Day 3 Ding Tai Fung Dumplings, CKS Memorial Hall, Taipei 101 (2005-04-18)
We left the hotel again around 10 am to eat steamed dumplings at the famous Ding Tai Fung (
).
We took the MRT to Zhongxiao Xinsheng station
(
)
($0.6) and walked about 20 minutes to the
restaurant. Even though it was early, the restaurant was already
full of both local people and tourists. The dumplings were as
good as those I had eaten in Hong Kong, though not of Ding Tai Fung's
fame. After the brunch, we decided to walk the 15 minutes to
C.K.S. Memorial
Hall to burn off some calories from all this eating and snacking. The whole Memorial Hall complex is huge, there is a vast open space
in the middle of the complex bordered by the Memorial Hall, the
National Theater Hall, the National Concert Hall and the Dajhong
Jhihjheng Gate (
)
on each side of the oblong complex respectively.
We are such featherheads that we missed going inside the Memorial
Hall! Therefore we also missed the changing of guards
ceremony. Now there is an excuse to go back to Taipei in the
future!
Since we had completely overlooked going inside the actual Memorial
Hall, we left the complex after spending just half an hour there.
We then took the train again to S.Y.S. Memorial Hall station
(
)
to visit
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. The very large statue of Dr Sun
Yat-sen is located inside the Memorial Hall, which reminds me of
Lincoln Memorial in Washington. There we also saw the changing of
guards ceremony. The two guards standing in front of the statue
have been standing absolutely still for about 50 minutes before new
ones march out to take their place. The ceremony consists of a
series of stylized moves and slow marching steps. It is quite
interesting. I think those guards have the most boring job in the
world.
After that we walked another 20 minutes to the biggest shopping mall
in Asia known as the Core Pacific Shopping Center
(
). The huge
ball-shaped building is the main part of the complex which has 19
floors above ground and 7 floors underground, you can really shop till
you drop with so many shops. After spending about an hour in
there, we could no longer walk the 20 minutes back to the train station
and couldn't bother going all the way to the bus stops on the other
side of the building to catch a bus. There is a short passageway
where we stumbled upon that leads to a line of waiting taxis. We
were never happier to hop into a cab! Would you believe our next
stop would be yet another shopping complex?
But we didn't go there to do any shopping, we just wanted to take
some night shots of the tallest building in the world, Taipei
101. Taxis are
plentiful and inexpensive in Taiwan. The 10-minute trip only cost
$3! Taipei 101 is a grand structure with impressive columns and
modern architecture. There are a number of brand name and
expensive stores inside the building for those who have money to
burn. The building itself is not nearly as lit-up and
photo-worthy at night as some very bright buildings near by, so we
decided not to waste any space on the memory stick on the building.
After a short time in 101, we took a bus right in front of the
building to go to the Taipei City Hall MRT station
(
) and walked from
there to Lin Gee (
), a
restaurant recommended by a Taiwan tourist book for their "numbing and
spicy hotpot
(
)".
The place is a little tricky to find even with a
map in hand, I had to ask three local people of its whereabout.
When we got there, we saw a small rundown restaurant with an old
interior and no customers! A woman with an apron was standing by
a table chatting away with a couple of men. I became skeptical
about going in and decided to go to a noodle restaurant called Lao Tang
Dan Dan Noodles which we walked past on our way to Lin Gee. My
vibes told me the noodles would be a much better choice than hotpot.
I am glad I trusted my vibes because most of the food we ordered
was superb. A particular dish called Fan Jen Pai Goo
(
)
(steamed spare ribs) which is the signature dish of the restaurant was
absolutely delicious. The staff was also very friendly and I saw
many autographs on the wall signed by celebrities who have eaten at the
restaurant.
After the satisfactory meal at Lao Tang, we walked the short
distance to a train station and headed home. It was a tiring day,
but we had fun.
- Ding Tai Fung 194 Shinyi Road, Section 2
- Core Pacific Shopping Center 138 Pa Te Road, Section 4
- Lao Tang Dan Dan Noodles 17, Lane 137, Yanji Street
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