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Eating, Shopping, Spiderman 3, Keelung, Grand Hotel

I've spent the last couple of days eating and shopping my way through Taiwan, and it's been a lot of fun!

I have to admit, at the beginning, I didn't really see Taiwanese cuisine as being anything extraordinary - probably because you can pick up a lot of Taiwanese food at our beloved T&T Supermarket in Canada. However, these past couple of days, I've tasted a lot of specialty dishes that aren't exported (or, if they are, they don't taste the same). I guess you just have to know where to look - night markets!



Other than great food, the shopping is also super cheap - everything is "made in Taiwan" after all! When I say cheap, I mean it - things like shirts can cost as little as 100 Taiwanese dollars (1 Canadian dollar = 30 Taiwanese dollars). If you go to the stores that sell at pretty much wholesale prices, then you can get stuff for almost nothing!

Today, I got to experience a little North American culture in Taiwan - by watching Spiderman 3. I was really looking forward to the story, having watched the trailers and a few interviews. The various plotlines were tied up fairly well, but I thought the film as a whole fell under my expectations. I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for - but although the movie was entertaining and action-packed, it was lacking a little bit of... something. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

For dinner, we headed out to Keelung, a city that is about 20 to 30 kilometers north of Taipei. We indulged in more eating at the huge night market there. The best part about eating at night markets is that the food comes in small portions - kind of like tapas - so you can walk from one place to the other and taste a bit of everything! We had about 4 to 5 small meals throughout the night, while walking through shops and even bumping into a temple!



On the way back from Keelung, we stopped at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. It's a one-hundred-year-old hotel that used to be open only to government officials, but is now open to the public. Built like an imperial palace, it's certainly deserving of its name - and through excellent maintenance, it's still fit to entertain royalty!



Tomorrow I'll be going to the city of Hsinchu for a couple of days to see what southern Taiwan is like!

Comments

Anonymous said…
i love small portions of food! its so fun being able to taste alot of stuff without getting full after 1 plate. "We had about 4 to 5 small meals throughout the night" lol sounds like my kind of paradise :D
May 10, 2007 10:42 am
lifeasj said…
Yeah, and you're right - I haven't gained weight at all! Even after stuffing myself at every meal! Hooray for uber fast metabolisms!
May 14, 2007 4:42 am
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