I made plans to meet up with the Taiwanese JAL scholar which I met last year during my participation in the JAL Scholarship Program. This was also partly the reason why I had put up a night in Taipei instead of heading back to Neiwan because it would be a total waste of time and too much hassle. After getting some light breakfast from 7-11 nearby, checked out and headed to Ximen to meet up with her.
She brought us for a hearty lunch at a shop which was hidden among the streets of Ximen. Had been here for the 3rd or 4th time now, but we still manage to find something new which would surprise us. We had their minced pork rice, radish cake and oh jian, which she claimed was one of the better tasting one in this area. Prices were very affordable too unlike some touristy places.
We did some shopping around Ximen, but the weather proved to be too hot for our liking. At my friend’s suggestion, we hopped into a narrow cafe where she introduced an interesting drink to us. Mind you, this was way before the Chatime fever hit Malaysian shores, so I found this drink very amusing. It consisted mostly of sweet green tea, then it was topped off with a thick creamy, frothy layer, which was salty. The trick to savouring it was tilting the cup to an angle, so that you could sip some of the green tea underneath and some of the froth. When combined, the taste was absolutely splendid. The shop was located right above a Watson near the Ximen subway exit.
Had a good long chat with each other before we decided to head for Taipei 101. Got off at the Taipei main station and walked towards the looming tower above us. It was pretty fun to walk there, as most of the malls were interconnected to one another, with sheltered walkway, which was a blessing in this late, hot spring weather.
Pretty soon we found ourselves right the feet of the tower. As all of us were too poor, we decided against heading up the tower, but instead took pictures of it.
Saw a comparison of Taipei 101 with other towers around the world, and just couldn’t resist one with Malaysia’s own Twin Towers.
It was terribly windy around this area, and needless to say it was filled with tourists and young locals alike. Made our way back into the crowd which were mostly gathered around large spaces where most of the activities and promotions were. Saw people busking along the way back to the train station, and also stopped to watch this very well-built guy perform stints with a large metal hula hoop. Yummmmm. Eye candy.
Bade my friend goodbye and thanked her for accompanying us the whole day. It was a long train ride back to Neiwan, and I was utterly exhausted.
Decided to get ourselves a very late dinner at the Hokkien noodles shop which I freeloaded from the other day but I made an effort to pay them this time round. Took the main road back to our hostel and saw the policemen which we had disturbed few days earlier busy at work with a road block, so decided not to disturb them and headed back home for a good rest after our Taipei marathon.
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