Peipei's insider guide to Taipei
Recently, I escaped to Taipei for like 14 days. Part of me wanted to get away from the stifling heat in Singapore -only to find blasting flames in Taipei- and part of me wanted to get my biannual angbao money.
Out of the 14 days in Taipei, I spent most of my time lying on my bed playing Dota; but for the first few days of my trip - when I actually had enough energy and enthusiasm to get out of my bed- I discovered some incredibly cool new haunts in Taipei.
1. Nan ya night market 南亚夜市
This is by far my favourite night market. And trust me non of the tourists can actually locate this, which is why the prices of clothes there are halved and there's way more traditional Taiwanese snack food there.
It is located about a 10 minute drive from FuZhong station; and trust me cabs in Taiwan are really cheap.
In winter, I like to go there for my sesame oil chicken noodles, which are drowning in Chinese white wine and promise to keep you as warm as a Russian soldier.
In Summer, I like to look at people queuing for the über large soft serves and imagine myself consuming all those calories.
2. Heavenly God Temple 城隍庙
This year, despite the scathing heat, I headed down to the Heavenly God Temple to return favours. Just a year ago, when I first heard that the Heavenly God Temple has a reputation of bringing about loving couples, I was like MEH how is that even possible. Nonetheless, my very bossy mom decided that she didn't want her daughter to become a hen that never lay eggs and forced me to take up the incense sticks. Amazingly though, within half a year, I actually managed to find a boyfriend - and bear in mind that I have been rejected by 12 men over 19 years. Seriously, I was so freaking amazed that I had to go and return the Moon Deity's favour.
(On a side note, for those of you interested in statistics, according to a blog and several aunties in Taiwan, there are Japanese and Korean tourists who come all the way back to Taiwan just to thank the Moon Deity for finding them husbands.)
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Taiwanese customs, to return favours one must buy sweets or snacks - from that 7 Eleven conveniently located opposite the temple- and then pray with those sweets and eat all of them. Why all? Because if you were to share even a piece of your snack, you will be sharing away your blessings. Well, I still have like 2 packs of potato chips left from the temple visit... I guess losing weight will have to wait.
（picture from： http://blog.xuite.net/stuart_lin/nbxtour/18826432-%5B台北+景點%5D+千里一線牽%E3%80%82霞海城隍廟之月下老人）
3. Monmouth Cafe at Tamshui
As all of you know, Tamshui is probably one of the most romantic places in Taipei. The sea - or is it a river - is surrounded by green, solid mountains and you can find wonderful street food almost everywhere.
Of course, having been to Tamshui so many times, I decided to go to the Monmouth Cafe for a visit. And no... it is not like any other hippie cafe in Taipei that overcharges. It is the cafe where the barista murdered two people last year. Funnily, the cafe although located in a creepy corner of Tamshui is now attracting more customers than ever; I guess it really is in the Taiwanese spirit to be a kpo.
4. National university of Taiwan
For some perverse reason, I enjoy pretending to be a student and roaming around the university of Taiwan, hoping for some cute stranger to ask for my number - after which, I would reject him and tell him promptly that I have a boyfriend. Anyhow, the first time I went to the university of Taiwan I fell in love with the campus. My boyfriend however hated the campus.
The campus primarily comprises of red brick buildings that are vestiges of the Japanese colonial era. When you couple that with giant, red wood trees and beautiful little wooden benches, it really feels like a school in Western Europe. I especially like visiting the campus during Autumn when the leaves have turned orange and look amazing against the weathered bricks.
The best part about the university of Taiwan is how vibrant the place is. Here, you see little shops managed by students. One of the most famous ones is the "Little Bear Waffle Cafe" which is named after the wooden shed it is housed in. I swear the students here have patience because I see some of them waiting 40 minutes for their waffles and not giving the shopkeeper the look. I must say though that the food is mediocre and the only thing I like about the place is the cute guys and girls behind the counters - seriously, how can they all have such good genes.
Another must-go destination is the shophouse within the school that sells freshly squeezed milk. I spent like 10 minutes circling the shophouse before I finally realised - much to the eye-rolling of my boyfriend- that there were no real cows beside the shophouse or behind it or above it. (The farm I suppose must be somewhere else.) Anyhow, legend has it that old Taiwanese grannies like to queue up at the shophouse to buy milk at 6 in the morning; I guess you can't find a better testament of how great the milk is than that.
Out of the 14 days in Taipei, I spent most of my time lying on my bed playing Dota; but for the first few days of my trip - when I actually had enough energy and enthusiasm to get out of my bed- I discovered some incredibly cool new haunts in Taipei.
1. Nan ya night market 南亚夜市
This is by far my favourite night market. And trust me non of the tourists can actually locate this, which is why the prices of clothes there are halved and there's way more traditional Taiwanese snack food there.
It is located about a 10 minute drive from FuZhong station; and trust me cabs in Taiwan are really cheap.
In winter, I like to go there for my sesame oil chicken noodles, which are drowning in Chinese white wine and promise to keep you as warm as a Russian soldier.
In Summer, I like to look at people queuing for the über large soft serves and imagine myself consuming all those calories.
2. Heavenly God Temple 城隍庙
This year, despite the scathing heat, I headed down to the Heavenly God Temple to return favours. Just a year ago, when I first heard that the Heavenly God Temple has a reputation of bringing about loving couples, I was like MEH how is that even possible. Nonetheless, my very bossy mom decided that she didn't want her daughter to become a hen that never lay eggs and forced me to take up the incense sticks. Amazingly though, within half a year, I actually managed to find a boyfriend - and bear in mind that I have been rejected by 12 men over 19 years. Seriously, I was so freaking amazed that I had to go and return the Moon Deity's favour.
(On a side note, for those of you interested in statistics, according to a blog and several aunties in Taiwan, there are Japanese and Korean tourists who come all the way back to Taiwan just to thank the Moon Deity for finding them husbands.)
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Taiwanese customs, to return favours one must buy sweets or snacks - from that 7 Eleven conveniently located opposite the temple- and then pray with those sweets and eat all of them. Why all? Because if you were to share even a piece of your snack, you will be sharing away your blessings. Well, I still have like 2 packs of potato chips left from the temple visit... I guess losing weight will have to wait.
（picture from： http://blog.xuite.net/stuart_lin/nbxtour/18826432-%5B台北+景點%5D+千里一線牽%E3%80%82霞海城隍廟之月下老人）
3. Monmouth Cafe at Tamshui
As all of you know, Tamshui is probably one of the most romantic places in Taipei. The sea - or is it a river - is surrounded by green, solid mountains and you can find wonderful street food almost everywhere.
Of course, having been to Tamshui so many times, I decided to go to the Monmouth Cafe for a visit. And no... it is not like any other hippie cafe in Taipei that overcharges. It is the cafe where the barista murdered two people last year. Funnily, the cafe although located in a creepy corner of Tamshui is now attracting more customers than ever; I guess it really is in the Taiwanese spirit to be a kpo.
4. National university of Taiwan
For some perverse reason, I enjoy pretending to be a student and roaming around the university of Taiwan, hoping for some cute stranger to ask for my number - after which, I would reject him and tell him promptly that I have a boyfriend. Anyhow, the first time I went to the university of Taiwan I fell in love with the campus. My boyfriend however hated the campus.
The campus primarily comprises of red brick buildings that are vestiges of the Japanese colonial era. When you couple that with giant, red wood trees and beautiful little wooden benches, it really feels like a school in Western Europe. I especially like visiting the campus during Autumn when the leaves have turned orange and look amazing against the weathered bricks.
The best part about the university of Taiwan is how vibrant the place is. Here, you see little shops managed by students. One of the most famous ones is the "Little Bear Waffle Cafe" which is named after the wooden shed it is housed in. I swear the students here have patience because I see some of them waiting 40 minutes for their waffles and not giving the shopkeeper the look. I must say though that the food is mediocre and the only thing I like about the place is the cute guys and girls behind the counters - seriously, how can they all have such good genes.
Another must-go destination is the shophouse within the school that sells freshly squeezed milk. I spent like 10 minutes circling the shophouse before I finally realised - much to the eye-rolling of my boyfriend- that there were no real cows beside the shophouse or behind it or above it. (The farm I suppose must be somewhere else.) Anyhow, legend has it that old Taiwanese grannies like to queue up at the shophouse to buy milk at 6 in the morning; I guess you can't find a better testament of how great the milk is than that.
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