Food trip at Taipei

Day 3
Dec 1, 2014
Taipei

It was December and suddenly, the weather became cold. It has been warm the past 2 days so it was surprising for the weather to quickly change on the 1st day of December. Finally, I got to use the jacket I recently bought.

Our first stop for the day was at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, erected to commemorate Republic of China's first president. The hall square is actually an excellent location to photograph Taipei 101.

After a brief train ride, we reached Daan Forest park, which is known to be Taipei's version of New York's central park. There was not much to do here, judging by number of people in the park - three - Rissa, Enoy, and myself. No one else was in the park so we quickly left to find a place to eat lunch.

We ate lunch at Yong-Kang Beef Noodle. Judging by the number of people eating inside and waiting in line outside, this looked like the place to be to eat Taipei's best beef noodle - and it really was. The beef was cooked to perfection and the soup tasted just right - not too tasty but not bland either. Not bad for a 200 TWD lunch.

Next on our list was Mengjia Longshan Temple, a famous place of worship built in the early 18th century.

Our next two stops were two famous themed restaurants in Taipei. Fist one was Hello Kitty Sweets. Everyone was required to order at least 300 TWD worth of pastries and drinks so I ordered cheesecake, which was just ok, and pudding bubble milk tea, which was really good.

The second one we went to was Modern Toilet restaurant. In direct contrast to Hello Kitty Sweets where everything is pretty and sweet, Modern Toilet may not be one's idea of a hearty and appetizing dinner. We were seated on toilet bowls, drank from a urinal-shaped glass, ate from a toilet-shaped bowl, and ate ice cream shaped like you know what. It was a fun experience even though the food was not exceptional. It was a good night to end our Taipei trip.

Estimated expenses:

   990 PHP - Air fare to Taipei

 1475 PHP - Air fare to Manila
   176 PHP - Bus fare to city center (125 TWD)
   176 PHP - Bus fare to aiport  (125 TWD)
 1044 PHP - Easymind Hostel (740 TWD /night/person)
 1410 PHP - H132 Hostel (500 TWD/night/person)
   705 PHP - Taipei 101 Observatory (500 TWD)
   353 PHP - National Palace museum  (250 TWD)
   113 PHP - Yehliu (80 TWD)
   282 PHP - bus fare to Yehliu (100 TWD/one way)
   423 PHP - Hello Kitty Sweets (300 TWD)
   423 PHP - Modern Toilet (300 TWD)
   423 PHP - MRT (100 TWD/day)
 1692 PHP - food ( 400 TWD/day)
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  9,685 PHP