Taiwan Day 5: Ximending and Oysters in Raohe

Day 5 was mostly revisiting XMD and Raohe. It's nice to go about without an exact itinerary if you've the luxury of time on a vacation. There's no need to hurry here there everywhere, which I really dislike doing. Isn't a holiday supposed to be taking a break from the daily grind anyway?

I think this's a famous bubble tea brand there. Had my usual honey milk tea and it was nice. Every cup of bubble tea I drank in Taipei was nice so...

Wanted to have lunch so we just walked around until we saw this ramen place on the second level of a building in XMD.

I had the Miso ramen, D had the Tonkotsu one. Didn't like the ramen noodles and probably won't go back again.

SO CHEAP!

Their sense of style and fashion is really different from everywhere else, and not my kind of thing. They could be hugely influenced by Japanese/Korean fashion but I like Korean fashion and didn't buy anything! My friends all told me the same thing prior to this trip so thankfully I didn't have high hopes.

Purchased 2 bags and 2 coin/card pouches from this store at a total of about S$95. Prices are relatively similar to Singapore's, if not more expensive. Note that the price of S$95 is after she gave me a discount. The 'before' price was about S$115. I only wanted to buy 1 card pouch but didn't realize she charged me for 2 instead and very swiftly put both into the carrier. They like to make a lot of conversation in really quick Mandarin too so I was very distracted the whole time. Time to brush up on my Mandarin!

Fear Factor: Some part of a chicken (I really can't remember but maybe intestines?)

Darren took this photo but Idk this guy

Taking a train to Houshanpi station for Raohe

Start of the longgg walk

Dogs are everywhere

FINALLY *SOB*

Wanted the maroon blazer but didn't bother to ask for price :)

Was super excited to finally reach Raohe after asking for directions along the way. We were starving!

Not nice

Nice ribs soup

These people never stop yelling for customers to come into the seating area to have a bowl of soup. It was noisy but fun to watch.

D had his bananas fried 

THE PREGNANT OYSTER LADY OWNER ILU *_*

And now for the highlight of the whole trip!

TASTE THE SEA

Neat eater

(Hyperventilating) I had about 30 of the oysters while Darren had like 3. They were sooo fantastic! Not kidding when I say they taste of the sea. Yes it's salty but oh so fresh and juicy, I can't put the feeling into words. I also had 15 prawns and that shell thing by myself since D isn't a fan of seafood at all unless I peel them for him. Loved the prawns but nay to the shell thing. For all that I ate, I'm pretty sure I didn't pay more than S$30! Looking at the photo of oysters brings tears to my eyes.

Anti-climax: I needed to pee desperately. Kinda ran to the nearest 7-11 because it had a lovely bathroom. Then we decided to have shaved ice at a random shop next to 7-11. I enjoyed it so much! I usually just crunch on the ice and leave the ingredients but this time, I actually had my share of the ingredients.

Brown sugar MY FAV!

Magic mix: pearls, tang yuan, brown sugar QQ thing, ai-yu jelly

It was time to head back T_T but not without food I won't.

Braised pork rice and egg drop soup

D's prata-like thing with bacon. He LOVED it.

Boneless chicken meat in a sausage. Curry flavored was nice.

Octopus ball, not nice :(

WHOA WHOA CNN INTERVIEWED

Famous black pepper biscuit but I think it was alright

Last day coming up! And I want some oysters nowwww

Taiwan Day 4: Birthday!

The title says it's the day of my birthday but nothing special happened because my birthday started from the beginning of this trip hahahaha. And I was in the mood for nothing but food! Wanted to club since it was a Saturday and I've been wanting to see how the partying scene in Taipei was like, but was too tired &%*$%^$^&*&(*!$#%$#

清凉 grass jelly for me and sour plum for him from the stall behind

And we decided to pay Ah Mao a visit, finally! She always looks so bored sleeping inside or outside her cafe... Was surprised that the risotto here tasted pretty good.

Mushloom soop

Mine was the orange colored one and D had yogurt soda which was nice

I looked so crappy the entire trip. So puffy probably from stuffing myself silly with food :( But the Taiwanese girls working in the shops always ask me how on earth am I so fair-skinned #flattered. The grass is always greener on the other side...

Beef risotto

Italian seafood risotto (again) SO TASTY I LOVED IT

Throughout the entire meal, I was more concerned with what Ah Mao was doing rather than with my food. Even though she wasn't doing much. If anyone brought me on a first date to this cafe, they would've probably thought it went super badly and I had 0% interest in them. For some strange reason, whenever there're animals around, my attention is always fully on them and nothing else! Or maybe it's some OCD acting up again, too obsessed with certain things.

Not #likeaboss but #amtheboss

I HAVE THIS EFFECT ON EVERY ANIMAL I TOUCH

We went back to the hotel after lunch to rest for a bit, before deciding to take a look at Sogo. We ended up walking around the 'Orchard' area unknowingly but there was not much to shop! Some random store, maybe a local brand, was selling clothes and bags at Topshop prices and their stuff wasn't even that nice.

Basement of Sogo selling pastries

Wanted to buy a HK cake for fun but didn't wanna lug it around

This's what happens when I ask D to help me snap a photo. I also have many photos of the back of my head so I know very well how the back of my head looks like now... Not the least bit attractive. So I kinda gave up hope on having any nice photos of myself this trip. I need my mom around for nice photos T_T

Like I cut and pasted his body from the photo above

We went to MacD because I desperately needed a drink and had such a tough time trying to order a Happy Meal for the sake of a Cinnabunny toy. In the end I got a Batman toy instead, which I left in the hotel room for the cleaners if they wanted it.

I can finish this in 2 sips

Seaweed shaker fries

Then we walked and walked, and saw a foot reflexology place. (It's in the same lane as the Dazzling Cafe I wanted to go to!) I didn't know if I wanted to have a massage because I was still unsure of whether or not we were partying and didn't want to waste anymore time. But going in was the best.decision.ever. The place was very clean and everyone working there was so friendly. It felt like we were in someone's house. The 30min foot massage cost us about 45SGD in total and my feet felt so light after, not kidding.

Tired

Happy feet!

The staff were chatting with us and suggested some super famous beef noodles because they knew we hadn't had dinner. They even flagged down a taxi for us and told the driver where to go. Such nice people!!! I'd definitely go back there for future foot massages :)

I think not many tourists would know of this place because it's mostly famous amongst locals, and it's not exactly somewhere you could just walk to unless you know the nearby streets well enough.

Initially I ordered two large beef noodles but the uncle gave me a look and asked if I could finish because it's a really big bowl. So I changed it to small and thank goodness I did!

SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD

The staff at the reflexology place reminded us again and again we had to put this paste into the noodles and eat it with the beef. The initial taste was kind of weird but after awhile, the soup became really tasty and appetizing.

Happy camper

We went back to XMD right after this and had braised pork rice takeout plus street snacks for supper. Good times!

D is flying off to Thailand in a few hours and I'm super jealous. In just a year he has gone to so many places and I've to go back to school soon >:-\