Taiwan Trip Day 2 - CKS Memorial, Costco, Ximending, and Xinyi (Wednesday, April 17th, 2019)

April 28, 2019

Taiwan Trip Day 2 - CKS Memorial, Costco, Ximending, and Xinyi (Wednesday, April 17th, 2019)

Taiwan Trip Day 2 - CKS Memorial, Costco, Ximending, and Xinyi (Wednesday, April 17th, 2019)

After getting a full night of sleep and some breakfast, Joanne and I set out for a walk to the nearby CKS Memorial to get some early morning exercise. The CKS Memorial is only about a ten minute walk from our apartment in the Zhongzheng district of Taipei.

Having breakfast at the apartment, Hung-Yo Soy Milk left over

Peeling grapes for the little cousins

CKS Memorial through the trees

Senior Citizens doing exercise at the park

Care takers working the plants surrounding CKS

Enjoying a nice day in Taipei

3D floor painting inside the CKS Memorial

Inside the CKS Exhibit, CKS's 1955 Cadillac Limo

The signature hallway around CKS Memorial

shawty playing with the little ones

We walked around the memorial several times and headed back to the apartment after racking up at least a few miles. We will be going to do some Costco shopping in the Neihu district of Taipei.

After freshening up at the apartment and re-filled our data plan on our sim cards, we headed out for Costco at the Neihu district of Taipei. Before we headed out of Zhongzheng district, the gang decided to purchase the second boba drink from "50 Lan"

Second boba drink at "50 Lan"

"50 Lan" pearl green milk tea

We got to Costco shortly after 11:00 am via family car. The store seemed awfully like the American Costco. It was almost like being in America without being in America. The store had two levels. The first level is food items and the second level is durable goods. We took the escalator up to the second store first. Erica, Jackson, and the little ones are there too with us. It was a family event.

Costo Taipei Neihu store

Up the escalator ramp

Ready for Costco

Hanging out with the little one at Costco

Joanne was on the hunt for a fix person Ta-Tung Rice Cooker. Unfortunately we only saw an 11-person rice cooker. Our hunt will continue rest of the trip.

Ta-Tung Rice Cooker, a Taiwan classic brand

Spin Mop, a popular item

Takeda Alinamin

Hello Kitty Kids underwear

Cute stationary set

Going down the ramp to the food floor

Organic Taiwan Kung-Shin Tsai

Imported pork jowl fillet from Canada

GG trying some samples

Wine tasting sample in the middle of a Wednesday

MM getting some sample

Rice and soy sauce

Sample of rice and sea weed

Bai-Hai Cod Jerky - a childhood memory

Super Crunchy Spicy Crab flavored Ruffles - that's a unique item

Making it to the Costco food court for lunch, some items are unique

Time for lunch - Hawaiian pizza by the slice

Hot dog time!

Matcha Bubble Sundae, a unique local item

Churro!

After the Costco run, we were heading to Ximending in old west Taipei. Years ago I took Joanne to Ximending but the kids were still young. This time I wanted the kids to experience old Taipei. It was about a fifteen minute drive from Neihu to Ximending. There was a bit of mid day traffic but not too bad.

At the Wuchang St entrance to Ximending, the Taipei version of Harajuku

Ya-Rao-Bian, a classic duck eatery at Ximending located at an old Japanese colonial era building

Giant Mango Shave Ice ad

"Frog Egg" drink store

Another boba drink spot - Shin-Fu-Tang

Drink is coated with carmelized brown sugar

Second boba drink for the day, feeling a bit guilty

MM getting a 7-Eleven Icee

MM playing a grabbing game at a game store

At a "lu-wei" - soy sauce marinated item food store

Various local snacks

Tam-Sui Iron Egg - a staple of northern Taiwan street snack

ChiaTe Pineapple Cake, another staple of Taiwan

Joanne was in search for a specific ice cream shop near Ximending, we walked across the historic Zhonghua Road on Wuchang Street and found the ice cream shop "Ice King".

Walking across the historic Zhonghua Road with Taipei Police Department Building in the background

Snow King Ice Cream on historic Wuchang Street

Snow King Ice Cream, located on the second floor on Wuchang Street Section 1, #65

Some of the more interesting flavors include Basil, Bitter gourd, and Sesame oil Chicken

We ordered (from top to bottom), mango, peach, taro, and basil

After enjoying the ice cream, we walked around Ximending more and headed to the Chengzhong market area of the old west Taipei. Chengzhong market is located between Wuchang Street and Yuanling street in an alley (Wuchang Street Section 1 Lane 22). It is a historic shopping area for the household and generally female clothing items. It has a traditional wet market just north of Wuchang Street and south of Wuchang street to Yuanling Street is the "market". The store fronts are opened along side of the street with awning that covers the whole ally (Lane 22). We walked from the north end of Lane 22 to the south end of Lane 22. This is where Joanne's mother used to shop for household and clothing items. We saw many senior Taiwanese ladies strolling the street mixed in with curious western tourists trying to get a sense of old Taipei.

An ubiquitous "buffet style" self serve restaurant at Chengzhong market

The wet market north of Wuchang Street

Fresh fruit stalls

Following the expert

Walking through the Chengzhong market

Store front

Hats?

After walking through the Changzhong market, we we walked towards Bo-ai Road to find the store "Salico Foods" or "Da Hey Song Xiao Liang Ko" in Chinese. We wanted to purchase the speciality crisp cake. It's a cake with a cheese outer layer baked to crispy. I had taken Joanne here before and we wanted the kids to try it as well.

Bo-ai road

At Salico Foods or "Da Hey Song Xiao Liang Ko"

Fresh "Crisp Cake" being baked

Cake wrapped in cheese and egg batter layer

In line for the Freshly baked Crisp Cake

Cake in cute gift packaging

We went across the Bo-ai road to Yong-sui street near the Taipei Zhongshan Hall to eat some of the cake. We shared couple of warm cakes on the street of the old west Taipei. After snacking on the cake, we walked north along Bo-ai road towards the old North Gate of the old Taipei fort. This is a historical intersection between Zhongxiao west, Bo-ai road, and Yanping South road.

At the old Taipei North Gate looking south on Bo-ai road (left) and Yanping South Road (right)

Beimen (North Gate)

The North Gate during the Qing dynasty

After touring and eating our way through the old west Taipei, we were heading to the new east Taipei, the Xinyi area. From the the area of the North Gate, we walked just a little bit east to the Taipei Main Station and got on the red line towards Xiangshan (The Elephant Mountain) to meet up with Joanne's mother and rest of the family for dinner at the Shin Yeh Japanese Cuisine at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place A11.

Exiting exit #2 from the red line with Taipei 101 in view at Xinyi district from the Xiangshan stop

We met up with Joanne's mother on the redline, and we were going to WuPaoChun, a new high end bakery right off exit #2 at Xiangshan stop of the redline. However, it was late in the day and the main items had run out. We would end up visiting this bakery WuPaoChun two more times after this first visit to buy the bread that we wanted.

Bakery WuPaoChun, located at a high end apartment building in the Xinyi district

After paying a quick but fruitless visit to WuPaoChun bakery, we ended to our dinner location - Shin Yeh Japanese Cuisine in Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place A11. We walked along Songren Road, there are now quite a few super high end skyscraper apartments and financial buildings in this area. We walked by a new Cartier store and good looking folks are dressed in tuxedo to greet private guests. This part of the town certainly shows the high life of Taipei versus the western part of the town we visited earlier in the day.

High end apartments and skyscrapers along Songren road in the Xinyi district