Manila Life goes to Taipei - Day 2, Part 2

It was a start of a brand new day, and yes I slept well, all the way to 11 AM... OH my!! What! it's 11 AM already, better hurry won't want to miss lunch today, Buffet Lunch at the Square.  What is there to see? and what foods to look out for?

the very vibrant Salad Bar, everything looks so fresh and nutritious too.

Pan fried Dory fish

Roast beef in mustard sauce

Lamb chops and lamb ribs

Fresh tuna sashimi

they even have a dimsum counter, a fresh seafood counter, a roasted turkey served with peppercorn sauce

noodle counter and lots of fruits to keep the digestion going, with the Kiwi and Pomelo evenly sliced.

And would you just look at those Dragon fruit, you don't see much of that in Manila, well in my case perhaps

Deserts Galore, cakes, biscuits and lots of pastries to choose from

they even have a sodas on crushed ice.... ohh Fanta!

So finally, after that very delicious lunch buffet, we headed back taking the free shuttle to the airport, to take the regular bus service to Taipei.  There are different rates which you can book your bus ride, the cheapest that we got was NT$ 90 which is quite cheap compared to the others which would go up to NT$ 125, sooner we found out that the cheaper bus would take an additional 15 - 20 minutes before arriving at Taipei Main Station since it would take a longer route, but we were not in a hurry so it was still ok.  And we get to see other sides of Taiwan which we were not able to see before.  

And soon after we have arrived at Taipei Main station, then we started our walk to our hotel, since it is almost just the opposite of the station, well walking took me around 5-10 minutes, and finally we arrived at our hotel.  You would now think, hmmmm.... what fancy hotel would this be?  Well in this case, since we will out of our hotel room most of the time, why spend that much money on a hotel you rarely stay in right?  So we decided on this hotel.  Taipei Hope Hotel.

This is a very basic and simple hotel, no fuss no frills.  And just to give you an overview, Do not expect to be entering a big lobby like hotels do.  Don't expect anyone to carry your luggage for you, and lastly don't judge the hotel by its appearance from the outside.  Actually when you see the hotel upfront, it is an old building, really old and not tidy looking from the outside, and this is really what you will see before you get to the elevator of the hotel.  Lots of food selling stalls, selling dumplings, sandwiches and all other Taiwan foods.  But when you get to the 4th floor of the building which is where Hope Hotel is located, we opened our rooms to this sight.

Two double beds with neat sheets and pillows

a split type air conditioner with a 32" LCD TV hanging by our wall, now an overview of the channels that are shown here, I know most of you will be concerned, they have around 70+ channels good right?  But sad to say about 15 of them talk about the Taiwan Stock market, 15 of them are Taiwan news channels, which broadcasts news 24 hours literally, 15 channels about Taiwan Variety shows, and another 15 showing Taiwan movies or series.  So you have got about 10 channels to choose from which broadcasts English shows including CNN, BBC and some movie channels, and of course other foreign language shows as well, so basically you really have very less selection of shows, but since we will be out most of the time, this is not a concern of ours.  Also, please be known to you that the cartoon network in Taipei is in Mandarin, whatever your hotel may be.

Now, let's go to business, let me make known to you that this trip will mostly be of shopping  and food adventure as well and less of the cultural stuff but still we did get to see some of it. 

This is the underground mall directly below the hotel, selling so much stuff such shirts, bags, shoes from brands such as Bossini and the like, there are also some noodle stalls, milk tea shops, and so much more you just have to go down and find out for yourself.  What's good here is that we get to keep warm since its super cold on top and we get to shop around, there are so many bargains here, which I remember I bought quite so many when it was summer time, but since its winter all clothes here are almost long sleeved and thick, which I think is not applicable in our hometown, that is Manila.

there are still quite a lot of I would say vendo arcade machines in Taipei, as this is still a common sight after all those years that I have been here in Taiwan.

Well, trekking that underground mall, was definitely nice since it was interconnected to the Taipei Main Station MRT station, and this is how the underground looks like on an ordinary rush hour day.

this is the view inside the trains of the MRT, almost as wide as the ones with we have here on the purple line.  So where are we headed? We are going to Wu Fen Pu.  Now how do we get there..

Take note of this MRT route map, it helped quite a lot during my trip to Taipei, since it is cheap and very efficient as well. To go to Wu Fen Pu, basically it is a night market full of women's clothes, you would drown here with all the women clothing on sale here.  Ride the MRT to Ho Shan Pi, which is on the blue line, the fare is about NT$25 per person, but I suggest you buy an Easy Card which it NT$500, where in NT$400 is for use and NT100 for deposit which you may refund when you return the card when you won't use it anymore, just like the Octopus cards they use in HK, and like HK you get fare discounts of up to 20% off, so it will be cheaper on your end and at the same time more convenient, since you will rid yourself of looking for change every time you buy tickets for the MRT ride, you just flash the card on the reader on your way in, and on your way out flash it again to see your balance and fare deducted, simple right?  When you get off the station, just follow the crowd and there are also directions everywhere, then you get there.

A shopper's paradise

streets and streets of women's clothing

still lots and lots of them, please be reminded though that some are not selling their goods at retail, so be sure to ask first and still you can haggle to get the best price, range of clothes are are from NT$ 200 up.

just at the center of the night market in Wu Fen Pu, you will find this temple, a worshipping place for the people around and of course to promote good business in the area.  There is a comfort room on the side, but since its free expect it to stink, really stink, so if you can manage go, if not try to find coffee shops nearby, well most of them are quite friendly.. cross your fingers.  So after shopping here, we go home, but wait the fun has not even started yet.... there is another night market nearby, and is also considered as one of the best night markets in Taipei, its Raohe Street Night Market.

this temple at Raohe Street Night Market is quite visible from afar, so just ask directions, it is about a 10 minute walk so wear those flats and rubber shoes

the arc over the entrance at Raohe Night Market

I won't give details on whats on sale here, since you really have to be here to find out what fits you and what your taste would be... speaking of taste I'll just show you some of the food here I find quite interesting

On the left are cuttlefish balls, deep fried and tasty, much different from the ones served in the Philippines, it is quite a treat and cheap at NT$ 20 a stick of 5 pcs.; On the right, are sliced cuttlefish, deep fried with a sort of breaded coating, it gave a little salty taste and was so good I finished a whole tumbler at only NT$40, fresh, hot and yummy!!!  A must-try!

next on the walk of food, small fried siopao called "Siao Tang Pao" which is meat and vegetable inside

if I could remember right it was NT$6 each, and we shower it their signature sauce, a mix of soy sauce and a sweet paste like hoisin sauce.

this also caught my attention, chicken sausage grilled to perfection

yes grilled to a crisp on the outside with cheese and the chicken juices flowing in every bite NT$35 a piece, NT$100 for 3.

And before we call it quits and go back to our hotel, we ought to have one legitimate meal right?  And since it was really cold that night.  Here are the ones we ordered to fill our stomachs.

Super hot spare ribs soup in Chinese herb medicine at NT$60 and minced pork rice at NT$20, they also serve lamb meat soup in Chinese herb medicine as well at only NT$70 quite cheap wouldn't you say.  The food was delicious simple and just hot enough to warm our stomachs, now that we re-energized, time for more shopping.... yeah after which we got back to our hotel with aching feet and dead tired... up next Day 3, watch out for it.