Taiwan Days 1-2

14 hour flight to Taipei. Watched two Don Lee films - The Plastic Men and The Round Up. The guy is a movie star -- some people like Jason Statham, others like Liam Neeson. I'm for Don Lee. 

Day 1 - staying in Songjiang Nanjiang neighborhood. Convenient location. Not entirely legal airbnb. Street food everywhere in Taipei - sure 100% sure how I feel about it. Some tastes good, definitely cheap but not exactly healthy and clean. That said, I'll try a lot of it. I get the feeling a lot of people who live in Taipei don't cook a ton because it's so easy to pick up food quickly. Right near a 7-11 and a small kids park. Notice quite a number of these little city parks for kids around town. 7-11 very popular. I think people get their coffee and breakfasts there. Hot foods somewhat attractive and similar to street food. Then again, I notice this in LA - a lot of laborers eat their lunch from 7-11 now.

Lunch - beef noodle soup, one of the staple Taiwanese lunch meals. Probably the best I've had - this was sort of the fancy version - the beef super tender and soft. Broth flavorful. I added some spice but actually thought it tasted better without. I still can't figure out the name of the restaurant, but the website is called www.noodle3.com (figured it out: Tien Hsia San Chueh beef). Michelin rated.

Walked around neighborhood. Noticed two wine bars and a lot of coffee/brunch shops. One below us serves a lot of different items they call hamburgers. Some have chicken in them, others with fish. Not sure I'm going to try. 

General note: last time I was here was 10 years ago and I see a lot more white, western faces than I recall from before...and apparently american breakfast more popular now (strange because traditional taiwanese breakfast is fav amongst taiwanese folks...)

Dinner - Cantonese restaurant with roasted / Peking duck specialty. Dragon Restaurant. It was terrific. Taipei might be the most efficient place in the world to get a high variety of quality Chinese food at decent (by American standards) prices. American dollar must be strong right now coupled with Taiwan being a tad cheaper in general.

Day 2 - Temple in New Taipei City. New Taipei City used to be countryside surrounding Taipei, but has now developed into the equivalent of New Jersey to New York. Anyhow, the temple we went to was just a bit up a hill and had this wonderful Buddha carved into rock. Then, a narrow rock staircase up through the massive rocks. A highlight of the trip. Kids loved exploring this mountainside. Far up these dirt paths were little huts/platforms set up where people (farmers?) were doing karaoke. I don't totally understand if they live there or just go up there to hang out. 

Followed by lunch, shaved ice, and boba in Ximen - a popular tourist neighborhood in Taipei. Massively popular - a lot of young folks in this area...goofy gambling type games for kids (like Pachinko parlors)...a store merchant spoke to me in Korean. 

Considered going to basketball game for New Taipei Kings (featuring Jeremy Lin), but waaay too exhausted and looks like we'll miss out on that opportunity.

Visited local wine bar after kids went down - got an Italian red - solid. Rules in bar involved an extra charge should you vomit. 

Day 3 - Morning at Taipei 101. Quite a tourist mecca. Perfect weather - great for kids to see entire city from that perspective. When built, it was the tallest building in the world. Super crazy fast elevator. Followed by Din Tai Fung, the original. Menu larger than the LA franchises. Some delicious additional dishes -- a sticky rice with meat dish, golden lava bun, hot and sour soup...

Sorry notes needing to be written quickly...