day 23! guting, ximending, shilin night market

Another late start to the day. The room I'm staying in is such a cave. I don't mean it in a bad way, just that there's only one small window, and it faces out into an alley where the next building's wall is about one foot away. So even during the daytime it looks like the sun has just set, making me not want to do anything.........

But there's no stopping a determined and hungry Michael.

So we go to McDonalds?? He's sort of obsessed with trying American foods that have made the journey to Asia. I don't quite get it, but he says it's because they're so different here (true) and that he's been here long enough that he's having cravings for home food (only true for pizza). I'm too apathetic to argue too much, so after I'm badgered into figuring out how to say "McChicken" in Chinese (it's mai4xiang1ji1 for anyone who might be interested -_-;;) we are off to the nearby McDonalds.

So it's quite fancy inside O_o The second floor is this giant seating area with really koosh seats, fancy designs, and a surprisingly number of couples on dates. (wtf?? Ireland's Potato and now McDonalds...potatoes must be the Taiwanese aphrodisiac). It looks like people treat McDonald's kind of like a Starbucks, which is kinda funny given the huge gulf separating the marketing image the two companies have back at home.

Anyway thanks to the research assignment I was given, I knew which sandwich on the menu had the least calories, some chicken...something or other. Had a horribly stilted conversation with the cashier where I tried to order a #10 but with no drinks or fries (no combo), but not knowing how to say the word "fries", or "combo". :( She got it eventually. It was not bad, I was surprised that they used real chicken and not the ground up parts of whatever 20 legged swamp creature passed FDA requirements that morning.

After McDonalds we had plans to go to ximending to shop, since it's pretty defensible from the rain. (Yes, we are now at war with rain).

Found a cong zua bing (flaky green onion pancake) cart, one of Michael's favorites (there are a lot of them around, in each area). He's gotten countless ones but come to think of it I haven't had one yet. It's pretty similar to a cong you bing (green onion pancake) except that I added the word flaky to the front of one. :p

Hehe, no, the texture is a little more flaky I guess, I'm not really sure how they're made differently. People usually ask for +egg (~30cents), which makes it a bit more hearty.

So she cracks the egg, scrambles it quickly before it cooks, then throws some basil on (Michael and I are still trying to figure out how to say that in Chinese), and then the pre-cooked green onion pancake. Insta snack! They usually add a dab or two of sauce (vaguely hoisin ish) and spicy sauce if you want it.

So, still trying to uphold my previous resolution to take pics of non-food. Here's a pretty common sight in ximending. :) There are pillars along the sidewalk to support the walkway roofing, and since they're all about maximizing store real estate space, many pillars double as a small stand that people sell goods from. There's always a variety of things so they have to pack em in pretty snugly to show all their wares.

Same deal, two little pillar-shops selling hats, in front of a boutique called Vivi Sweet. Most shop owners encourage you to try on their stuff, since they know it's way easier to get you to buy once you've seen yourself in it (also it'll give them a few seconds to pitch to you).

Another cutesy plushy/goodies type store, with a pillar-store selling bags and wallets.

Whoops that's a bit awkward. :) This store owner happened to look up as I was taking a pic of her restocking a few items. Guess you guys get to see an example of Taiwan street fashion.

Michael and I found a cool display that mirrors whatever the little cam (black bump on the right side) sees. Took a few pics before noticing that it was probably intended for a couples kiss cam or something.

So I just took one alone. T_T

This pillar is being used (outside a boutique) as advertisement for the types of fashion that boutique has. Pretty funny...I like certain elements of each outfit, but I would never in a thousand years wear any of those complete outfits. :S

NRGNRGNRGNRNG ANGRYPLUSHIESPILLAR!

One of my favorite things to do anywhere is people watching. :) Cuz who doesn't people watch?? I see so many cute outfits/girls walking around but usually am not fast or subtle enough to sneak in a pic. So I tried snapping a few pics of whole crowds, not sure I managed to capture anything great but, more examples of what people here wear. :) At least, in ximending (which tends towards a younger, possibly trashier crowd?)

wtfjumpsuit. Also, I think one pretty notable thing about fashion here is how willing girls are to compromise beauty for comfort, in terms of shoe apparel. Wearing a pretty cute/pretty outfit, paired with walking shoes is considered normal here. Odd but I think I like it -- it speaks to a more practical minded approach to life. :) As opposed to Japan were all girls look great all the time but....if everyone looks great all the time, you have to wonder how much time is squandered in the name of vanity on a day to day basis??

So, we split up and did some shopping, then met up again and shopped a bit more. Michael bought the same large white totoro I got, from a different place. But the guy gave him the same deal that I got! So I spose all vendors to have quite a bit of leeway on pricing, and it's factored into the initial cost of the item.

By the time we were done, it was 8 or 9ish and we figured it was a good opportunity to go to a night market (it would give us a coupla hours there). Back to Shilin. :) Haven't been there in a while.

Thirsty, so we stopped to get drinks at one of these WOW Frog eggs stand. lol. Despite huge indications otherwise, there are no frog eggs in any of the drinks here! I don't know why they're called frog eggs, or have a large pic of a frog with eggs. But it's a really commonplace stand (franchise?) that you're guaranteed to see at least once at any night market. They sell mmm, lighter, more "refreshing" drinks? (vs. milk tea or other heavily creamy/sweetened drinks). We got an aiyubing (cold aiyu).

Looks like this....the yellow blocks are aiyu, basically the same consistency as jello. Lots of added lemon/lime flavor which is what makes it refreshing. :)

Made our way to the underground food court area, cuz Michael wanted some oyster pancakes. As expected on a rainy day, it was totally packed with people. We agreed that this one stand has our favorite oyster pancakes though. ^^v and we have sampled from many many stands over the past few weeks!

Stopped to get some sausage. *pause for sausage jokes*. Yah these are all REALLY really big sausages. You don't have to buy the whole thing, you can just get however many lbs you want and she'll cut it up and put it in a baggie for you to eat as you walk.

On our way home, saw this interesting Oreo milk tea concoction and wondered how close a McFlurry it would be. (turns out not close at all, since I've never wept over a soggy disappointing mcflurry) 

She had a cute straw dispenser though. :3

Didn't do much shopping at Shilin but got our yummy street foods and called it a day. :)