Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Back from Vacation II

Monday Night: Since the pub performance will be near ZhongXiao DunHua road, we decided to go shopping at Sogo there and check out a little known night market: the LiaoNing street night market. It was drizzling so reluctantly, we ate at the food court. The Sogo was 12 stories there, but to me that is the only point of interest. They sell Haba games there but it is cheaper at the Better Toy Store here in Singapore at Ngee Ann City. After food and slight shopping, we proceed to head for the night market, but it turned out to be a really long walk. In the end, we gave up upon reaching the road and finding nothing obvious. The family rested in a Starbucks-like coffee place. I went slightly further alone to find about 20 food stalls, but it was quite dowdy in my opinion.

On hindsight, I should have researched the place before going. Looking at the online reviews of the place, it turns out that this LiaoNing mini-night market is famous for its food. I should have gone to this place for dinner instead.

After the rest, we went to the pub to see 張晉樵. It was a wonderful evening and his singing was as good as the clips we would find online. My daughter loved the experience as well. I especially enjoy 纸片人。 The crowd was largely subdued that day, but actually I liked it that way. The pub was a lot smaller than I imagined. The musicians were absolutely superb.

Tuesday Day: There were 2 must-go locations for us. One is DanShui which we cleared in Day 1. The other is WuFenPu which is a HUGE cheap shopping area mainly for clothes. We had breakfast in the East Dragon hotel which is totally recommended by me. The hotel is cheap, well located and clean with friendly service. Then we had lunch at a shop that specialize in 虱目魚。 This fish has a layer of fat that gives a unique experience when consumed with the flesh. This shop is along the way from the MRT to WuFenPu so it is definitely unmissable. We then shopped at WuFenPu which is absolutely HUGE. I think there are about 5-10 long alleys both in columns and in rows, all lined with shops on both sides. The kids once again tire out in 2 hours and we barely skimmed half the place. We debated whether to continue or to go back to rest. The ideal situation is to shop till the night and go to the RaoHe Night market nearby, but that is now quite untenable. In the end, we slogged on for another hour carrying the kids, and took a taxi to the shopping district at SongShan road. There are at least 5 huge shopping centers there, and we discovered that ICE-CREAM!!! is the secret formula that keeps our dear girl energized. Anyway, we then went to tour Taopei 101. We skipped the observatory because we think the charge is too expensive.

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