[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 12 November 2016]
Every year, I aim to visit at least one country that I have never been to before. There are about 196 countries in the world (I use the word “about” because there are different lists with different definitions of “country”, but 196 is a commonly cited figure). I’ve realised that I will not have the opportunity to visit all of them before I die. Till date, I have had the good fortune to visit a total of 26 different countries (including Singapore), so that leaves me with about 170 more.
Out of this 170, there are maybe about 30 countries that I have no desire to visit at all due to various reasons like war, disease or political instability, and maybe another 40 countries that are so obscure that I haven’t even heard of them until I saw the opening ceremony of the recent Rio Olympic Games. So to put it generously, there are about another 100 countries that I would like to visit in my lifetime.
Assuming that I have the good fortune to live to 80 years old, I will need to visit two to three new countries a year if I were to fulfill my wish of visiting them all. That is of course, also assuming that I am still in good health to travel when I am advanced in age, and that I have enough money to do so. The bottomline is, my resources (time, money, health) are limited so I have to prioritise my travel choices carefully. So this year, I decided to go to Taiwan for the first time.
Strangely enough, Taiwan is a country (let’s not get political here) that I have never been to before (I did have a 1-hour stopover at the airport enroute to Tokyo last year but that doesn’t count). It is strange because Singapore is so influenced by Taiwanese culture and I love my bubble tea, Shilin XXL fried chicken cutlet and oyster mee sua. We also speak the same language and dialect (Hokkien). So a lot of my friends were surprised when I told them that I have never been to Taiwan before this trip. Certainly took me long enough!
When the opportunity arose for me to take a short trip in June this year, I quickly seized the chance and booked my air ticket just four days before my flight. As it was very last minute, the fare was quite expensive – S$525.13 for a return ticket on Scoot, including 20kg check-in baggage for the return flight. Luckily I managed to offset the high air ticket prices with cheap accommodation. I did some quick research and booked Fun Inn Taipei Hostel, a backpacker’s hostel in the Ximen area. For three nights in a 10-bed mixed dorm, it cost me only S$78.04, which is about S$26.00 a night. With my flights and accommodation booked, I was ready to go!
(Exchange rate: NT$100 approx. equivalent to S$4.31)
Day 1 – 15 June 2016, Wednesday
My Scoot flight departure time was 12:45am, so I went to Changi Airport Terminal 2 on Tuesday night to check in. Before the flight, I relaxed at the SATS Premier Lounge with a light meal and drink. The flight duration is about five hours and I touched down at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1 on Wednesday morning at 5:10am, about half an hour ahead of schedule. There is no time difference between Taipei and Singapore.
As I had no check in luggage, I breezed past immigration and proceeded to the bus terminal to catch a bus to the city. I paid NT$125 (S$5.40) for a one-way ticket on the Kuo-Kuang 1819 express airport bus (國光客運) to Taipei Main Station, which is the massive transport hub in the city connecting the trains and buses. The bus departed at exactly 6:00am. It was a comfortable ride and there were individual power sockets at each seat, so you could charge your mobile phone while watching a movie during the journey. However, I was too tired so I simply took a nap.
The bus arrived at Taipei Main Station East 3 (台北車站東3) entrance at 6:39am. To get to my hostel, I took a train to Ximen (西門) station, one stop away. Actually, after spending three days in the city by the end of the trip, I realised that it only takes 10 minutes to walk from my hostel to Taipei Main Station. I paid NT$380 (S$16.40) for a 72-hour Metro pass, which allows unlimited rides on the Metro trains in Taipei city. The 72 hours begins the moment you use your card.
When I reached Fun Inn Taipei Hostel (瘋台北旅店), it was only 7:17am. The official check-in time is 3pm but as my bed was not occupied, the kind staff allowed me to check in early. The dorm was well furnished and the attached bathroom was big and clean. The rest of my dorm mates were still sleeping so I quietly unloaded the unnecessary items from my luggage and freshened myself up.
After that, I asked the friendly staff if there were any good places for breakfast, and she recommended me to the eateries just below our hostel, along the same stretch of building. I picked AP203 Bar and ordered a breakfast set for NT$98 (S$4.20), comprising toast, eggs, pork chop, salad and a cup of hot coffee. As I slowly acquainted myself with Taipei, I learned that this is the so-called Western-style (西式) breakfast, which usually consists of toast and eggs. The so-called Eastern-style (中式) breakfast comprises dishes like carrot cake (蘿蔔糕) and egg biscuit (蛋餅) [this is a literal translation; a more accurate English description would be “egg roll”], of which you can choose to fill it with ingredients like ham, cheese or vegetables. After a slow breakfast, I decided to head over to the Taipei 101 building to have a look, arriving at 9:35am.
Taipei 101 was once the world’s tallest building when it opened on 31 December 2004, but it was overtaken by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2009. It is so named because it has 101 storeys. Taipei 101’s height is 509.2m, way taller than Singapore’s tallest buildings at only 280m (UOB Plaza One, Republic Plaza and One Raffles Place – they share the same height), but also way shorter than the towering 828m of the Burj Khalifa. You can pay NT$500 (S$21.55) to go to the observation gallery on the 89th floor but I didn’t do so. When I looked up from the ground floor, the Taipei 101 building didn’t look very tall. I think you can only appreciate how tall it really is from a distance.
From Taipei 101, I headed towards the Eslite Xinyi Store (誠品信義店), about 10 minutes’ walk away. Do note that if you’re asking for directions to the store, you’ll need to ask for “誠品” or “Cheng Pin” (the Chinese name) instead of “Eslite” (the English name). The Xinyi branch is the flagship store and it is Taiwan’s largest bookstore at 8,000 square metres spread out over eight floors. In fact, a more appropriate term should be lifestyle store instead of bookstore, because it sells a whole lot of other things like music, audio visual equipment, toys, food, clothing and many other unique items. It also carries the largest collection of English books and magazines in Taipei (most of the literature in Taipei are in traditional Chinese). There are a few Eslite outlets in Taipei itself, and the other popular one is the Dunnan (敦南) branch, which is one of the few bookstores in the world that is open 24 hours.
I arrived at the Eslite Xinyi store just as it opened its doors for business at 10:00am. I was not the first customer though. There were already several other shoppers there before me. It was as chic and classy as how others had described the place. Unlike our Kinokuniya in Singapore, the aisles here are very spacious and there are many seating areas and quiet corners where you can retreat to read a book. The catalogue is as extensive as a library’s. The music store also carried a huge range of International (English) CDs, vinyl, DVD and Blu Ray movies, but I didn’t buy any because I felt they were a little pricey. The Eslite Xinyi store is a lifestyle destination in its own right and it is well worth a visit even if you don’t buy anything. Together with the Tsutaya Books store in Daikanyama, Tokyo, this is one of my favourite bookstores in the world.
After that, I visited a few other shopping malls in the area – Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越), Breeze Songgao (微風松高) and ATT4fun. However, I wasn’t in the shopping mood yet so I didn’t buy anything. One thing to note about shopping in Taipei is that the stores generally open quite late, at 11am, so it’s great for those of you who are not morning folks. I then walked back to Taipei 101 station and hopped on the train.
As I had unlimited Metro rides, I got off at Xinyi Anhe (信義安和) station at the spur of the moment, just to see if there was anything interesting there. Well, there wasn’t much there, but I decided to have lunch at a random restaurant and picked one that seemed to be quite popular with the locals. I ordered a chicken and vegetable rice set and bubble tea for NT$225 (S$9.70) and it was quite good.
My next destination was the Mollie Used Books (茉莉二手書店) store near Gongguan (公館). Mollie has two separate stores – one selling secondhand books and another one selling secondhand CDs, but they carry the same name. The one I’m visiting is the music store. Earlier, while I was at the Taipei 101 train station, I went to the Visitor’s Centre to search for free city maps. A friendly female staff attended to me with a big smile and recommended me the best night markets and shopping areas. She was real helpful and she even pointed out the closest train stations and walking directions for each destination.
When she asked me if there was any particular thing I was looking for, I replied that I was interested in visiting record shops and secondhand CD stores. She then went on the Internet to search for me, and recommended me Mollie, which I had never heard before. Before coming to Taipei, I didn’t have much time to do my own research, so I was only aware of Eslite and Chia Chia Record (佳佳唱片) being the major music stores. So after lunch, I made my way to Gongguan to search for this Mollie shop.
I followed the directions she provided but didn’t manage to find Mollie at first, and ended up at another secondhand book shop that also happened to sell some secondhand CDs. The signboard said another name, so I went in and proceeded to browse through the collection, which was rather limited. I did manage to find a few titles but was rather disappointed with my find. I then asked the cashier if he knew where Mollie was, and thankfully he was kind enough to tell me where it was. I was afraid he might not wish to reveal the location of a competitor. Turned out Mollie was just one small street corner away, but it wasn’t very prominent and I almost missed it.
Mollie Used Books ／茉莉二手書店（影音館）
Address: No. 17, Alley 10, Lane 244, Section 3, Roosevelt Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100 ／ 100台北市羅斯福路三段244巷10弄17號
Website: www.mollie.com.tw
The shop was styled like Eslite, with spacious walkways and wooden panelled flooring. I almost wet my pants with glee when I did a cursory browse of the front rack and immediately spotted some rare titles. Best of all, the prices were reasonable, ranging from NT$69 (S$3.00) onwards, and the CDs were in terrific condition. Even though the store wasn’t that big, it was a treasure trove. I predicted it would be a long afternoon spent at Mollie. Two hours later and NT$2,295 (S$98.90) poorer, I left Mollie a happy man. I would have bought more if not for the fact that they only accepted cash. As it was my first day in Taipei, I didn’t want to deplete my cash supply so fast so I had to rein myself in with much difficulty. But I was very pleased with my haul! Will definitely visit the shop again in future.
Along the way, I spotted Yong He Dou Jiang (永和豆漿), which specialises in soya bean drink, bean curd and dough fritters. I went in and bought myself a cup of cold soya bean drink for NT$20 (S$0.86). I was wondering if it is the same Yong He as the famous one in Geylang in Singapore. My friend later informed me that the Singapore one originated from Taiwan. In other words, copycat!
I then made my way back to the hostel to deposit my newly acquired load (CDs are heavy, you know). After a short rest, it was time to venture out to the bright lights of Ximending (西門町). To no surprise, my first stop was Chia Chia Record (佳佳唱片), located on the second floor of the row of shops along the Zhonghua main road. Chia Chia is well stocked with the latest International music and film titles as well as back catalogue. There is a good collection of jazz and classical music too. In fact, all genres are equally well represented. The prices are reasonable and slightly cheaper than Singapore. I bought Beyonce’s Lemonade (CD+DVD) for NT$459 (S$19.80) but a standard single CD album is priced around NT$420 (S$18.10).
With the important business of the day settled (my bag was quite heavily loaded again), I continued my exploration of Ximending. My first thought was that it reminded me a lot of Shibuya and Shinjuku in Tokyo. The shops and streets were packed with people, mostly locals. There were big, bright signboards everywhere, competing for customers’ attention. There was a buzz in the air and it was very happening. There was a bit of sensory overload, but overall it was still pleasant and not overwhelming.
Being my first night in Taipei, I just wanted to have a feel of the area so I strolled through the streets quickly before proceeding to my next destination. My helpful Visitor Centre friend had earlier recommended me three night markets to check out – Ningxia (寧夏), Raohe (饒河) and Shilin (士林). Tonight, I chose Ningxia because it is the smallest among them. Thought I shouldn’t be too ambitious on the first day when I haven’t had much rest yet.
I took the Metro and alighted at Zhongshan (中山) station. From there, it is about a 12-minute walk to Ningxia night market. The first section consists of game booths like those we have at our pasar malams in Singapore, with oversized stuffed toys as game prizes. The second section is where the food stalls are. Now, that is what I came for!
As I walked through the aisle, I was flanked by stalls selling the most interesting dishes and I had a hard time deciding which one to try first. There were flame grilled beef cubes, egg tarts in a multitude of flavours (chocolate, coffee, macha red bean, black sesame, cheese), breaded deep fried cuttlefish, lok lok (food skewered with satay sticks and cooked in hot water), mee sua and of course, XXL fried chicken cutlet. They all looked and smelled so good. I decided to try a bit of everything.
I first tried the cheese egg tart (NT$35/S$1.50), which was basically a slice of cheese slapped on top of a normal egg tart. The crust was quite hard and solid, unlike the flaky crust of Portuguese egg tarts. The filling was like the Portuguese egg tart kind, but more compact and not as soft. The cheese didn’t go very well with the egg tart. Overall, it was ok but not fantastic. Verdict: Portuguese egg tart wins.
Next, I tried the oyster mee sua, which was my number one objective here. It cost NT$40 (S$1.70) a bowl. Unlike the oyster mee sua in Singapore, the one sold in Taipei didn’t just contain oyster but also had shrimp and pig innards. I was quite surprised because I thought the one that I have been eating for years in Singapore from Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks stall was authentic and representative of the one in Taiwan. But it turned out quite different. Even the taste is different. The Singapore one has vinegar added to it and I actually prefer it. So the mee sua didn’t turn out the way I expected.
Verdict: Oyster mee sua from Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks (Singapore) wins.
I then tried the XXL chicken cutlet, which cost NT$70 (S$3.00). Like the oyster mee sua, my impression of XXL chicken cutlet comes from the Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks stall in Singapore. And once again, it turned out to be quite different. The one I had here was dipped in sweet soya sauce rather than being sprinkled with chilli powder and seasoning. It’s a different style but it was actually quite nice and I enjoyed it, till I munched on bones. I expected it to be boneless like the Singapore one. In the end, I didn’t finish it because there were too many bones, and I was too full by then.
Verdict: XXL Crispy Chicken from Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks (Singapore) wins.
The last item I tried was the papaya milk shake, which cost NT$50 (S$2.20) a cup. The drink was prepared fresh and you can even choose the sugar level and how much ice you wish to have in it. It was my first time trying the drink and I enjoyed it immensely. I would drink it for the next two days as well. After I returned from the trip, I tried the one in Singapore (Xin Bei Healthy Papaya Milkshake) but it was way more expensive (twice the price) and not as nice.
Verdict: Taipei’s papaya milkshake wins!
By the time I left Ningxia night market, it was about 10pm. I was exhausted by the time I got back to the hostel because I didn’t sleep much on the plane during the flight, but it was quite hard sleeping with a full stomach! So far, so good Taipei!