Taipei: Ling Jiang Night Market

After 10pm in Singapore...there is no life except for the pubs and discos....Singapore night life is not for the masses...only for those who drink, smoke and dance......Something is lacking at night....and it is something in taiwan that make it so dynamic at night....that is real night life...night life for the old and young, tourist and locals....plenty of food and shopping and things to see and the atmosphere.....

The first night in Taipei went to 101, before that....due to hungry stomach....we decided to head for the nearby Ling Jiang Night Market....I will not say this is a big one....just one of those in the neighbour that walking without stopping from one end to the other takes about 15-20min but still..there is plenty of food and things to see.

Designated night market are usually on a street which is close at night for it and open to traffic for the day....

2 rows of shops line up the street with small stores selling food and products lining the side in front of the shops by the side of the roads...plus the centre will have also a row of hawkers dividing the street into two narrow lanes....so..there are basically 5 rows of shops as you walk down the narrow croweded street.....

The entrance or exit of the night market is usually crowded with food store.....u can pick anyone and eat along the way.....here is the first store of this night market

Broght 2-3 water stream bun from this store..basically is our Bak Bao but there is soup inside and is very tasty

Then we saw this "sweet but not spicy hot" .....hahaaa....is actually TEMPURA!!

And we saw this sausage store...taiwan sausage is very delicious and is popular....

So we got this big sausage wrap small sausage...i thought is what...the big sausage is actually made of glutinous rice wrapping a smaller taiwan sausage

We also saw a couple of small restuarants along the way

and decided to hop into this.......

Specialty here: SMELLY TOUFU....not fried but skew with other stuff.....

So we got one...as we dig for the toufu...the smelly smell filled our nose...walaus......and we dig and put into the mouth!! walaus..like throw rubbish into the mouth.....not bad lar.....the other meat and vege are fresh

we also got mee sua....

and this cheap hot plate of fish and chicken grilled

After filling our stomach...we went on our way to explore more...saw this fruit store...and the fruits are big..walaus..the guava and jambu are twice the size u see in Singapore lor

We brought one big guava and a couple of jambu and anothjer special plum in cherry tomato....very delicious...the guava are so sweet that it can be eaten without the plum or salt powder...

As we eat the fruits...we saw more interesting food stores:

Hundred Miles Fragrance Smelly toufu:

OK....enough of food....some street shots

as we walk...there are rubbish bin along the way...installed by the night market management.....ok...i boliao to put this up

and we reached the end of the night market

OK..I am full and satisfied with the food...and we left the place at about 8pm and the crowd has just pouring in.........

coming up next.....the famous Shilin night market

Environmentally Neutral Design Foot Wear....

New Kids on the block....

Saw this company mentioned in the green issue of the Runners' World.....Someone left Swoosh to set up this environmentally friendly Running footwear company

Go to Environmentally Neutral Design Website

Hang Man 4....the last one

The last hanging session.....but I din "killed" me....OK....after 2 times already numb liao.......the therapist decided to released me since my condition did not get worst and there is nothing much they can do.....

She put me to my first ultrasound to relax the tight muscles.....i must say that it is very good...in fact...too good that I felt weird having the tighter side being more loosen than the other side....

I shouldnt write much since I am on MC today after my relapse of my old problem last night.......

Froggy Island Story

Ever heard of the Froggy Island Story? Do you know there is a froggy island in Singapore? click on the photo below:

Chinese Total Immersion book......

Saw this TI swimming book in a Taipei bookshop...

Looking at the row of chinese names at the bottom of the cover...for those who do not know how to read chinese..the first name on the left is the President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou...Wow..they even get him to endorsed TI swimming......

Free Flow of food...............

Because of some very good performance by the division, the division head decided to treat us to a good division lunch to celebrate the efforts......OK...I just joined not long...so I enjoying other fruits planted by other old birds....

So we got a private room which holds 9 big tables at Pariss International Buffet, Marina Square...cannot take the food counter spread....so only took some of the food I got and this is obviously not all I eaten

--> Oyster, clams and salmon sashimi....

--> custard bun, tempura prawn, sweet steam prawns, japanese half boiled egg spa, spring roll, fried wanton and shrimp wrap and salmon sashimi again

--> tako sashimi in wasabi, black pepper crab, mushroom salad, cockle

--> This is probably the best of all.....Grilled Salmon HEAD...OK....you dun get to eat salmon head everywhere

...and other exotic stuff like crocodile bak ku teh, Alaska crab ad Shark Fin Soup, herbal ginseng black chicken soup, all other sorts of sashimi, fruits, desserts, DIY ice Kacang, BBQ and grilled meat.........

OK......but I still like the Salmon HEAD...

MJ Birthday Cake

Because there are 4 colleagues having their birthday close together in Oct, my manager got this 1.5kg cake to celebrate:

.....Obviously, he is one of those mahjong siao....

Taipei: 101

One of the landmark in Taipei is 101....not the tallest in the world..but at least the tallest I can reached personally in near future....better than our neighbour tall building which can only allow access to half of it

From Da An MRT station.....can already see it far away

getting nearer

and very near..

But too hungry...so decided to drop by nearby Night Market for makan first....and come again another hour when the sky is dark...the symbol you see on the building represent the 10/10 celebration 2 days before I was there

The building side entrance

The shopping mall at the bottom few floors....very quiet..like a "ghost town"....high end products....like paragon

At the 5th level entrance to the observatory entrance

The ticketing counter

and it cost NT$400 for adult....S$19

They have the world fastest elevator...starting from level 5

and it took 37sec to reach 89 level

The view from the indoor visitor pod

counter to get the free "electronic audio tour guide"....

and I got one myself

The model of the world fastest elevator

Another important piece of the tower which is the damping ball which can save it from typhoon and earthquake

Data about the ball

There is a staircase to go up to the 91st floor which is the outdoor observatory area

Refuge room for emergency on 90th floor

The top of the tower at 91st floor

and the view from outside

Very windy and cooling outside.....so got to go down after visiting all the important viewing areas

Visitor info at the ticketing counter

Next time must go again in the day.....the night see nothing by lights....cannot see the mountain and the tea plantation...ok lar...can see bridges, tunnel entrance and a big ferris wheel far away....

nite market coming up.......