熱炒 with friends makes me happy!

Today I celebrated my birthday with several of my close friends (minus a few that couldn't make it). I chose one of my favorite rechao (熱炒) restaurants, 中央市場－生猛活海鮮. It's no where near any MRT stations. The closest one is probably Songjiang Nanjing station (捷運松江南京站), and it's still a 15 minute walk southwest from there. My Taiwanese friend commented that it's really local place to hang out at, because obviously foreigners have a tendency to not stray too far from the MRT stations. But I give credit to my California church friends that visited me a few weeks ago. They introduced it to me. Moving on, I chose a rechao location over a much more elegant and obviously more expensive place is because I just enjoy the atmosphere better. You can be loud, drink lots of beer, eat really good cheap food ($100/plate), look at beer girls (not that pretty though), and karaoke ;). I feel more comfortable and care-free there or maybe because it's so cheap, I can eat 'till i'm stuffed. We had deep fried japanese burdock chips, deep fried oysters, GongBao chicken (拱抱雞丁）or KungPao as some people say, 空心菜… We all had a great time! We went through a mild 8 600ml of Taiwan beer ($80 NT per bottle). But everyone was having a good time and some even got up the courage to sing a chinese karaoke song. If you go to this location, go downstairs. They use regular seats with big tables and round lazy-susan things (you know the ones that you see in chinese restaurants). The tables upstairs are more traditional, stools and short table tops. I'm too tall for those and I find them annoying. Plenty of free refillable rice to go around and lots of photos and even more jokes and stories. Thanks everyone for a happy birthday! Cheers!

中央市場-生猛活海鮮
台北市長安東路一段52號
02-2523-2017

金色三麥 Leble'dor

The day for my one year anniversary with Yuki is coming up. However with the coming arrival of my parents next week, we thought this weekend would be a last time to celebrate it privately. So for dinner we decided to go to a Taiwanese german restaurant at the top floor of the Q Square mall. It's called Leble'dor. It's a famous Taiwanese beer brand that is heavily influenced by the german art of beer. It was first introduced to me at CitySuper market in Sogo Tianmu by a sales representative. It tasted awesome! I mean Taiwan beer (the brand) has it's merits, but not for it's superior taste. The beer brewers at Leble'dor really did their research. It's some great tasting beer similar to what you'd find with American microbrews like Blue Moon, Fat Tire, Longboard or Anchor Steam. So we were much anticipating our first experience to eat and drink there (on tap). Walking in, the interior design is reminiscent of a log cabin/wine cellar. With wood logs, iron fencing, stone, wood barrels and candle chandeliers, it really gives off a warm cozy atmosphere. first things first, two 40oz steins of seasonal beer please! The selections were Hefe-weizen, Honey, Dunkel, Seasonal Lager. Looking through the menu, it's' mainly a mish-mash of fusion asian, german and american fare. Pizza, salads, bratwursts, onion rings, steaks, fries, pasta, hot pot, soup and mexican. We ordered a mix of food + one recommended: the garlic beer-flavored shrimps (recommended), beef steak with sauce, onion rings. The food turned out pretty good. Well as far as onion rings, steak and fries goes. Perhaps because I've been an American for too long, I don't find a good set of fries, onion rings and steak as that special. But I'll give Leble'dor credit in that, those were one of the best fries and onion rings i've had so far in Taipei. Next time I really want to try out their pork knuckles, german sausage platter and grilled chicken leg cartilage. The only disappointing part is the most shocking to me. The beer! It still has the same great taste that I had at Sogo, but they served it mildly cold. Beer needs to be served ice cold! I asked the waiter if he could bring me back an ice cold one, but he said that's the temperature they keep their refrigerator at. So much research and development went into some great beer that the Taiwanese can call their own, and they shoot themselves in the foot by serving it under chilled :(. Their own bottle even says serve chilled at 5° C. I definitely want to revisit this restaurant in the future. I love the beer and the menu looks delicious (albeit more american than german), but please oh please put my beer in the freezer for 15 minutes before serving it to me. As a side note, You can go to the many other Lebre'dor locations around Taiwan and buy the liter bottles of any of the four varieties. The Sogo CitySuper in Tianmu seems to only sell the Lager and Dunkel.

金色三麥 Leble'dor
台北市承德路一段一號4樓
02-7737-0909
www.lebledor.com.tw

金色三麥 Leble'dor (XinYi Eslite Mall)
台北市信義區松高路11號B1
02-8789-5911

金色三麥 Leble'dor (Miramar Mall)
台北市內湖區敬業三路20號5F
02-2175-3739

金色三麥 Leble'dor (BanQiao)
新北市板橋區新站路28號9樓

Shin Yeh: Japanese

The second selection of the three restaurants was Shin Yeh. Shin Yeh is a Taiwanese restaurant that usually serves Taiwanese food, but they have one location that serves Japanese style. At first I thought it was the 101 Shin Kong Mitsukoshi location, but it isn't. Yuki had the privilege of picking out this restaurant. Although it's not truly Japanese fare, she opted to not go completely Japanese with more traditional Japanese food. The Japanese branch of the Shin Yeh is near the Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station. When you first walk in, you'll see a female receptionist greet you in a traditional kimono in a black marble lobby accented with wood and japanese decor. They have table downstairs, but hopefully you won't be seated at any of those because all the food is upstairs. Fortunately we got seated upstairs next to the windows. The food turned out to be pretty darn good. Of course, there is still a lot of Taiwanese dishes and Taiwanese influenced Japanese dishes, but it's delicious. They also have unlimited beer (Taiwan beer not Asahi, sadly), wine and champaign. My only complaint about the food is the sushi selection. Other than the boring shrimp, eel, egg, octopus sushi, they only had yellowtail, salmon and tuna. But Yuki pointed something out that I never noticed before. Taiwan really doesn't have any sushi selection outside of tuna, salmon and yellowtail. Unless you go to a ridiculously expensive Japanese restaurant that can import more fish varieties. It seems to always be these same three selections. Well, in the end, I still enjoyed myself and left with a very happy tummy. The decor, food, drinks, desserts, service was all good to great. I don't remember the price tag, but expect somewhere between $500-600 NT/person. Once again I must apologize for coming back with no photos. Enjoy the one I stole from Lynette Sun courtesy of Google Images, LOL.

Shin Yeh: Zhongxiao [Japanese] branch
台北市忠孝東路4段112號2樓
02-2752-9299

Home cookin': Pumpkin soup

In the spirit of October, I decided to cook some Pumpkin soup tonight. I also felt like something simple and comforting, so soup just sounded awesome. This was also inspired by my friend's pumpkin soup that she made two weeks ago. A quick dash to the SOGO convenience store for some pumpkin, heavy cream and milk was al I needed. The rest of the spices I thankfully already had. After about 1 hour, the soup was done simmering. Although it turned out a bit watered down. I'm not sure if I simmered it long enough or if I have to tweak the recipe to decrease the amount of chicken stock needed (5 cups). Anyways..to accompany such deliciousness, we need some beer and soup bread. It's Oktoberfest time, so I opted for an Austrian beer. Stiegl Weisse (And ice cold by the way, the only way beer should be served). For the soup bread, some butter potato bread. The beer tasted pretty good. It's a hefeweizen with a light flavor, hint of bananas and a minor metallic finisher. But the most important act of the evening, the soup. It tasted creamy, warm and soothing with that autumn pumpkin flavor! I liked that I sprinkled some chopped coriander on top to give an extra complimenting flavor. This has inspired me to try some other soup recipes. Who knows what'll cook up next in my soup kitchen? Corn chowder, French Onion, Mexican bean? 'Till next time, I bid you a joyful Oktoberfest!

Mid-Autumn festival 2011

Happy Mid-Autumn festival everyone. This year I spent it with my friends at their flat. We all got together during this hot evening and gathered upstairs on their rooftop for some grilling fun. But before that, we all headed out to the Costco on a big food shopping spree. The lines were long and it was PACKED at the Costco. The Taiwanese friends made some beef wrapped enoki and other brought beer, chips and other western styled grilled treats. I made some Korean bulgogi, Thai pineapple fried rice and potato skins (last minute request from my friend). I met several new friends and it's really a great festival because it's when the community gets together to grill and eat moon-cake. The grilling portion is only a recent tradition, but I love it. It's why I enjoy July 4th in the States so much. Since Taiwan obviously wouldn't celebrate July 4th, I treat it as my similar holiday here in Taiwan. Minus the grand fireworks show, but there are still a few firecrackers and small fireworks that do get set off every once in a while. It's really a happy time! You know everyone's on the streets, patio or rooftop grilling up something good. It's hard to walk the streets and alley ways this time of the year without smelling something grilling. It makes you hungry the whole day. Some people even start on Friday. So It's a whole weekend plus a Monday off. I realize it's also 9/11 day too. So I'll have another beer for the lives lost on that sad day.

Fulong Beach

After watching a TV program, I decided I needed to explore Taiwan's beaches. The closest one that I found with good recommendations, was Fulong beach. Also since I still don't have a job, I have to keep this under a budget. So day trips only, nothing too fancy like "green island" or Kenting. Fulong beach as just popular enough and local enough to fit. It costs about $198 NT round trip from Taipei main station on the express train (reserved seating). You take the Eastern Yilan line to Fulong station. To make it cheaper, you can change it to first-come-first-serve seating, which means there's a chance you'll have to stand for the 1 hour 15 minute train ride. Or you can take the local train instead of the express and that'll take even longer (+30 minutes i think). Either way it's a difference of $30 NT, not much. Upon arrival, they have bike rentals at the Giant bike shop right next to the station exit. $100 per day. But I was here for the beach, not bike riding. However I did see many people riding bikes, but I'm not sure what there is to see except the scenery. I arrived right before lunch, so under the recommendation of wikitravel, we bought a box lunch (bian dang, 便當). They range from $50-80 NT depending on which restaurant and what you want. I opted for the Kong Rou (空肉) which cost $70 NT. There are numerous box lunch places around, hard to miss. Heading to the beach, there seems to be two areas. The one on the left costs $100 NT entrance. You'll have to cross a bridge to get to the beach, but you won't cross the bridge until after you paid. Then there's the one further to the right. I didn't know where I was going, so I ended up at the beach to the right. This turned out to be fine. It wasn't crowded and it is free. There's surfboard rentals, although I didn't rent a surf board, so I don't know the cost or even where to rent it. Wikitravel said you should be able to rent one there. I'll have to find out next visit. I also saw kayak and jet-ski rentals too. Also, if you don't have a large beach umbrella to bring along, you can rent those too. It costs $200 per day for a small one that fits three people. The beach is a soft white sand and the shore isn't rocky. It has sand bars every 40 feet or so, so it's shallow. My only gripe was the debris. The beach has a lot of small garbage debris washed up. It's not that annoying to just avoid stepping into it. The wave that day were pretty good. Good for beginner surfing. About 4-5 foot swells and a it continued until about 3pm. By 4 pm the waves were breaking late and the swell period longer and longer. I had a great time! This is my first experience exploring the eastern side of Taiwan as well as Taiwan's many beaches. It was very relaxing to just eat lunch on the beach, play in the water, drink beer and listen to the waves wash ashore with the sounds of children giggling in the background. I'll definitely have to revisit with some friends and continue exploring the eastern side. Taiwan, I'm loving it!

346 Taiwan Beer Factory

346 is the Taiwan beer factory's beer garden. Yuki, I and a few of our friends headed over to 346 for dinner, singing and beer kegs. This is my first experience in a beer garden. As far as I know, the USA doesn't have beer gardens and the only reason I know of them is through Travel channel. It turned out to be an awesome experience. You really have to go with good friends that know how to have fun and drink lots of beer, because it'll just make it that much more fun. The food was kind of expensive, but it's all family style. So if you get enough people, it should divide down to be more affordable. The beer kegs are $500 NT per keg. There were a few birthday groups there that night, and I'm sure that's a common occurrence. The band would ask for participation from the audience and strangers from different tables would be very friendly towards too! The atmosphere is really loud, and the place gets packed very fast. So arrive early with your friends and grab a table before the activities start! Make sure to drink a few pints and let yourself go. I don't quite remember how many glasses I had...maybe 4. Still not enough to get me dancing, (I don't dance) but it makes me very happy drunk! I didn't meet or see anyone too belligerent, so overall it was a very drunk, happy and loud singing and eating experience that i'd more than happy to experience again! Maybe on someone's birthday so we can get them on stage, haha! So is this a dinner or a party? To my friends, when's the next time!? Enjoy the photo of Mike drinking directly from the keg. No party is complete without someone doing that!


No. 85號, 八德路二段, Jhongshan District
Taipei City, Taiwan 104
(Entrance on Weishui Road just around corner)
Tel: (02) 2771-9131
Hours: everyday 11 am-12 midnight

乾杯! 1 Year Anniversary in Taiwan!

So today's plan is to have a relaxing day. Three things to do. Watch Transformers 3, eat lunch and find a special place to eat dinner. Why is it so special? Because it's my one year anniversary of living here in Taipei! For those of you that have followed me since the beginning know that I arrived July 24, 2010. So today, Sunday, would an exact year to the day that I have lived in Taiwan. After a lazy morning, sleeping in and missing breakfast in trade for some TV time in bed, we headed out to Gongguan. Yuki had to do get a chore out of the way first. She had to go to the Gjun office, which is a Taiwanese computer training center. She's signing up for 3DS Max classes. All the classes are in Chinese, so that'll be very challenging. I applaud her for her enthusiasm and will. Moving on to lunch, we went to a small pizza place down a small alley (not even sure it has a street name). It's a very small joint as you can see from the pictures. Seating for about 10 people. The decor, …well they tried. Fake bricks glued to the walls to make it look like an old style pizza place. But decor has nothing to do with the food. So continuing, we originally thought it used a ceramic oven, but a quick glance at the oven, we discovered it was only electric. They buried this giant electric toaster (taiwanese oven), behind a wall to make it look like it's a brick oven. Disappointing, but i'm willing to let that go because of the cheap price. Their menu consists of about 8 styles of pizza; vegetable, hawaiian, pesto chicken, mushroom, seafood, margarita…thats about all I can remember. Each pizza is about 10"s sliced six ways. All this for $100 NT. The taste conclusion, somewhere under so-so. The crust was thin, crispy and flavorless. I blame it on the lack of dough used and the electric oven. You just won't get the same flavor as a brick oven cooked with wood/coal. Even NY thin crust has more buttery, doughy flavor than this. The toppings, could use improvement. Not enough basil, not enough herbs and the tomato sauce...what tomato sauce!? The cheese wasn't bad though. I don't get that wonderful mozzarella flavor, but it was very hot and "cheesy". So overall, bad pizza. And being in Taiwan isn't an excuse because i've had decent pizza in Taiwan. But again, Taiwan's strong point is, it's CHEAP! $100NT ($20NT glass bottle coke) for a whole pizza isn't bad. If I visit again, I'll try the seafood. After filling our tummies, we headed over to the Gongguan movie theater. Student pricing, $300 for Transformers 3 3D. Although several of my friends have criticized it, I thought it was a decent movie. Tons of CG and long action scenes. Although the story may be cheesy or shallow for some people, I've been a fan of Transformers since youth, so I don't care. However I did miss Megan Fox. The relationship between Mikeala and Sam was built up over the first two movies, so it's a strong disappointment and sense of rejection over the new hot blonde replacement. In addition, her role in the film really isn't that powerful. At least Mikeala was smart, useful and independent. I've read that it was both the studio's fault as well as Megan Fox's fault for not returning for the third and final installment. In a nutshell, wiki said Megan Fox didn't realize filming a blockbuster film required hard work and long hours. What a prima donna. Anyways, if you want to watch two and a half hours of CG robots, CG action, gun-play and cool cars, then watch Transformers 3 in 3D. Otherwise save your money for the DVD. Moving on to dinner. I decided to splurge a little and eat at a All-You-Can-Eat grilled meat restaurant (吃到飽燒肉). It's in Gongguan and called 燒肉王子 (grilled meat prince if translated). The damage came out to be just under $500 NT per piggy. But the quality of the meat was pretty good as well as a wide variety of cuts. They had beef, pork, chicken, lamb, seafood and vegetables. For drinks, unlimited Taiwan beer and juices and soda. For dessert, unlimited Meiji ice cream as well as Ice cream filled grilled mochi. The waiters/waitresses were very nice and helpful, often getting another bottle of coke for me or helping me grill the meats. They also taught me how to grill mochi and stuff it with ice cream. Overall it was a very belly busting, fun and positive experience. If there was one thing I had to complain about, is the height of the grill and the exhaust hood. The grill is placed on top of the table, instead of inside a cubby hole IN the table, making it high even for someone as tall as me. In addition, the exhaust hood is too low, which means banging my head. I may or may not have a return visit, not because of the restaurant, but because $500 is about the normal price for a AYCE DIY grill. So there are other places that may be better, for the same price. Well, this has probably been one of my longer entries into this 1 year old blog. So I end it with, Cheers (gan bei,乾杯) !! To another year of food hunting and exciting new discoveries in Taiwan!

燒肉王子
台北市中正區羅斯福路四段142號
No. 142, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Zhongzheng District
Taipei City, Taiwan 100

Roxy Rocker club

A good friend of mine from MTC introduced me to Roxy Rocker. It's a club near the Shida campus that caters to the college students around the area. They have several clubs with different names. There's Roxy 99, Roxy Jr., Roxy Rocker, Roxy Mini. But I'm not much of a club person, however my friend assured me this is more of a lounge than a club. It was pretty damn cool. Loved the music. I'm a fan of 60's and 70's rock as well as some 80's. They even have a really cool lounge in the back with lots of comfortable couches and a giant library of vinyls to choose from. You can pick a vinyl and give it to the DJ to play on the next round. They even have two computers for you to browse on if your bored. But the best part, on Thursday, they give out vouchers for two free bottles of beer (with valid student ID). And there's no entrance fee. No dancing or smoke filled rooms. Just a clean, chill lounge, with a free beer and a huge vinyl collection. I HAVE to return! Picture courtesy of google images.

106 Taiwan台北市中正區和平東路一段177號B1

Cafe Bastille, long time no see

While walking around the Shida night market, Yuki and I passed the Cafe Bastille which we haven't been to in a while. So we decided to go back for a tall cold glass. She got her favorite Delirium beer and I got a glass of Hoegaarden wit blanche. Hoegaargen is good, not on my top 5 list. Sitting back and relaxing among the old brit decor, dim lighting and randomly mixed couches really brings back memories of my 2nd semester classmates. Here's to learning Chinese at Shida University MTC!

Kona Brewing co. beer in Taiwan

While visiting a 7-11 in Taichung, I realize they have a special promotion for the month of July only. It's Hawaiian beer from Kona Brewing company! One of my favorites. Longboard and Wailua! Longboard is a light and malty island lager. Give it a try, one of my favorites. Wailua is also very special. Girls tend to like this more. It really has a special flowery island tang to it, unique to this beer only. Here's the quote from the Kona Brewing company's website. "Swimming in a fresh water pool at the base of a cascading waterfall is what we all imagine we would find in paradise. On Maui, follow the old Hana Highway and you will find such a place – Wailua Falls. This plunging cascade of clear water is the inspiration for our Limited Release Wailua Wheat Ale. This golden, sun colored ale has a bright, citrus flavor that comes from the tropical passion fruit we brew into each batch. Sit back, relax and enjoy paradise anytime." If your in the states, try this out, as it should be readily available to you at the grocery store all year round or at least it was for me in California. Outside of Taiwan and the USA, I'm not sure. But it's worth a bottle to try. If you see the Big Wave golden ale though, stay away from that one. I thought the only way for me to get this beer was to bring some back over on my next return trip to California. So now I have to head over to the 7-11 and stock up on this before the promotion ends LOL!

Yakisoba at home

Yuki and I stayed home tonight and cooked...Yakisoba! Yakisoba always remind me of my grandmother cooking it for me when I was young. Yuki cooked it and I just helped and watched since I've never cooked this before. Seems pretty simple. The correct type of noodle, carrots, lettuce and yakisoba sauce and of course seaweed on top. Seaweed was my job. I had to use seaweed thats not supposed to be used as a topping, but sometimes you have to utilize what you have right? Speaking of toppings, I topped off our dinner with my new favorite beer here in Taiwan. Singha! It's a Thai beer. Kind of tastes like Taiwan beer with more of a spicy kick. Not top shelf beer, but it's damn good value for your buck, literally. $1/can ($1.25 for a bottle). I wonder if there's a place in Taipei that has this on tap? Anyways, I really enjoyed our dinner. One of my favorite japanese dishes with one of my favorite beers. Cheers!

YongKang street Okonomiyaki

Yuki and I went exploring more around YongKang Jie after class. We originally wanted to go to a newly opened chinese restaurant that we saw the other day. But it was closed. But when one door closes another one opens. So we decided to go to an Okonomiyaki restaurant (Tenya, TEN屋) we keep passing and never think twice about. We were surprised when each table was a booth and a hot plate grill in the center of the table. It was a DIY okonomiyaki grill. We quickly ordered a Osaka version and a Hiroshima version. Of course We had no idea on how to make it, so they happily taught us by grilling it for us. Of course it's a little complicated and I frankly don't remember. But what I do remember was that it tasted awesome! Fresh, hot and tasty right in front of you. It does take some time to cook though, like 15-20 minutes. So that really builds up your hunger. They also have a beer menu and grilled skewers of meat you can order too. Okonomiyaki orders range from $230-$290. The booths offer privacy and it's a relatively quite place even after it started to fill up. This definitely warrants a revisit with friends in tow and orders of beer. Cheers! It's 106台北市大安區永康街12號之3 (http://www.tenya.com.tw)

Tenya Okonomiyaki Monjuyaki No. 12之3號, YǒngKāng Street, Daan District Taipei City, Taiwan. Edit: I discovered there is another location at the Taipei Main Station building.

1885 Burger

Yesterday I was out looking for 1885 Burger and was unable to find this fabled burger joint. So I rechecked the google maps and finally found this new burger establishment near Shida night market today after school. From what I hear, there's been several burger joints popping up around Taipei in the past few years. All competing for the best burger in town. 1885 is one of them. Hidden away in a small corner off Heping road, is a decent sized restaurant with a big obvious banner saying "1885 Burger". When Yuki and I got there, there was a line outside and a 30 minute wait. But they called us in after only 10 minutes. I ordered a blue cheese burger. The patties were small, but seem to be genuinely hand-packed as it didn't have a hockeypuck shape and sized differed between each burger. They have daily specials and the atmosphere was very rustic. The only two negatives i have to point out is the patty size and the blue cheese was runny and not thick and clumpy like it should be. But the taste was all there! I still think Allen&Dickenson's has it beat by a very small margin. The fries at 1885 are excellent too. Each burger comes with fries in a tin bucket. The majority of the burgers run from $180-230 ($40 extra for unlimited refill drinks). Overall an enjoyable experience. I forgot to check if they have beer. You need a beer with your burger if it's a friday night! To the next burger joint!

No. 24之1號, PǔChéng Street, Daan District
Taipei City, Taiwan

Hui Lai Hot Springs 會來尖石

Today, Yuki and I got up pretty damn early...for hot springs day! We've been waiting for this day for quite some time. So we headed out straight for the Taipei main station (bus terminal). We grabbed a quick on-the-go 7-11 breakfast and jumped on the bus to Hsinchu. The buses are even cheaper than the train. We got a student fare of $105 NTD. And it takes just about the same time as the train (non HSR). Despite the signs, they let you eat and drink on the bus. Don't spill though, I'm pretty sure they'll get pissed. Leather seats and very cushy, but a little short on the leg room (I'm over 6' tall) compared to the train (non HSR). But you can't beat $105 NTD and 1.5 hours. After meeting up with Lucy and friends we took a taxi straight to the Hui-Lai hot springs (會來尖石). Although the location is a little further to get to, the place was great! The bathrooms are clean and the park was pretty large. They had several hot springs with varying temperatures, two children's play pools, two swimming pools, two water slides, sauna, massage house and doctor fish. Doctor fishes or nibble fish are those tiny fishes used in medical purposes that eat dead skin from your feet to expose the healthy skin underneath. It's good for people with psoriasis. Sounds nasty but it really tickles! Back to the hot springs, They also have scented springs too, like salt and lavender. The scenery is beautiful and the park wasn't that crowded, so it was peaceful and quiet. After 4 hours or so...you kind of lose track of time, we headed back down the mountain towards the city. We had an belated birthday dinner for Grace, Lucy's roommate at Kanpai Classic Hsingchu (乾杯日式燒肉). It's a much fancier and expensive version of the flagship store in Taipei. It's japanese Yakiniku. Highly expensive and exceptional meats. I'm glad I experienced it, but not again without a nice paying job. I chose to forget the price tag, but if i recall it was above $1300/person. Perhaps i'll try the Taipei location instead. Then we headed to a sports bar afterwards and drank beer from a beer tower. All Carlsberg. Beer Tower!!!

Kanpai Classic (http://www.kanpai.com.tw/)
Hui-Lai Hot Springs (http://www.hui-lai.com.tw)

Friday...Bastille bar again

After class I hung out with my classmates again at the Bastille bar. This is turning out to be a tradition on friday's. haha. Anyways, the others had to head home early and the night was still young. So Yukiyo and I went to go see The Tourist which she has been wanting to see for a long time.

Bastille Cafe and a very late night

Today I introduced my classmates to the Bastille Cafe. Yuki and I were talking about bars with a large selection of international beer. She knew of a place at Shida night market with 25 beers. But of course, the Bastille has over 100. :). So she insisted that we return with our classmates after today's class to fully enjoy the beers. We had such a fun time. We talked for hours and had so many different kinds of beers. I wish I had thought of collecting all the bottles for one shot, but I did not. We probably went through 20 bottles. Some strange flavors and some uniquely surprising flavors, like the gingerbread flavored one. Not a strong flavor of course, but it definitely hints at it. It's like wine tasting, but with beer. LOL. It is called Oerbier nat en straf (Belgium).Also Yuki's favorite was pretty light with a hint of sweet. It's called the Belirium tremens aka "The Pink Elephant". Afterwards, I headed over with Fabien to his girlfriend's house to drink some wine and chat and 7-11 food. 7-11 is such a godsend. Open 24 hours and tons of precooked and frozen food. The frozen food they offer to microwave for you too. I wish the 7-11 in the USA was this convenient. Fabien's girlfriend is so lively and fun to be around. More so when she is drunk...maybe...haha. Anyways, I missed the last MRT train so Fabien let me stay over at his place. We called it a night around 4:00AM. I am very grateful for such a generous friend. To good friends and good times!!!

Huashan creative park 1914

I desided to take my friend out the Huashan creative park. They loved it there. There were lots of old buildings, smoke stacks, wierd lighting, crumbling walls of bricks and boarded up windows. The place definitly attracts the art crowd. While we were there we met a tap dancer, high school dance group and several people setting up a photography art exhibit. It's a public park so it's always open for strolling around at night for a chat or photos. And when your hungry or thirsty, there are a few restaurants to quinch your thirst or fill your belly. Alleycats has brickoven pizza and a fine beer selection. They closed at 11pm but stayed open an extra half an hour for beer patrons. We opted for some coffee, coke and of course beer. But made a mistake of sitting outside. We were eaten alive by mosquitos. I think i'll opt for indoor seating next time.

Photo by Jeff Parker

November 17th, continued...Cafe Bastille

Continuing on in the night with my friends around the Shida night market, we discovered the Cafe Bastille. It's a chill bar with a cool vibe and unique chairs and decoration. The menu has a huge selection of beer, some of the rare variety. Definitly a must visit place in the Shida market to chill out and relax. At the time we went in, they were playing a spanish artsy movie. I couldn't understand the film, but it definitly added to the mood of the place. We were one of 3 groups of partons there. So it made for a nice quiet and relaxing finish to a day. Although I recommend going during off peak hours, I have walked past a few times and have seen the place packed.

Photo by Jeff Parker

First hell week of class is over!

It was a difficult week. I had to study about 4-6 hours a day for 3 hours of class just to stay afloat. Which means I won't be updating my blog as often as before. Maybe something like once a week. As stated earlier, I was contemplating transfering to the regular classes. But I think i'll stick around for the intesive classes. I'll learn more because they cram more in the same time span. My grade may suffer if I can't keep up, but I don't care about the grade that much. The important thing is to walk away with absorbing as much chinese from these classes as possible. So being that i'm sticking around, I celebrated with two of my classmates after class today. We headed over to Juniors Cafe accross the street. It's a western pub with a billards and foosball table in the basement. I had some Fish&Chips. Oh do I miss western food! Drank a some beers with them, talked, played foos and some billiards for a few hours. Boy the pub nickel and dime you for everything. $100 soda, $10 to use the table lights for 20 minutes, $20 for 20 minutes on the foostable. Afterwards I took one of them into the Shida night market. The night market area seems to be divided into two areas. One side of the street has the western food places with high prices and mainly non-asian customers. The other side, is the actual shida night market. I introduced him to some small taiwanese snacks and drinks. I think he appreciated it. Show him the REAL Taiwan! Unfortunetly after such a fun evening of billards, foos, beer and cigarette smoke and a full week of hitting the books...I now have a splitting headache. I'm going to take a shower, go to bed, and ENJOY my weekend!