Finally coming down to the last bits of Taiwan just before I
go back again. Procrastination is obviously a large trait that I possess.
Writing this post in the early morning (it is now 10:02am), I feel that it is
appropriate to introduce a cool milk tea found in Taiwan’s 7/11s. Relatively
easy to find (it is at every possible intersection you can think of), and
always open, please go in and have a look! Nothing like the boring Canadian
convenience stores that only sell smokes, bus and lotto tickets, Taiwan convenience
stores is a shopping experience all in its tiny little self. Back to the milk tea – it’s a unique
milk tea only found in Taiwan (or at least I didn’t find it anywhere else on my
trip). It’s got a couple of different flavors, so try them all out! Its great
on a warm morning in the city :)
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| Shameless advertisement of milk tea |
Let’s clarify this: I thought I wouldn’t do much shopping in
Taiwan. That is a bunch of lies. Especially when, in Ximen, shoes are around 15
CAD a pair, and they’re pretty. The sales associates are super nice and efficient.
Let me give you an example. I have issues with flats and heels since the back
of my heels always get cut. The sales lady there immediately gives me heel pads
so that they don’t cut my feet, AT NO EXTRA CHARGE. Buying heel pads at a drug
store is around 8CAD, so really, how can I NOT buy shoes? By accidentally walking into a shoe store because we were bored, catastrophe happened. Anyways, the
following picture is what ensued after a short hour of shopping in Ximen at
10pm…
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| I don't have multiple sets of feet, but maybe i should develop some to wear all these shoes... |
Verdict is: buy shoes in Taiwan.
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| Where are we?! |
Off we head to 九份 (Jiufen) on a long and confusing train ride. I still don’t know how I
actually go there. The area is really just one long road with food carts and
shops, perfect for snacking and souvenir shopping!
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| Snacks! |
Lots and lots of little
snacks down the road. A unique snack? There’s definitely more than one!
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| Ice cream sandwich shop |
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| Auntie A-Gan Sweet Taro Ball Shop |
First
taro balls and crushed ice. Although the view while you sit and eat is pretty amazing, so this makes
it worth the try. And the taro balls were sweet and chewy which are always nice.
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| Tario Balls and crushed ice! |
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| fishballs! |
fish balls? Yes? Then you’ll enjoy XL fish balls, pork balls, beef
balls and cuttlefish balls at this place! Ridiculously large balls (man this
post is getting weird…) are served with your choice of noodles, or none.
They’re actually quite good though it truly is just a XL size of a regular meat
ball, so the taste is still the same. Don’t expect it to taste different.
However this shop does maintain its quality of food, so go and try it out if
you want some XL… ehem, okay, I’ll stop now.
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| HUGEEE! |
Lots of souvenir shopping on this street, so if you’re looking to get
gifts for friends this would be the place!
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| Shopping and Eating |
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| Ice cream sandwich |
What’s after nine (jiu in mandarin)? 10! So we head off to 十份 (Shifen) (shi is
ten in mandarin). Sorry for the lame joke. First we go and send a postcard!
Really cool postcards to pick from, some are even made from a plank of wood!
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| Shifen PostCard |
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| Postman's here! |
The real reason to come to shifen is for the lantern. You can buy one from
one of the many shops and write down your wishes and dreams. Each color of each
side of the lantern represents one thing like fortune, health etc… After
writing our aspirations (kinda awkward looking since some of it was in
English), we get to let it free! It really was a fun experience and I highly
suggest that you go there and take a look! Though I don’t know about all the
environmental issues that go along with this. Still, you get to set the lantern
up on a train track and it all comes together really well.
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| Setting up the lantern |
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| Lift Off!! |
Final stop of our trip, the airport. Though usually most people end
their trips as they arrive at the airport, I’ll continue mine and talk about
the airport, why? Because our trip was filled with Hello Kitty and the airport
was no exception. We were lucky enough to be able to fly with Eva Air’s Hello
Kitty airplane, which I believe is only available on routes between Taiwan and
Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. The Hello Kitty section of the airport is
ridiculous, it’s a fanatic’s dream come true. And with my fake Hello Kitty
glasses, I really did look like a crazy fan. If you do get the chance, go early
to the airport so you can take some pictures and pretend (or not) to an avid
Hello Kitty follower.
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| Hello Kitty Check-In |
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| Hello Kitty Plane Seat - comes with Hello Kitty barf bag. Nice. |
Concluding the trip with Hello Kitty seems fair considering Hello Kitty
for us in Taiwan was like the moon in the night sky… it just kept following
you. You see it everywhere, there is no escape.
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| Great memories, great trip, great friends. |
I hope you all liked my Taiwan portion of the trip, more to come!
Let me know what you think!
Do you think you’ll
want to go to Taiwan? If you’ve been, what other things have you done that I didn’t
get to see? Please share!
