Shida Night Market

I am so much in love with this place and I go there so often that I feel that I take its amazingness for granted.

I feel that this is a much better night market then famous Shilin nightmarket. Located near the Normal University, it buzzes with students activity all day, every day. It has the best line up of clothes, shoes and accessories shops. Cute little boutiques and Korean shops are great for window / actual shopping. It has amazing line up for local and international restaurants, cafes, tes shops, desert places and even bars. Best of all, it's great to visit any time of the day! If you are in Taipei, I highly recommend you to stroll by this area and trust me you will not be disappointed.

My favourite eating spots in Shida are
- KGB ( New Zealand Burger Place, great veggie options)
- La Pizza ( They have the best Arabbiatta pasta in whole of Taipei)
- Grandma Nitty ( all day breakfast with lots of international dishes)
- Masala House
- Macho Tacos ( Our latest favourite, love this location)
- Toasteria ( great variety of Cheese grilled sandwiches and salads)
- yofroyo ( yogurt with fresh fruits - this is so AMAZING)
- Awfully Chocolate ( Chocolate Ice cream is so so Chocolaty!)
- Starbucks and Cafes adjoining it are great location on main Shida Road
- etc etc

Just walk around and you will find tons of places.I always stumble upon something new. Try for yourself .. I bet you can't go wrong for the price and variety. When you are tired come on the main Shida road, sit under the gazebo or seats by the little park and watch street performance if you are lucky or just people watch, I assure that you will be relaxed.

Amazing Tacos and Burritos at Macho Tacos

Sunshine in Taipei

Sunshine in Taipei winter is as precious as a drop of water in the desert for me. Today after weeks of melancholic weather, Sun God showed some mercy on inhabitants of the city. It was as if the whole world was celebrating. My favourite spot of celebration on this sunny day was Daan Forrest park.

With my books, iPhone (for facebook and music), sunglasses and cup of coffee I headed to the park at 11:30am. I thoroughly enjoyed my day soaking in the Sun, walking up and down the park and settling in different spots of the park just like a photographer would do to catch Sun at different intensities and moods. I remembered most beautiful moments of my life and smiled all day. I watched hundreds of people, trees and birds do the same along my side. Every living thing was getting drunk sipping on the Sun potion today.

It was almost 4:45pm when Sun got softer and started to hide behind dense trees and tall buildings. It was cooler now and it was as if sounds of chirping crickets and playing kids were in some kind of intense competition. Taking cue from the colder temperature, I gathered my things, gave one last look on the golden gilded view of the evening and I walked back home.

Johnny, May and the others



From the peak of the ZhongZheng Mountain



ZhongZeng mountains and surroundings looked gorgeous from the peak that Sunday morning. Cool, crisp breeze carrying scent of the mountain dew was refreshing after our little hiking adventure. Now, Taiwan Government has done a fantastic job by making covered wooden decks and benches for people to rest and enjoy the views at many such popular outdoor spots. So we sat there on a bench, gulping our waters, dabbing our sweat and watching a big group of giggling septuagenarians in heavily clad hiking gears with a marvellous mountain backdrop.

It may be Sunday morning for the rest of the world but it was definitely a peak hour for camera shutters. Frequent "Yi Er San.. tien" ( 1, 2, 3 ... smile) sound was followed by the evident mechanical click sounds. In one corner, I even spotted a young couple celebrating some occasion with a bottle of wine and clicking zillion pictures. After several photos and loud conversations, the oldies left and carried on with the next phase of their hiking trip. We were finally left alone with our friends, young lovers in the corner and the beautiful views. We sat there eating some crackers to load up on carbs, we even took some pictures ourselves and got engrossed talking about our next plan of action for the day. Just about that time, few more people made it to the peak. One of them was Johnny.


Young couple was celebrating with some wine and champagne up in the mountains

 Johnny was dressed in white Tshirt, grey shorts, a hat, a good pair of hiking shoes, a walking stick and a Nike back pack. He stood out from the rest of the group that climbed up the deck with him like some spicy hot oil in an Indian curry. He was definitely pouring more sweat and not carrying a camera like the rest. He stood by the fence of the deck, stretched out, soaked the view, closed his eyes and took a deep puff of the crisp air. Then he took out his towel, water bottle and settled near our benches where there were open spots. His handsome glowing face was very clear now as he had moved his towel from his face. I noticed a little grey on the sides of his hat and I said to myself, he is definitely forty five plus and a pretty healthy one. We exchanged a visual greeting while he was drinking his water and instantly after that we broke into a conversation. We discovered that he has been hiking up this particular mountain from the base ( few miles before the spot where we started our hike) every weekend for last 6 years. And he was Fifty Eight years old only and not forty five. He said that, for him and many of the oldies in Taiwan, a healthy lifestyle is a priority over everything else. His passion for hiking and a happy healthy life was very evident. He passionately gave us tips about nearby trails and a big encouragement about trying to stay fit. He was not happy that we were so young and opting for such small trails.

While we were talking to dear Johnny, another small group of retired friends came by and settled near the adjoining benches. They had brought several bags of fresh cut fruits with them. As usual, we exchanged a gentle visual "nihao" with them and the very next minute they placed two bags of fruits in our hands. Wow! I mean seriously, wow! They gave us disposable forks and napkins too! I have to say that these were the most amazing watermelon, guava and dragon fruit that I have had on top of the mountain after a hike. Fruits and the company that we were gifted was super delicious. Johnny and we enjoyed these gifted fruits, we took pictures with the group so we can remember how nice Taiwanese people are and continued chatting while cleaning our mouths constantly from the juicy fruits.

Nicest strangers in the world are in Taiwan.

More people were pouring in and they looked genuinely tired from the hike. We offered our seats to them, bid good byes to our stranger friends and we started to walk towards the young bamboo dotted trail. Johnny was with us. We chatted more with Johnny on our way down and we noticed that he was genuinely a happy person who constantly advised us to live up every single day and enjoy every moment in life. He was not preachy like some Masters here in Taiwan but a super friendly person. He finally told us that he is a cancer survivor and after his recovery he has not looked back. Life only gets better he said. His spirits and enthusiasm were high but definitely carried a patronizing attitude. I was quiet for rest of the hike, I even slowed down a little and let them pass ahead of me. I could not tell if I was spell bound by his beauty or his story that made him so beautiful.

Johnny leading the way

Once we reached the base of the mountain he said now I want you to meet the most beautiful person in my life, my wife. He shouted towards the rest pavilion, "Hello May, please come here" and then he winked at us and said "now you are about to meet a movie star". And indeed, a very beautiful woman with a glowing skin like butter with a big hat, stylish sun glasses, comfortable tshirt, shorts and sports shoes walked towards us. She was simply gorgeous! Johnny and May looked at each other passionately which was no less love than what I had witnessed on the mountain top with that young couple in midst of a celebration. May looked at us and politely said "Hello" in a very American like accent. She later told us that she was actually Korean by birth ( May be studies in US? who knows? ). We took pictures with this gorgeous young couple as well and bid our farewells as our stomachs were now calling aloud for some food. Johnny nagged us again to live it up as we walked towards our cars, my heart filled up and I just smiled without looking back.

With Johnny and May

As we drove down the winding roads, my mind was in a constant debate of  whether it was the mountains, the dew filled breeze, the sweet fruits, their political and cultural history or some other unknown factor that made people in Taiwan so beautiful at heart? Just about then I saw a Taiwan tourism's sign board that said ' TAiWAN: Touch your heart!', I smiled and I said "I just did".

More Pictures of the trail and the mountain

One of the steep patch on the trail

                                                   Trail was not that serious but hikers were!

That was huge!

Hey! my water bottles looked pretty too with the mountain backdrop ;)

7-Eleven : My extended pantry and a lot more

One of the many 7-Eleven stores in the city



Did you know that Japanese convenience store company, 7-Eleven, has highest number of franchise in the world?  Yes,  it surpassed McDonald's in this race long ago.  

Do you know which country has the lowest number of Customer to 7-Eleven store ratio? Bingo! its Taiwan. Since its first store opened in 1980s, Uni-President, its Taiwanese owner has not looked back and opened over 4500 stores in every livable corner of this island. Each store now claims to serve no more than 6200 repeated customers. There is a 7-Eleven store in my residential building and I can literally walk less than 100 metres in any direction from my building and bump into another one. I have also seen several streets with these stores almost facing each other.  

Having a 7-Eleven right where you live is super convenient and it stands unbelievably true to the concept of convenience store. Extent of service and products it offers is beyond comprehensive. Above and beyond all the paid products and services it offers, it ends up providing one free service and that is sense of 24x7 security. These stores are open all the time with bright florescent light and security cameras. I can walk alone with my girl friends late hours of the night from a night market and not be worried because there are 7-Eleven almost everywhere and there are always people in there shopping! Enter any time of  the day and you will be greeted by a loud sweet sounding cry from super friendly 7-Eleven employees which sounds like "Good Morning" said in a little stretched southern US accent but actually they are saying "Huan Yin" meaning welcome. In some of the busy stores at busy hours, you will hear a constant chant of "Huan Yin" as people constantly pour in and out.



Typical store from inside: clean, organized and well lit.



Taiwanese people rely heavily on these stores and it is now embedded in there daily life and culture. They have several 7-Eleven souvenir (only) stores as well! Now who would buy a convenience store souvenir? hmm, you will  be surprised, but these stores witnesses some decent traffic! 7-Eleven mascot is cute and cheerful and sits proudly on desks, cell phones, bags, books of many of my local friends and colleagues. God forbid but if this ubiquitous chain of 7-Eleven stores decides to close down some day in Taiwan then I think country could actually crumple. In the spirit of adopting Taiwanese culture and lifestyle, one of my first and easiest thing was to imbibe in to the 7-Eleven culture, after all the store and I shared same notion of "keep it simple, silly".  

7-Eleven Taiwan Mascot

In Taipei, kitchens and pantries are smaller than what I am used to from my days in India and US. I quickly figured out that there was no point (and place) to stock a lot of extra stuff in the house. My fridge is full of Indian spices, flours and lentils and there really isn't enough cabinet space beyond my extensive set of pots and pans. We decided very early that "Buy it as you need" was the most efficient way to go. Within few weeks of living in this apartment, we realized that you can go down to 7-Eleven for almost anything and it will cost barely any additional time or money. It takes 15 secs to go down stairs, pick what you want, get out in 45 sec, back up in 30 secs so in total 1.5 mins max you are back at your place with things that you need. There is one more advantage of shopping at 7-Eleven, you can get point stickers every time you shop something and after you have collected enough points you can exchange your point card for its cute toy of the month. By now I have a collection of little toys and I have to confess that I am a little addicted to collecting stickers or lets say those cute toys!



Some of the 7-Eleven toys that I have collected.

Movie night tonight? By the time I pop a DVD and get ready to hit the PLAY button, my dear hubby is back with a bag of popcorn and soda from 7-Eleven.

Need cash and stamps? No problemo pick it up from ATM at 7-Eleven. 

Want to buy books online but not sure about giving your credit card? Don't worry, use pick up and pay service at 7-Eleven.

Out of sugar? ill get you in a minute honey from 7-Eleven, says by hubby

Party night and out of drinks and chips? Smirnoffs and lays back on the table without your friends realizing that you actually left your home for a minute.

Can't keep your eyes open for this late night conference call? Gourmet caramel machiato from 7-Eleven City Cafe might just do the trick for you.

Pay Bills? Sure, bring all your cell phone, gas, water, electricity and any other utility bill. Oh and you can also bring your parking ticket!

How about a trip to South Taiwan? Buy High Speed Train tickets from 7-Eleven

Hungry kya? Take your pick from a huge array of good quality healthy salads, cut fruits, noodles, soups, trail mixes, gourmet pastries, yogurt, jellies, crackers, cookies and lot of unusual local products that I do not recognize.  





unusual local product (Black fungus drink) on 7-Eleven Shelf.

  

Missing home? Buy a little Taiwan souvenir and a card from the store and send it back home using its courier service

Visiting Taipei but forgot your essentials? Don't worry be happy we have 7-Eleven downstairs. ( no kidding but one of our very close friend did it. Peace and hugs my dear friend, I will not disclose your name ever :) )

Send receive fax, make photo copies, buy magazines, DVDs, cosmetics ( DHC, Maybelline, Burt's Bee, Mentholatum, Herbacin...etc), first-aid, govt garbage bags, sit in the cafe area drinking tea, reading newspaper or surf with free wi-fi, travel toiletries, festival goodies and gifts, umbrellas or simply come and people watch. List is truly endless, as there is a constant introduction of new products and services at my 'extended pantry and lot more' store. Its hard to keep up but I assure you that I will continue to explore them and amaze myself as long as I am here.

Oh but before I conclude this blog there are few tips for y'all.

• Firstly, Never ever give 7-Eleven as a meeting point or as a landmark in your directions when you are in Taiwan. You will be lost for sure.
• Secondly, You have not truly visited Taiwan if you have not visited one of its 7-Eleven.
• Lastly and most importantly, Keep it simple, darling!

Sky Lantern Festival - Welcome Chinese new year!

What a fantastic way to welcome the new year by sending thousands of pretty lanterns to the Almighty and sneaking in some demands while you alure HIM. Chinese and Taiwanese people are pleasantly sneaky in  getting their demands fulfilled.

We were groups of 6 curious visitors who boarded a train to Pinxi from the Taipei Main Station along with thousands of other folks from all parts of the Taiwan on the 15th day after Chinese New Year. We were amazed and taken aback by a surprise because the excitement and enthusiasm of people around us had not dampened even a little bit despite of constant pushing and pressing of human bodies that were being marinated by body odor and breath of fellow passengers.

We made it to our destination in about 1.5 hours, we were already running out of patience and really hoping that this better be really good. We poured ourselves on to the train platform and contributed to the flood of people. People waited for the train to pass and jumped onto the tracks from all sides just like the river would flood into every open space. In less than a minute platform and track was full of people and I could not differentiate tracks from the platform anymore and colourful lights from lanterns beautifully dotted the sides.

We walked or let me say we got pushed by people in the direction of the spot with best views of sky lanterns and fire cracker show that was organized by the governement every 30 minutes. We held each other tight so that we don't loose each other, we all had phones but how do you explain where you were to your friend when you are lost? Maybe I can say that "hey, I am right outside the lantern shop by the platform? Where are you?" But there were 100s of lantern shops on each side of the platform, where will my poor friend find me. We finally could feel our legs and managed our pace when we got to a spot where the platform ended and the open space began. People spread themselves a bit and we were jsut in time for the fireworks show.  We stood at a good spot and enjoyed the sparkles in the sky. But only when the fumes from the fireworks cleared we noticed something so spectacular. Up in the sky we saw thousands of sky lanterns dangling and floating in the sky.  I was spellbound. Some of the lanterns grouped up and formed beautiful abstract patterns, while others were scattered alone and covering entire length of the sky. It was as if stars had decided to come closer to Earth today so we can enjoy its warmth and beauty! It  This site was mesmerizing and totally worth the long painful travel from Taipei.

I could not wait to paint my own lantern, write all my wishes and send it up in the sky. All of us bought our own lantern and we borrowed Chinese paint brush and an ink pot to write our wishes. We had to buy lantern of specific color for specific wishes. Honestly, I am greedy, I want it all - Money, family, power, peace etc. So I bought a multicolored lantern, scribbled all my wishes with my dear hubby, we lit the candle at the bottom of the lantern and held it for few seconds while the heat from the candle filled its belly before we let it go in the sky. We stared at it in some trance or momentary sincerity to see our wishes fulfilled. We saw it go up and high until we could not distinguish it from thousands of other lanterns. We smiled and hugged, it was a beautiful feeling.

We walked up and down the tracks, tried local delicacies like grilled corn, glazed strawberries and special sweet New Year pastries. When we were tired we looked back at the platform and a train at distance that was leaving the platform and wondered how in the hell are we going to make it in those trains and make it back home!



Cama Coffee

If you are a type of person who gets kick out of just smell of the coffee without a need to drink it then I highly recommend to go and stand within 100 feet radius of this cool little coffee joint called Cama. The smell of coffee is so strong and inviting that it does free marketing for its brand. You walk towards the smell and you will notice one or two very tiny wooden table with 2-3 tiny stool bars on the side walk by a big pillar. You will always find people sitting there, sipping on their coffee at any time of the day!
The shop behind is completely open and you will see a man grinding fresh coffee at edge of the coffee shop near the pavement, behind him are bunch of sacks of coffee neatly placed on the floor. Now that does explain the coffee smell in the area.
The other thing that you cannot miss is the loud music! They have an excellent music system and they are always playing great music that is perfect to pep you up while you are waiting in the line or waiting for your coffee once you order.
Going back to the décor, its simple, its warm, its catchy. Behind the coffee bean sacks on the wall is several shelfs with coffee makers, coffee mugs and coffee on sale. On the other side of the wall is a wooden shelf serving as a bar table with 3-4 small bar stools. The shelf is also stacked with lots of Taiwanese newspapers and magazines on one corner. Right in front of the shop is the main serving and cash counter which runs wall to wall but its small. If I forgot to mention, this shop is not more than 250 sqft in size )or smaller) where there are at least 6 young smiling baristas are standing at any given time and preparing coffee for you as fast as they can. There is a big menu of coffee right above the counter. They serve all basic types of coffee and tea at a very good price. What I always like to read is the Slimming tea on the menu but I have never tried it yet, smell of the coffee is so good that I cannot take my mind off from coffee and order tea. Once you place your order and pay, you are given a buzzer. When your drink is ready they will buzz you - nothing innovative but I find it very surprising of them to do this for such a tiny little shop.
Now here is the best part about this whole coffee experience. I always settle on the tiny stool inside the shop, pick up my favorite Taiwan Fashion magazine and flip the pages while I listen to some great music. I am always happy at this particular moment, tapping my feet, smelling coffee, watching people standing behind me in line and flipping fashion magazines of which I still do not understand a written word. I remember one time I was so lost in my moment that my buzzer kept ringing and I did not even notice it ( I blamed it on the nice loud music ;) ) Tiny little girl behind the counter gave up on me and somehow managed to walk out of the counter to hand over my cup of fresh cappuccino.

Tiamore Café, He Ping

We decided to walk out of work on a pleasant Dec afternoon in search for that warm smell of coffee. Sun was out today and weather felt nice and crisp after a long cold and wet week. We were on our feet and moving without any prior knowledge of where we are heading. I enjoyed the feeling of exploring the streets, where I had know idea of where I was heading but I was sure I'll keep walking until I find that right warm smell of coffee. I wonder if the explorers feel the same way when they go out on excursions on unknown lands for weeks and months or years.
Well fortunately or not, we did not have to go too far on our exploration. On He-Ping road, not very far from our office we noticed 3 old local men sitting on a table on the side walk and laughing loudly with their cup of coffee! Behind the table was the old western style big glass window, dressed with traditional white curtains and simple Christmas decoration. Smell of coffee was welcoming and so we entered the Tiamore Coffee shop.
At this hour, we were the only patrons in the warm coffee shop apart from the three old men who decided to sit out in the open air. There was a book shelf on the right as we entered, small display of desserts and cakes right in front of us and a coffee bar on the left hand side wall of the shop. I could have taken the interiors for an old tavern or a western bar if it was not serving coffee. There were 8 -10 wooden tables with Red table cloth and wooden chairs neatly lined up by the right hand side wall of the café. Walls were lined up with big sized frames of very diverse things! One of the frame was of Sydney harbour while one more was replica of last supper but with modern White Men and Women instead of Jesus and his disciples. Each table had a little paper lamp and it was decorated with a Christmas tree paper cut-out, cute!
Waiter very promptly filled our glasses with water and gave us the tea time menu. They had tea-time sets of drink and a snack / dessert. They were offering bottom less regular coffee at this hour but other drinks were only by the cup. I must say, they had a pretty elaborate list of teas, chocolate drinks but coffee was left to basic expresso, americano and cappuccino. Well, most of the times I stick to Cappucino for my afternoon drink but sometimes I like to see more options on the menu. Especially in winters, I like the smell of cinnamon or nutmeg or toffee in drink to add the warmth. We ordered our drinks and in due time our drinks were served in nice abstract art cups and a small wooden condiments tray of Cinnomon, chocolate powder and brown sugar. Coffee was very good, not very strong and tasted nice with a dash of cinnamon on the froth.
All delighted and warm, I was ready to head back to work.