Xi Men Ding

We made our way from the airport to our hotel via a bus which was called Fei Gou. The direct translation of that is Flying Dog, while the actual one was Free Go. If you ask me, I like the former better! Anyway, the bus was extremely comfortable, making the hour-long bus ride bearable. There was War of the Worlds on TV, with speakers on either side of the head rest. Amazing stuff. The bus had a marble ceiling. The buildings that I saw along the way were confusing - some were tall and awesome, while others looked dirty and unhabitable. It was weird to see the glitz end as quickly as it came, but it was the older buildings that gave off a special charm.

We alighted at Nei Jiang Hotel and after dumping our luggage in our room, we went to Xi Men Ding, which was a mere 5 minutes walk! Feeling ravenous from all the travelling and being deprived of food for almost the entire day, we decided without much hesitation when we found Tian Tian Li.



The food was pretty decent. All of us had some kind of noodles. I didn't take a photo and so I couldn't quite remember! The side dish we ordered tasted good though - vegetables with a tinge of wasabe. I have no idea why it tasted like it did but it certainly stuck! We went for desert at this shop just a stone's throw away because of their valiant efforts at promoting it along the street.



This simple thing turned out to be one of my favourites. We ate it a couple more times in the subsequent days! It was the perfect thirst quencher and temperature downer, topped with delicious fruit and soaked in sinful condensed milk. Delicious!



One of the more unique shops was the anime shop. Upon entering, I wanted to take home the three bolsters as pictured above. Other than that though, because of my lack of knowledge in the subject, I spent most of my time just wandering around. For the other three guys though, it seemed like an anime-fan-heaven. Almost every imaginable anime merchandise was available, although there was another 4-storey shop we found we even better shizzle!

There was Jay Chou music playing from shop in the basement so we decided to check it out.



We were greeted by these two mannequins and a seat I decided to fill! Haha... The shop was darkly furnished, selling rather normal stuff like bermudas and shirts.

The streets of Xi Men Ding were filled with really trendy young people, so much that I had a bit of a culture shock and felt a little out of place wearing slippers! They weren't really outrageous in their dressing, just conscious about how they look. Every outfit looked carefully put together. They were really happening. We saw quite a couple of boobsy girls, but more of that later in the entry.



Okay, this signalled the beginning of an unextinguishable passion. There were tonnes of shops that were filled with nothing but these doll catching machines. It seems that the Taiwanese love to invest their money in a bit of fun, thus financing the countless shops which were manned by very nice people who'd arrange the dolls so that you'd get a higher chance of winning it. I believe this is rather unheard of in Singapore. Daniel caught quite a lot of stuff with some assistance from us as well as the shop assitants!

Their service was really amazing, and the way chimed Huan Ying Guang Lin sounded really inviting. I've been in the service industry for quite awhile and I know all the tricks, but these people really bring it up to a whole new level. 9 out of 10 times I found myself wanting to buy not because there was something I wanted badly from the shop, but rather how the shop assistants made us feel really welcomed and happy.

After a lot of exploration at CD shops etc, we went to the arcade to play. I enjoyed playing the basketball machine although I suck at it big time. We saw a guy playing it on Luo Zhi Xiang's show and his score went through the roof! I guess with such promotion, it's no wonder that it's probably one of the most popular machines for teens in Taipei. It's almost impossible to go to an arcade shop and find no one playing that machine.

After that we went back to the hotel for an early rest as we'd be setting out early the next day.

Ooh, I didn't forget the girls alright!



Busty!



Bustier!



Bustiest!