臭臭锅 ｜ Something not covered in oil, for once

Served with rice.

Taipei bakery finds

Some bizarre things can be found in Taiwan's bakeries. It is amazing. Lychee and rose water bread, strawberry bread, earl grey chocolate bread, red wine and walnut bread. It's a great day when I go into a bakery that chooses to be having samples of all the breads I want to try. 

Here are some interesting finds that I took photos of. The only thing I've actually tried was the black sesame & cream cheese bread at the very end. Sweet, black sesame bread with a black sesame and cream cheese filling on the inside. So yum.

"Let's bake a brick-shaped piece of bread and stick a smaller brick of cheese on it"

"Ham & cheese sandwiches are too much work. Solution: ham & cheese bread - no sandwich-assembly needed"

This looks like a pretty delicate thing and yet there is tuna inside

Bread, bacon, cheese, and SEAWEED

Carb on carb. So you don't have to choose between bread and french fries. Also bacon and cheese.

This is not so bizarre. Also it is beautiful. Black sesame and cream cheese bread. Which means, black sesame bread on the outside, delicious black sesame and cream cheese filling on the inside. 

Check out that black sesame & cream cheese filling. I need to make this at home.

River tracing in Hualien

What exactly is river tracing? It's basically a combination of hiking and climbing in the river. You wear a wet suit and special grippy shoes and it's lots of fun. Despite it being a super hot day and the black wet suit only making it hotter, the water is nice and cold and feels wonderful. 

I didn't take any pictures myself because that would require a waterproof camera and dedication towards picture-taking that I don't have, but the company I went river tracing with Hualien took some nice snapshots in between it all.

Yeah this was fun-ish.

5m jump, into water not pictured. (Actually fun)

Taroko Gorge

I took a weekend trip to Hualien, a lovely city on Taiwan's east coast, about 2-3 hours away on train from Taipei. Then about an hour from Hualien is Taroko National Park, home to absolutely breathtaking scenery (and hoards of tour buses, taxi cabs, and tourists, not fully captured). 

It's a pretty large park, so most people explore its many sights via pre-arranged tour bus, private taxi rental, car, or scooter. I went alone (lonely traveler I am). The park is interesting in that it's not as "free to explore" as other national parks often are, it's kind of like: here are the sights, here is the map, here are the roads you take. Probably because building the roads in this area was a massive pain. There are lots and lots of tunnels. Some of them are pitch black pedestrian tunnels that require flashlights / faith in your ability to walk in a straight line.

Some trails had shade, some not so much. Was pretty red by the end of the day!

They recommend you wear helmets when you go in, but traveling not-with-a-tour I didn't have one. I thought this was an adorable sight.

Town of Tianxiang 

And near the end of the day, I saw a monkey!

Yongkang beef noodle soup

Yongkang Street is home to one of Taipei's most well known (at least in tourist circles) beef noodle shops. It's the shop with the big yellow sign saying "Yong-Kang Beef Noodle" though not even on Yongkang Street. And beef noodle soup is one of Taiwan's most famous dishes. 

I biked there around 11AM on a Sunday and there was already a healthy line building outside. But I was told it moved quickly. It can be hard to tell who is local and who isn't (they're all Asian!). I assume most of the line consisted of tourists. The group behind me were very obvious mainland tourists with their Southwestern Mandarin and Taipei city maps.

I got a "small" beef noodle soup (紅燒牛肉麵) and grabbed one of the 小菜 in the window. 200NT + 60NT. About 50% more expensive than other beef noodle soup places! But hey you do things for the sake of tourist-ing.

The meat was amaaaazing. Perfect amount of fat for my tastes. The amount of meat I thought was quite generous. Broth was decent, but I've had better at the not-famous-at-all shop near my apartment. Didn't like the noodles. Too... spaghetti-like. The greens were delicious.

As much as I do love beef noodle soup, it doesn't really go with Taipei's hot hot summers. By the time you get to a shop, line or no line, you're often not feeling like you want to consume a big bowl of soup. But shaved ice? Ah, always.

Ximending + Biking Along Tamsui River

Yesterday I spent the day with my friend hanging around Ximending and then riding the city bikes along the Tamsui river. Ximending (西門町) is a wonderful shopping district in Taipei. Shopping, food, live performance art... and even a whole building of KTV at Partyworld. What else could you want?

It's a bit of a maze. So many people, and lots of shops and restaurants repeat themselves.

It was a hot hot Sunday but that didn't stop loads of people from coming out. It helps that you can cool down easily with a bubble tea/iced tea shop every ten meters.

Taipei has amazing bike and walking paths along the river that go for tens of kilometers. Which is great because biking on the city streets means stopping every 30 seconds for traffic. Taipei also has these amazing "Youbikes" which cost 5-10NT (0.20-0.40CAD) per half hour for rental, and you just charge it to your metrocard. Super convenient. The bikes are also infinitely lighter than the bixi bikes in Toronto and Montreal.

Check out the kites!

All over Taipei and Taiwan you can find amazing murals painted along the walls on the sides of the road. This one is near 文山大学 in the south of Taipei City.