My past travelogues have been done in at least three separate entries so i'll attempt to squeeze everything about Taipei in one entry. My camera's a siao-ding-dong during the trip and often frustrates my flair in photo-taking (as if!). Which is why I returned with not much pictures this time.Taipei is still very much a place where local fare prevails so much so that this is what makes her 'Taipei'. So if you are somebody who cannot stomach roadside stalls or weird 'xiao chi', then maybe you wouldn't get to taste the real Taipei nor enjoy this place much. Having said that, I am sure all of you will surely like this! Have to Queue very long to buy!

Since this is my first trip there, I did all the touristy stuff like visit the C.K.S. Memorial Hall.....

where lo and behold!!! President Chen Shui Bian was grazing some opening ceremony....

Next, we moved on to Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall....

and then Taipei 101.

On our way to Danshui, we purposely made a detour to Miramar Shopping Mall (which is quite out of the way) to take a ferris wheel ride. Not a let down indeed!

Danshui took me by surprise.... Incredibly hot! Until I can feel the heat through the soles of my shoes. Either that, or my shoes are really lousy. Time (or excuse) to get a new pair. Oh well, I might as well confess, I got 5 pairs of shoes ultimately.

It very fun just to walk around and get real lost in all the little shops or busy my mouth gobbling up all the funny funny snacks from the endless foodstore. Everywhere is just so crowded so the atmosphere here really rubs off on me. It's never boring as I never know what's around the corner. Turns out that I actually bought 'My melody' Handiplast here. So cute I don't think I will bear to use it... only for emergencies!

I also made it a point to wake up early catch the railway to Rui Fang Station so that we can head to Jiu Fen. Jiu Fen again is quite a commercialised place (if you can spot all the stores behind me in the picture).

Jiu Fen used to be a old mining town and nine families resided here so all the portions have to be divided by nine shares; hencefore the name - Jiu Fen. Now, this place evolved into quite an interesting one with a heavy concentration of tea houses. Even the store lady is interesting (look at the below picture)....

See what I mean? Yahahaha.... Anyway, the meat snack below is very famous also. But I was so busy eating when I step foot here that by the time I saw this, I was too full to try it. Anyway, I took a picture so that I can continue to imagine how it would taste like. Tee Hee.

We tried to look for HRC Taipei but walk round and round still cannot find. I collect shot glasses and Wilson actually asked the hotel receptionist for directions. Maybe the place 'dao bi'?? Eventually we gave up and rested my tired feet at Macdonalds. It was at this point that we ran into somebody outside the indoor stadium trying to sell us some concert ticket. The original price per ticket cost $100 (I think!) and she was willing to sell to us for $50 for two tickets... means $25 each! Wu hua right? After we went through the security check, Wilson turned to ask the security person whose concert are we watching.... he looked at us like we are idiots! Guess we were cos we blur blur buy, and blur blur walk in. Anyway, Sun Yan Zi was singing her third song by the time we got in. Inside's really spacious and fully occupied... what a high!
It turned out that our tickets were on two different rows! Damn it! Luckily the ushers managed to find us two empty seats side by side on rows that are maybe three rows further away from where we were supposed to sit. Heng ah! No camera's allowed so I secretly snapped a few pictures. Especially when FIR got on stage to perform as guest star later part of the concert. Even though I am not a fan of Sun Yan Zi, the concert was truly amazing! Sometimes you just have to marvel how things can turn out to be a nice surprise when it wasn't pre-planned.

Maybe some of you may ask: Is that all you have to say about your trip? My answer will be a 'Yes'! Of course I went to Shilin Ye Shi... twice in fact. But what I want to write now is what I want to remember in years to come.