By the next morning the storm had further progressed in the general direction of Taipei, though the main part of the storm would miss the city. There would be rain on and off throughout the day, continuing with the theme of the trip.
From the hotel
Our first stop in the morning was Jing Feng braised pork rice, which is known for its braised pork rice (滷肉饭). The dish is one of the favorite dishes in Taipei and Taiwan, and Jing Feng is one of hte most well-known purveyors of the dish. The pork in the braised pork rice (and noodles) is somewhat similar to other Chinese and Taiwanese pork belly dishes, but one of the main differences (other than some of the seasonings) is that the pork is chopped into really small bits.
The shop itself is fairly small and offers both dine-in and to-go options for their dishes. I ordered both the braised pork rice and braised pork noodle in addition to some pork belly. The braised pork was incredibly flavorful and tender, and the sauce had seeped into the rice to give it a nice soy and spice flavor.
Shop
Braised pork rice + pork belly rice
Braised pork noodles (vermicelli)
After the meal the rain subsided a bit so we ventured out to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall, which was built to honor the namesake former president of Taiwan. The memorial hall is situated at the end of memorial hall square, with the National Theatre and National Concert Hall lining the square.
Gate
CKS Memorial Hall
From the Memorial Hall
I had planned to meet up with a friend later in the afternoon so we didn't stick around the area for long before heading over to Ximending, a pedestrian shopping district that's known for its shopping. It was the first pedestrian area in Taipei and spans a decently large area. Immediately upon arriving in the area my friend went to seek out Xing Fu Tang, since it's one of those boba shops that does the whole brown sugar thing and is extremely instagrammable (groan...). However what my friend didn't realize that boba doesn't always mean boba milk tea, and we ended up with boba milk, which seems to be much newer to the scene. Basically what it is is milk with boba (the pearls) and other flavorings. Needless to say I wasn't too thrilled with a glass of milk...
Boba milk (no tea!) with brown sugar syrup...I suppose decently grammable?
After our boba milk misadventure we went to explore Ximending. The district wasn't too crowded since it was during the week, and we sampled some food while window shopping.
Alley
Ximending
Ay Chung Noodles
Kumquat greet team from Tianren
There is also the red house at the edge of the district, which is an older building which has been repurposed to be one of those hip areas with many small vendors selling their wares.
Outside
Would fit perfectly in Soho
Afterwards we returned to our hotel to meet up with one of my friends who lives in the area who drove us out to Jiufen. Jiufen is an old village up in the mountains outside of Taipei which is mistakingly believed by some to be the inspiration behind Spirited Away, though it would be easy to see how the essence of Jiufen could be evoked through the film. As usual it basically rained all the way there and continued to rain throughout the afternoon and evening.
Esteemed driver
Once there we wandered up and down the winding roads overlooking the water, and began walking through the covered alleys that are synonymous with Jiufen. The alleys aren't particularly wide and there are many many shops lining the alley. We let my friend take the lead and ended up in a variety of shops snacking on all sorts of enjoyable food.
Looking below
Alleys
Stinky tofu
Because who doesn't love noodles
Fish ball soup
Random pastry
More alleys
Savory mochi
From a ledge
Glutenous rice dessert bowl
After a while we settled into a teahouse, but not before stopping by another stall and buying a variety of snacks, including various fish meal products and curdled blood snacks.
Picking and choosing
Snacks and tea
With a view
For real
After exploring the alleys, we decided to head up to a pavilion (不厌亭) to see if we could see anything, though with all the clouds there wasn't too much to see. It also started to rain again so we made our way back to another area of Jiufen to see the famous lanterns. The plaza wasn't particularly crowded especially since it was raining.
After returning to Taipei we parted ways with my friend and headed to the nearby Jiangxia beef noodle soup shop to grab another dinner. I had an excellent beef noodle soup and my friend had a bowl of wontons.
Always eating
Menu
Since it was already into the evening we decided to see if we could photograph Taipei 101 from within the city without going up Elephant Mountain. I would say we were somewhat successful, though I would have preferred to go up the hill to get the shot of Taipei 101 over the city. Perhaps next time...
Looking up
