Kaohsiung

Today I went to Kaohsiung with Yuki, Lucy and friends (Christine, Grace, Hatuyen). We got there around 12pm and immediately checked in and ate at a local Thai restaurant. It's called Thai Town. There are several in Taipei, but I never got the chance to eat there. Heard that it was good, and it was in fact pretty good. The thai chicken and these Thai pancakes were very Thai flavored! basically spicy, sweet, sour and lemongrassy flavored at the same time. I never seen these fried Thai pancakes before, except in Taiwan, so maybe it's a Taiwan/Thai fusion creation. Never the less, crispy and flavorful. The bill will run a little high, but overall very enjoyable. Afterwards we went to the Kaohsiung famous Dream Mall. It's the only large mall in Kaohsiung, but it's typical of any large mall in Taiwan. Large, lots of name brand stores, great architecture. Nice place to hang around, enjoy the A/C, and walk around. Shopping though, I can stay in Taipei and get it done. Fro Dinner we went to the local night market. RuiFeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市)! There was tons of unique food I have never seen in Taipei like battered and deep fried king oyster mushrooms, which I tried last time I was here. Still love them. But I was also introduced to Kaohsiungs version of the coffin bread, deep fried cheese dumplings, thai style boneless chicken steak, spicy fried boneless chicken on a stick, stuffed chicken legs, hot dog wrapped in bread wrapped in a chicken, HK style baked rice and last but not least, deep fried giant squid arms. The night market was so crowded it's like it has it's own health measure. If you eat too much and your too fat, you can't fit through the crowds to get food. Once you go on a diet, you'll be thin enough to fit through, just to get fat again. It's a vicious cycle haha! Word of help for other visitors, while there, they sell 2 day unlimited MRT passes for $230NT each. I also finally used up my last shot on the agfa 400 35mm roll so I can finally get it processed. Time to try out the Ilford Delta Pro 3200 roll. I also didn't bring my digital, so no photos :(.

Minimal Cafe and Shaorou Sukiyaki

Today I took it easy and went decided to visit the "cat cafe" that my friend Yuki has been so highly recommending. But first things first, I had to pick up the Leica. It's back from repairs and TLC and ready for shooting! We'll get back to that once my first roll is exposed and after I finish my previous roll of 120 through the Rollei. This cat cafe is called Minimal Cafe in the Shida night market. It's at No. 42號, Lane 2, TàiShùn Street, Da-an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106. Lets put it simple. Cafe + 30 lovable well mannered cats + Coffee. It's just so ...CUTE in there.After my quick sammich (sandwich) and a coffee, we went around searching for cats to pet. They're laying around all over the place. Some black, some white, some mixed. Mostly sleeping or walking around. Some on the counters, some on the chairs, some on the tables and some even in the ceiling lights. Yes, they have "Ceiling Cat" there! A celebrity. The cats there are so friendly and maybe a bit sleepy. Maybe we visiting at the wrong time. But while petting some, one black cat jumped up on my nap and started to sleep there.I loved it, and they're so used to humans you can even play with their little kitty paws. All was well, except that I had to make a dinner reservation with my relatives. But I didn't want to disturb the cat napping on my lap. So i waited a good half hour before he woke up, stretched, yawned and took his leisurely time departing from my lap. :) Ahhh the life of a kitty. Enjoy the numerous pictures. Yuki and I couldn't stop taking pictures! Back to my busy life. I met up with Yoh-Yi and her two sons and only daughter to eat dinner at Shaorou Sukiyaki. It's all you can eat. Yummm! Now I know why teenagers line up for this place all the time and you need a weeks advanced reservation to get in. The service and meat was spectacular. Mind you, you have to cook it yourself sukiyaki style, so you must know how to cook good meat. Overcooking it will make it taste bad. They have several different cuts of beef, pork and lamb. Some with more fat, some more lean. They even have sliced cow tongue. All imported from Australia (Taiwanese prefer Australian over American meat). Ohhh, and the dessert! Out of this world! They have a server come by with a japanese white charcoal grill (binchotan). Then he grills some mochi (Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice). It puffs up, then he cut it open like a pouch and fills it with your favorite flavor of ice cream from the Haagen-dazs freezer. Or if you prefer, he'll roll it in peanut powder. Either way you choose, it is absolutely delicious! Come starving, leave fat! I highly recommend this place. Sooooooooooooooo stuffed! Somebody come and roll me home. Additional pictures can be viewed here.

Chez Jimmy

Today my school homework was very light for the first time since it started. My class has been so good and motivated that we're completing the semester early. We're going into the second book and the teacher informed us we'll be going at a slower pace. So this allowed me some free time today to have lunch with my auntie and family members. We headed to Chez Jimmy which is Taipei famous french restuarant. I've heard of this before today, however I don't quite remember why. The dining area is large and and definitly has the decor of a 4 star restaurant. I ordered a steak. I don't remember what fancy name it had, but it had cheese on top of it and was cooked to perfection at 3/10. In taiwan, they'll ask you how you want it cooked and it's on a scale of 1-10. Typically people will order 三分 or 六分 (3 or 6). I also saw rack of lamb and duck confit on the menu. Each entre comes with a salad bar. Both the meal and the salad bar were excellent. Of course the salad bar having Lox was a huge +1. I haven't had lox for a while, not even in the states. Expect to spend about $1000 NTD each person. But we were waited on hand and foot and the food was excellent. I will be returning with good company!

Back to my uncle's Rollei and Leica. I discovered an old and tiny "hole in the wall" analog camera shop next to Shida University. Walking in there was an old man in a rocking chair to greet me. It's a store that deals with analog stuff so probably not alot of visitors for this digital age. But the old man was holding on despite the fact he probably only gets business about once a week. His face lit up when I started talking to him about folding cameras, Rollei and 120mm film. I'm so glad to have made an old man happy to see the younger generation interested in the old school TLR and medium format 120 film. Through his store front, I saw that he was selling a mint condition Carl Zeiss folding Contessa and a Carl Zeiss Ikoneta. Both dating to the early 50's and very rare. He also had several Hasselblads and Mamiyas and a very special, very rare Rolleiflex SL66. You just don't find that stuff in mint condition! I'll definitly be going back to him for repair and cleaning work as well as 120 film stock. Maybe if my Chinese is good enough, a decent conversation. When I get that Rollei working, I'll take a picture of him in his shop. That would be nice! So here's to meeting new people and discovering new places! Cheers!

Viva la Analog!

So today I decided to go to my cousin's house, the Chengs. I haven't seen them in a while and I wanted to treat them out for dinner. Due to scheduling, the best I could do is dinner with them at home. Which is fine with me. Dinner with them is always very conversational and fun. I enjoy every visit I have with them. Yoh-Yi as I call her, has helped me out so many times here in Taipei. But the big story of the day are the cameras. Mr. Cheng had these old cameras that have been in storage for 30+ years, possible 40. The 1965 Leica M3 Rangefinder was pretty corroded, however it seems the 1953 Rolleicord III faired pretty well. The Rollei's focusing mirror is definitly gone though, but it's still usable since it's only for viewfinding. The Leica seems to have a broken filter and lens.However I'm hoping only the filter is broken and rusted on. That's why you always put a standard UV filter on your lens, it'll save your expensive lens behind it when dropped. Anyways, I feel special to be able to take on the task of bringing these antiques back to life and putting them to good use again. If it isn't obvious, I'm interested in photography. So getting to know these old relics will definitly teach me new things. I already take for granted autofocus and light metering. Both of which will have to be done manually compared to my fancy digital Canon SLR. Now to find some medium format 120 film and let my readers see Taipei through an antique lens.