Delightful Taiwan

Never expected this trip to be so fulfilling and satisfying. Every minute details were taken care of and basically nothing went wrong except for the last day but shall save that for later! The weather turned for the better upon my arrival and the sun shone its favor on us throughout our trip. His goodness is this tangible. In a nutshell, the experience has been fantastic. For the first time, I returned home feeling soooooo refreshed. I know He truly knows me best and once again, I was not shortchanged in any ways.

THE FOOD

What is a holiday without yummy food! While I was disappointed I didn't get to find my oyster mee sua and try the fermented beancurd, I was satisfied with whatever I found as I walked the streets. Honestly, I did not think whatever was recommended on guidebooks were of any great deal, in fact, the foodie in me took absolute delight in trying what the locals ate and unfortunately, they are not given their due credit.

Let's start with the savoury ones first:

Ah Zong Mee Sua and the Chicken Fillet.

I kicked start my trip with these 2 hot favourites amongst tourists @ Shilin night market and they were pretty impressive. The fillet was really big and for $2, it was definitely value for money.

Unlike our bak kut teh, this pork rib soup was mild with a clear-tasting broth. It would have been better if the ribs were more meaty. We had to rushed through our dinner @ Rao He Night Mkt as it was seriously packed. But we were well re-charged after the this little starter.

Ooohh..this deep fried sotong stuffed with risotto found in Ximending has to be 1 of my favourite. Super tender sotong and it was quite a unique case of East-meets-West with the risotto. I just stuffed each cut up piece into my mouth and it was purely gorgeous! They prepare on the spot and so you get piping hot sotong to warm your tummy!

This fried beef noodle was another unexpected find while trying to explore the streets around our guesthouse in Taipei. A simple delight with extremely well-marinated beef (黄牛) slices.

Don't belittle this bittergourd salad. Humble as it is but each slice of the gourd was accompanied with audible crunches. Its that crunchy and so not bitter it can be eaten on its own. Very refreshing.

Save the best for the last! This was our last home-made meal before we bid Taiwan goodbye. Auntie lovingly wake up every morning to prepare breakkie for the guests and each morning is a different fare! How much more personalized can they be?

The marinated omelette was made on the spot and sandwiched between a freshly toasted bun with fresh lettuce. Accompanying it would be fresh fruits salad comprising nothing but tropical delights of kiwi, cherry tomatoes & banana. Truly a hearty and healthy fare!

In Hualien, the food hunt also reaped pretty good finds. Since its out of Taipei, the food were more or less local delights.

Upon reaching Hualien, we were introduced to this Teahouse cum restaurant and our hunger was well-satiated with the tangy tomato beef noodle soup and braised chicken thigh. Succulent & fresh meat all for $13 for 2 pax. Need I say more?

This yam ice-cream mochi had us go back for a 2nd one on the day we left Hualien. Bite through the sticky chewy dough and the sweetness of the yam-flavoured ice-cream just made us high! On a hot day, this sure beats Magnum Gold or Haagan Daz ( in taste and price of course!)

More of what we had in Hualien included the 扁食 (or wanton), vegetarian 鍋贴 and 水金包 (or stuffed dumplings). Amazing thing was all these were not recommended by anyone but it was just a case of pleasant stumbling upon gems and btw, they are all road-side treasures!

On to the desserts now....bet you must be salivating already!

I read about this taro ball dessert in the food guide and it's supposedly a must-try but found outside of Taipei. However, @ JiuFen we found 2 stalls (in fact there were many but dunno which is authentic) that appealed to us and we gave it a shot.

The top one consists of taro, sweet potato and pumpkin balls with cold beancurd. Very very refreshing and we thought we had the real stuff until we discovered the real stuff!

We had to go for a 2nd try (after walking off the 1st of course) and this time it was different. Mixed with green bean soup topped with a generous serving of the balls and crushed ice. This was traditional but it was way more popular than the first.

Similar to our cheng tng was this find on our last day, except for the ingredients used. Mee ta bak, chewy jelly and broad red beans. Sounds strange to have mee ta bak in a dessert but apparently a popular one amongst the locals. Long Q and so we followed the crowd.

These 2 fruity delights (芒果沙冰 & 三色冰 respectively) have to be the best! It was the mango season I tell u! The huge chunky pieces of fruits was enough to fill our tummies and they were ultra generous. Oh how I missed them!

For the record, the fruits in Taiwan are just ridiculously big and sweet. Their very own produce and I was simply amazed by the quality of them all.

Its painful to be able to see but not taste the goodies. Well well....that's just too bad! Apart from the food, the sights were also something to behold.

THE SIGHTS

Some pretty landscapes while on the train to Hualien.

Our everyday present when we awake in Hualien.

Snippets of the whole day tour of Taroko Gorge and beyond.

The Taroko gorge day tour ended with a utterly relaxing albeit short time @ 七星滩. A pity we could not be there earlier otherwise I would have attempted cycling along the scenic beach. The picturesque backdrop surrounding the coast was amazing. To up the romantic factor, there was this uncle playing his saxaphone and I tell you...that was L.I.F.E.

My butterflies collection.
Spotted soooo many different kinds during the remarkable ascent to find the Shrine!