Taiwan Cycling trip 2018 (Part 3)

Part 3 is here! sorry for the delay as i been busy for other stuff. so here we go!

17.09.2018 (Monday)
Officially whole day in Taiwan, Ximending. Last night we had small meeting and said what and where to go today, so since is my first time here, i'll be the follower, Captain Soon and the other members went to find kids stuff as they are all proud father, small Sim went with his girlfriend and cousin to site seeing. as for me, i follow Kang Yang aka Ryan wherever, whenever he goes. hahaha.

most important meal of the day? Breakfast!

Yong He soya milk

 we initially plan to eat here, but since we all are hungry ghost and after seeing this crowd, PLAN B! luckily me and Kang Yang are same type of people, regardless how nice the food is, if the queue is long, forget about it. hahaha( it depends tho how really good are the foods)

So we went to this small "kopitiam" and eat. i thought the mee hoon i ordered is like in plain soup noodle, but when it arrives, i think to my self "why are they sticky?" not a fan of that but clearly thats how Taiwan people prefer. ordered some side dishes also, menu wrote " Tofu and Century egg" i thought it will be a new dish i tried here, came out is really just tofu beside century egg.  i was like =.="

After breakfast we split apart and i followed Kang Yang, he went to buy some clothes and also some for his girlfriend, such a good guy. when we come across this " Ah Chong rice noodle", he told me we have to try this, is really popular here. so we each bought one bowl and try, is also sticky =.=" . well is not bad tho. main ingredient will be rice noodles, pork intestine, and a kind of squid(not sure the actual name). i like the store concept tho. you pay at spot A then you pickup and spot B. there is no place for you to sit and eat. tissue paper and some additional flavour like chili etc are prepared at the other side, you take as much as you wish. when a store have a rep and there is no place for you to sit, this increase they sales as you wont take up the whole table and just ordered one bowl and sit for hours, with this method they probably can increase sales up to 3-5 times(maybe, just a guess)

Saw this and i have to stop and take a picture. one of the tour guide told us that you will see a lot of Starbucks in Ximending will keep the original shape of the building and just slap on their name. i like the concept. you get to keep the original style of the building and you blend in with something new.

Steady there dodge fans, is just a normal challenger. no SRT nor a Demon.

Sharetea =D

This guy serious cant stop eating

TKK, Kang Yang says every time he say this franchise he will stop and grab a bite. introduced me to this thing. is deep fried chicken skin and wrapped with sticky rice inside. 

overall not bad. crispy on the outside and firm on the inside.

I was scratching my head why are their underbody covered. then when you look closely, they actually are mobile blood donation station. they will move from location to location so is easier for the public to donate blood and saves life. One bag of blood can saves up to 3 lives. remember to donate when and if you can. who knows one day you might need blood from donors too.

We went to a giant book store which sells all kind of stuff from books to toys. like Popular in Malaysia. came across this marvel section, the Infinity Gauntlet is actually a BT speaker. price tag? 50,000 NTD ++! (around RM6800++)

After that Kang Yang said came to Taipei and doesnt visit 101 means you never came before! so here we go!

 three words, Damn,thats tall! all i see before was through the TV and when you see it in person, WOW!

Inside the 101 Mall is like Pavilion in KL, but more expensive. there are a lot of high end brands i never seen before and probably never will be able to afford them. The "cheapest" shop i can find will be Adidas. and there is a Signature R Starbucks beside it. probably sell higher grade(more expensive) coffee for the riches out there.

Bought a strawberry flavoured clear water. in our memory strawberry flavour normally are pink. but clear? after you tried it, meh~  one thing im really surprised or should i say SHOCKED is that when we walk into the supermarket fruit section, THEY ARE SELLING DURIANS! is not like they dont eat them or what, BUT DURIAN IN A INDOOR SUPERMARKET IN 101!! Freakiest part?? they doesnt smell at all!! seriously! i even go closer and smell them. NOTHING!  i told Kang Yang, "ui, got sell durian o" "wtf? why no smell??" hahaha. if you pass a roadside stall in Malaysia that sells durian, you can probably smell it like half a km away.

Take note on the price tag and do currency convert yourself. dont say i never warn you.

Guess what caught my eye

A chrome Rhino, if that aint cool, i dont know what is!

 After visiting 101 we went to another mall to continue Kang Yang mission in search of his stuff.

#stayreal

There is a Tesla Showroom in the mall, and for a fan boy like me, WOW!

Michelin!

All Tesla are battery powered. so there is no such thing as turbo lag. depends on models, some have one or two motors in each cars. the flat part in the middle sections are all batteries. with this placement of the battery, is almost impossible for a tesla to roll over due to low central of gravity.

The biggest platform by far(compare to others i been in Taipei)

 Night we went to this place again, to pick up a book we ordered but due to stock availability, only the branch here have it. so here we are. there is a University just beside the train station. there is a lot of students, dogs and most of all, bicycle!!

Dinner in a Japanese store, i forgot its name.haha

One of the top bubble milk tea in Taiwan

 Ok, there is a story here again. so we walk up to the counter and order our drinks, there is a young girl probably age between 20-27 taking our order, she talks so fast i can barely understand whats she saying. seriously! fastest talker i ever met! luckily Kang Yang understand whats she's talking or else it will be super awkward for me.

Erm..... can the pot be eaten or just the inside? creative and weird at the same time. we took the train again to another station, there is a night market here and is normally flooded with students, but when we come, not as crowded as last night. not sure is sem break or just not the right date.

There is one reason i took this photo. showed to my gf and ask her to spot any thing weird, she said nothing. look at the operating hours. 1330 to 2300?? now i understand why they says dont wake up so early in the morning and stay longer out at night. is very rare to see this kind of operation hours in Malaysia. Normally will be 0900-2200.

should i give it a try next time and review how "authentic" it is?haha

After walking the night market and no pretty school girls spotted, we went back to our hotel, and on our way back we met west malaysia riders and decided to grab a cold one together.

Taiwan Beer, never tried this before in malaysia. if compare to beers i had before, i'll probably say is close to the one started with H that is green bottle with a red star. guess =D . we drank and share our experience of ridings, previous joined races and etc. really nice to know new people and learn something from them. we stayed until 12am and the store closed. we decided to went back and rest because is getting hotter and all of us havent bath. so thats it. end for 17.09.2018.

18.09.2018( Tuesday)

The last day we will be staying in Taiwan for this trip. today we have only one mission. to buy stuff to bring back Malaysia! sharing is caring =D and one secret mission... Kang Yang said no need so early wake up as all shop will be still be closed. so we depart around 10am in the morning and head to here.

We said if the line is long then we will skip. if the line is long but moving fast, then we will eat here. so when we arrived, the line is LONG!! but luckily is moving very fast. we queue for 15 minutes +- so is still acceptable for me.

Thin bread wrapped (you tiao) inside. the crispiest you tiao i ever tested. although the combination is a bit weird but is nice when you eat them individually. and dont forget about the soya milk.

Look at the line on the right and the crowd

After that we lure around and and went to Carrefour to buy some local delights to bring and share with friends as Kang Yang says will be cheaper than you went to those tourist focused shop. 

Just look at that drum stick!! compare to the whole chicken thigh at the bottom tray. mouth watering.

Aint expensive tho

Needle mushroom fans rejoice!! i never such big packing in malaysia

Another giant watermelon

hand compare to watermelon

 after shopping and snaking there, we decided to go another place, east district.

That rock sculpture is actually a pair of hands. represent praying

Again, #stayreal

Red Wing! i was walking down the street and suddenly, the writing on the door caught my eye. for a store that sell leather boots/shoes, this is a perfect deisgn. im wearing one of their safety boot model for work. saw one almost identical in the store but the price almost triple. probably because is designed for fashion instead of work

One Piece store. 

Before we left east district for gathering dinner tonight, we grab ice to cool down, is really hot here compare to Labuan(a small island beside Sabah, Malaysia)

classic

That poster tho. Tom Cruise when he is still young!

Phone for scale(Samsung S5) Red Bean Ice. nice! enough portion for 2 person sharing.

The Big event is here! today is actually the actual date of small Sim gf birthday, but Nick planned to give her wife a surprise birthday celebration also(not actual date). so after they both discuss and decided to celebrate together, they choose place and we settle the cake.

Venue: TGI Fridays

There are more dishes but im unable to take them all because table too long. After we had our meal, is time for the celebration, the waitress brings out music instrument and two safety helmets for the birthday girls. so we sing along birthday song with the restaurant staff in all three version, english, chinese and malay!

Small Sim and his Girlfriend, Lulu. 

ps: kang yang younger sister.

Nick and his wife Sharon

Complement from the restaurant

From right to left,

 Small sim(aka Vic) - lulu - me - Kang Yang - Captain Soon - Yuki(small sim cousin) - Mary - Michael - Big Sim(aka rocket sim) - Nick -  Sharon

Really had a great gathering. although most of them are elder than me.but you wont feel the age gap. you still be able to fit into their topic and laugh like a retard the whole night. hahaha. really no regret coming to this trip with them.

we left the restaurant and saw this street performer and decided to stop and watch. he looks like american or europian but he can speak chinese well. his talent? painting waterfall using spray can and recycle newspaper. stunning!

We slowly stroll back to our hotel and started to pack our stuff as we need to leave tomorrow morning heading back to Malaysia =[. packed my luggage and weighted no overweight, still have extra weight for captain to fit his stuff under my luggage weight limit.

19.09.2018 ( Wednesday )

 around 7am +- we checked out and depart to Airport. Mr liew is so good that he even bought breakfast for us. he said this is what the local actually prefer for rice noodle instead of the one we eat previously(Ah Chong).  i personally prefer this one compare to ah chong's. this one have baby oyster and added chili oil. you can taste the freshness of the baby oyster and the spiciness wakes you up early morning. haha

  

One last group photo before going back. 

Airport wishing you have a pleasant and safe flight.

Our flight is on 9am +-. by the time we arrive KK already 1pm something. after loading the truck with all of our bags and we head for lunch. we decided to try our luck and catch 6pm RORO ferry back to Labuan. our original ticket booked is on 8pm. but if we can make it, then we wont be so tired the next day. so after lunch and refuel, we depart around 3.30pm+-. in the middle of the journey met a few rains. i try to main my speed around 90kmh +- even in rain so i can get to Menumbok by 5.30pm+-. i actually arriving there using a sold 2 hours. which makes me more confident driving my truck more.

bad luck, we arrived 10 minutes late and ship captain already let those waiting list cars/trucks load into ferry. so we parked our cars and had dinner in Menumbok. when our ferry depart, it started to rain until we reach Labuan.

Conclusion of this whole trip,

im really glad to meet this group of friends that helps each other out. when you are traveling in a group, everyone have to contribute a little. regardless how much. such as being a joker, making us laugh and stay happy. a trip planner, planned the whole trip and arrange everything. time keeper, reminding us our schedule time to stay on schedule, and most of all silent contributor, secretly paying meal bills, train fairs and car fuels. They helped me a lot. especially Kang Yang and Captain Soon. keep me motivated and help me financially. without them i probably wont be here sharing my thoughts. And thank you to nick and mary we train together when in Labuan. Thank you everyone in this trip that we have fun together and cycle together!

will i come taiwan again for cycling? yes! if financial no problem. if i ever come again, probably will want to ride more than a day. riding your own bike in a different continent really feels different.

Keep Riding and Stay Happy. Peace out!