Adventure # 15 - Taipei April 2014 Part Four

The last leg of our quick Taiwan getaway was right at our hotel's backyard—Ximending. This colorful, bustling, urban maze was such a delight to get lost in. Ten out of ten, would definitely come back just to be able to see everything as the five or so hours we had in this district was too few!

As this was our final stop before heading to the airport, most of the NTD we had went to food, souvenirs, and more food! There were so many novelty themed restaurants there we would have loved to try if time permitted. 

And now, finally—nineteen months since the actual trip, here's part four of our Taipei adventure!

Cooling off, after our zoo escapade with green tea ice-cream. 

It took roughly an hour to get from the Taipei Zoo back to Ximending.

Hello, my dear friend. Cilantro—the answer everything.

Adventure # 14 - Taipei April 2014 Part Three

I decided to split our final day in Taipei into two posts—This part will be about our unplanned Zoo adventure and part four will be about our last few hours spent in Ximending. To be perfectly honest, I plan like crazy before going for a trip and that meant matrices, schedules, screenshots, pre-loaded maps, pages of research and notes all nicely printed out and stapled and ready to be referenced. Call me the prepared Adventurer. (Haha.)

Exhibit A

This trip, however, took an unprecedented turn when I lost my whole printed itinerary during our FIRST stop. Lesson learned: Always print multiple copies of the itinerary!! I had a slight panic attack and went into a minor fit before regaining my footing, found wifi and was able to download the pdf of the plans. Suffice it to say, it was very difficult to keep consulting a tiny screen to figure out where to go next. :\ Anyway, with that little hurdle over, I was able to calmly readjust half of our trip when both mom and my sister wanted to see the pandas. Taipei Zoo wasn't really a major part of our plans (more like a Plan B), and I didn't expect that we'd be spending most of our day there! I sadly had to say "see you next time" to some of the spots listed on our itinerary. :(  I guess I'll just have to go back to Taiwan!

A ten-minute walk from the hotel we stayed at is the Ximending Red House Theater—This was originally a market building that became a theater after. Now, aside from being a theater, it also houses shops from independent artists. Photos inside in Part Four!

May I humbly introduce my favorite donut—EVER. Mister Donut in Taiwan mostly carries the pon de ring, mochi variety and it was love at first bite. It was sweet and chewy and nibbling those cute spheres was such a delight! I've been trying several pon de ring donuts here in the country, our local Mister Donut included, and it just didn't taste or feel the same. (The search is still on!!)

This particular outlet was at the Ximending MRT station.

Adventure # 13 - Taipei April 2014 Part Two

That was quite a hiatus in between this 3-parter post. My apologies—Work and life got a bit hectic. Actually, it still is. But I've been putting my updates on the back burner for faaar too long. So without further ado, might I, after a more than a month, present Taipei Part Two! :D

On our way to Yong Kang St., we passed by THE original Din Tai Fung. This was actually the first ever branch that opened and its fame was absolutely palpable. Just look at that queue!

Adventure # 12 - Taipei April 2014 Part One

Taipei, Taiwan was quite the adventure—In many ways, this trip wasn't like all the other trips I've planned (or micromanaged), seeing as I've had a relatively shorter time mapping everything out. This trip was more open-ended; more spontaneous; more susceptible to changes and spur-of-the-moment decisions (like suddenly visiting the zoo!).  It was kind of refreshing, not being bound by a physical to-do list I feel compelled to check off one by one. Of course, losing the actual physical copy of that list on the way to our first stop helped a lot. My trip to Taiwan will surely be the first of many—There's just simply too much things to see and do (night markets to cross off my list) that a few short days wouldn't be enough!

I guess visualisation really works! I drew these giraffes on the plane bound for Taipei (copied off the latest issue of Smile magazine) not really anticipating that I'll be actually meeting them on this trip.

Just look at the gorgeous architecture of the Taoyuan International Airport. Doesn't it take your breath away? I certainly paused and drank it all in before hurrying towards immigration.

Waiting for the 1819 Kuo Kuang Bus to take us to Taipei Main Station.