Breakfast Spot: 伯朗咖啡館 (Mr. Brown Café)

So in my last post, I talked about a typical Taiwanese breakfast which consists of 蛋餅、土司、三明治 and 飲料 such as 豆漿、柳橙汁、紅茶 and the likes, but what if you wanted a more Western-style breakfast? And other drink options? Preferably ones that won't break your wallet? Well then, might I recommend 伯朗咖啡館 (Bó lǎng kāfēi guǎn), otherwise known as Mr. Brown Café?

伯朗咖啡 Mr. Brown Coffee is actually a series of canned coffee products which you can find sold in any convenience store or vending machine in Taiwan. They also have a café, 伯朗咖啡館 Mr. Brown Café, which is a little similar to Starbucks--they have a variety of coffees and teas, a baked good sections, and other food items, all of which while are a little more expensive than a typical breakfast, are still pretty affordable.

Mr. Brown Café serves both breakfast items (before 11 am) and lunch items (after 11 am), but as I have only ever gone there for breakfast, I shall be writing about the breakfast items. I have also never tried their drinks beyond what was included in the breakfast set so no thoughts on that either.

As I mentioned, the drinks tend to be a little more on the expensive side (over NT$100), and the breakfast items as well, but they do have breakfast sets available and for NT$100 you can choose a breakfast item as well as one drink (out of the choices of iced/hot 紅茶 black tea、iced/hot 咖啡 coffee、and 柳橙汁 orange juice). A little more than I'd like to spend on any one meal, especially for breakfast, but it's still pretty decent.

Their breakfast menu includes choices such as club sandwiches, bagels, cheese toast, ciabatta sandwiches and pancakes (although I have not seen that option at the store near my dorm), and their servings are actually pretty large and come with a little scoop of (I believe) egg salad and some vegetables on the side. Not too bad for a little over US$3.

I got a 火腿磨菇蛋巧巴達三明治 ham and mushroom ciabatta sandwich along with a glass of 冰紅茶 iced black tea the first time I went--you can't really see it but there is an egg salad and cucumbers behind the ciabatta

The second time around I opted for the 煙燻雞肉焗烤土司 smoked chicken cheese toast and a glass of 柳橙汁 orange juice which came with sides of egg salad, mushrooms, and a little cherry (plum?) tomato

The breakfast food here is pretty good, it's more like a Western-Asian fusion as some of the choices for the sandwiches were flavors like teriyaki pork or teriyaki beef but nothing outrageous and I recommend this place if you're in the mood for a more Western-style meal.

The atmosphere is also nice too, especially at around breakfast time. It's not crowded but not completely empty either and it's nice to just sit there and chat with your friends.

Taiwanese Breakfast

Living in Taiwan means access to a great wealth of food for a relatively low price (I can usually get away with spending less than NT$200 a day on food), while living in a university area means a wide range of places nearby to eat. That includes breakfast places too, some of which open as early as 6 am (or even earlier for all I know), which is especially important when you have three 8 am classes a week (some of my friends have 8 am classes everyday). Now granted, I usually eat after my class ends, but occasionally I'm hungry enough and have enough time to spare before my class to be able to sit down and have breakfast beforehand (I prefer not to eat in class even if the professor doesn't mind).

Now as I mentioned, my sister's friend was in Taiwan recently and the first few days he was here, he had been going to convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and Family Mart to buy breakfast. I admit that when I first arrived, I had been doing that also, because it was cheap, convenient, and didn't require struggling to read a menu. However, by the time he had gone back to the States, he still had not had a proper Taiwanese breakfast. I was aghast and hence, decided that a post was in order.

Now if you want a truly traditional Taiwanese breakfast, you can have congee or rice with some meat and veggie dishes (which was basically what they served everyday at the first hotel that my Chinese class stayed in when we came last year), but what I want to talk about is 蛋餅、土司、三明治 and 漢堡 which is what you will typically find served in a breakfast place and they're usually pretty cheap as well. A 蛋餅 typically costs around NT$30 (about US$1), while a 土司 and 三明治 will cost anywhere from NT$30 to NT$50, with 漢堡 being a little more expensive at anywhere from NT$45 to NT$70 which is still pretty cheap in US standards. Drinks as well should cost no more than NT$50. I spend on average anywhere between NT$50 to NT$75 for a breakfast of one drink and one food item which is around US$1.50 at most.

蛋餅 (Dàn bǐng)

Please ignore the little puppy nose peeking in from the corner--I took this shot to send to my sister and the lighting on my other pic was kind of poor

When my Chinese class first landed in Taoyuan International Airport last spring it was still in the wee hours of the morning, thus only a few of the food stands were open. McDonald's was one of them and a place selling more traditional Taiwanese food was another. As I didn't want my first meal in Taiwan to be American food, I opted for the Taiwanese breakfast and got this delicious 蛋餅 which is basically an egg crepe.

I never thought I would be able to study in Taiwan, let alone eat more of this delicious breakfast item, but here I am, trying different types of 蛋餅 in different places along with other delicious breakfast items.

生菜蛋餅 and a bowl of hot 豆漿

As I mentioned, this is basically an egg wrapped inside a slightly crispy crepe. The one I got at the airport was your standard 原味 flavor, but they also have different meat flavors (火腿 ham or 肉鬆 pork floss), different vegetable flavors (生菜 lettuce or 韭菜 leek), and a personal favorite, 起士 cheese. You can also add different 將 sauces to it such as a slightly sweet teriyaki sauce or some spicy chili paste--sometimes there will be a sauce "station" in the place for you to add yourself, other times they'll have added for you already.

火腿蛋餅 to-go with a bit of black pepper cooked in too

起士蛋餅 with a cup of 奶茶 to-go from a different breakfast place, with sauce added--theirs was of the less crispy variety

I think my favorite has to be the 蛋餅 from 永和豆漿 (where I also had the 生菜蛋餅) just because their 蛋餅 are not only big, but pretty generous with the fillings as well so it's actually a pretty satisfying meal. They also have a little sauce station where you can add whatever you want--as you can see below, I drizzled some sauce on my 蛋餅 with some chili paste on the side. The nice thing about this place is that while other breakfast places tend to close by noon, this place will be open at night too (for all you breakfast-for-dinner folks out there) and they have non-breakfast dishes as well. The atmosphere wasn't exactly the greatest however as I saw a few bugs crawling around the table once and the second time there was this creep staring at my friend (we're not sure if he works there or not), I think because she was non-Asian.

起士蛋餅 with a cup of 仙草奶茶

 This here is 小小福 which is a little commissary on campus where you can go for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Although there are only three stands there's a pretty good variety of food there and a nice little seating space under a giant tent-like structure so it's sort of like eating both indoors and out. There's even a sink there. The one annoying thing about eating here though is that they only accept exact change.

This is actually not a 蛋餅, but a 蔥抓餅 (Cōng zhuā bǐng), which is a scallion pancake. It's similar to a 蛋餅 as there was also an egg inside of this (they don't always have egg), but for the outside, instead of the slightly crispy crepe wrap, there's a thicker, chewier dough-like wrap with scallions cooked into it. This I also recommend (and I don't even like scallions).

土司 (Tǔsī) 、三明治 (Sānmíngzhì)、漢堡 (Hànbǎo)

Basically, toast, sandwich, and hamburgers. Haha. These three words are actually all loanwords (as you can probably tell); sometimes you'll also see toast written as 吐司 (pronounced the same). 

These are also common breakfast items sold at breakfast places. Now, in the US when you say "toast," you'd think of a slice of toasted bread, maybe with some butter, maybe with some jam, maybe with some cheese. Here however, 土司 refers to two slices of toasted bread put together with whatever filling inside--basically a toasted sandwich. I've had 花生 (peanut) and 抹茶 (matcha) toast before which were okay, but the layers of peanut butter or matcha were spread pretty thin, and there definitely could have been more.

I don't know if you toast your bread before making a sandwich, but I always used to do that. However, the 三明治 here do not use toasted bread, which is fine, I just thought it was worth a mention. 三明治 come with different flavors--most Taiwanese breakfast places will have fillings like egg and a meat of your choice (火腿 ham, 肉鬆 pork floss, 雞肉 chicken, what have you), but the sandwiches at Louisa Coffee, which are more Western-style, have lettuce and tomato in addition to ham, chicken, or beef (and cheese if you want), and some sauce. They also have a choice of whole wheat bread or multi-grain.

漢堡 like the 三明治 have a variety of different fillings you can get. I recently went to try out 拉亞漢堡 (Laya Burger), which is this lovely little breakfast place near my dorm. They have a variety of food items there and the first time I went, I tried their 抹茶土司, which as I mentioned was alright, but the second time, I decided to be adventurous and get a 米堡--a rice burger!

Pork I believe this was with a cup of cold 紅茶

Your food comes in this cute little basket

I had rice burgers both in Korea and in in the US before, though they didn't seem to be very common (less so in the US), but never for breakfast. I think part of the reason I like the rice burger so much here is that I feel like rice dishes are harder to come by and I'm used to having rice practically everyday. Rice is also makes for a filling dish, whether you have it for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. 

That's not to say however that I only got the rice burger because I wanted rice--I truly enjoyed my rice burger. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I got it again the next time I went.

The wrapping through which you can still feel the heat of the burger, but it does prevent the grease from getting on your hands!

They could work on aligning the patties a little better but it was still a delicious meal!

My friend's 漢堡

Despite being a little on the small side, the rice burger was quite filling, being that not only was it made of rice, but also was quite generous with the meat and vegetables. It is pretty hot though, so be careful not to burn your tongue (or hands) when you first take a bite out of it.

飲料 (Yǐnliào)

Or beverages. If you noticed, in all of my photos above, my breakfast was accompanied by some drink or other. After all what's breakfast (or any other meal for that matter), without a drink (no, I'm not talking about the alcoholic variety and yes, water counts too) to wash down the food? 

In a typical Western breakfast, your meal is usually accompanied by a cup of coffee or tea or perhaps a nice cold glass of milk, some orange juice, or a smoothie even. While Taiwan is famous for being the creator of 珍珠奶茶 or bubble tea, and while there's no lack of bubble tea stands all around, it's not exactly the go-to breakfast drink. So what constitutes are typical Taiwanese breakfast beverage?

豆漿 (dòujiāng), or soy milk, would probably be the most common breakfast drink. And I'm not talking about Silk milk either--Asian soy milk is quite different from American soy milk--it's much better. Haha. If you don't believe me, try Vitasoy soy milk--just don't get the sugar free one because it's not as good. 豆漿 can be served either hot(/warm) or cold (熱/溫 or 冰). If you're eating in and get it warm, they'll usually serve it in a giant bowl for you (as in the picture of my 生菜蛋餅 and 豆漿above), otherwise you'll get it in a cup.

米漿 (mǐ jiāng) or your brown rice milk. I've never had rice milk in the US so I don't know how the two compare. 米漿 is not bad, but not really my cup of tea. It's a lot thicker than actual milk or soy milk and has a nutty scent to it (although it doesn't taste nutty) and is slightly sweet. Again you can get this cold or hot though I've only ever tried it cold.

奶茶 (nǎichá) or milk tea, another popular breakfast drink. Nice and refreshing whether you have it cold or hot and I really like how there's the most subtle hint of tea in the aftertaste.

紅茶 (hóngchá), literally "red tea" but translated into English as "black tea" (don't ask me why). It's slightly sweet (I usually have it chilled) which means they probably add sugar to it, but it's still good.

咖啡 (kāfēi), of course we can't not include coffee on the list. I'm not much of a coffee fan myself so I can't attest to the taste, but I think they usually serve it black.

柳橙汁 (liǔ chéngzhī), (or 橘子水 júzi shuǐ for the Mainlanders), is your orange juice and well, it pretty much tastes like any store-bought orange juice, although I believe here they actually use a juicer so there's pulp.

蘋果汁 (píngguǒ zhī) or apple juice. I've seen this a few times on the menu too, which was kind of surprising as I don't think I've ever had apple juice for breakfast. I haven't gotten it yet, but I'm sure it's just like your standard Tropicana apple juice.

There you have it--the basic guide to common, typical Taiwanese breakfast food items. If you're ever in Taiwan be sure to try them out!

Spirited Away to 九份 (Places You Must Go)

So a few weeks back, I had the pleasure of meeting a friend of my sister's who was in Taiwan for the week. He was with a friend of his from Japan who had in turn invited a Chinese co-worker/friend who also happened to be in Taiwan. They all spoke Chinese although the Japanese friend and the Chinese friend mostly spoke to each other in Japanese while my sister's friend and I spoke a considerable amount of English to each other (and some Cantonese, hooray for Canto! Haha) (Although we did transition to using Chinese later when we were all conversing). We had brunch at a nearby Japanese restaurant in the Gongguan area (although my sister's friend had some mishaps when trying to order from their fancy touchscreen menu--I'm not kidding, when you enter, there is a giant touchscreen display showing pictures of the food items with the name underneath in Chinese and after you press what you want, you insert money in, while a server stands nearby in case you're in need of assistance, after which you take your receipt upstairs to be seated--whatever happened to the good ole days of having a person take your order??) and my sister's friend even insisted on treating me to lunch despite being the guest.

Of course I got the Korean style dish--kimchi and pork rice accompanied by a side of (rather fishy) miso soup and a refreshing cup of iced green tea (instead of your standard water)

 As we got onto the discussion of their plans while in Taiwan, they mentioned that they would be going to 九份 (Jiǔfèn) later that day and when I mentioned that I've heard of it but haven't been, they invited me along. After (not very much) consideration, I decided sure, why not? My 8 am for Monday had been cancelled for the week so I could afford to stay out a little later (as it was, I didn't get back to my dorm until about midnight). Plus I did want to go to 九份, if only because of the Miyazaki movie Spirited Away (more on that later) and what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than with some new friends? So off we went!

A Little History

九份 (whose name is literally "nine portions"), is located in 瑞芳區 (the Ruifang district) of New Taipei City and is about two hours away by train and bus from Taipei. Its name comes from the fact that (according to Wikipedia) during the early Qing dynasty, 九份, which was an isolated little village, housed only nine families, hence every time shipments came in, the village would request "nine portions." There was also a history of gold mining in 九份 during the Japanese occupation and as such led to a rapid development to the town due to the resulting gold rush. In fact, a prisoner-of-war camp was set up there during World War II holding captured Allied soldiers who worked in the nearby gold mines. However, after the end of World War II, gold mining declined and the mine was shut off in 1971. Many features of 九份 from the era of Japanese colonization have been retained to this day and as such you can still see many of the surviving Japanese inns.

~*~*~

We took the MRT to 臺北車站 (Taipei Main Station ) and from there bought a ticket on the TRA (Taiwan Railways Administration) train to 瑞芳車站 (the Ruifang Station) which cost only NT$59 (roughly about US$2) one-way. The way back was a little more expensive at NT$75 and they were standing tickets, but the price was still pretty decent. Once we arrived at 瑞芳 we took the bus to 九份, about a 15 minute ride I believe.

The sight that greeted us--as you can tell it was a bit of a cloudy day

九份 is a mountain area

九份 was a lovely little town with narrow, winding alleyways and stairways all filled with shops along the way. Most were food places but there were some souvenir shops too.

We saw 小籠包 and couldn't resist

I'll be honest--I had better 小籠包, but they were still good!

Inspiration for Miyazaki's Spirited Away

As I mentioned previously, part of the reason that I had an interest in 九份 was because of the famed 2001 movie Spirited Away (『千と千尋の神隠し』 in Japanese). Downtown 九份 actually served as the inspiration for the setting of Spirited Away with its more traditional style housing (retained from the Japanese colonization as I have mentioned), its narrow winding roads and stairways, and its overall atmosphere. As such you're bound to see a lot of Japanese tourists in the area (there were also a lot of Korean tourists that day too).

This was actually from a Studio Ghibli exhibit I went to when I was in Korea last semester

Also from the Studio Ghibli exhibit in Seoul--you can really see the similarities to 九份

The bathhouse where Chihiro worked from the movie

As we were going down one of the staircases, we came across this lovely tea house:

In case you can't see it, it reads

"Rare in-line window sills enable light sources to dance within the tea house spaces; which inspired the Japanese animation "Spirited Away" by <Hayao Miyazaki>. Unique masks fills the tea house which is especially interesting when you sip up the cocktails stirred up by A-Mei herself!"

If you're ever in 九份 (where you should really go), I recommend this tea house, A-Mei Tea House. We had a bit of a wait but it was nothing too bad since it was still early in the evening (around 5 o'clock) and so the streets and restaurants, while busy, where not super crowded.

The exterior, featuring the unique masks they mentioned

We had this lovely set which, while a little expensive in Taiwanese terms, would be considered cheap in U.S. terms. For each person, this cost NT$300, which is about US$10, for which you can get a considerable amount of tea, black sesame and sesame cookies, sugared plums, mochi, and green tea biscuit cookies (which are a bit dry so I don't recommend eating the whole thing in one bite as the guys learned). Not bad at all.

It was late by the time we finished, we had been in there drinking tea for about an hour and a half, so when we left the sky had begun to darken. The atmosphere in A-Mei Tea House was really nice , after showing us how to steep the tea they left us alone to drink at our leisure (except to return every once in a while to refill our water kettle). There was quite a bit of tea leaves and they could be steeped about three times before you had to change them. In fact, we didn't even use all the tea leaves--there was just that much--but there was a little zip-lock bag provided so we could take the unfinished tea leaves to go. As I mentioned the atmosphere was really nice and cozy and we just wanted to sit there and relax all day.

You can really see the similarities to Spirited Away from the building's exterior

It started drizzling a bit though so as we were trying to get back to the bus stop to return to Taipei, it was rather dark plus with all the stairs, it was a little hard to navigate at times, so make sure to bring a flashlight with you! It also got super crowded and at several points there was just throngs of people pushing to try to get through. We were even holding on to each other at several points just to make sure we didn't get separated.

When we got back to Taipei, it was only about 9 pm so we decided to go to 士林夜市 (the famous Shilin Night Market), but that is a post for another time. 

The postcard we were given from A-Mei Tea House; the bottom right reads:
千と千尋の神隠し [Spirited Away]
湯婆婆の屋敷 [Yubaba's Mansion]

Thanks so much to Johnny and friends for inviting me to come along with you to this lovely little gem of a place! I hope you enjoyed your stay in Taiwan and plan on coming back soon!

No Meal Plan, No Problem

Another 林峰 song for today!

So this post is a little overdue--in fact I meant to write about this way back in March, but better late than never right?

Anyways after five semesters of having a meal plan, imagine my disappointment when I realized that National Taiwan University does not provide meal plans--I'm not sure if it's a Chinese thing since my friends studying abroad in Mainland China don't have a meal plan either. Luckily for me, food in Taiwan is pretty cheap--on most days I can get away with spending less than US$10 for breakfast, snack, and dinner and something to drink (bubble tea anyone?). Still, it unsettles me to know that my money supply is dwindling down everyday. Plus it can get frustrating thinking about what to eat, meal after meal day after day. But anyways, I just thought I'd share some pictures of some delicious food I've had here so far. Enjoy and salivate away!

廣東炒飯

Most foods come in cute little take-out boxes such as the one above or like so

What could be inside?

Tada! Dumplings!

I was also feeling a little greedy that day and got noodles too--all for about US$3 if I recall correctly--I was quite stuffed afterwards

Delicious matcha tofu dessert

From this vegetarian buffet place I like to frequent--especially when I'm in the mood for rice

Lunch at 7-Eleven--I'll admit it, I often go to 7-Eleven to eat when I'm feeling lazy or don't know what I want to eat; being able to use my student ID for discounts doesn't hurt either

One thing I have to say though is that, in this area at least, it seems that noodle dishes are a lot more prevalent than rice dishes. Now don't get me wrong, I like noodles, but sometimes (often) I just want rice for dinner, and not fried rice or rice as a side, but just a good old rice dish with some veggies and meat to go with it (and if you want other types of dishes, you might be even more hard pressed to find them).

Dry wonton noodles

Hong Kong style wonton noodles (with soup)

And of course, we can't forget street food now can we? After all, Taiwan is nothing if not famous for their night markets and street foods!

These Vietnamese vermicelli noodles actually taste pretty authentic!

韭菜包 and 米漿 from the bao place I like to frequent--one little bao can actually be pretty filling!

Dim sum dumpling tray!

Moral of the post: come to Taiwan, if not for the sights, at least for the food!
Everyday Chinese Food Edition

• 飯 (Fàn) - Rice 
  Note that while this means rice, it can also mean food in general; for example, 來吃飯 can simply mean to come eat--it all depends on context 
• 麵 (Miàn) - Noodles
• 菜 (Cài) - Vegetables/Dishes
  Similar to how 飯 can mean both rice or food in general, this character is often used in the name of vegetables (韭菜、白菜) and can mean vegetables or dishes, for example 素菜 is vegetables, while  家常菜 refers to home-cooked dishes
• 包子 (Bāo zi) - Bao
• 小吃 (Xiǎochī) - Snack
  Literally "small eats" little stands selling these are common in night markets and I guess they're a little similar to appetizers
• 吃到飽 (Chī dào bǎo) - Buffet
  Literally "eat until full"
• 餛飩/雲吞 (Húndun/yún tūn) - Wonton
  Note that the pronunciation I have given for the former word is the Taiwanese pronunciation (Mainland Chinese pronunciation is Húntún); also note that the English is derived from the Cantonese pronunciation of the latter (wan4tan1) and, from my experience, the latter is usually used in referenced to Hong Kong style wonton, which tend to be bigger
• 夜市 (Yèshì) - Night market
• 珍珠奶茶 (Zhēnzhū nǎichá) - Bubble tea

There and Back Again: Déjà vu

March 16th, 2014
After a long day of traveling and exploring, it was nice to finally slow down and enjoy the scenery. We had been doing a lot of sight-seeing since we've arrived in Hualien and while the sights were amazing, I was glad for the little breather. We were currently at 花蓮縣和平廣場--the Hualien County Peace Square--overlooking 美崙溪--the Meilun River--and though it was too dark to clearly make out the 和平鐘--Peace Bell--or the river, it only served to emphasize the light from the bird statue and the bridge and it was peaceful to just stand there looking out at the water. We were the only ones there at the time, and were all pretty tired so, save for the low murmur of some background conversations, it was pretty quiet.

Quiet scenery

There is something to be said for hearing the gong of a bell in the still of the evening

Sorry about the quality of this picture

Over 1 year later
April 01st, 2015
Spring break was upon us and though it was quite hot and sunny, we were enjoying ourselves immensely. A couple of friends and I decided to go down to Hualien (about two hours away from Taipei) for two days and thus far we had had clear skies, good food, and beautiful scenery. We had decided to explore by bike and, since I couldn't ride a bike, I was hitching a ride on the back of one of my friend's bike.

My first bike ride--it was a thrilling experience, in the kinda-scary-kinda-exciting kind of way. Although there was no cushioning on the metal seat I wasn't too bothered by it (though my behind would be a little numb by the end of the day) and was enjoying the feel of the wind rushing past me. As we slowed down to take a break from biking, I realized with a growing sense of familiarity that I recognized this location. In fact, I had been here a little over a year ago!

The place was practically as I remembered it, except that it was daylight this time instead of night and I wasn't weary with a day's worth of traveling. I didn't really know how to describe what I was feeling--I guess a bit of awe at the coincidence of being at the exact place I was at over a year ago. A place that wasn't some giant tourist spot, no less. If you had told me a year ago that I would come back to this very spot, I probably would not have believed you. A year ago, my plans for a dual-semester abroad was only looking slightly hopeful--I had been accepted to study abroad in South Korea, but I didn't know yet if I would be able to study abroad in Taiwan as well or if I would end up being forced to choose one over the other. All I knew was that I had one shot--my appeal--to convince the Committee of Study Abroad that it was in my best interest to go abroad for two semesters in two different locations.

At that moment a year ago, looking out over the water, that was what I was worrying about, though I did try to put that worry aside in order to enjoy the tranquil scenery and company of my classmates, most of whom I had known for three-and-a-half semesters now.

This time, for old time's sake, I went to stand at the very spot where I had been contemplating my worries a year ago, except that this time I was just enjoying the moment, the coincidence, and marveling at how much has happened in a year.

The bridge in daylight

Still the same tranquil scenery

There is something to be said for hearing the gong of a bell in daylight too

Glow of the sun and glitter of the lake behind the gong of the bell

A clearer (and closer-up!) picture of the bird statue

We also went to 太魯閣國家公園--Taroko National Park--during our two day stay in Hualien, which I did with my Chinese class the first time I went to Hualien too, but as Taroko was the main purpose for our trip, this was no surprise coincidence for me.

The lobby of Colorful Taiwan Hostel where we stayed

Cute bedroom decor!

雞排麵 I believe this was--for a mere NT$60 too (equivalent to about US$2)

What better way to cool off than with some ice cream? I believe the two flavors were vanilla and sweet potato!

A bowl of 雲吞湯 shared between friends--I think I came here last year too!

豆花 as I've never had it before--iced and with toppings! The top one has sweet potatoes and tapioca, while the bottom one has red beans. For all my Canto friends back home, you're probably more accustomed to having your 豆腐花 served hot and with a slightly sweet syrup (Photo courtesy of my fellow travelers)

Our picturesque bike view (Photo courtesy of my fellow travelers)

If you're ever in Taiwan and have some free time, I really recommend going down to Hualien to get away from technology and enjoy the scenery~

Travel Chinese Hualien Edition

• 花蓮縣 (Huālián Xiàn) - Hualien County
• 太魯閣國家公園 (Tàilǔgé gúojiā gōngyuán) - Taroko National Park
• 長春祠 (Chángchūn cí) - Eternal Spring Shrine (or Changchun Shrine)
  Located in Taroko National Park
• 花蓮縣和平廣場 (Huālián xiàn hépíng guǎngchǎng) - Hualien Peace Square
  I'm not sure if there's an English name for it--I just translated the Chinese
• 和平鐘 (Hépíng zhōng) - Peace Bell
  Located in the Sqare; again, I just translated the Chinese
• 美崙溪 (Měi lún xī) - Meilun River
  I used the Pinyin for the English name (although 溪 seems to translate to "creek" rather than "river")