When we suggested for a holiday further away from Hong Kong, Zara made some noise, “What’s the point of going for a holiday when all we do is walk walk walk?” “It’s so boring taking the plane.” “I have ear problem, and you still want me to take the plane” etc etc.

We gave her 2 options, either go with us, or stay home with Jelly. Of course, she chose the former.

Daddy’s airmiles could cover 4 of us to either Perth, or Taiwan. Looking at the AUD exchange rate, we therefore decided to go Taiwan instead. We have to time our trip according to flight schedules claimable by airmiles and to make sure I’m in town on December 9th because I have bought tickets for Jacky Cheung’s concert. Hence, the trip was made during the wet season in Taiwan. Sigh.

♥Nov 30th♥

We arrived at Taipei about 7pm+, it was already dark. Upon arriving at the hotel, a package from my Taiwan colleague, Teresa, which consisted of a Taipei Guidebook and 2.5Kg of Taiwan rice welcome us.

Our hotel for the next 4 nights will be Li Yuan Hotel (儷園飯店), a small hotel located near Shida (師大) and 1 minute walk from Tai Power Metro Station (台電大樓站).

We got a family room with 2 queen beds. The room is small but functional and clean.

Soon after we checked in, we went straight to Shida Nightmarket (師大夜市) for dinner. We picked a restaurant which specialises in herbal chicken soup, 龍涎居雞膳食坊. We were too hungry to take any photos, but Daddy who’s not a chicken eater claimed they serve one of the best chicken soup he’s tasted.

We did some walking about the nightmarket after dinner, and then headed back to rest.

♥Dec 1st – Gloomy♥
We woke up late and missed the hotel breakfast and had to eat out.

Our first destination after breakfast of road side pao and bubble tea was Bo Ai Road (博愛路), the Taipei Camera Street, to get a lens Daddy was eyeing (he did the research before arriving and knew exactly which shop to go to. o.O”).

We spent sometime in Ximending (西門町), for lunch, to glance through some of the small shops.

Shops and stall at Ximending :

菓風小舖, the sweet shop where we spent most time in.

Roadside Sweet Potato Ball Seller

Girls kept asking for money for these ‘games’, but I didn’t let them.

Lots of shops have dogs at the door front, this is one of them.

上海老天祿 stewed duck wings

The Red House (西門紅樓), Taiwan’s first public market now a theater.

Girls were fascinated with the many costume shops across the Red House.

Besides getting some sweets from the sweet shop, we didn’t buy anything else in Taipei’s shopping street. o.O”

As Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂) is nearby, we thought we’ll visit it as well. Not knowing we’ll spend so much time there. As it’s surrounded by a big park, lots of locals walk their dogs, do team practice for various events etc etc.

We saw a brass band practice in the park.

Zaria spent so much time chasing after pigeons.

School team practicing march.

Li Zhen’s Sculptures (李真雕塑) were exhibited in front of the Memorial Hall.

Girls wanted to take photos of the sculptures.

And wanted to be photographed with the sculptures.

Inside the Memorial Hall, the girls could not believe the still guards were real, and not human.

Zaria asked who the statue is “Is he the King of Taiwan?” o.O”

As we were there in the evening, instead of change of guards, we managed to catch the flag lowering ceremony (at 5pm).

As night fall, they started lighting up the whole park.

Li Zhen’s sculpture.

That night, recommended by my Taiwan colleague, we went to the Eslite flagship bookshop (誠品信義店). A bookshop with 8000m² of floorspace! Heaven for me!

We even had dinner there at their food court, then just glanced through the various floors.

We love the 杏仁燒, an almond dessert with grass jelly, peanuts, red bean and tosted almond chips from this dessert shop Summer Tree Sweet (夏樹甜品) at the food court. (sorry no photo).

(To-Be Continued)