Shaved Ice Goodness - Day 43 - June 17, 2010

50NT Meals



I love 50NT=$1.55 meals. You get so much for so little and they taste good! I still get amazed from how much they give. The first 50NT restaurant I went to was in Danshui. I spotted one behind Shida and wanted to give it a shot =)



There are some combination where you pay more than 50NT, but that's if you choose a bigger meat or something more expensive like fish.



I love this fried chicken, it's so crispy and good! I love the seasoning they put on it, I'm not really sure what it is, but if I see it in the groceries, I'll definitely bring a bottle back! The eggplant was also amazing. They don't give you much of it though =(





I went to the Shilin Night Market for some shaved ice. I remembered it was really good at Shilin when I went last year. What is shaved ice? It's basically shaved ice with fruits on top and with condensed milk all over the fruits. The condensed milk eventually sinks to the ice. Some shops add a little condensed milk in the shaved ice to make it even better tasting. This shop did, at least it tasted like it!

100NT=$3.10


The owner was kind enough to take off 10NT because Theresa is allergic to mango and she didn't have many strawberries. Strawberries aren't in season at this time. There's also pineapple and kiwi. Amazingly good, must go back for more!

Anyways...



Look at this Holiday KTV! I been to Shilin so many times and never looked up to see what was right in front of me. A huge KTV building. I even walk around this building and under it, but didn't know there was a KTV. I think I did the same thing last year as well where I discovered it towards the end of my trip.

Here is a view that the Shilin MRT station provides...


And the inside of the MRT if you ever wonder how one looks like.

Big chickens make me laugh - Day 13 - May 18, 2010

Big chickens make me laugh. Why? I don't even know. I saw one today in Shilin Yeshi (Night market) and I just giggled and laughed.

Look how huge it is!


Maybe the reason why I cracked up was because it was so random. I'm just walking around eating my rou baozi (steamed meat bun) and I see this big chicken.

Anyways let's start with lunch!

Lunch Fail

Went to a small restaurant on the edge of Shida's night market. Thought it was going to be pretty good but it wasn't at all. Good thing I didn't spend much!

40NT = $1.28


What I ordered was basically noodles with pork and sauce. They overcooked my noodles so it was kind of soggy. There wasn't much flavor either in the sauce and not enough meat. They also put ooky green onions and bean sprouts haha. I'm not a fan of those two. I can stand eating green onions but bean sprouts >_< You know me and bean sprouts, we don't roll well together.

After work, I took a 2.5 hour nap. It felt GOOD. I'm not really sure why I slept so long. I've been getting almost 7 hours each day. Sometimes less, but I do need a lot of sleep haha. Then I headed out at 6:30 for dinner and Shilin Night Market.

Pho Pho Pho



Dinner was definitely better than lunch. I went to Thanh Ky behind Shida. It's a Vietnamese restaurant. According to their menu, they are famous for their Pho. Their Pho was okay tasting, I liked it more than lunch though haha. The restaurant itself is pretty small, but it smells like Vietnamese food =D Mmmmm.



Their prices aren't too bad. They sold fried spring rolls for 90NT=$2.87. I thought it was kind of expensive since it only came with two. That's what you would pay in the states.

I ordered the simple Beef Pho. The Pho was definitely not Pho Hoa. Golden 28's pho taste better than this one. Instead of using the skinny white noodle, they used a flat and wide noodle. The restaurant also overcooked my beef because it was chewy. I probably wouldn't order their pho.

This small bowl cost 95NT=$3.03. Not a bad price. I wish they had soy sauce, sriracha, and ho-sin sauce available =(


Shilin Night Market



Shilin night market is huge. There are so many stores to shop out, restaurants to eat, and stands to pig out on. I especially like the stands because they sell really cheap and good food.



I decided to try the rou baozi (steamed meat bun) for 12NT=$0.38. It was my first time trying a baozi in Taiwan. I was really surprised, I thought the baozi was going to suck but it was really good! It's like eating meat from dumplings but in a different dough. I was expecting less flavor but it was tasty =)



I also explored the Shilin Market. I thought it was a supermarket but it's a bunch of night stands with yummy food!. Definitely should have had dinner there. There will be a next tme though =)

Purchases of the Day

It's so hard to resist from buying so many clothes! I managed to get two things that I have to buy. A purse and boots =)

Purse: 200NT=$6.38 - Boots: 650NT=$20.75 - Good deals =)

I itch so well =\ - Day 5 - May 10, 2010

These mosquito bites are driving me crazy! I used this creme on the mosquito bites that my cousin gave me. It worked on two of them but the rest keep itching. I don't know why my skin is so complicated =(

But I didn't get any new bites today! Woot woot score -knock on wood-

First Day of Internship

The first day of the internship went smooth. The card machine that clocks in your time surprised me. I thought I had to push a button first but it was automatic. It amazed me. All I did the whole day was analyze the Mandarin Training Center website. Saw a youtube video of pictures from the study abroad last summer. It brought back so many memories! Link here:

I have two choices for a desk =) One work area and the other is if I want to get more interaction with students by directing them to the correct area.


Chicken & Almond Milk Tea

Went out to the chicken place that I often went to last summer. It's so good, especially for its' price. 95NT = $3.02. Located in Shida Night Market. If you sit down and eat at the restaurant, you can eat as much rice and soup as you want. You get your chicken, three side dishes, and dip. The three side dishes change everyday for the most part, sometimes you get lucky with the ones you really like. Today I wasn't so lucky. Ooky bean sprouts and weird tasting tofu with little sardine looking fishes thingy >_< Soup was tasty though!

The storefront.


Chicken =D


Bought an almond milk tea at the night market. I was really disappointed, it was too liquidy and not enough almond flavor. At least it was only 30NT.

The storefront.


Fail #8

You know how the bank closes around 5-6pm? Well in Taiwan they close at 3:30pm. We were 17 minutes too late because we decided to jog a mile after work (3PM). But our landlord came to the rescue!

We asked Mic if he knew other places to exchange money. Mic suggested the department store, but we would get less than what the bank exchanges. Then he asked us if we needed money and said he'll give us some. We said noooo because we only saw a couple hundred at first. But later baller Mic says he has a lot and whips out this big chunk of cash with a bunch of 1000 bills. We got to exchange money success!

Theresa got him to pose with all his money. Check out this baller organizing his bills nicely and waving them haha.


New Hostel Room

We had to move out of our old room and into a new one! It's pretty cute.



Shilin Night Market

I got bored on the MRT and took random shots.


Part of Shilin Night Market during the daytime. Didn't get a chance to take a picture of it at night and during its' busy time because it started raining hard.


Asian pizza thingy nom nom nom. 25NT = $0.79. You put different sauces on it and it's just amazing. It's pretty much fried dough or something with green onion. You can get it with a fried egg on it too. Soooo good.