This year, my schools’ Spring break is March 23-April 7, which means two weeks of deskwarming for me. I decided to take the first week off to go travel to Taiwan again (I had lots of fun last year and couldn’t wait to go back at a warmer time!), and it just happened to also be my sister’s spring break, so we had a big family reunion there.
March 23rd: It was the long-awaited travel day! I left on my usual bus and arrived in Sapporo around 10:30. Normally I would probably head straight to the airport, but this time, my boyfriend and I got breakfast at Nana’s, mostly because I wanted to try the seasonal parfait before it went away the next week. I got the parfait, and my boyfriend got the roll cake and the iced version of the seasonal latte.
Officially, it’s created in the image of full bloom sakura in the spring, and has sakura cream, sakura bean paste, strawberry sauce, strawberry ice cream, and fresh strawberry. In addition to that, there were some yummy corn flakes, soft serve, castella pieces, strawberry gelato, and whipped cream. and shiratama mochi balls. I really liked this parfait, and it’s one of my favorite Nana’s ones so far! The strawberry ice cream reminded me of a classic Baskin Robbin’s strawberry, and I especially liked the sakura bean paste.
When we finished, we headed to the airport. With a bit of time before our flight, I bought some souvenirs for my mom and we grabbed lunch at Drive In Itou for butadon.
I think I would have liked to order more meat, but I had wandered away from the line where my boyfriend was waiting and I guess they took our order while he was still waiting in line, so by the time I got back, he just got be a basic butadon. I was probably going to get a basic one anyway, but maybe more meat or the filet instead of loin cut. It was still really good though, and the slices were thick with a glossy coat of sweet and savory sauce.
Security and immigration were quite easy and smooth, and we had about an hour before our flight at 3, with an addition of a slight delay in boarding. I learned if you look asian in New Chitose international terminal, all the staff will try to talk to you in Chinese. I speak Chinese, so it’s fine for me, and I loved getting all the free samples.
Unfortunately, this EVA route would have been the Hello Kitty Plane like last year, but for whatever reason late last year they suspended their Hello Kitty planes until further notice. This was a real bummer. About halfway through out four-hour flight, we were served our in flight meal. Between curry chicken and sukiyaki pork, I went with the pork option.
The meal came with a crab meat with penne pasta salad appetizer, the main course, bread, seasonal fruit, and a bouchee cake (which I think is the haskap pastry now that I look back). The bread was not bad, crispy on the outside, but not much else on the inside. The pasta salad was nice, light and refreshing. As for the main, the vegetables were soft but had nice flavor, and the pork was surprisingly thin, tender, and pretty good tasting for asian good. As expected of an Asian airline, their rice is so much better than American airlines. Fruit was not bad. The haskap bouchee was pretty good; fluffy outer layer with some whip cream and berry jam on the inside.
The flight itself was pretty smooth, and immigration was pretty fast this time around. However, suitcases took a while to come out, but other than that, customs was nonexistent, and picking up our wifi router was easy. Oh yea, I also lost the Taiwan tourist lottery…
After an unexpected hiccup, I met up with my dad who had flown in earlier that day at our hotel, and then we went to go check in to our Airbnb. I desperately wanted boba on my first day in Taiwan, and after trying a couple places (they were out of boba), we finally found one with boba at Guiji. The shops in this area close around 8-9 ish, and already finding shops at 9:30 was pretty hard. Read about my boba here!
We ended the night by stopping by a local 7/11 and grabbing some water, and a couple tea eggs. These ones sucked. No tea flavor or spice flavor, and they were super plain.
March 24th: On this day, my mom and my sister would arrive from the states! While my dad went to pick them up from the airport in the morning, I used the empty morning opportunity to go line up at Fu Hang Soy Milk early, since I heard they’re a super famous Taiwanese breakfast place and they always have long lines. Even arriving at 6:50 in the morning, there was quite a line, and true to reviews, it did take about an hour until we ordered. My boyfriend got a thick bing with egg, I got a thick bing with you tiao and another for my dad, a fan tuan, and a cold soy milk. The lady taking drink orders highly judged me for only getting one drink for two people.
Everything was very yummy! Soy milk was so good (Chinese soy milk is the best), and the bing was flaky, and the you tiao was crispy. The fan tuan was also good, but I think I’ve had better pickles at other places.
We headed back to our hotel to meet up with my family, and after chilling for a bit, went to get lunch at Jin Feng, known for their braised pork rice. My family also ordered some braised eggs, tofu, and some veggies on the side.
I got a medium size and without pickles (because I thought they’d be the shredded pickled veggies, but they were actually just a couple sticks of radish), and the bowl came with rice and a scoop of the pork sauce. I heard Jin Feng is famous, and I’m glad I tried it, but I had mixed feelings about the ru rou fan. On the one hand, the sauce itself was really good and flavorfl. and mixed in the rice very well. On the other, the sauce was mostly fat, with very little actual meat. I prefer at least a mix, or more lean meat, so this ru rou fan might not have been it for me. It was very yummy and all the food was good, but I’d probably look for ru rou fan elsewhere. They do ordering by QR code and there’s English, so it’s foreigner friendly!
After doing some shopping at Nanmen market next door for some Chinese snacks, we headed to Taipei 101. We bought some more souvenirs, gave our feet a rest in the food court, and I went to get my boba of the day at Tao Tao Tea. Read about my boba here!
Originally the plan was to go up and see the view from the observatory and then get dinner at the Ding Tai Fung in 101, but we had a few hours, and didn’t want to wait all that time just to eat there, so instead, my parents returned to the hotel while I took my sister and boyfriend up to the observatory.
We were planning on eating at the DTF closer to our hotel, but as is with DTF and especially on a Sunday, when we arrived at 6pm to take a number, our estimated wait time was for an hour. Giving up for the day, we ended up eating at a Cantonese restaurant at our hotel. Food was good.
March 25th: My family paid for the hotel breakfast, so this was the first day I went to eat at the breakfast buffet. It was a mix of Western and Asian foods, had a fresh noodle soup and egg bar, and a decent variety of foods to choose from. No picture, as I forgot my phone the first day.
Around 9, we left as a family to go to the cemetary about an hour away in the mountains to see my grandfathers that had passed away.
For lunch, we got Peking duck at a pretty famous restaurant for it, Taoran Ting. Everything was yummy, and it was the first time I had Peking Duck in a long time!
After lunch, we split up, and I went to go hang out in Ximending for some shopping and more treats! First we stopped by the Animate, browsed a bit, and then headed to Snow Milk King, for their adventurous variety of flavors. I got the Jasmine tea, my sister got the peach, my dad got the pork floss (yes, pork floss ice cream), and my boyfriend got the kaoliang (Taiwanese alcohol). I think their selling point is really their huge variety of flavors, for better or worse if you count the salty ones too…
I really liked the Jasmine! It was rich, creamy of course, and had a strong jasmine tea flavor reminiscent of a jasmine milk tea. I had a bit of the pork floss, and it defintely tasted like pork floss…My sister’s peach was very refreshing! Apparently, the kaoliang just tasted like gas. She wanted another one, so she went for a go at the taro (which was real taro tasting, good for us, bad for her), my dad got a black sesame, and my boyfriend got a guava to share. The guava I got last year too, and it was as good as ever, tasting just like a sweet guava.
We wasted money at a deceptive claw machine for a Snorlax plush. We don’t talk about that.
Ximending has a bunch of other foods that I didn’t get to try the last time I was here because I was full, and I was determined to get to them this time around, starting with a small cup of mian xian from Ay Chung Flour Rice Noodle. They also offer a sauce bar but I didn’t add any.
It was really good for mian xian, though I wish I remembered to tell the guy no cilantro. Otherwise it came out piping hot, and with lots of small, thin noodles to slurp. There were also quite a few small chunks of chewy intestines, but no oysters.
After browsing a few stores and seeking shelter from the heat, we stopped by J&G Fried Chicken for, well, fried chicken. I had it bookmarked, and they seemed promising, so we grabbed a small bag to share. It wasn’t as crispy as I would have liked, nor was it the classic Taiwnese popcorn chicken, but the flavor was good and meat was juicy.
We went on a Monday, and I wanted to show my sister the cute art inside the Red Brick House, but apparently it’s closed Mondays.
Finished with our business in the area, we returned to the DTF near our hotel, and got a number around 5pm. This time, it was a 40 minute wait, so we waited around and browsed the other shops near the DTF.
I hadn’t had boba that day yet, so we went to Nap Tea just up the street because my dad said he would take me to a Nap Tea. Read about my boba here.
We stopped by a freshly cut fruit stand (the fruit was really good), and headed back to the hotel for the night.
That’s part 1! Part 2 is here and Part 3 is here.
Japan Excursions 
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