Taiwan: Taipei 101 & Memorial (Day 8)

February 18, 2012


Before heading into Taipei, we stopped by for some Shao Bing You Tiao in Hsinchu. Andrew's always talked about this and he really wanted to get some in Taiwan. He's asked me where we can get it in Chinatown, NY and I've never really understood what it was exactly that he was looking for.
The shop we went to was pretty....local. It almost look like it was not sanitary to eat there but since Andrew's dad was okay with it, we didn't worry too much. Shao Bing You Tiao is basically a stick of fried dough (what Cantonese people usually eat with congee) inside a sesame pancake. This is usually enjoyed with a cup of hot soy bean milk - which is exactly how we had it.

Whipping out some You Tiao...concerning much? Why is he so dirty?

Ladies frying up some other breakfast menu items

Shao Bing You Tiao and Soy Bean Milk

We headed to Taipei and went up the 101. The elevator that took us to the top where the observatory was is the fastest elevator in the world. It was a really smooth ride and it felt like 10 secs to get all the way to the top (though I didn't measure myself).

View of Taipei from 101 observatory

Taipei 101 is the second tallest building in the world

Taipei 101 has the world's largest damper to control stabilization of the building.

After the observatory, we walked around the nearby mall and tried one of Taiwan's fast food chains, Mos Burger. Diana told me to try it because she knew how much I loved my rice - it was really good. I could eat this over a Big Mac any day.

Fast Food: Mos Burger #1 - fried seafood between 2 rice patties

We then headed to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall to see some of Taiwan's history. The best thing of tourism in Taiwan is that the MRT (subway) pretty much takes you everywhere; this historical landmark was just another stop on the MRT. 

Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial

Inside the Memorial

The pretty ceiling with symbol from Taiwanese flag

Andrew and Dad

We were fortunate enough to catch the guards in action. Andrew was fascinated by the stand still guards that he was curious if they would move/switch at the hour and lo and behold he was right, not only did they move, they even marched to take down the flag.

Guards marching to the flag

Everyone was so fascinated by the guards, us included

I remember one of them being pretty cute...lol

Work it

Taking down the flag

For dinner, we went to a local Taiwanese restaurant where Andrew's grandma hosted one of her birthdays. We order a mixed stir fry with pancakes - consumed similar to peking duck. It was pretty good but nothing too special. The star dish of the meal was hotpot, that came with this long tube - definitely different than the hotpot I am used to at home. The hotpot came with all the food already cooking inside which is ready to eat upon being served. I loved the soup based which had the flavors of everything that was cooking in it, including a strong sour cabbage flavor - very different and unique.

Stuffing for the pancake (eaten similar to peking duck)

Hot pot! 

Filled with shrimp, tofu, pork, sour cabbage, and clams

Where my fishball at?

For some reason, the plate of mixed stir fry, fried tofu, and hotpot did not fill us up! Even though the waitress told us that it was going to be more than enough food for 3. I think we had really stretch out our stomachs by now so we definitely needed more food to fill our bellies up. As we were walking around, we passed by this famous Lu Rou Fan shop (Braised pork on rice) that has been on TV and such according to Andrew's dad. It is a famous Taiwanese dish and with a little extra room in our tummies, we obviously did not pass on the opportunity to try some! Andrew and I shared a small bowl of it. It was soooooo good - the meat was a bit fatty and totally melt in your mouth! I wish I had my own! The sauce/marinade was superb, and ingredients all hearty. Diana, I need to try yours again to see how they compare! lol

The best "Lu Rou Fan" (Braised pork on rice) ever (sorry Diana!) -  it was literally melt in your mouth

We still had more room and really wanted to have some stinky tofu again before we left so we went to the same stinky tofu stand where Ah-jea-ah-yee took us (Andrew's dad's favorite stand) and shared one large order. YUM!!!

Frying up some stink

Deeelicious stinky tofu with pickled cabbage

I was personally already stuffed but Andrew insisted that we have some shaved ice again. Same drill as a few days ago: stinky tofu followed by shaved ice. Haha. Look at these ginormous portions:

Strawberry and condensed milk shaved ice

Red bean shaved ice

I realized that when I'm with Andrew's family, I'm either really hungry or really full...