Sick =( - Day 34 & 35 - June 08 & 09, 2010

June 08, 2010

I woke up feeling really drowsy and ooky because of the cold I caught last week. It was still lingering this day and I even called in sick from work. But after I had more sleep and ate, I felt better. So during the evening I decided to shop around for a bit.

Let's start with the things I ate!

29NT=$0.91


I went to the student cafeteria since I knew they had rice porridge there. I was planning on getting it until I saw how chunky it was. I usually like my porridge pretty thin, so I decided on rice instead.

Pieces of fried pork with shredded onions, carrots, and cabbage. There is also mayo and a taste of curry for 40NT=$1.25


One of the things I got for dinner at Gongguan was this sandwich. I forgot what I ate before hand because I must have taken a picture of it a while ago. This was good! I was actually searching for this food stand because I saw other people ordered it and it smelled good! This was probably my fifth time trying to find the guy with the stand. So far, we know he appears on Tuesday evenings haha.

What is this? Is this a skirt or a top?

390NT=$12.21


Think about it...

If you guessed top, you're right!

If you guessed skirt, don't worry, I thought the same. I went in the trying room to try it on. I came out with it as a skirt and I thought it looked good. Then the lady told me it was actually for the top. I felt so stupid. But then she said but wearing it as a skirt is okay too! So I still bought it haha.

190NT=$5.95


I've been needing a new white zip up! The hood is really weird though. 200NT=$6.26


I am officially done buying shoes. I don't want my suitcase to be overweight >_<

490NT=$15.34


490NT=$15.34


June 09, 2010

28NT=$0.87


I was pretty lazy for lunch so I ate some instant noodles that I bought when I first came to Taipei. The instant noodles taste decent, it's not something I would buy a huge box of.

Dinner + Fail #22



Was suppose to eat at this restaurant that sold a huge meal for 50NT=$1.55, but they closed at 8:30pm! No clue it was going to close that early. Ended up going to a Vietnamese restaurant nearby.

Fail #23

50NT=$1.56


I ordered the fried spring rolls thinking there was going to be more than just lettuce and spring rolls. I thought there was going to be noodles in there or something. But it was just lettuce and spring rolls =( I was still hungry... The spring rolls weren't that great either, it was over fried and needed more flavor. The fish sauce was okay too. Definitely not worth it.

Fail #24

I was planning to try their Banh Mi as well, but they sold out =( I was hungry while walking to Gongguan night market!

Gongguan Night Market



I got bored and started taking random pictures.

How a typical store looks like. The first picture is a shoe store and the other deals with socks, panties, stockings, etc.


To help fill my tummy I bought this for 40NT=$1.25! It was tasty =)


I got a little bit of everything they offered. I think it was shredded pork, a pork with the thick skin on it, pickled vegetable, clinatro, and spoonful of sugar and grounded peanut spread throughout.

Last Note: Exchange rate increased! 1 USD = 32.22 TWD =D SCORE!

Who needs $1 Stores when you have Daiso - Day 26 - May 31, 2010

Breakfast Sandwich for Lunch



Looks familiar? It's the hanbao jiadan. I bought this at the breakfast shop behind Shida. I use to get one of these last summer all the time. However, it cost more than others. This place charges 35NT=$1.09. But they have more vegetables and the fried pork pattie taste fresher. This breakfast shop uses lettuce, tomato, corn, and cucumbers for the vegetables. They also had a really light ketchup flavor and a fried egg. Yum yum!

Vietnamese Dinner



I ate at Madame Jill Vietnamese Cuisine in Gongguan Night Market. Their food has improved from last year! But their stuff is pretty pricey.

Deep fried chicken with pickled carrots and cucumbers for 110NT=$3.43


The first two pieces of chicken were really good and flavorful. The drumstick didn't match though. The soup was also really salty, but yet addicting.


Daiso



Daiso is basically Taiwan's version of our $1 stores in the states. Everything in Daiso cost 39NT=$1.22. It's a tiny bit higher but everything in the store is so much better! It has everything, frying pans, hair ties, makeup, containers, toys, scrap-booking material, and more. Of course, you probably don't want to get your mini frying pan or makeup there because most likely they suck. But there are some good finds there!

There is even a section for massage tools and snacks.


I don't know if the balloon boobs are a good find, but they're definitely funny. There are also tools to make bento boxes! I bought a couple of them =)

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 feel like an old lady - Day 7 - May 12, 2010

I feel like an old lady now and days. I get really tired by 10PM. Sometimes 8PM if I'm walking around the night markets and stores. I have no idea why! I get about 8 hours of sleep each day. Maybe it's because all I do during my internship is sit for 4 hours. But that should be changing in June hopefully!

New Cake

I went out to lunch today with Theresa and Xiao Wang. We walked to the area behind Shida for lunch. She treated us to the Asian pizza/pancake that I can't remember what it's called. Cong something haha. But she also took us to this dumpling place and let us try a piece of cake.

The texture was thicker than the Chinese cakes I had. I really like the red bean paste because it wasn't too sweet.


After work, headed to the bakery in Shida Night Market. A lot of owners here are getting strict with taking pictures of their store. But I managed to get some shots mwuahahaha!



I bought this cake =) I forgot how much it was, I think it was 38NT which is $1.22


Let's try Vietnamese Food
Decided to try the Vietnamese restaurant from a hungry girl in Taipei Blog because the Banh Mi in the picture she took looked really good. But I didn't get a Banh Mi because it was pretty expensive, it was 120NT = $3.83. One banh mi wouldn't get me full. Their food overall was kind of pricey for Taiwanese daily life. Especially for me since I'm not getting paid for the internship haha.



Passed the Taipei Arena along the way to the restaurant. This is where Jay Chou is suppose to perform in June for a concert. So sad =( I saw that tickets were sold out (of course). Just when I'm in Taiwan and get a chance to see a live concert, I won't be able to because tickets are sold out =( It's okay food made me happy.

Here is the storefront, inside the restaurant, and menu!



They showcased the sirarcha bottles haha.


What I got =) It's a Pork Rice dish with half an eggroll, egg, and vegetables. 140NT = $4.47


The pork was decently good, not the greatest. The eggroll had a weird taste at first but tasted good later. The egg thing was okay.


But the fish sauce tasted really good!


Sogo Department Store

With a full tummy, I started heading back to the MRT to go home. I had to switch from the brown line to the blue line to get back. One of the signs said SOGO Department Store. I been wanting to go there because people said it was good. I thought there was doing to be some cheap stores but they're mostly expensive brands =( Had some fun exploring the balling grocery store though.

Here are some shots of the levels of SOGO.


There was even a Din Tai Fung there! Haven't eaten there yet but I heard good stuff about it. I will soon!


The baller grocery store. Everything is pretty much overpriced.


Look they have this at Meijer haha.




Fail #10
To get home by the MRT, I have to get off at the Taipei Main Station. This station connects you to all the colored lines. I had to get on the green line to get back to my hostel. Well I completely forgot that one of the stations has two different routes. Once I saw an MRT approach, I quickly got on with Theresa.

Theresa and I both looked at these two girls in high heels who didn't get on the MRT. We thought wow, it's not too bad standing. We thought they wanted seats and we started laughing at them for some reason. Well turns out we got on the yellow line instead of the green line. The yellow and green line meets at one station where we could have got off at (Guting) but we would have to switch to another green line to get to Taipower Building stop.

So FAIL we had to get off the yellow line and get on the green line. Then we realized that the girls waiting for another MRT were probably waiting for the green line. Jokes on us. FAIL.

The Grand Finale

Remember the grocery store inside SOGO? Well I found a pair of flip flops there. These flip flops cost 6600NT = $210.66! It doesn't look really special right? The sparkling stuff on the thong are embedded with crystals. No wonder it's in a glass case. CRAZY!