Narrated by angela

Night Market in Taipei

Published on Sunday, November 20, 2011 Leave your thoughts »

Since I flew back to Toronto, the amount of work to be done snuck up incredibly quickly. It also didn't help that I spent my first week back sleeping the days away with an awful case of jetlag. Nonetheless, I do have a few posts started about my last couple weeks in Taiwan that I am eager to share. So, on with the main point...!

There are enough night markets in Taipei that you could visit a different one every night for 2 weeks if you had the energy. The one nearest our apartment is Le Hua Night Market. (Easily accessible from Dingxi Station on the Orange Line.)

Le Hua Night Market

Here's the busy entrance. Come here anytime after 7pm and you'll find this place bright, flashy, and full of life.

Delicious sweet tofu (douhua) dessert with various toppings! Some options include green beans, red beans, peanuts, and various jellies!

Several vendors sell freshly blended smoothies, one of the healthier options in the market.

Shaved ice with plenty of sweet toppings to try out and keep you cool.

The above photo is a wonderful store selling a variety of knick knacks, beauty items, and snacks for low prices. Guaranteed that you'll encounter items you didn't realize you were missing but decided you needed as soon as you laid eyes on them!

Unfortunately, this is actually a very limited preview of all the treasures and culinary experiences that await you within a night market -- it truly is worth taking a personal visit! I can name countless other favorites within this single night market alone: fried calamari with 20 choices of seasonings and toppings for $3, bonito flavored mini pizza for $3, shrimp noodles, oyster omelettes, fermented tofu, and the list carries on. I can't wait to check out additional night markets and share future tours!

This post is archived under Food, Taipei, Taiwan, Travel

Cheap, luxurious hot springs in Ruei Suei

Published on Thursday, November 3, 2011 Leave your thoughts »

Here's a lovely garden in a hot spring villa.

We tried out a few different hot springs and this was my favourite. I must say though, some places look cleaner and better-kept than others so it's worth driving around a little bit and stopping by a couple of them to take a look before deciding where you'd like to stay. Style, good customer service, well-lit and comfortable atmosphere are all important considerations. Most of the places allowed us to take a tour and walk around the facilities before making a decision.

All the options are quite affordable - around NT400 or $10 USD per night for Tatami rooms (traditional Japanese style rooms with soft-woven straw mats and sleeping cots). Fully furnished private rooms which resemble typical hotel rooms are around NT1800. Personally, I would not mind staying in the basic Tatami rooms - quite cozy. This site has some pretty accurate photos incase you're unsure how they look. Instead of staying overnight, you also have the option of simply paying hourly to use the hot springs and bath facility.

Below is another villa that I enjoyed. My poor photography and camera quality doesn't do it justice as it's actually quite well-lit and modern inside.

They've got a nice cafe area for you to relax and have a beverage after your steamy hot bath session. The furniture/decor in the lobby/cafe area was colourful and cheerful.

Both private hot spring baths (max 2 people) and a community bath are available at this villa. Unforunately, I didn't capture any pictures of those because I was afraid to expose my camera excessively to all the steam or better yet, risk plopping it accidentally into the bath. At any rate, these hot spring villas are such affordable getaways for a weekend of unwinding!

This post is archived under Ruei Suei, Taiwan

Venturing into Eastern Taiwan

Published on Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Leave your thoughts »

Ruei Suei Township: beautiful mountainous landscape and fresh unpolluted air

These photos were taken in Butterfly Valley, the perfect place to experience nature, go mountain-hiking, and of-course see little magical butterflies. Lots of ponds, gardens, and rope bridges. There's also a small cabin exhibit of different types of butterflies.

I recommend wearing comfy shoes and being prepared for plenty of walking. We only had a couple hours in the morning there and it was definitely not enough time to explore all the trails. Although there was a nice spacious parking lot for me to practice some challenged parking job.

"Dream Garden"

Visiting an Aboriginal Reserve.

About half an hour away from my grandmother's home in Ruei Suei, there is a reserve for Taiwanese Natives, which I found to be a surprisingly popular tourist attraction. The atmosphere surrounding is very calm and smoothing with large ponds, decorated gardens, and plenty of greenery.

We dropped by at their cozy restaurant for a very healthy lunch, featuring all organic greens.

Below is a nutritious purple rice mixture of barley, brown rice, black rice, etc. (I'm not culinarily knowledgeable enough to know what else was in that tasty mix.)

Another beautiful dish below is the guava salad with cucumbers, tomatos, beans, etc. The guava flavour matched the dressing perfectly and I found myself gobbling most of it on my own. We also had fried Shan-Yao roots. This type of yam is known for health-benefits although it's safe to say that the frying process probably took that away.

The restaurant was filled with Hinoki Cypress Wood decorations and furniture, all with intricate carvings. Some of the home decorations are actually for sale, but be prepared for the price - Hinoki is a high quality timber, valued for durability, anti-pest properties, as well as stress-relieving qualities due to its distinctive scent. Hence, it is NOT cheap!

After our hearty lunch, we followed up with some red bean ice-cream dessert, cappuccinos, and souvenir shopping nearby in a charming little plaza. Mmmmm, indulgence.

Handmade jewelry, hand-stitched bags, hats, keychains.

Finally, let me introduce you to the famous Ruei Suei Dairy Factory! (I should clarify that this was on a different day; we did not drive to 3 separate destinations eating consecutively.)

The Dairy Factory is known for serving fresh and minimally processed milk which initially caused me some concern. Being my slightly neurotic self, I was half expecting to see cows being milked and anticipating having to drink from a pail.

Happily enough, nothing of the sort occurred. I was greeted with a lovely park and dairy cafe offering cheesecake, milk buns, milk pudding, and various milk beverages with different flavours.

And of-course, we did not hold back. Behold our late afternoon snack! (Thank god none of us were lactose-intolerant.)

Everything tasted fresh and light. I especially liked the cheesecake because it was very airy and not too rich. The milk buns were also soft and fluffy. As you can see, we decided to sit inside rather than on the lovely patio because of the rainy and misty weather out.