Semi-Charmed Life

Near the entrance of the zoo.

The zoo was bigger and better than I expected. Very scenic too.

I could not snap a good shot of the tiger but this was the best I could do.

Bears are awesome!

Baby giraffe chilling by himself.

This dude was freaking awesome! Wish I took a video of this guy showing off on the trees. His arms are LONG.

Another monkey.

White rhinos don't look very white to me.

Lioness just chillin.

Hungry hungry hippos.

National Palace Museum

National Palace Museum

National Palace Museum

There was a nice garden outside where I was taking pictures when I happened upon this guy. He was sprawled out across the path like it was nobody's business. The animals in TW are not afraid of strangers at all.

Every now and then I see these ladies ride up escalators, cleaning the metal part on the side.

Steph recommended this hot pot place to us. It's unlimited meat and vegetables, for an hour and a half. One of the best hotpot places I've ever been to. You cook the food in a soy-based soup and the only dipping sauce you are supposed to use is an egg. We had like 4 different cuts of beef and pork and they were all very high quality. I'd definitely come back here again. This is considered expensive by TW standards but you won't spend more than $20usd here.

The food is soooo slammin!

We brought our American appetites and were devouring the meat as quickly as it came. Towards the end of our 1.5 hour session though, we were pretty defeated.

The meat and vegetables are given to us separately. The meat came in square racks with 5-6 slices per rack while the vegetables were served out of a cart that came by intermittently.

We went to Chia Te bakery to buy some stuff to bring back to the states. This place has a line out the door just to get in, so you know this place is poppin.

I bought dozen pineapple pastries to bring back to the office and an assorted box of 20 for home. The egg custard was nothing special, but the milk cake (shown on top) was delicious. I really regret not getting more of those.

Of course the meatheads have to get their gym on while on vacation. The rest of us went back to the house to get some laundry done because we were all pretty much tapped out on fresh clothes by this point. No tanning though because Taiwanese people don't appreciate dark skin.

Came by this fried chicken joint while on our way to the National Palace Museum. Surprisingly it was not bad at all! Sweet potato fries too! I wish there was a location closer to where I'm staying though.

On the bus heading out to the area near Din Tai Fung (Xinyi?) for breakfast. We ate at some crappy pho restaurant because we were sold by the "awards" they boasted about in the windows.

The pho spot seemed to be the only crappy joint in the area though. Din Tai Fung was excellent. I forgot to bring my own camera that day so I don't have the pictures up for it, unfortunately. There was also a very good beef noodle place around the the block. I also got a chance to try some very good "egg skinny noodles" in the area. I don't know how to spell it in pinyin so I don't want to butcher it. This picture is of some fluffy pancake type of thing with ham, egg and basil. I also got this from the area around Din Tai Fung. DELICIOUS.

After eating we went to grab some mango shaved ice at this spot.

Yes, it's common to see grown men sharing dessert in Taiwan.

We came by a park with random exercise equipment.

Happened upon a store in the MRT station that had Jin on the advertisements. I figured since I was running low on clothes anyway because I severely underpacked I might as well take the opportunity to check out a different brand and buy some new gear.

I was trying to take a picture to convey how orderly the lines were for the trains but that didn't come out too well.

Fuzhong train station in Banqiao.

I was the only one that accompanied Steve to visit his Aunt and Uncle in Shilin because everybody in the house was assed out. Everyday feels like a long day and it seems like we take at least one nap a day prior to going out at night again. This picture is of Taipei High School, right next to the apartment we were visiting.

Steve's aunt and uncle took us out to a Japanese restaurant in the area. The food was pretty damn good here.

At some night market in Banqiao

Banqiao train station? I'm not even sure at this point.

Ximending

Had this shaved ice in Ximending. This one was DELICIOUS. Some basement level joint.

Asian shirts are so bugged out.

Taipei 101 and the mall that's connected to it.

Another ballin ass mall that we went to. It's not so fun going to malls when you can't afford anything there.

Another ballin mall in the same area.

This was outside the MRT station of said ballin mall area.

Outside some temple in Banqiao

We stayed at Steve's family's apartment in Banqiao

The street outside Steve's apartment

Steve's Uncle, Alex, brought us to eat at Banqiao station. He showed us how to use the MRT and gave us a few helpful pointers. This picture was taken in the Banqiao station building complex.

Banqiao Station

Banqiao Station

Taken on a bus at Taipei. Alex told us about the designated seats on the buses and trains in Taipei. On the MRT, they're a different color than the other seats. If you're not pregnant, disabled, old or have young kids, you're not allowed to sit there. It's socially frowned upon to do so and from what I've seen, people generally abide by this.

Steph in front of the old Sogo mall. I've been to a handful of malls so far and from what I've seen, they do not generally cater to the average consumer. Everything is ballin.

Taken on the train station overlooking the Shilin night market. Taiwan is ALL about the night markets. I was told this is the biggest one in Taipei.

The Shilin night market is HUGE. We spent an hour just at the food court complex alone, trying little things here and there. Here, we're pretty much finished but it looks like the rest of them still want to eat.

We were originally going to hike on this day but instead we hit up Danshui.

The shaved ice in Taiwan is bangin. Somebody HAS to import this to America.