Our second full day here in Shih Pai started out with traditional Taiwanese breakfast. There is a 永和豆漿 (they are virtually everywhere!) just across the street from my cousin’s place. It was a little busy as we found our way inside for a table. Within a 50 meter radius, there are no less than 20 eateries of some sort. How convenient is that? We sat down as one of the staff handed me a small clip board with menus on it. "Just mark whatever you like." the
staff explained to me. Normally I’d hand the menu to my wife but in this case I had to do the ordering, the menu was printed in Chinese only. My Mrs. knows a handful of Chinese characters as she wasn’t raised in a Chinese speaking environment.
A tray of 小籠包 couldn’t go wrong, no matter what time of the day it is. Added to the steamed pork buns were 蛋餅 & 蘿蔔糕. Plus two orders of soymilk and a rice powdered milk
for myself and a 飯團. A light yet filling breakfast for the family. Our agenda for the day was to meet up with two online friends at Taipei 101, known as 豆豆 & 摩摩
(Pea & Momo) for the first time.
"History has a way of repeating itself." I had to make sure that it didn’t happen after
yesterday’s ordeal. I checked the emails several times and had the list of contact info safely tugged away in my camera case. I had also emailed both ladies and given them my cell number. Angel lent me one of her cell phones. We actually didn’t need the phone since Angel and her boyfriend were coming with us.
In my previous article, both Pea and Momo had to commute close to an hour to get to Taipei
City. Before our trip I was deeply moved by their friendly and kind gesture. I had only given Pea several unstructured English lessons and had a handful of message exchanges with Momo prior to our meeting. For them to come all the way to meet us and spend a few hours together, really made me humble.
The rain continued from the night before but wasn’t quite as heavy. I must praise the
public transit system in Taiwan, swift, convenient and quite affordable. Not long after we got out of the station and headed our way to Taipei 101 my cell phone rang. Pea was already in the building. We were about half a block away so we paced ourselves. We were supposed to meet at a Japanese restaurant just outside the building, only I couldn’t find the dang place! Fortunately I had the contact list and a cell phone this time. History wasn’t going to repeat this morning!
We exchange calls with Pea several times, trying to pin point each other’s location in the
building. After a few minutes a young lady that fit the descriptions emerged. We looked at each other with uncertainty. "Uncle Lu?" the slender young lady asked. "Pea?" I replied. We looked at each other and smiled. I introduced Pea to the Lu clang, my cousin Angel and her bf. Whew, I didn’t screw up this time! Pea told me Momo should arrive in another 20 or so
minutes. "Great!" I thought. We walked a around a little and wandered our way to the lower level - 美食街.
It was still early but I could tell that our appetite was coming back, the store displays looked yummy! We circled the lower level for a while before finding a spot to sit. We chatted with Pea a little and moments later Momo joined us. I’m guessing the two ladies are about the same age, I didn’t ask them though. Mrs. Lu told me that lunch was on her and
asked me to take our guests to different establishments on the lower level to
see what they liked for lunch.
I’m not sure if the locals would agree with us, but we felt that the food prices were quite
good. For NT120~140 each set, my wife ordered two sets for our sons and one for
herself. Our elder son had 魯肉飯, 貢丸湯加燙青菜 for ~ $4? What a bargain!! I looked at my wife’s sizzling plate with 排骨飯 + 蛋, 2 small plates of pickled veggie and a bowl of Pea & carrot soup, not bad! Not bad at all! We chit chatted during our meal and it was very pleasant.
After lunch, we explored the now second tallest building in the world. It’s quite an impressive
structure, all the resident stores are open and bright. I had taken shopping tips from 大姐頭
- don’t shop at Taipei 101! We strolled from store to store, from one floor to the next. We had to make an extended stop at one of the toys & games places so our sons could flex their arms and hands. Pea and Momo were more like two big sisters to our sons. They were able to communicate to an extend. I know, I HAVE to teach our sons Mandarin more!
Our boys played as the two big sisters looked on.
We spent another hour inside, exploring more stores. There is this one store that particularly liked, but the prices are too steep. The "real" shopping would take place once we had concluded our Tour de Taipei 101. We worked out way back to the Taipei Main Station, the 地下街 sections. The foot traffic wasn’t too heavy on this Saturday afternoon. We really liked all the different stores and what they had to offer. Since many stores sell the same items, the prices are very close. We browsed through a few stores and noted the
prices, the differences were minuscule.
I still have the habit of converting back to US currency whenever I see a price on something. Well, nearly everything we saw was inexpensive! Pea and Momo were also bargain
hunting, too. It’s quite a distance from one end of the strip and back, with stores on both sides. There are several more strips like the one we had visited.
By mid-afternoon we had accumulated several bags of goodies, something for everyone, including kids. We really wanted to shop around more but it was close to 4 pm already. Uncle Lai was waiting for us to get back so he could take us to Keelung to meet with Aunt Connie (a very close family friend) and have dinner with her.
We returned to Taipei Main Station and said good-bye to Pea and Momo. Although we didn’t get to chat extensively but we did have a great time browsing, shopping together. Our sons really enjoyed being with the big sisters, too. Thank you Pea and Momo!
By the way, the snacks you brought us were DELICIOUS!
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