Taiwan Trip Day 4 - Da-an District (Friday, April 19th, 2019)

May 18, 2019

Taiwan Trip Day 4 - Da-an District (Friday, April 19th, 2019)

Taiwan Trip Day 4 - Da-an District (Friday, April 19th, 2019)

We ate a quick breakfast at our apartment this morning. Joanne and I decided to run a few errands/make a few purchases before the lunch appointment at Mala Hotpot in Da-an district, my childhood neighborhood.

We would head to WuBaoChun bakery to make our third attempt to buy bread. We toured around the Donmen wet market and got on the redline from the Donmen stop. After we successfully purchased the bread at WuBoaChun bakery at the Xiangshan stop in the Xinyi district, we took the redline back to Zhongzheng district and got off at the CKS Memorial Hall stop to purchase more food items at the Southgate market (Nanmen Market).

Touring the Donmen Market (East Gate Market) before hopping on the redline

Stall for all things kitchen

Traditional butchery

Freshly made dumplings

The cooked food section of the market

Arrived at WuBaoChun bakery around 10:00 am

Specialty item - Taiwan Longan with Red Wine Bread

Taiwan Plum & Tea Bread

Taiwan Litchi Rose Champion Bread

Freshly baked

Happy customer

Nanmen Market

After purchasing more food items at Nanmen market, we walked across CKS Memorial Park back to the apartment to pick up the kids and meet up with Joanne's mother to go to lunch. We will take the Ren-ai mainline bus eastbound to the Howard Hotel stop and walk to our lunch spot - Mala Hotpot in the Da-an district and spend the rest of the day in Da-an.

After getting off the bus stop at Howard Hotel, we walked less than one mile north along Fuxing South Road Section 1 and across Zhongxiao East Road. It was an all you can eat lunch pot pot buffet for a party of nine. After the hot pot lunch, which we had a hard time leaving, the girls went to get their hair trimmed at the nearby salon Cabello by the Taipei City Hospital. I visited my parents while Joanne and the girls got their hair trimmed. After the hair trim, we got a bowl of "gan-ban-mien" or dry mixed noodle at a stall near by old neighborhood behind Tung-Feng street. We also got scallion cake to go at a nearby shop run by the son of a 97-year-old lady from the Shangdong province.

At the intersection of Fuxing and Zhongxiao

"Mala" Hot pot Fuxing store

Condiments section

Being silly

Time for a picture in a restaurant

Fresh fruit bar

Meat selection

Noodle selection

Is that enough drinks?

Apple Sidra, a staple Taiwan drink

Getting started

Table full of ingredients

Cooking the ingredients

Lunch time!

Ready to eat

Already time for ice cream

aunt or sister?

Taiwan dessert - To-Hua and Puding

Chung-Hai To-Hua, a staple Taiwan dessert

Girls getting hair trimmed at Cabello

Da-an, in the old neighborhood

Getting the Gan Ban Mien at the old neighborhood of Da-an

Gan Ban Mien

Kitchen/order counter of the Scallion Cake store

Freshly made scallion cake

Da-an, in front of the scallion cake store

In the rain, we slowly made our way to the Eslite flagship Bookstore in Dua-Hua. We went to the lower level foodcourt to get another drink at One Zo before we head to dinner.

Ordering at One Zo

Getting a drink at One Zo

Rainy Taipei afternoon, a typical scene

We had dinner with my parents at the Howard Plaza Taiwanese restaurant Formosa. We had been dining in this restaurant since I was a child. We called it a day early and headed back to the apartment in steady rain.

Sitting down for dinner at Formosa at the Howard Plaza Hotel