Chao Yuan Vegetarian Restaurant in ShiLin

Day 16
I recalled when I was younger, h ow much I enjoyed taking things apart and figuring out what's what on the inside. I used to take apart the hair dryer, the radio, music boxes and marvel at what all it could do.

Some time in high school I discovered how much I enjoyed repetitive things that involved precision, perfection, concentration in detail like drafting. I was very active when I was a child and hardly stood still. I think I just had a lot of energy and enjoyed life, sleep and eating was a waste of time to me because it meant less time for this and that. But I also learned that I enjoy sitting quietly for a long time drafting, drawing, painting etc... I could sit and paint for a week on one piece of work and not care about food or sleep. Such concentration scared me at times and I also enjoyed it.

Budget half gone and two more weeks to go, so now I must make a list and carefully budget out the rest of the two weeks so I am not stuck without money to spend.

For dinner I went with my 3rd uncle and his family to ShiLin area and ate at Chao Yuan Vegetarian Restaurant. You can take the metro and get off at ZiShan Station. My cousin YiLin 3rd uncle's son, told me over dinner how he is into cycling and that you only burn sugar the first 40minutes of cardio workout. It is only after 40 minutes of continual cardio workout that you start to burn fat. He said that each bite of food much be chewed over 30 times in the mouth to get proper digestive juices going in your body to properly digest the food for absorption. I certainly don't do that anymore. It used to take me 30 minutes to eat 8 oz of food. I think that is why I didn't like eating, it took so long. Hard for anyone who knows me now to think I didn't like to eat. But it's true. Then in college, I swallowed my food, inhaled it because I was literally running here and there. Now it will take complete retraining to eat that way. Hard to imagine I'll stick to it. Is it reversible?

DIY Beads Craft District

Day 15 con't
After lunch I went to the Underground Mall Government Tourist Agency with free tourist info and internet access. There are maps, and lots of tour information here. I am glad I didn't buy any tour books at the bookshop.

Taipei Underground Mall
This is what students do when it is hot out and it is Friday afternoon. You hang out in the mall where the A/C is on full blast, drinks, food, restroom, metro are all within foot steps away. You just all cram together and play your DX or other video games.

It is common in Taipei to have computer games for you to try out, but most people just sit and fight each other and battle it out. You know when they sit, it's gonna take awhile. You do it in groups so you can keep the game going even if you have to use the restroom or take a break to eat.




This is the stage area in the mall, where students can have talent show performances and their friends can come and rally them on. There are seats in this section of the mall so I sat and watched. I have no idea what I was watching but it was nice to sit down and chill.


I got onto the metro again to exit at the Taipei Station and used exit #3 to go to YenPing BeiLu (YenPing North Road) to shop at the DIY Craft District. I mainly wanted to go to a Crystal Bead shop that is on that street in Section 1 #19. I spent a long time there picking out cyrstal beads, angel hair crystals, rose quarts, etc... At one point the store manager pulled out the mic and played karaoke over the sound system. It was hilarious and to die, the same time. I was glad when he stopped singing. I guess when you are the manager or shop owner you can do whatever you want even if you can't sing a note in tune or on beat. All these crystal beads I bought, I spent a lot of money at the shop. Now how am I going to carry it back, they are heavy.

RouHe Hot Pot Buffet

Day 15
One of my favorite places to go is Rou He Hot Pot Buffet. I take the metro and get off at ZhongXiao FuXing in Dong Cue (Eastern District). I walk through the underground mall and take the #14 exit onto the street level where Peace Square is. I head onto Da An Road and make a right at Seven Eleven where Dunhua Nan Lu (DunHua South Road) Section 1, 160 Row, #58. The restaurant is on the right. Another landmark for the street it is on is this shop that sells pastry with redbean, taro, daikon filling.


When you sit down for lunch you have two options one is lunch special that comes with soup, rice, noodels and entree you order from for 180yuan and they all looked great. But I came for the hot pot buffet. So how this works is lunch hot pot buffet is 299 yuan. The buffet aside from hot pot goodies also includes, ice cream, fruits, dessert, appetizer, etc... Lunch is from 11-2pm.

You can order 2-3 types of soups for your pot. I ordered 2 types of soups, Ma La (spicy) and Kombu (seaweed)










I like yam leaves, napa cabbage, green cabbage, bok choy, and tomato to add to the soup base.





I like all these vegetarian goodies made out of soy, mushroom, konyaku, etc... These round balls on the top left of the pictureare one of my favorites. When you bit into them in the soup, there is actually soup inside the ball that squirts out, careful to not burn yourself.


Fresh young bamboo shoots and baby corn are so tender and sweet. can't get it in the US. It's a must have for me when I am here.





The abundance of delicious sweet fresh exotic mushrooms are so awesome. I like to put them in my soup. So what you do is like fondu, you take from the buffet bar all the things you like and then put them in the soup to cook when you want to eat. You then get dip it in sauces you make from the sauce bar or eat as it with the soup. The idea is you cook as you and enjoy taking your time.

Shen Keng Tofu Street

Day 14 Con't
From MaoKung, I took the “small 10 bus” from MaoKong park into MuZha to catch a #666 or #660 bus to ShenKeng. Two people on the bus helped me to figure out where to get off to catch my bus. At one point I offered my seat to let a woman sit down since the bus was packed. The bus driver suggested I sit shotgun. After I sat on that seat, I figured out why no one sat at that seat. It really felt like I was going to fall through the window sheild onto the road down the windy tight mountin road. The driver asked if I liked the experience of this bus better than the gandola. I told him the bus ride was more adventurous like the roller coaster. He inquired if I was feeling car sick. I told him I wasn't that I have endurance. Then he commented on how he noticed I seemed to know how to lean in the right direction and shift my weight at the right time to not get car sick. I think it is because I drive. People were really nice to me on the bus. I looked at teh photo pf the bus driver and the picture looked 2-3 times heavier than the one behind the wheel. I asked if the picture was of him and right away joked how he lost a lot of weight. It wasn't him, he is filling in for the regular bus driver whose picture is on the bus. The bus driver was a happy spirit. The entire bus experience itself really made my day.

I got off the bus and walked the Tofu Street once to check out what I want to puchase and eat. Then I walked the street again and stopped here and there.

I hung out at the tea shop for a few hours. People were nice, the owners roast their own tea leaves. We chatted about testing tea quality and they let me in on how to test tea, smell, and see the quality difference in tea before, during, and after steeping. I like Taiwan for this reason too, you just hang out for hours and not get bored. It helps to speak the language. Here is the photo of shop owner who went through many teas with me, proud to show case this tea and that tea. I think we went through 5 different kinds of tea. I didn't buy any tea because I already have a stash to take home all tucked away in my luggage already, fresh crop too of top quality.


Salty sweet sticky rice steamed in banana leaves Zhong Zi are 35 yuan each. There is a difference in flavor of northern or southern Taiwan tradition, I like them both.

Sweet rice puffs like these are crispy on the outside and without a filling. They are usually rice and sesame combination, totally fun to eat.


These brick blocks are sweet drinks in concentrated form. All you have to do is melt it in water when you get home. My favorite is winter melon with sugar cane.


Pineapple tarts are great, totally buttery and flaky on the outside and with a fragrant sweet chewy filling on the inside.

Green guava from Taiwan is so sweet, and creamy when ripe.

Totally miss this, it is freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. Sugar cane comes in green and purple color. I like both of them from Taiwan.


Mochi with sesame filling dusted with roasted rice powder. Not too sweet, not too chewy, just perfect, at least gives you the illusion of guiltless quantities.

Shaved ice stand with gazillion toppings to choose from. These little guys are in different colors and flavors. I like them all. The yellow one is made with sweet potato. The lavender ones are made with taro. The purple ones are with red azuki beans. I like them because you can taste the actual ingredients, it's all natural no artificial flavor or coloring.

Manju is like mochi but with a bready shell.

More mochi in bricks.

I used to eat this when I was little. I think it is how I have many fillings in my teeth today. It's caramel malt sandwiched with biscuits on a stick.

Classical popsicles. I like the taro, peanut, and red or green bean flavor.

This is also one of my favorite Taiwanese soup. I don't know how to translate the name. A bowl was 35 yuan.

These things are sooo gooood. It's more of that smelly tofu in spicy hot oil soup.

These are Taiwanese Mochi in sweet and in salty. My favorite is the green one made with mogwort and salty filling of daikon in special Taiwanese spices.

This stuff is good. I don't care what people say about the smell. I don't smell it. Grilled stinky tofu with kimchi is awesome. It's a dollar each. The lady at this stand made it vegetarian for me and I got to work it out with her to let me put a mix combo of kimchi, a little of everything without extra charge.

Today I also bought a bamboo personal size tea tray about 8X10 for 280 yuan. A tea strainer stand for 6 yuan. Two claimed to be YiXing tea pots for 1,000 yuan.

I also bought crystal and mineral rocks for 200 yuan each. I ended up chatting with the owner for a long time about the current state of mineral and crystal sale in this economy.

Afterward all that, I took the bus to get to Muzha metro station to get back into Taipei. There I got off at Taipei station to get information on the the High Speed train and Long distance bus schedule and destination to check out where else I want to go. People were all very nice and helpful. I found out there was free internet station at the train station. I then went into the underground mall at the Taipei Metro Station and cooled off in the A/C. I saw some really nice fancy tea pots for 2,000-3,000 yuan. Ah... so nice, but no cash flow of that sort this time. In fact they are so nice, I don't know if I'd actually use them if I get them.

Maokong Gondola

Day 14
I decided to go to MaoKong and take the gondola up the park. It was sunny today and very hot. I went to a Guan Yin temple and a tea pot museum. I was trying to go to the tea museum but I took the wrong shuttle bus in the park. But nothing is an accident, it turned out to be the right direction and the right museum for me.

In the tiny museum I was given a tour on the clays used for tea pots and I learned there are four major YiXin clays used. The purple sand one is the first layer the one closest to air, then so on and so forth. I was told the purple sand from the 80’s was used mostly for space craft and space shuttles due to the unique mineral components. So it is difficult to locate real purple sand tea pots unless it was made from time before 80’s.




This photo is a picture on tools used to make YiXing Pots.

Here are photos of beautiful tea pots with amazing details that can only be well appreciated with good eyes or magnification lense.






Then the tour guide and I got onto a conversation about blanket cotton stuffing. I asked her why there isn’t anymore of those heavy thick 100 percent raw cotton blankets anymore. We went back and forth about the weight. It’s so heavy that you feel secure in it because you can feel it’s weight. Plus it is warm. But because it is so heavy some people feel like they can’t breathe that the blanket is choking them. I told her I am very old school because I still remember those blankets.



Sadness in the Mind

Day 13
Today was unnecessarily complicated and full of suffering. There was no where to run or hide. I was very sad. The sadness was not in my body or heart, it was happening in my mind.

Historical Hotspring

Day 12
I took the metro got off at Beitou station and switched to Xinbeitou station and went to XinBeiTou where it is famous for green sulfur hot springs. There are only two places on earth that has this type of hot spring and XinBeiTou is one of them.
This is a photo from the station where people were filming for a TV show.

This is sculpture in front of the Kaidagelan Cultural Center where Taiwanese Indigenous culture and art are show cased. It's on the way to the Hot Spring Museum.


I went to check out a historical museum it was used by Japanese royalty during the occupation. The stained glass was perfectly preserved. The pool had a gradation of depth. The chair is 80 years old. The tatami room on the other floor was a nap room after the soaking.











These are old movie posters. This is the movie room that shows old movies that had hot springs in the scenes or was filmed here. The room has classic benches like the old days where the movie screen was outdoors on the street but this one had the classic flare with modern convenience of air conditioning. It has the flavor of the old with the modern advancements. I like how they kept the benches like the old days. The first row has lowest benches and the back row had the highest benches, smart innovation and design huh. I sat in this room for an hour cooling off in the A/C.





All of a sudden I heard thunder rumbling. The sky outside was still blue and clear. But within 20 minutes the sky was covered in grey clouds and drops of rain started here and there but it was just a few drops. This is good it’ll help with cooling off the heat.

Then I went to an area that is called Geothermal Scenic Park where there is a green pool of running hot spring water bubbling and steaming. The water was a beautiful light green milky jade color. The entire place really felt clean. I read the board that introduces the water and the crystals it creates. The water is supposed to have very healing properties.






I passed by a creek of running hot spring water and sat on the bridge with a terrace and benches all in one. The cement looking thing was the broken old bridge now replaced with this new one. I was told that you could used to bring eggs and boil it in the creek with the very hot spring water. Now there are safety regulations and such things are prohibited because people would slip in the slimy edges and fall into boiling hot water. I sat on the bench and enjoyed a moment of break from the rain.

I then went to the Outdoor public hot spring pools. The ticket was $1.30, what a deal. In this place you wear a bathing suit and its co-ed. There are two cold pools, two warm pools, two hot pools. This place has been around since 1938. The water is pretty good there. It has time sessions with increments of 2-3 hours at a time. I stayed in it for 2 hours jumping back and forth the cold and hot pools. Fortunately it rained and helped with the experience of hot springs in summer weather.

I had a classic popsicle with rock sugar, mung beans, red beans, and peanuts for about 40 cents. It is amazingly delicious and refreshing. I am not thirsty afterwards.

Then I went to DanShui Wharf for food and had black DoHua with peanuts and red beans. It was soft and a bit chewy. I reflected this to the owner/chef for the stall and he really appreciated it. He said most customers can't taste it. They just say it's good. He said it is odd for someone my age and this age of time to appreciate the quality this way. He was happy and proud of his product.