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Taipei…..Last Stop – Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall - was our last stop for this trip. The must-see event is the changing of the guards ceremony which happens every hour. During our visit, there were throngs of crowds, mostly from Mainland China, jousting for a good vantage point watching the ceremony…..

The entrance to the Memorial Hall Square…..

A panorama of Memorial Hall Square, with the National Concert Hall (right) and the National Theater (left)…..

The Representatives of the armed forces guarding the main hall…..

A very short amateurish video of the ceremony…..

Back To L.A. – Random Eats - I was craving for Xiao-long-bao and stumbled upon this small mom & pop place. They offer similar dishes to Din Tai Fung, and even has an open kitchen so everyone can see the chefs making xiao-long-baos. Wang Xing Ji is the first American branch of a popular dumpling house in Wuxi, a lakeside city about 45 minutes out of Shanghai. Actually, Wang Xing Ji is the dumpling house in Wuxi, almost a century old, the one restaurant every guidebook seems to mention. Wuxi cooking is sometimes considered one of the 14 essential styles of Chinese cooking, although it seems mostly by people from Wuxi. The dishes are famous for their sweetness — on the menu at this San Gabriel Wang Xing Ji, it is the unsweetened dumplings, of which there are not many, that are marked with cautionary stars.

The entrance is nothing fancy…..

Each table has a speical cautionary sign for the juicy dumplings…..

The see through kitchen…..

First course – Appetizer – cold cucumbers in sesame oil…..

Tofu slices…..

Smoked fish…..

Xiao-long-baos…..

Single serving large size xiao-long-bao…..

How to suck the juice out of this gigantic siao-long-bao…..

Overall, the smaller Xiao-long-baos may not be as precisely machined as the ones at Din Tai Fung, but the thicker wrappers are soulful somehow, engineered to absorb just enough black vinegar. The idea of sweet pork may be vaguely repellent, but the traditional xiao-long-baos wins every time. The sweetness brings out the slight wild flavors of the pork and oniony seasonings; the unsweetened ones seem colorless and bland. The lunch tab came to approxiamtely US$15 per person, which is quite reasonable and I’ll definitely try this place again!
3:56 pm

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Taipei…..Jiufen - is about an hour car ride from the city, and is well known for its hilly vista and cozy small town atmosphere. It used to be a mining town, nowadays, visitors go there for the tea houses dotting the hillside……

This tri-level teahouse hanging precariously over the hillside…..

In this small town, this is the main “food street”, fish balls shop on the left…..

More shops ahead as we approach deep into town…..

Peanut shavings wrapped in thin starchy sheets…..

Glazed fruity balls and bitter melon (for juice)…..

Stinky tofu…..

Rice wrapped in lotus leaves…..

Sweet or salty mochi made from green beans, these are quite delicious actually….

At the end of an alley, there’s is this hole-in-the-wall spot, selling mochi & taro balls over shaved ice (see those patrons eating on the steps)…..

A brief history of this dessert…..

They all come in one size, quite a lot for a single serving…..

On our way back, we stopped by this huge temple…..

Colourful spires decorating the hillside…..

View from the upper levels of the temple…..

It was a misty day after all…..

Last glimpse of the temple on our drive back to the city…..

We arrived in Jiufen around two o’clock in the afternoon, and spent only three hours there, including exploring the huge temple. I wish I could spend more time trying out the teahouses. Oh well, there’s always a next time!

Taipei…..Maokong - After a full breakfast, we went for a short day trip up the hills in Maokong, which is well known for its tea shops and hiking trails……

The ride up the hills was slow but quite enjoyable…..

As we go near the top, the mountain air feels cool and refreshing…..

Once embarked, we randomely picked a path and there are these big and small tea houses all over…..

This is where the stream rocks are and the name of “MaoKong” came about…..

Small temple and more hiking down the hill…..

The stream appears quite dry but slippery…..

Over time, the stream waters have carved potholes in the river rocks. The original name to this place was pronounced as “Niao Kang” in native Taiwanese dialect, but over time, this has become “Maokong” in Mandarin, referencing the “cat’s hollows” in the stream rocks…..

Back to the main road, we stopped over at this tea house, which has a wood burning pizza oven, as you can see the smoke coming out from the rear…..

Iced tea with fruit infusion; we had a small pizza but too hungry to wait for a photo opportunity…..

It was a nice and clear day…..

One more thing, I had this stinky tofu at another tea house down the street, it was delicious with hot and spicy sauce on the side…..

The whole outing took half a day, but that depends on how long you like to stay. Some may like to visit during the late afternoon hours and pick a tea house to have dinner and view the sunset, that would be a romantic way to end the day!

Taipei…..Eating at Shilin Night Market- this is quite a popular spot in the city and gets crowded during the early evening. Here, as we were walking inside the night market, food stalls are along both sides…..

This stall sells stinky tofu, one of my favourite snacks…..

Stinky tofu on a stick, with a piece of pickled cabbage in the middle…..

A variety of snacks – geese wings and feet, soy sauce stewed eggs, sausages, etc…..

Dried condiments such as shrimp, shredded pork, etc., wrapped in a thin slice of rice paper…..

Fried sweet milk…..

This is a popular item, it was almost sold out in a minute, I had the last two sticks of fried sweet milk…..

Yakitori stall – pick your favourite items and they’ll barbecue for you…..

Tea of all kinds, including sugarless tea, chrysanthemum tea, green tea, different flavours of boba milk tea…..

W got the traditional boba milk tea…..

Quail eggs in the process of lightly fried and then put on a stick…..

Quail eggs on a stick…..

Some of the food items are illustrated in three languages (Japanese, English and Korean)…..

Screening a very old Chinese kung-fu movie in the midst of the food market…..

These are the ingredients for shaved ice…..

The night sky did not help to enhance the appeal of this dessert…..

A traditional Chinese wall motif…..

This stall makes a special kind of mochi-like boba, with upgraded diary milk…..

Here’s a short video (please pardon my impromptu editing)…..

Grilled cuttlefish…..

How to grill cuttlefish video…..

We had a very fun time exploring most of the food stalls within these few city blocks. It gets more and more crowded as the night progresses, and long lines started to form at almost every food stall. Time to head back to our hotel for a drink!

Taipei…..more and more eats…..It seems like this is a never ending saga of easily finding a good meal during anytime of the day in this food city. If you love trying the delicious local cuisine and not breaking your wallet at the same time, the following places are totally worth it…..

Din Tai Fung – I stole this page from W’s travel log, he did this cut ‘n paste job which I found interesting…..

Din Tai Fung @ Taipei 101 – around noon, there’s a long wait already…..

Their menu cover stating “One Michelin Star”…..

Spinach sautéed….

Beef tendon noodle soup (medium spicy)…..

Black truffle siao long baos…..

They deliver a freshly made (regular pork) because I found one with a strand of pubic hair stuck to it, which I sent back…..

The kitchen is located deep inside the restaurant, quite different from the majority of DTF’s….

The National Palace Museum – no cameras allowed inside, but we can take photos inside their restaurant…..

Ordered traditional Chinese tea…..

Condiments – peanuts, tofu strands and sea cucumber…..

The menu even offers Cantonese “Har-Gao”…..

Beef noodle soup, which is pretty tasty, just a little bit spicy…..

Next stop – the original Din Tai Fung located on Xinyi Road …..

We were seated on the third floor…..

The siao long baos are just heavenly, the skin is so soft and tender, yet the inside is so juicy…..

Kitchen is located near the entrance…..

Next stop – Yong Kang Noodle – located just around the corner from Din Tai Fung, this place serves up tasty beef noodle soup…..

There are many different items on their menu…..

Pickled Cabbage for your noodles…..

Beef tendon noodle soup, you may ask for medium spice. The beef just melts in your mouth….

I need some cool drinks after all these “sodium” heavy meals, this kiwi boba drink really helps…..

Of all the above three bowls of beef noodle soup we had tasted, the one at Yong Kang was the best, followed closely by the one at Din Tai Fung. Last but not least, the beef noodle we had at the museum restaurant was very good too, which I’m sure is definitely better or equal to any of the places here in L.A. I just can’t wait for my next trip to sample more bowls of beef noodles in Taipei!

Taipei…..More random eats…..Sorry for being absent for almost a month, I have been busy both at work and at home. Apart from working hard at the office lately, both W and my brother’s birthday are coming up soon, so I’m scheming where to treat them for dinners. A great deal of time was spent on reading food blogs, reading the menus, and then letting the boys pick the desired restaurants. A few of my fellow Xangans asked when I’d get out of my old smelly toilet (see last entry) and into something more tasty. Okay, here we go…..

W Hotel- has a nice Afternoon Tea promotion at the WooBar. It appears this is a popular spot for the locals to gather for business and pleasure, the place is all full before three o’clock in the early afternoon. The menu…..

The “tower tray” comes as a two-sided structure, housing petit pastries along the ledges…..

Top level with the sweeties…..

The middle level…..

the bottom level with the not so sweet items…..

King Crab steamed egg…..

We were stuffed after finishing the whole tray of nibbles between the two of us. I guess this “meal” would be more manageable if we had two more “helpers”.

On another day, we came across this chocolate store inside the department store…..

Chocolate and ice cream…..

Flourless chocolate cake…..

The chocolates are from Belgium, and some are quite bitter, but they taste well together when eaten with the sweeter ones!

Taipei…..random eats…..

During our three-day stay in Taipei, we stumbled upon this place…..

The restaurant furniture all sourced from actual bathroom fixtures…..

Soft drinks are served in a mini-sized urinary and food served in a “squat toilet” shaped bowl…..

Take a closer look, the scoop of soft ice-cream is shaped like a pile of poop…..

I don’t think the “chairs” are comfortable, but it was quite fun eating there…..

Coffee Alley has branches all over Taipei, there’s one near our hotel. The menu is just like a newspaper spread…..

Ice tea with fresh fruit (left) and Red bean with iced coconut milk…..

Close-up of ice tea, with chunks of fresh fruit…..

Ice cream with cotton candy & expresso…..

Pour the expresso onto the cotton candy…..

Watch to find out what happens next…..

Hello Bali…..more to see…..

Visit a temple in the middle of the ocean…..

Viewing an active volcano……

Lake next to the volcano…..

More temples…..

A local souvenir market…..

Monkey temple…..

Temple in a lake, it was a cloudy and rainy day…..

Walking around…..

What to eat…..

All inclusive Breakfast delivered to the villa every morning…..

Indonesian breakfast in a bento box…..

Indonesian rice porridge…..

Eggs Benedict…..

Fruit plate…..

On a rainy morning, it was too damp to have breakfast outside…..

Therefore, we had breakfast in the veranda…..

Japanese meal with grilled fish…..

Scrambled eggs with salmon…..

For dinner, we had BBQ pork ribs…..

Indonesian sampler during another night…..

Crispy appetizer…..

On our last day in Bali, the weather was great…..

Indonesian fried rice…..

Passion fruit pancakes with mango jam…..

Fruit plate…..

Hello Bali…..After Taipei, we spent a few days in Bali…..

Small temple by the ocean…..

Having lunch in a restaurant next to the rice fields…..

The view while lunching…..

Rice fields nearby…..

Coffee tasting – different flavours we have here, chocolate..vanilla..cinnamon..ginseng..ginger…etc…..

Coffee made from the poop of the Asian Palm Civat…..

Multi-tiered rice fields…..

Lying by the pool of our private villa…..

Hello Taipei…..

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