
Selfie~ Yes I did photoshoped. Still wishing I have much better skin but my skin did improved slightly since I started using SK-II #TrueStory
Then headed to the main hall of CKS. So majestic!
It was a SUPER bright day so I was squinting a lot LOL *Squinty squinty*
Inside there was an exhibition going on and we took our time to check the portraits. Love this one!
After checking out the exhibitions, we found quite a number of souvenir shops and one of them were selling sweets in weird packagings. I don't remember what they are but my friends translated and they were quite weird. LOL In case you wanna prank someone, buy them these sweets wrapped in toothpaste/dish washer/detergent packaging. We found quite a number of shops around Taipei's touristy area selling these.
Found an interesting loli that claims to be "Original Gourmet" and decided to try. Nothing to special though :/
By 2-ish or so we were so beat, we decided to find a makan place. I was eager to try Lu Ruo Fan or minced braised meat on rice so we Googled and it showed the nearest place is close to Ximending, which is OK, because it is our next destination after all. But when we got into the taxi and told the driver we are looking to have it, he made a detoured back to a shop opposite the CKS MRT, citing it has the most flavorful lu ruo fan.
Indeed, it was our favorite!
We ordered lu ruo fan each, vege, pork and stir fried bamboo shoot.
The lu ruo fan was slightly too oily but true enough, the fragrance from the soy sauce and fattiness of the pork make the best combination! Yum Yum!
The pig's intestine soup with radish. Pretty less flavorful compared to the one in Malaysia.
We didn't fancy the bamboo shoot as it has a really strong bamboo shoot flavor LOL
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Our next destination is Ximending! We skipped Lin Family Mansion and Garden and Longshan Temple as it was already evening and we thought we'll definitely don't have enough time.
Also greeted by the Red House. Didn't enter cause it seemed like just a building housing several cafe/shops... Got a bit thirsty and my friend, Amelia had been wanting to try Taiwan's Milk Tea so we stopped by here.
I already had milk tea the day before so I opted for Rooibos Lemon Tea. Also because recently I've been a bit obsessed over trying different types of tea and according to Ben, this tea helps in relaxation slash aiding you to sleep.
And then we walked around checking out the boutiques and other outlets in the area.
We found Ah Chung Oyster Noodles earlier but only went back slightly later because we were still stuffed from lunch. During that time, quite a number of food carts have gathered around the lanes and there was quite a lot of people have gathered.
It's SUPER yummeh! Definitely a must try. We ordered a large bowl and shared among ourselves.
Tired from shopping but still too full for dinner, we made a detour to Taipei Main Station to check out K-Underground Mall.
We were sorta expecting it to be a well, mall with much more outlets and stores but it was just quite.. OK. Nothing impressive. I'm sorry. I love Taipei.
But we do found L'herboflore and we did end up buying lotsa masks from there. Check out my Taipei Hauls & Souvenirs post to read about my experience with the overselling and overbearing sales person there.
Finally, we head to Shida Night Market for dinner. Unfortunately I do not have much photos from Shida NM because I took most photos on my hp which I have lost it. Anyhow, there isn't much foodstuff at Shida though we found two restaurants serving beef noodles and we know we had to try.
This is what I ordered_ tomato soup based beef noodles with the meaty part and tendon I think.
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This is the tendon thingy. My first time trying it but it was pretty good I would say. The soup is clear and yummy.
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My other two friends ordered another type of soup base, I think it's the plain/soy sauce one.
Pretty much the only photos I have of Shida NM LOL. There were quite a number of boutiques and we girls took our time strolling and checking out most stores while poor Ben had to keep track of where each of us went. Kesian....
Until my next post~! See ya!
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Day 4: Jiufen ⇒ Shifen ⇒ (Attractions along the Pingxi Line) ⇒ Miaokou Night Market & Part 2
Day 8: National Palace Museum ⇒ Taipei 101 ⇒ Raohe Night Market
