I went to a nice little Japanese restaurant near my dorm called 熱烈 一番拉麵 first with my language exchange partner.. I then returned with some friends I met at the dorm and they all think it’s pretty good.

And.. Um, I have to apologise because I don’t have the address or phone number of this one yet. But I will get it next time I visit!

Anyway, the above is my Agedashi Toufu. Quite nice. There was not much special about it aside from it coming to your table bubbling and steaming. Haha.

And I got the tonkotsu ramen, always a safe choice. Tonkotsu is pork bone marrow by the way, so if you want the usual miso soup ramen, choose a different one. But this is the meat in it and it was rather nice!

Oh, and there was the egg. The egg was really nice! So overall, I recommend visiting 熱烈 一番拉麵. It’s one of the few Japanese restaurants I’ve been to where I can say the food is pretty good every time I visit.

I went to the 臺北市動物園 (Taipei City Zoo) yesterday and so, I will start blogging with short stories and photos. It is also sometimes known as the 木柵 (Mù Zhà) Zoo because it was built in a district known as 木柵 which is now called 文山 (Wén Shān).

It is about a 20 minute MRT ride from the main station, and I will post the address in every zoo post so that you won’t have to search for it. But if you want specific details, from 臺北車站 (Taipei Main Station) get the train on the 南港 (Nán Gǎng) line to 忠孝復興 (Zhōng Xiào Fù Xīng). From there, change trains to 動物園 (Taipei Zoo) and it will be the very last stop on the line.

Opening hours: 09:00 – 17:00 (no entry after 16:00) every day of the year except Chinese New Year’s Eve, and I suggest getting there in the morning because the Zoo is huge.

Full price entry: $60NT
Discount entry (concession, students): $30NT

Address: 台北市文山區新光路二段30號
Taipei City, Wen Shan District, Xin Guang Road, Sec. 2, No. 30
Phone number: 02 2938 2300 # 630

Now as you can already see, the first set of photos are butterflies from the insect section of the zoo, and a spider I saw on a tree somewhere else in the zoo. All were taken with my Canon EOS 450D and EF 24-105mm f4.0 L IS USM. I’m still noob but I will practice more and get better~

But a bit about the zoo.. I got there at 09:30, paid my $30NT and entered. I didn’t bother getting a small map, but there are plenty of larges boards or posters around the place which show a map of the entire zoo. You probably should get a map and tick/cross off the animals as you see them just so it’s easier.

When you enter by the way, you get a ticket to go see the Panda. Sometimes there’s a line to enter the Panda area, sometimes there isn’t. Both times I went there was no line at all yet there is a sign telling you what you should do if the wait is a few hours so I’m assuming it can possibly become up to a five hour wait. But just give your ticket to one of the ticket collectors and you can go see the Panda.

It was pretty good but I will post more about that later, with photos.

This insect section is quite large and has quite a bit of information on different species. All of these photos are from a large room which you can enter where all the butterflies are flying around freely. There are two floors and plenty of space, just be careful not to hurt any of the butterflies! Most of them are the white ones you see here but there are also some pretty red and black ones, etc.

There are some more insects on display inside as well as a walk which takes you through some insect habitats (basically, a trail surrounded by trees and a small creek), both of which are worth checking out as well.

However, this was the section I visited last and by then I was exhausted from exploring the rest of the zoo. I probably should have spent some more time here and took more care with my photos (as well as to enjoy it more), but really, I couldn’t wait to go home and collapse.

After arriving at 09:30, I left six hours later with extremely sore feet and about 240 photos. Overall though, it was fun and very cheap! A good way to spend a day in Taipei (if you like this kind of thing, of course). And so, I will leave the rest of the photos without any description.. Til the next lot of zoo photos~

Last night I went to the Shī Dà Night Market/師大夜市 (shī dà yè shì) with one of my language exchange partners, 奕穎 and this time I will let the photos mostly speak for themselves.

I already cut this up and had a bite before I took the photo so I probably need to say the meat was inside the ball and it actually tasted really nice.

The above was also really nice in my opinion and had some pieces of intestine and.. I forget what else she said was in it. Sorry, 奕穎. =(

More delicious things I tried! I asked 奕穎 what they were and she said I would find out when I tried them so I can’t really explain what’s in them. Haha. Just try them too!

Finally, something I can give you the name of! This store sold mainly 蔥油餅 (cōng yóu bǐng) which is literally a scallion/green onion oil dough-cake/pancake. The name sounds bad but 奕穎 said that almost everyone loves these, so if you only try one thing, try this!

This is just a random shot of an intersection in the night market. It’s always quite crowded so be patient and careful not to hit any little kids on the head with your DSLR. *ahem*

And here is stuff cooking at the 蔥油餅 stand! Lol.

This is one of the many places you can buy tea, including milk tea/奶茶 (nǎi chá) and fruit tea/果茶 (guǒ chá). The teas are all very customisable – you can change the amount of ice, flavour and sweetness to your liking. However, you will rarely find one with an English menu, so perhaps, study up? Although most employees can speak English, asking them to describe the menu is not a good idea if they’re very busy (not because they won’t want to help, they will want to help, it’s just that you’ll be getting in the way of other customers).

Just another street. I’ll take this as an opportunity to recommend another food, 章魚燒 (zhāng yú shāo) – an octopus ball. If you know what たこ焼き/蛸焼 (takoyaki) is, then you will know what this is as they are the same thing. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of them.

More food stalls! 奕穎 asked me why I like taking photos of the products and not the pretty signs or whatever. I never noticed this before and I couldn’t answer her. Hmm..

And even more food stalls! This one is obviously fruit.. Did I really need to tell you that?

And even MORE food! Oh my, what the hell was I focusing on here..

As it gets later and you walk further away, the streets get more empty. However, apparently 大安 (Dà ān) is one of the safest districts so if you stay until late, you don’t have to worry too much.

And that’s all from me on 師大夜市, a must visit night market. Til next time!

Another mini post! And look! OMG~ Sha learnt to do laundry. (Yeah, truth is I was really bored and needed something to post about that was easy and didn’t require me to leave the building. Haha.)

Well, my family back in Australia read this blog so a note to them: Look! This is where I do my laundry. I can do laundry and not ruin my clothes! Hahaha! (Oh, and below is the parking area on the same floor as the laundry.)

Another mini post from Sha! This time about the awesome bakery, Yamazaki! Below is the address and phone number for one of many Yamazaki stores in Taipei City.

Address: 臺北市中正區中山南路7號
Taipei City, Zhong Zheng District, Zhong Shan South Road, No. 7
Phone number: 02 2392 6160

I’m just going to show you photos of things I have gotten from Yamazaki and describe them. Need I say, everything I have had has been delicious?

So, we’ll start with something simple. Pictured above is what I’m calling Moo Moo Bread – it’s amazingly soft and has a nice, plain taste with chocolate patches not only on the outside, but on the inside as well.

Now these are Cheese Danish and I am completely addicted to them! It is $60NT for four and each one has extremely soft bread inside with a nice blend of cheese. There are never many left when I visit so it seems they are quite popular. Also, there are other types of Danish including Almond.

The above is a nice and soft bread stick covered in cheese. Like the danish, I think it is really nice and usually they will ask if you want it cut into three pieces or not. They’re quite large (and cheap) as well, around $20NT each.

This is something simple again, three slices of slightly toasted bread. Between one layer is a nice amount of cheese while between the other layer, you will find some egg and really thin slices of cucumber.

They don’t have the same type of filling in these every day, so often you will find other combinations such as peanut butter, etc. I would really recommend trying any of these.

And here we have another sausage dog! Both the ones from Yamazaki and Bread First are quite nice. I don’t know why I always get these. Maybe because there is meat and if it weren’t for noodles and pasta, I would be a carnivore?

Then we have the small, soft macha cake. It is really soft and has a stronger flavour than most cakes. Did I mention that it was really nice? Well, it is!

Finally, we have a small tart! It was really nice although it looks really yellow. Now I wish I had another one..

That’s all for now from me. Classes started last week so I won’t have as much time to update but I will do my best to update as often as possible.