back from taiwan.

in a nutshell: Taiwan is some shopping heaven, money-flying-away heaven but not as food-heaven as I expected it to be.

Silly place only started to winter itself up on the last 2 days I was there.
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Shopping wise, I was really tuned into this aspect of the entire trip.

So I was pretty happy when I found out we'd be staying right next to the hippest area =P I love 西門町(ximending)! Known as the 新宿区(shinjuku) of Taiwan, it really lives up to its name. It comes to life after the sun sets, has more shops that you can shake your shoe at and has heaps and heaps and heaps of stuff to buy. Before this I was in the mania of trawling blogshops, and straightaway I could see where they got most of their stuff from. Saw the oxfords I wanted to buy but by the time I had decided to buy it I had no spending money left (laugh yes laugh.). Flats galore, and some of them very cute! Saw a huge selection of domo-kun stuff *this is your cue to squeal XD* and quite a number of Japanese mania stuff (inclusive of some very ugly Choppers but I have a huge plushie and a keychain of it so I'm not hungering for it anymore) going for quite a steep price tag, but as with most shopping trips, time to haggle haggle haggle! =) For some reason, I was also VERY enthused when I saw the gothic clothing shop. There was this swallow tail vest that I saw with chains at the back, VERY VERY nice. But also quite expensive. *sigh*

五分舖 (wufengpu) was another of the places that I would love to spend an entire day or two at to get totally lost, and that area is really like a maze! Every corner you turn, there'd be shops and more shops! From bags to tops to bottoms to shoes to food to gloves to tights to socks to boots... you name it, it'll have it somewhere. Mom and I got lost cause we took one wrong turn. And really, that's enough to get you lost. A pity they were selling mostly winter clothes and jackets and really thick outerwear but since I love that kind of clothing anyway.. I ended up buying a thick plaid winter jacket and a pair of boots. Calf-length boots with a little knit lace-looking thing fringing the top of the boot. Both items were really a steal. Now someone come up to me and laugh, cause really, living in a country so close to the Equator, when's the next chance I'm gonna get to wear it again?! haha!
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Girls in Taiwan are mostly very. very. pretty. Hahah! The moment you turn your head, oop, there goes another one.We were at 鼎泰豐 (ding tai fung) that day, and kor and I noticed that both the girls who were in charge of seating the guests were very cute =) Distinctively different look, but both very cute. So I had to tell him to say his "final farewells" when we finished lunch.

WTF man where are the cute guys! hahah! Well there are some, but come on, I'm not one to like little boys. Most of them look either quite lala or just plain weird. And mostly students. oh well. =P
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Food in Taiwan was quite different. My favourite meal was on my first night, we were scouring for supper at about 11PM, and we found this noodle shop at the corner of the street where our hotel was..it was just noodles and simple dishes like taufu+meatfloss and braised chicken but I tell you that was the best meal EVER. Okay, discount the fact that we were hungry and that it was cold-ish (abit) and you still get a full meal for less (yep you read that right) than RM50! I love it. =D

Also love the street food, the wild boar sausages were good =D and they have quite a number of fishcake-inspired food so that was interesting and good. I love their rice! It reminds me of sushi rice somewhat, but its very nice and sticky to the correct texture without being mushy. I also enjoy drinking hot soyabean for breakfast. mm! XD I didn't have the guts to eat the stinky taufu, it smells like the sewers! *random flashback to a GW field trip* and you can smell it from at least a block away! @_@ Noodles are a must somehow, especially soup noodles of any sort.. I say this for at least 2 reasons: one, their soup is yummo! and two, it keeps you and the food nice and warm. 士林夜市 (shilin night market) was interesting, the atmosphere was anyway. Had the super fried chicken.. I kinda liked it but the flour was starting to make me gag so I had to peel the flour off. Also ate orchien but the gummy part of it was really gummy, so it was sort of strange. Penang's orchien nicer. =P And of course, bubble pearl tea XD By the time we finished eating these 3, we were about full. =P

As is with most countries, we had our trip to McDonalds. The unique item of the menu will definitely be the toasted rice burgers. Instead of using burger buns, they use toasted rice (sort of like 煎餅-senbei but not THAT toasted, you can still tell it's rice rice) and its actually pretty good. =D

Oh the surprise for the trip will be the last dinner we had in Taiwan. Get a hold of this: Friday's.

I know, go wtf all you like, but I swear Friday's in Taiwan is good for the unhalal reason: their pork ribs are GOOD! =D Pork ribs for us are always special cause you rarely if ever get them here in Malaysia. So we jumped at the chance! It was also freezing outside and we were looking for a place for dinner. Also, the waiter who served us (this guy named Simon who wears a thick headband and looks like a potential b-boy) was quite funny. He tried conversing with us in English, and boy we had a good laugh. After he found out we could at least comprehend mandarin, you could see relief written all over his face. He was cute in a way, but I had to give him brownie points for trying. =P
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Saved the best part and the most click-happy part for last: the historical-cultural-touristy part of the trip. Went to the onsen area, up the mountains and down the mountains. There were heaps of pictures to take, and a totally different part of Taiwan to see. People love their dogs, plenty depend on their scooters and Vespas (scream FURIKURI!), are religious, superstitious and have a very strong belief in 風水 (fengshui) - its very apparent in their structures, architectures and even in shop displays, like even at the Taipei 101.

Alot of Taiwan reminds me of Japan: like the metro system where you buy tickets based on price and not location, the tight side streets and back alleys, onsen, shopping areas (ok one exception is that Sogo is like Myers), the school uniforms, and even the things their youth like. I know they've got a history with Japan and that's probably the main reason.
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Maybe I'll do a proper writeup when the mood strikes.

*tummy grumbles*