9:38pm, Hero House Hotel, Taipei
Got up after a knock on the door at 8am to join Irene and Betsy for breakfast. The buffet had yet another new array of dishes, including a buttercup pumpkin dish. Just 2 plates for me today. Then we took the MRT to Chiang Kai-shek memorial plaza, after finally buying easy-pass tickets for the MRT and buses, which gives you a 20% discount on fares, and you don't have to continually buy fare.
The weather was much warmer out, despite the light drizzle when we woke up. Patches of blue sky started appearing as we walked across the large plaza with twin giant red temples with gold trimmings. Two immobile guards stood like statues on either side of the large Lincoln Memorial like statue of Shek.
Twin temple buildings...
Climbing stairs up to the Memorial...
Looking back at the plaza, and up at the ceiling inside the Memorial...
There was a large plaza with exhibits underneath the memorial, and free wifi, if you gave them your passport info. There's apparently a lot of hackers here, so they need protocol to keep security.
Then we walked towards Daan Park, and stopped at a place for sticky rice with pork, and rice balls with sesame.
The restaurant served sticky rice, and rice balls filled with various fillings (black sesame is my favorite)...
We continued, and happened to pass the place we had egg tarts and egg pancakes yesterday. So we stopped by again for seconds, and this time I tried a "green onion donut with pork floss". The pork floss melted in my mouth like cotton candy. It was pretty good, and completely unimaginable before this moment. Betsy bought a bubble tea.
...I found a pork floss pastry, and decided to give it a try. Weird! Like cotton candy, the airy dried meat just melts in your mouth...
Mmm... Egg & Scallion fried dough circles. Wendy likes this new fruit that kind of looks like an apple crossed with a tomato...
We walked through the park, which had a large crane bird, and ended up visiting the same "night market" as last night. I got a bubble tea, and have now vowed to have a bubble tea each day I'm here, where practical. Good stuff, and cheap. Found a fresh egg tart place, and we each bought one. After a couple more munch stops, we walked to an MRT stop, and rode north to the Flower show.
Taiwan is hosting the international flower expo this year. Our easy-pass MRT tickets saved us 10% on the 200NT afternoon admission price. The place felt like Disney World, with several regional "lands", long lines at the main exhibits, pretty landscaping, happy music, and shuttle bus transportation between "lands". We took a shuttle to the far end and walked back. Reviews were mixed. The bonsai tree exhibit was probably the highlight.
Colorful beds...
Lots of walking today, as we explored all the themed "lands"...
It was dark by the time we left, but also cool to see the place lit up at night...
With weary feet, we returned to the heavily crowded MRT, and got off near our hotel, where Irene knew of a nearby place that served Niro Mien (beef noodle soup), a favorite of the Changs. Afterwards, Wendy and I walked a bit more and bought some rice balls filled with sesame and red bean.
iNow we're considering extending our car rental a day, to extend our road trip since we've managed to explore much of our Taipei agenda already.
Need to figure out the rail system tomorrow, to get to Pingsi for the Lantern Festival. Hope we don't run into disappointment with ticket availability. Man, I can barely stay awake. Night-night. Here are some more pics from the day, taken by Betsy:
