Tamsui and Xiao Long Bao

Hey there,

today we decided on taking the MRT to Tamsui, a sea-side district of New Taipei. On our way to the MRT we grabbed some spring-roll like wraps for breakfast and bought some coffee and soy milk at the nearest convenience store along with two small pasties from the bakery next door (since they looked to good not to buy any) and went to 228 peace park to eat them.

Then we hopped onto the train to Tamsui. The weather today was a bit gloomy and upon arriving in Tamsui it was raining a bit, but nothing too bad and it cleared a little bit up later.
I really like Tamsui district, since the views of Tamsui river and the sea have a very calming effect (at least on me).
We just walked around for a bit before visiting Fort San Dominigo, which costs 80 NTD.

Fort San Domingo was first build by the Spanish and during its history it changed owner (and name) quite a bit. First the Spanish, then the Dutch, the Japanese, the British... The museum that's been set up inside is quite interesting since it explains Taiwan's history.

Afterwards we took the bus to Fisherman's Wharf.
Unfortunately they were renovating the boardwalk, but still the wharf is very beautiful and I really enjoyed strolling along the harbor and walking over Lover's bridge again.

Tomorrow will be our last day here, so for dinner we went to eat Xiao Long Bao and other food at Din Tai Fung again one last time before going back.
After a long MRT ride (1 hour and 20 min) we went straight to the restaurant expecting a long waiting time. We were surprised about how fast we got a table.
The dinner was, as expected, superb! We had Xiao Long Bao with shrimp and green squash, Xiao Long Bao with pork and truffles, Xiao Long Bao with crab roe and pork, steamed fish dumplings, shrimp and pork won tons, Din Tai Fung's house special (algae and tofu salad), spicy pickled cucumber and, for dessert, taro buns.
For the truffle Xiao Long Bao they gave us extra instructions to clean our palate by drinking tea before eating them and they gave us a new, clean spoon to eat them, since you are supposed to eat them as they are (not dipping them in the soy sauce/vinegar/ginger dip). They cost roughly four times as much as the regular pork Xiao Long Bao. But they are worth it! So delicious!

Din Tai Fung house special and spicy pickled cucumber

shrimp and squash xiao long bao

pork and truffles xiao long bao

crab roe and pork xiao long bao

fish dumplings

shrimp and pork won tons

taro buns

We were full, but as I said, tomorrow is our last day here, so we also decided to eat some shaved ice for dessert at the Taipei 101 food court.

We are pretty sad to leave Taiwan tomorrow, since we liked our trip very much. But on the other hand it will also be good to be home.

I hope you enjoyed reading. See you tomorrow for my last post about this beautiful country.

Pia

Relaxing at Xinbeitou

Hey there,

we started our day by getting something at the nearby bakery for breakfast and afterwards shopping for souvenirs in Ximending. I just hope we can fit everything into our backpacks... We don't have that much space left in them, but we'll manage (I hope).

We then took the MRT to Xinbeitou. It is the famous hot spring area in Taipei where many public and private baths are located.
We had already researched a bit and had picked Beitou Hot Springs Resort to book a private bath. As far as I know, at least for all the Hotels and Resorts I found online with an English website, you cannot book in advance and just have to go there and hope that there are still rooms available. After checking that they had rooms available we grabbed something quick to eat at Yoshinoya (a Japanese fast food chain) and later returned to the hotel.

For the Beitou Hot Springs Resort they have two different kinds of private baths. One where you only have a hot pool and a cold pool and a shower area and one that is basically a hotel room with hot and cold pools inside. The time you can spent in each room is limited to 90 min (1180 NTD) for only the bath and 120 min for the hotel room bath (1680 NTD). That's why we decided to get the whole room, since we wanted to spent more time soaking in the hot water. Also it is more convenient, since in the other one there would have been no private toilet.
And it was a good thing that we decided to do so, because when we entered the room we saw that the bath tubs were not filled, but we had to fill them up. And since they were pretty large it took about 45 min to fill them up to the top...
But soaking in the hot water and afterwards cooling down in the cold bath was super relaxing. Especially after all these past weeks walking a lot.

After you enjoy your bath you get to drink some tea or coffee and eat a small dessert at the café of the resort.

The dessert looked super cute but didn't taste especially good. It was okay.
It was starting to getting dark, so we just walked around in the area. Unfortunately the Ketagalan culture center was being renovated and the Thermal Valley was closed by the time we got there (it closes at 5 pm).
But we did spent a little time at the Beitou Hot Spring Museum before it closed (also closes at 5 pm).

at the Beitou Hot Spring Museum

A cat we saw moments before it hunted a lizard

there is steam rising from the drains

Beitou Hot Spring Museum

Since on our way back we had to pass Shilin using the MRT we decided to go to Shilin Night Market again. And eat. We ate so much...

Fried chicken and sweet potato balls

boar sausage

fried mushrooms (so good!)

grilled squid

Brown sugar bubble tea

On our way back to the hotel we saw that there was some kind of laser/light show going on at the Presidential Office Building so we went there to check it out. Apparently this Saturday there will be a free concert held in front of the building and now they are testing the lasers and lights for the show.

That's it for this day.
Thank you for reading.

Pia