Travel - Taipei, Aug 2011 - (Day 1 / 4)

Like most people, I do enjoy afternoon naps whenever possible. After checking into HOME Hotel around 4pm, I spent 20 mins or so doing interior shots followed by a 5 mins rest on the sofa which turned out to be a 20 mins nap thanks to the comfort of the sofa!! Almost every time I attempt to take a 5 mins nap on this sofa, it ended up nothing less than 20 mins, it happened at least once every day during our stay! By the time I got ready it was 5pm already and our lunch was ... plane food, therefore we were quite hungry.


5:00pm


it was too early for dinner and slightly too late for a heavy afternoon tea so it took us some time to decide what to eat. Wandering around the block, we ended up at the Vieshow Cinemas where we saw a huge queue at the ticket counter and the movie poster for "You are the Apple of My Eye" (那些年，我們一起追的女孩) [http://www.appleofmyeye.com.tw/]. Without much hesitation we were lining up under the heat with annoying water mist sprinkling at us every other minute. I can spend an entire post on the movie which I enjoyed very much; how the author put his personal teenage love story into words and then into a full length movie intrigues me. The book has been an instant hit and the movie has been (and continues to be so as of the day of this entry) a box-office record breaker, cashing in over TWD 100 million (USD 3.4 million) in just a week's time.

Anyhow, this is not a blog on movie so enough with the story. What I do want to point out to those unfamiliar with the Taiwan's cinema system, if you opt to purchase your ticket at the door like we were, you don't have the option to select your seats based on the seat map shown on a monitor, everything is communicated verbally like, "we still have 6th row from the front, slightly to the right of the screen. Total number of rows is 16. You fine with that? If not, we have 5th row from the front, center." I tried to peek at the monitor by bending over the counter but failed miserably! Simply put, I hate this system! Either this or you book online with a small booking fee. 

5:30pm


Tickets purchased, it was time for some food! Just a few minutes from Vieshow Cinemas by foot is the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store where Dazzling Cafe - Sunshine is located. Famous for its Honey Toast which comes in the shape of a huge cube.

Apparently the chain of cafes is opened by a celebrity and hence the initial hype but of course one of the key factors in sustaining such a business is to provided quality food. I have no complaints with the service, only that we were required have a certain minimum charge per person (perhaps one drinks? forgot about amount or requirement) and max stay of 90 mins. It seems to be the norm in many Asian cities with such requirements die to turnovers but am still not a fan of it especially when being informed up front, slightly ruining my mood more often than not.

I ordered the Dark Hurricane (with alcohol) to start with but only hints of bailey perhaps which only disappointed me. All needed flavors were lacking in intensity, should have just ordered something else like a milk shake?

The caramel honey toast that followed put my disappointment away because it was good! The center of the toast was cut out and diced up into smaller bite-size cubes, then individually toasted to give it a crunchy exterior with fluffy interior in every bite. The ice cream and sauce enhanced the experience but I could have finished the whole thing by itself as a plain honey toast.

Staff would come and help disassemble the toast if needed but I think it would be part of the fun to do it ourselves.

Next was Chocolate Banana Crepes. I doubt it requires much description other than with the word, YUM! I was quite impress with how they put the entire banana inside yet it was halves sideways so some chocolate sauce can be put in between.

6:45pm 

Was it dinner or was it late afternoon tea? To be honest, it did not concern us because we are on vacation, time was on our side and we follow our hearts and stomachs! The rest of the evening was uneventful yet extremely relaxing. With a full stomach, we made our way to the nearby Xinyi Eslite (誠品) flagship store which houses several stories of bookstores and another few with various retail shops. The use of the phrase "time flies" was more than appropriate on that evening because by the time we check the time, it was 10:45pm already and we got a movie to catch at 11:30pm. Lucky it was just a 10 mins walk back to the cinemas (right next to our hotel if I forgot to mention earlier). We grabbed something light at the cinema's food court and a huge cup of bubble tea for the movie.

01:30am

Although we are both young at heart and our hotel was literally next time to Neo19 building full of famous / trendy dancing clubs and lounges, we had a long day and an even longer day ahead of us, we call it a night although I was a bit hungry at that hour. I am still surprised how I went to bed that night with a slightly empty stomach, it was something ... unheard of before!!!

~ end of day 1 / 4 ~