To end the 2nd day in Taipei, I ran up the steps of the Elephant Mountain trail, and made it just in time to see the sun setting. It was amazing, but at the same time it wasn’t, because there were 100+ people on that trail, trying to get the best photo, and mosquitoes were eating me alive. This should be expected on a beautiful day with clear skies.

The “hike” and photos took me about 1 hour. I was ready to eat by then, and on the menu, was buffet at INPARADISE. Here’s a compilation of the various food options available:

It’s been a busy week, and I wish I could say time flew by, but… come on 2017, just end already! I’m ready for the changes that 2018 will bring!

Here’s our 2nd meal of braised meat on rice for this trip:



We ordered an egg to go with it this time, because the meat juices and the perfectly marinated egg with the runny egg yolk go so well together. This place had just 1 lady running the show. Here’s her shop sign:



Come by here, in the Dongmen Market, if you’re in the neighborhood. It’s got a very hole in the wall feel.

Then, we went for a post breakfast snack of xiao long bao at Su Hang, as recommended by a Taiwanese coworker:



There was a short wait to get a table, during which we watched the xiao long bao’s get wrapped up and steamed. Overall, the service was good enough, but the food was just OK, didn’t really stand out. Then again, we came here half full already.

Finally, we walked over to my coffee shop:



I gotta work on the presentation a bit, there’s no latte art!



Just kidding, it’s not my coffee shop. It’s a coffee shop chain called Louisa Coffee that seems to be quite popular in Taipei.

What would the world be like if we were brave enough to believe in our own ability? Like my ability to eat everything.

We visited the Shilin night market for dinner on that first day, right after Beitou, and we were greeted by vendors on both sides. Their tactic is to assume you have already agreed to get something from their stall, and they aggressively ask whether you want one or two, small or large… Here’s one of the first braised meat rice dishes that we had from a quieter shop, tucked away at the back of the Shilin night market:



Then, we found the famous fried chicken stall, that actually had a huge line up, so they had no need for a pushy sales person at their stall. Note that the sign says 70NT, which comes to just under $3 CAD:



We also went into the covered market place, which had a food court at the bottom floor, where lots of seafood was lying around, waiting to be eaten. Here’s an egg oyster omelet that they serve with sauce: 

I did a bit of shopping here too. We were exhausted.

PS – Weekends are too short. I’m still scrambling to finish these blog posts about Asia.

There were only a handful of meals we’d have in this city, and we had TWO here at Yong He 永和豆漿大王:

Here’s their order menu. Many options!


Here are their happy workers:


If I died, and somebody wanted to bring me back to life, they just need to bring me some of Yong He’s hot salted soy milk with egg. It’s just the right amount of salty, with soft liquidy egg (I’m sure it’s cooked and safe to eat though, because we didn’t get sick). They put a bit of the Chinese donut in it so there’s something to chew. I could eat it forever. This is one of the things I’d come back to Taipei for.

Then, we went to Beitou to go for a relaxing dip in sulphurous hot spring water, because both of us were feeling the hours of walking. Dropping in at around 1PM at the Grand View Resort, we were able to get a last minute appointment for a private room, which looked like this:



Super relaxing. They have really good wooden buckets here to pour water on your back or what not. We were relaxed and to keep walking after the 90 minute soak.

Right off the MTR Sham Sui Po Station, pick up one of these But Chai Go’s (rice pudding cake with red bean…) at Kwan Kee’s Store 坤記 :



Then, head to Kam Wah Cafe 金華冰廳 for pineapple bun (BLB or Bor Lor Bao) with butter:



Then, off to Shanghai Min at MOKO for dinner. Here’s an egg dumpling in soup, with cabbage underneath (super tasty, would recommend):



These giant pink air plants were pretty popular in Asia. I had to get one, they were only $30HKD:



Well, that’s the end of Hong Kong. I don’t miss it, it’s not a place I call home or a place that I would visit for no reason. There’s a lot of history and it’s exciting, if you’re into advertisements right in your face. It’s exhausting though. No wonder people in Hong Kong don't smile.

What else to do in the city, but eat? Here’s one of the best waffle places in Tai Po, inside one of the malls:

Here’s another snack shop, in the middle of Tai Po Market, where we had fake shark fin soup and curry fish balls, chased down with lemon tea from a nearby convenience store:

I can’t link you to these places, because again, I’m a horrible blogger and did not note their actual locations.

On top of all the eating, we ate some more, this time with my cousin and her 1 year old (notice the baby food in the background and Ziploc bags to keep the utensils clean). I didn’t like this grapefruit salad (awkward dressing) or the gai lan with tofu (too salty):

This lobster spaghetti was not something I’d order again. The spaghetti was a bit too al dente, and the lobster was overcooked and chewy:

The pad thai pizza was not bad!

The tiramisu sundae was the best choice out of everything:

Don’t come to the Mango Tree at Causeway Bay, they have horrendous service, expensive and not very filling dishes, and the food is not cooked very well. Everything was way too salty.

Living in the big city with all the lights seems very glamorous, but the glitz isn’t really doing anything for me these days. The lights are an illusion to blind you from the layer of grime on the sidewalks, on the roads, on the people. People say it’s dirty in the woods, so they’d rather stay in the city, but I came home everyday with a layer of pollution on my skin and hair. It’s the city where you’ll find all the real dirt, and the people are the dangerous animals causing it.

One more day of Hong Kong... 

Hikes are one of the things I’ll wake up early for. Continuing on from the last post, I thought I’d elaborate on this a bit more (ie, I found photos that I forgot I took, and now I want to write more). We left the house around 7AM, and went for breakfast at a little cafe called BB開心茶座, located near the trail head to get to the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Pavilion (尤德亭):

Classic Hong Kong breakfast of sausage, sunny side up egg, and instant noodle, paired with milk tea:

H had the coffee + milk tea combo (yeen yeurng). His aunt and uncle had similar noodles and drinks. The quality at BB開心茶座 was really acceptable, despite being on the outskirts of Hong Kong. A steady stream of cyclists and motorcyclists stopped on the way up, and the parking lot was packed with expensive looking cars. Don’t forget it was only around 7:30 or 8AM… People in Hong Kong really don’t sleep.

I didn’t have to figure out how to get to the trail myself, because of our hosts (H’s aunt and uncle). They also took us to this waterfall/swimming hole, where there wasn’t much water at the time, because it hadn’t rained in a while. The trail was really easy to navigate, and not gnarly at all.

Go up past the houses in the photo above, and you will eventually get here: 

Two hours to get back to the car.

I know. Horrible directions, and not very informational, but hey, I was jet lagged. Easiest thing to do is just go eat at the cafe and ask around, if you really want to go!

Although I didn’t blog these past 2 weeks, I was still eating and hiking and coffee-ing - my weekend rituals. I flew with Hong Kong Airlines, which is a fairly new company for flights from Vancouver to Asia. The tickets were so cheap at just over $650 to go to Hong Kong and Taipei!

First thing after landing – EAT.

Well, actually, first thing was try to get on a bus to make it to the city to meet up with H and his family for dinner. My bus pass did not have enough money for the ride (like the Compass, HK uses the Octopus card that can be refilled with funds so that you just tap on and off the bus to pay), and I had no HK cash yet, because I was going to get some later on… Some kind lady with a baby actually paid for me, which was sort of nice.

Here’s the first coffee I had at Halfway Coffee:

Absolutely adore the decor in here. The owner collected all the Chinese style antique-like mugs and cups that they use, which is impressive because there was a large selection. They also had takeaway cups that cost about $10CAD for a full set, custom printed to look like antique cups:

Before the first cup of coffee, we actually woke up around 630AM for an early morning hike with H’s aunt and uncle:

They’re pretty cool folks, and pretty successful. I mean, being able to afford to live comfortably in Hong Kong and drive around in a Tesla is no easy task. More about this hike in this post.

Then, we went to visit my cousin and her 1 year old baby for lunch, shopped, and ate some more. Boring Hong Kong life?

Luckily, I’m not jet lagged now, but work is really sucking the life out of me. The first day back from vacation is always the most work. Tomorrow is another day… The rest of Hong Kong was still more eating, as you’ll see in later posts.

While waiting to pick up my father the other day, I had a few minutes for a coffee break. Where to go in Richmond for coffee?! It’s always a dilemma. I ended up at Zenstone Coffee:



I had their sesame latte, and a sesame waffle, and hung out with the ducks. Such an adorable little shop, with amazing latte art. The desserts are just sweet enough, but not too sugary. I’ll be back, I’ve seen some new pastries and drinks on their Instagram.

TWO MORE DAYS! I’ll be outta here, and into the storm. Apparently, it will be raining lots. What essentials should I pack? Glossier, probably.

This was the last weekend before H and I went to Hong Kong/Taiwan, so we had to have a meal together with his folks. We went to a Northern style Chinese restaurant in Richmond, called Northern Style Chinese Restaurant ( lol ):

The food is not bad, rather oily and full of MSG/salt, so don’t expect anything healthy. We had the leek scrable eggs, one of the fried noodles, a onion pan fried pancake, and another… Chinese fried dough thing. We also had dumplings with parsley: 

The food was cheap, which is always a plus. Horribly slow service, and I suspect if you speak only English, they’ll ignore you forever. The thing to order next time would be the tomato scramble egg and perhaps more dumplings.



This year started with so much hope, and it’s been fun, but I’m pretty burnt out now, really looking forward to the end. I had to take the day off today from the headache. Even had to go to a doctor to get meds to dampen the pain.. I haven’t felt this 9 out of 10 type of pain that brings tears to my eyes in a while.

The pain will go away (has gone away) and things will change again, I'm sure.

Ice cream cravings are real. H and I went to Glenburn for dessert on what one might consider a “date night”. We had the Fall Spice, which consisted of 2 scoops of their pumpkin cheesecake ice cream, graham crackers crumbled into butterscotch, and cinnamon whipped cream. This is the perfect way to end the night. I wonder what will be on their menu for winter and Christmas.

Before that, we visited the thrift shop, where I got a $10 pair of 7 for All Mankind. Date nights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Another life update… I’ve been trying these products from Glossier:

Inspired by these ladies:

I don’t know why this brand is so fascinating to me. I could watch videos about these producs over and over… The cloud paints especially are irresistible. Pat pat pat, smudge smudge – blend that cream blush in a few seconds, and it looks perfectly natural. I’m excited to try out all the other colours, I’ve only purchased Dusk and Puff so far. Puff has more colour, Dusk blends in too much and I like it better as an eye shadow.

We visited Hakkaku Ramen for some authentic, affordable noodles in soup:



I had regular Miso soup, with the fattier meat, and H had the rich Shio with the fatty pork. It was marvelous. One of the best bowls of ramen I’d had, the soup was full of flavour, even without ordering the rich version. Can’t go wrong with the pork belly! Reminder to add an egg next time because the Miso doesn’t come with one. I’ll try the leaner cut of meat next time too, just to see the difference.

 

Sometimes, I have to remind myself that I’m really lucky to be able to live this way – eating ramen, going for dessert after dinner, driving from one destination to the next. It’s taken for granted by some people, the conveniences we have in this city (in this life). The other day, I finally gathered up all the plastic bags I had been hoarding and brought them to London Drugs to recycle. Doing things for the environment.