More Good Finds - Day 30 - June 4, 2010

Someone tried to jack my flash drive!

The story I am about to tell you happened to me the day before this I believe. I think it was a Thursday then. I forgot to write it in my previous blog. But here is what happened...

I was in the computer lab during work and used my flash drive. I left for lunch and returned to the lab to work. I saw someone using the computer I used, so I went to the computer behind it. I went into my backpack to look for my flash drive and didn't see it. I realized I must have left it at the old computer.

Luckily, I spotted my flash drive still in the previous computer. There was someone sitting there, but I went over there anyway and just grabbed my flash drive. I plugged my flash drive into my computer and saw the other guy put his flash drive in. I thought he may have believed he couldn't use the USB spot since someone else's flash drive was already plugged in.

Well turns out he was going to jack my flash drive! I looked at what was in my flash drive and there was Vietnamese music already in there. He put in 235 songs! That punk wasn't even going to turn my flash drive in to the front desk. But whatever, I didn't care since my Books folder was still there. I went in my Books folder and saw he erased everything! That bitch was going to jack my flash drive and he already deleted all my files. I'm glad I didn't say anything like excuse me to him before I grabbed my flash drive.

That incident got me a little hyped for 15 minutes. It woke me up from my food coma though!

Exchange Rate went down =(

I also went to exchange money. The exchange rate went from $32.04 to #31.95. A slight change but it still makes a difference =(

Ximen



I went to Ximen to buy some Dragon Ball Z figurines for my friend. I also tried Mister Donut! I heard a lot of good things about Mister Donut and finally had room in my stomach to fit some in. But I didn't really pick a good donut =( Mine was a chewy donut, not much of a fan for that.

35NT=$1.09 - I wouldn't get this again.


Shilin Night Market

I went to Shilin night market after since Theresa really wanted to hunt for her dog tags. We also wanted to stay out as long as we could since we weren't going to bed until late today =)

Found a cheaper roubao (meat bun) for 10NT=$0.31.


Look how big they are! Domo!


What I bought

150NT=$4.68


Yay boots for 850NT=$26.53


Fail #17

The best thing about living at our hostel is there is no curfew. So keeping that in mind, Theresa and I thought we can stay out as long as we want. This is true, but we also forgot that the buses and MRT has a curfew.

We were heading back to the MRT and saw that it was CLOSED. I asked two girls what time it was (since none of us had our cellphone on us) and she told me 1AM. So my guess is the MRT stops running around midnight.

BIG FAIL!

Shilin Night Market is pretty far from our hostel. So we decided to follow the MRT tracks as much as we can to get back to our hostel. But we reached a dead end and the only road we can follow was a highway. However, there weren't any sidewalks on the highway.

We ended up taking a taxi home that cost us 200NT=$6.26. Taxi here charges by time and in a combination of speed. We didn't want to spend extra cash =( So we told the taxi driver to drop us off at Shida Night Market and walked the rest of the way to our hostel.

So sad, we were so happy with what we bought, then got sad with what we spent for the ride back.

Oh well, lesson learned haha.

Let's start shopping - Day 18 & Day 19 - May 23/24, 2010

May 23, 2010

I woke up late as usual on a weekend. I stayed up until 6AM and woke up at 3PM. It felt GOOD. I just couldn't sleep! So what happens when I wake up really late? I take a shower and find food. But I'm too lazy to walk to the night market (even though that takes 10 minutes) I rather walk to 7-Eleven that's a minute away for lunch.

Sandwich 35NT=$1.12. Half the sandwich was regular ham, cucumbers and mayo. The other half was the same but with smoked ham (at least it tasted like it). It was yums! Wish they had cheese in it though.


Triangle Rice Ball was 18NT=$0.57. It was pretty good and fulfilling. The meat had a lot of flavor.


After lunch was done, I went to visit my landlord Mic's new clothing store. It's located near the Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT stop on the blue line. I didn't take a picture of the store though. There was a lot of people, would have felt awkward haha.

Can't go wrong with chicken



This is the meal I usually get if I want something pretty healthy or get my rice intake of the day. I enjoyed their side dishes that night =) Noodles (w/ bean sprouts ew), green beans, and tofu!



I was also craving for snacks. Decided to buy the coconut cookie. I love it so much! It's a little more expensive here though.

I think it was about 45NT=$1.41. It tastes exactly how it's suppose to =)


May 24, 2010

I couldn't sleep until 3AM last night. Getting up 9AM is a pain! I can't believe I woke up at 8AM during the school year everyday >_< I ate lunch in the student cafeteria, got the same Chinese sausage and a different vegetable. The food wasn't as oily as it normally was =)

I also went to the bank to exchange some money. The exchange rate went up! It was 31.33NT per $1USD, now it's 31.89NT! Woot woot! The cents to make a difference!

Ximen

I went to Ximen with Theresa to shop for some clubbing clothes and other things. I had really good luck finding some stuff. But let's start off with food, I love eating at places in Ximen =)

First tried this oyster noodle thing. It was pretty good, but it got too seafoody for me. The meat stuff in there was good as well. 45NT=$1.41


This small bowl didn't fill me up at all. Which was a good thing because I wanted some deep fried chicken!



A small bag for 55NT=$1.72. It was very tasty =) loved it1




On the way back, stumbled upon a clown making things out of the balloon. I couldn't tell if it was a guy or a girl. But the clown made a flower for the boy. The clown told the boy that he should give it to the girl. The clown even hummed the wedding bell songs. It was entertaining and cute. Then the clown spotted Theresa and I and told us to come. So I just went up there and the clown made me a little bear =)

The red bear is now chilling in the living room of my hostel greeting people.


I love shopping

So for some reason, I got really lucky with finding things I wanted. I was doing so well not buying a lot of clothes. I lasted for two weeks and I caved in. These are the things I bought. The only thing I didn't take a picture of were my jeans. I got a pair of jeans for 900NT=$28.22. The store that I got it from even altered my jeans for me for free =) It only took five minutes too, they did a great job.

I really liked the stores I went to. The workers were really friendly. I bought a top at one person's stand. She knew some English and was pretty good at working the customers. She thought Theresa and I were noobs! Theresa wanted a belt that was 390NT. So she told us she would give us a 10% discount that came to 351NT. But since we were foreigners, she would sell it to Theresa for 300NT. But most people just say 300NT if an item was 390NT. So it wasn't new to us. But I give her props!

Two pieces together for 450NT=$14.11.


The new style in Taiwan is to wear the zipper in the front. I put this on top of my clothes in front of the mirror (since you're not allowed to try on tops) to see how it would look like. The worker said I had it on backwards, but putting the "back" as the front looked a lot better.

This top/dress was only 390NT=$12.23! And I can't fit it =( Giving it away to my roomie or my cousins if she can't fit it either.


Belt for 200NT=$6.27


That's all for today! Wait until you see the other clothes I got from today (May 25). =)

KFC -drools- - Day 14 - May 19, 2010

I'm craving for a lot of American food lately. So how do I fulfill it? KFC! As you can see the picture above, a lot of KFCs are multi-leveled. The KFC I went to is located in Ximending.



Their menu is a little different. They have Daan Tart (Egg Tart), french fries, and corn soup. There aren't any mashed potatoes, regular corn, or cole slaw. I was really hoping they sold mash potatoes here, but looks like corn soup is for the win in Taiwan.

2 Piece Hot Wings: 35NT=$1.12

These wings were so good! You can actually taste a little spicy in them. The wings are also juicy and flavorful. I think I like the chicken here better than the US.

Daan Tart (Egg Tart): 28NT=$0.89

The daan tart is pretty good! They also have two other flavors that I will try another time. One has custard in it and the other has brown syrup with mochi. The crust/dough part of it isn't too bad, it's more flaky than what you normally get at the Chinese bakeries, less sweet too.

I'm still hungry



I was on a mission after KFC. To find the lady selling pork with green pepper shish kabobs. They are absolutely mouthwatering. I had to wait for at least half an hour though because the cops were around Ximending. There are a lot of illegal street vendors at Ximending. When they see cops, all the street vendors pack up their stand and start running for it so they don't get fined. It's pretty funny to watch it. You'll see it happen everyday and more than once.

40NT=$1.28


I didn't shop for anything in Ximen. I have been pretty good with resisting. I'll buy more stuff towards the end when I have leftover money =) Can't wait for that shopping spree! The next thing I did after Ximen was get some fruits at Shida Night Market, back to my hostel for a short rest, and to my first bar!

Roxy 99



On Wednesday night, you can get into Roxy 99 for free and receive two tickets for drinks before 9PM. I went to Roxy 99 with Theresa. We were both wearing flip flops and couldn't get the free drink tickets because they weren't nice shoes. What does Roxy 99 consider nice shoes? SNEAKERS! Seriously? That's not really "nice shoes" in the states unless you're a guy haha.

Here is the inside of the bar.




Roxy 99 is an alright bar. I can't really judge since this was the first bar I've been in. It took me about five minutes to realize that this was my first time in a bar haha. It was Theresa's first time too, so we had to take a picture like noobs.

I thought this was a cool glowy thing.