March 29th: A bit ago I found out that the entry fee to the Taipei Zoo costs $2 (after conversion), and that’s a pretty good deal (also Ueno Zoo, whch is 500 yen according to my boyfriend), and my boyfriend and sister had an interest in going, so my dad and I tagged along (my mom went to go do some shopping with my grandma). I thought it was small, but it was relatively big with a lot of spacious exhibits and a lot of a variety! Don’t forget all the yummy snacks (quite a lot of stands), a 7/11 at the front, a McDonald’s, a Mos Buger, and a TKK Chicken (What’s that? You’ll see).
We headed out from our hotel around 10, and since the ride there would take an hour, we figured we probably wouldn’t eat lunch for a bit. We stopped by the TKK Friend Chicken, a pretty popular fried chicken chain in Taiwan, near our stop for some food. We opted to all share a Combo meal, which came with sweet potato fries, two fried thighs, some fried buns, and a coke. The fries were an unexpected surprise, but with a lack of ketchup, the sweetness of the sweet potatoes really made it unique. The chicken is a bit different from an American fast food fried chicken, still fried, but less crunchy crispy and more of a single layer, baked-crispy texture, and flavorful with savory spices.
Then we set off for the zoo! My favorite is always going to be the pandas, but there were a ton of other cute and cool animals too. Some exhibits were unavailable that day, but we did a surprising amount of walking for a “small” zoo, and finished it in about 4.5 hours. It was a hot day, so we all got some drinks at one point (my boyfriend and I split a Yakult slush, which I saw a lady just pouring a ton of small Yakults into a slushie machine), and my dad and my boyfriend bought a couple sausages.
We were thinking about riding the Maokong Gondola which is a famous attraction in the area, but by the time we were done, it was already 4:30, and I wanted to head over to Raohe Night Market at 5 (some stalls open earlier, but most of the festivities start then). I went with my boyfriend, and I definitely was much happier with my haul this time around than last year. Our haul consisted of the famous Fuzhou black pepper buns, some fried sweet potato balls, sugarcane juice, small pan-fried dumplings, Taiwanese popcorn chicken, fried imitation crab sticks, and some fried mushroom tempura.
The pepper buns were as good as they were last year, and somehow didn’t seem as peppery as last year (good for me?), and my boyfriend really enjoyed them so much he got a second. Fried sweet potato balls are also a must-have when in Taiwan, as they’re huge, but just crispy on the outside and hollow and a bit chewy on the inside. We also both tried sugarcane juice for the first time, and surprisingly, it wasn’t as sweet as I thought it’d be. While a bit sweet, it had a mellow slightly herbal-y flavor to it, and an interesting experience. However, according to my dad who we bought a bottle for at the same stand (lots of stands repeat items!), he said it tasted watered down and wasn’t the best he’s had. We spotted the dumpling stand, and I had yet to have a pan-friend dumpling on the trip, so we ordered non-spicy and the lady put some kind of sauce on it. It was a bit thick, a bit sweet, mostly savory, but it really worked well with the small juicy dumplings. Similarly, I hadn’t had real popcorn chicken this trip either and was looking for a redeption from last year’s. This one was a bit better, less bones to manage around, nce chunks of meat, with good seasoning and basil, but weirdly enough the seasoning wasn’t distributed enough, and though freshly fried, it wasn’t as crispy as I was looking for. Next, my boyfriend is a huge fan of imitation crab (and me too!), and he spotted the stand and wanted to try one. The deal was for 2 sticks and it worked out, so I got a salt and pepper flavored one. This was was very crispy on the outside, but still soft on the inside, and not to mention, huge! I ended the night with fried mushrooms, since it seems to be a big thing around right now, and I also missed this last year. My boyfriend doesn’t eat mushrooms, so I got a small cup of shiitake with nori seasoning. There was the option for king oyster mushrooms, enoki, or shiitake, but I didn’t recognize the other chinese she said, so I accidentally ended up with only shiitake (which is still good and probably my favorite of the three, ha!). They were crispy, and very yummy
We had about one and a half hours to kill, and I had yet to get boba that day, so we decided to get boba on the way back to the hotel. That was a bit of a adventure in itself, but you can read about my boba here!
My dad made a reservation for karaoke at a local popular chain at 8:50 (weird time, I know), but we didn’t end up actually getting into our room until 9:30 (then we were going to get kicked out at 11:30 because my sister is a minor). The room was huge, and even came with a bathroom (something I’ve never seen at a karaoke place). Once we got a hang of the weird song input machine (which had a significant lack of Japanese and English songs), it was a good time. We were required to order at least one item though, so we ordered a fruit plate between the five of us. My god was it fancy.
March 30th: Today was truly an empty day, which we used to take it easy and finish up any last things we needed to (showing my mom the boba shaved ice place, buying my sister’s favorite cookies, and buying all the snacks to take home).
After breakfast as usual at the hotel, my mom, boyfriend, and I went to a local grocery store to raid the snacks and instant noodles to take home. Last year, I just went to the local convenience stores, but even though I know that grocery stores are a better deal, I didn’t know any in my area last year. We bought lots of Chinese-style instant noodles, and some Taiwan exclusive chips and Hi-chews.
Around 11 we headed out to the MRT and rode to the next stop over, which I guess had the closest location of Monkey Mars, a cookie brand that my sister is addicted to. I do think they’re pretty good, and they’re basically different flavors of that butter crumbly cookie. I also got a matcha one to take home with me.
Since we had midday snack plans at Gongguan but were already hungry as it was noon, we decided to find somewhere in the area to eat lunch, and settled on the dim sum restaurant at Brother Hotel right around the corner. Apparently their dim sum is famous, and the food was really good. No picture though.
The star of the day has to be the shaved ice at Mr. Chef Snow & Tofu. I discovered the place last year, and when I found they had boba, I absolutely needed to take my mom. She ordered the Taiwan Bubble Milk Tea with normal brown sugar boba, my dad got the Thai Tea with white honey boba, my boyfriend got the pineapple and guava with a side of brown sugar boba, I got the Roasted Green Tea with honey white boba, and my sister got the strawberry with milk ice (a winter seasonal) with a side of brown sugar boba, which really was just more for my mom.
Since it has boba, I wrote about it on my boba blog. Read about it here!
Gonguan is less of a street, and more of a general area with lots of yummy food. We walked in the area, and generally in the direction of Hsiung Chi Green Onion Pancake, my next food goal in the area. My dad picked up a gua bao from Lan Jia Gua Bao, a really good gua bao place I had last year, and I picked up a pan-fried pun. While I was waiting at Hsiung Chi for right when they open (there was a bit of a line already despite them just preparing!), my mom went to go wait at a fried sweet potato ball stand down the street. Gongguan Night Market was just starting, with all the street vendors already bustling with business.
Bun was meaty, and not too big, not too small. Very yummy, though I could use more crisp on the bottom. This time, I got my pancake absolutely plain, and it was delicious. Fluffy, and classic green onion pancake flavor. Sweet potato balls were huge, but again, crispy outside with a ton of air in the middle. No picture, because I was busy eating, ha!
We were all very full, and my family headed back to the hotel while I took my boyfriend to go visit Syntrend, a multi-floor shopping building with lots of technology shopping, but more importantly, anime shopping. Yes, I now live in Japan, but that doesn’t mean every day I have the opportunity to visit anime shops.
Let’s just say we both did some shopping…anyway, after we were done there and spent a solid couple of hours there, we headed to the local Sogo department store so my boyfriend could buy some last minute souvenirs. We weren’t hungry before this, but it was getting a bit late when we were finally hungry. Since it was our last day, my boyfriend also wanted to visit a bar one last time, and since it looked like it was sprinkling a bit, we decided to stick to the hotel bar and eat there. I didn’t get a drink, but I did order their beef noodle soup as my last one in Taiwan this trip.
Overall it was good, but I had some problems with some parts. I liked it came with pickles, and the addition of kimchi was an interesting choice (though it was spicy and tasted good). Soup had good flavor, and was spicy, and I appreciated the added boy choy. Adding the marinated egg was a nice choice too, and I liked that it included a mix of tendon and beef. However, the beef was kind of tough, and not tender like how it usually is in normal restaurants. The noodles were fine.
March 31st: Time to head back to cold Hokkaido from hot Taipei! Turns out, it was a good day to leave, as our trip had been slightly rainy on a couple days in the ungodly early morning, but this day the weather decided to make it pour.
We got on the airport bus from our hotel around 6:40, and smoothly arrived at the airport in the rain. After we returned our pocket wifi at the Arrivals floor, we headed upstairs to check-in our bags. There was a bit of a line (as always at airports), but that went smoothly, as did security and immigration. With about a little more than an hour to kill at the airport, it was nice not too rush, and have plenty of time to grab boba.
Although still early in the morning, neither of us had anything to eat for breakfast yet, so although planning to grab boba, I opted to share a xiao long bao from the stand next to Mazu Village, my boba of choice for the day.
The drink was the iced lemon wintermelon drink I saw in the back, and it came with soy saucem smoked bean curd, and edamame, Bean curd was good, and xiao long bao was ok, but what can I expect from airport food. Skin was smooth, a bit thicker than I like, but filled with plenty of soup. Filling was fine, a bit gingery for my liking, but that’s a personal preference. Edamame was a solid edamame.
Then we got boba from Mazu Village. Read about my boba here!
Our flight was a little after 10:00 because of delays, and I just want to say, this also would have been a Hello Kitty flight like last year if not for the pause on Sanrio planes at the moment. However, the plane next to us was a different Sanrio plane. I thought all Sanrio planes were on hold until further notice???
Flight was pretty smooth, an came with one round of meals with drinks. Between the Thai Style Stir-Fried Pork and Basil with Steamed Rice and the Creamy Mushroom and Seafood with Spaghetti, I went with the former. In addition, it came with a Shredded Chicken and Cucumber in Sesame Dresing appetizer, a bread roll, seasonal fruit, and a lemon cranberry cake.
The appetizer salad was ok, but I generally enjoy sesame dressing salads anyway. Bread was soft and fluffy, and better than the one coming here. For the main, it turned out to be ground pork basil and minced pepper mix. Vegetables were super soft, and the pork was all right. Flavor was definitely strong. I didn’t finish the cake, but it was just a bit moist, and had what looked like raisins? I felt like I had this one previously…The best part was the fruit. Melon was super ripe, and the guava slice was almost better than any that I actually had in Taiwan.
Immigration was fast (at least for me), but in returnm my suitcase took an entire hour to come out. Boo.
After making a quick stop at a McDonald’s, we hopped on the bus at 6 home. I just got the new matcha pie, a spring season limited item.
Officially. its a crispy Uji matcha pie filled with warabimochi, matcha bean paste, and kuromitsu sauce.
Indeed, it was very good, with a nice crispy crunch on the outside. The soft mochi, matcha bean paste, and sauce all meshed well together as a blend of Japanese flavors in a pie. Pretty sweet, but hey, what else do you expect.
And that was my vacation! Everyone safely arrived home, and my relatives should all be safe in America. It is very unfortunate to hear about the earthquake that happened a few days later on the Eastern side, and my heart goes out to everyone affected.
Japan Excursions 
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