... And Then He's No More...

It's just another Thursday morning which I will spend my morning getting my groceries done at the market which is just 5 minutes away from home by walking. I'm blessed with a really strategic location where there are two markets just opposite each other in walking distance. I've roughly known everyone selling their goods, be it in the building itself or by the roadside.

There's this man who sells neatly sliced organic pumpkins wrapped up presentably. He also sells ulam (our local traditional salad). I know he has buah petai hanging on his bike. He's a very simple trader, selling from his bike. It was still early when mi mama and I walked to the opposite market. Just 8:30a.m. I saw the police patrol car. Hah~! Must be giving out summons to those who parked illegally by the roadside and causing traffic hiccups at our residential area every morning. 

Then, we crossed the road and from the opposite, we saw the man selling ulam lying down on the tar road beside his bike. He wasn't moving and he's definitely not breathing. He's dead. He died of cardiac arrest. One of the traders called the police. The ambulance was on its way. He wasn't covered with newspapers. There wasn't much crowd and there was definitely no looting.Nobody grabbed his freshly cut pumpkins and ran away. No one snap a photo using their smartphones. You don't selfie with a dead body lying on the road. That's totally disrespectful and not something to post up in the social network to boast about your day being great meeting with a dead man.

I went to get my basmathi rice then when we crossed the road, I was just walking beside him. An old lady laid her hands and pray for him. I do hope that he would get back his breath of life and has his heart pumping again. The ambulance came shortly when we left the house to do more grocery shopping at the hypermarket.

I'm sad by this turn of event. He's not even obese but whoever says that only obese people will suffer from heart diseases? And he's not even in his old age. Yet, he just went away like that without saying goodbye. How would his family members feel? It's just another mundane morning where he got himself busy selling pumpkins and ulam. Just another simple day. Did he see it coming that he wouldn't even have the chance to bring his things home and say goodbye before leaving?

Mi mama says one must live one's life humbly. Good reminder. You can be great and powerful and wealthy, what the world has you may have a hold of them, but the only thing you have no power over is your own life. One minute your heart is pumping and you are breathing, the next you might be gasping for air and before long, you're dead and gone. Just like that. In a wink of an eye. One trader less, will he be remembered? I don't even know his name. I don't know anybody's name. I just know them by what they are trading at the marketplace.

I can choose to be anybody I want to be, but I can never choose the way I want to leave this temporal world. Can't even suggest the simplest way to die. Most will prefer a painless death and one with no sufferings - die in one's sleep. Who would want a painful death? But then again, only God can decide as our lives belong to Him and Him alone.

And I Miss You Already...

Luggage-fie.... *stupiak*

Yesterday night, I've packed a small luggage for mi hubby. He will be away for a course in another state. Before he left, I already miss him. How did he survive when I'm not around for the whole month. The feeling of being left at home is not nice at all. I'm needed at home to be a chauffeur and I still need to cook. At least we have free calls and get to Watsapp each other. Now, he's sending me the food pics of the hotel. I'm comforted that I can cook better. Hehehhe... Will cook up a feast when hubby is back. 

Selfie~

In order to use up my time now, since I'm so free, I'm practically shaking my legs but I have to clean up the house, mopping the floor is more tiring than a 5-round jog outside the house. I'm enjoying my leisure time editing photos~! Something that I wouldn't do in the past but I need to have really beautiful flawless photos as sweet memories. No matter what, I'm still lazy to edit the photos until it's completely flawless. Leave that job to the professionals. Editing is a very tiring job. Kindly pay whatever amount the editors charge you for your photos. It's tedious work. You blink your eyes once, the edited photo looks different. You close your eyes then open them and look again, it looks different again. Don't blink when editing, you will end up looking at one piece of photo for the whole day. Don't even come back to the same photo the next day, you will feel that the photo is not good enough then you start meddling with that same one piece for another 24 hours. Blink blink blink your eyes a few times, I have more than 14000 photos to look at. My eyes are popping out very soon plus the uneasiness of wanting to go for another holiday. The pleasure of self-torture.

The best part of sitting in front of the computer is right now, I have a headset so that I can go deaf to the surrounding. Don't bother calling me or talking to me. I have lots of missed calls and I have the kids screaming for me until my neighbours can hear, but only I couldn't hear anything. You can listen to what I'm listening if you're in the same room as I am. Yeah, I like my music loud. Lazy kids ended up marching up the stairs and talk in front of me, but I still can't hear anything until I remove the headset.... Hehehhee... sorry... I know I'm terrible.... hehehe... but I only listen to the songs in my blog. I posted it there so that I wouldn't have to search for them high and low in YouTube. Indonesian worship songs are the best~! And I get to update this almost dead blog. It's revived for this year. Next year come January, I bet it will be as still as the graveyard. And I have time to do some reading, not some, lots of reading. I have lots of books that have been left untouched for years.

Hubby, quickly come back.... huhuhuhu....

Day 5: Radium Kagaya - Hippos in Hot Spring Bath...

~ 18th March 2014 ~

Reminiscing our sweet moments together. The sensation of looking through holiday photos, is about to awaken my globe-trotting spirit. I'm very tempted to drag my luggage and I don't mind chasing after trains and running towards the closing flight gates. 

Excited to be here...

What's the point of going to Xinbeitou without a proper hot spring bath? I did mention that we were not interested to have a dip at the public bath neither were we willing to take a free dip at the monsoon drain. I wasn't sure how we came about at this place. Pinky suggested this place but we were just walking aimlessly, not sure of which hotel that offers private hot spring baths to walk into. We walked into Radium Kagaya. The interior design was fantastic, completely Japanese. We love it~!

The Japanese concept by the Japanese...

This is what you would see inside the building. This pic was captured inside the elevator. No fingerprints on the glass. Squeaky clean. We dare not touch the glass panel just in case we would leave a print and the cleaning lady need to wipe everything from top to bottom. We were one considerate lot.

Our room....

After making payment for the 90-minute private hot spring bath session, we were walked to our room. It was splendid. I could only imagine hotel rooms with beds and sorts, but there's no beds in this room. Just a round tub with ancient-like bathing area We were exhilarated and excited to the edge of hyperventilating. 90 minutes ain't enough. What should we do? We should move fast as every extra hour, we would be charged accordingly.

Our baby pool....

I came prepared. I brought my swimming costume and brought an extra pair while my travel buddy brought hers as well. The benefit of making an itinerary even though we didn't manage to follow them to the dot is you wouldn't miss out on the important stuff. Carrying extra is worth the effort rather than not having enough. While waiting to fill up the flower-shaped tub with water directly sucked in from the source of hot spring and mixing with some cold water, we went to change up. You need to mix with cold water or your would turn into blanched vegetables. We had our drinks from 7-11 and chips to munch, too. Please don't throw chips into the tub, that would be an uncivilized act.

Going crazy in the tub....

What to do while having a dip in hot water? The weather outside was hot but the dip was altogether different. It was really nice and soothing. We were not planning to stare at each other while taking a dip. We would like to keep this as memories with lots of still shots. The tripod which I deemed a pain in the ass came handy. And with the ability to be connected to the phone, it was all-in-all useful. While I clicked away on my phone, the camera was in-sync with the phone but just a tad slower. If I were to climb up and down to set the timer, I would definitely slide open the window and fling everything to the ground or I would accidentally get my foot stuck and went flying to the end of the room and lose a tooth. You have to give a thumb's up to modern technology which makes life simpler.

Excitement level at the max....

While mi mama were done being blanched, we continue to simmer in the tub. We wanted to make full use of our time there. You see the wall clock right in front of us? That's a real good reminder. They even called us ten minutes before our time was up to make sure that we were all done, dressed up and ready to go leave. If we ever go back to Taiwan, I wouldn't mind staying there but the homestay at Miss Chen's place where we were staying was just as good. Anyway, I doubtfully think that we will be going back to the same country, as we have suddenly made a rough draft for next year. Our draft was really simple now, just the name of the countries have popped out. The rest was still in blank pages.

Ancient way of bathing by the well....

The traditional way of taking a shower. Fill up the bamboo bucket with water. There's hot and cold water, so nothing to worry about. Then splash yourself. It's really refreshing. We had a great time that day. My travel buddy actually washed my hair for me... Hahahaha... Gosh, I miss the time we were together. Why are you staying so far away? Maybe it's good that way. If we're staying in the same place, we will never meet up as we're both so busy until late at night. I miss ya' lots. This is the holiday that brought us together really close. I could know what she has in her mind by just looking at her facial expression or hearing her way of responding. We used to tip-toe around each other, not knowing what we both like. Now, she could fart freely when we're around. Hey, you only fart around your very close friends. You can never do that to strangers. You would be so embarrass and tried to dig a hole and bury yourself if you know you have farted around strangers, and the strangers know you're the culprit. It IS rude to fart when there are others in the same room but don't you agree that you are rudest to those whom you are really close to? Fart away now~ Hahahahahhaa....

The outside world....

There are two other things that can be done while taking turns to shower. One, I slide open the window and tried on my unskilled photography skill. There's not much of a view. Just overlooking that bungalow which I had no idea whose house was it or was it some place that we have missed out completely in our rush. 

Smart phone and smart camera staring at smart toilet...

The second thing that you could do to upgrade yourself culturally is by trying out the smart toilet. There are a few buttons for you to try out. Both of us were just reminiscing about this place and great minds think alike. We both regretted for not trying out any of the function buttons. We were afraid that the toilet water would splash onto our faces and we had no time to clean ourselves up, then be charged with the extra hours spent in the expensive room. We were also worried that we might destroy the expensive toilet as we were three people from the countryside. You won't know, you might press a button then maybe the toilet would crash, boom and bam, all shit come flooding the beautiful room. Next time, we will try it out.

Comfort to the butts...

How I wish we didn't have to rush off. I would love to sink my ass into those comfortable seats. I'm very sure my butt would be stuck to the chair for hours. Give me a good book, I could sit there whole day without going anywhere. I really miss our time together. This job of looking through our holiday photos is doing me no good. It's not that I miss the country. I just miss spending time together, walking around. I guess, hardly anyone will be blessed to have a whole month of holiday together. Now, we're 8 hours of flight time away plus the waiting time for boarding, would be 12 hours with a four-figure flight ticket away. Should I just abandon this work of going through our photos, that wouldn't be fair, too as I 'm the only person having our photos.... *sad*

Mi mama....

So, interview time...

Me: How do you feel about this trip? 

Mama: Very tired but very exciting. Get to see lots of things.

Me: What do you think of this place?

Mama: Very expensive.

Me: Are you happy?

No need to answer la. Mi mama was smiling from ear-to-ear. The hot spring bath has boosted our energy level. We're fully charged. I just Google search this place, yeah, I know, talking about being ignorant. This is a 5-star hotel with exquisite Japanese restaurant which we didn't go to, I don't know why we didn't go. Do you remember that just that morning, we couldn't even afford to buy a basket of fruits by the roadside, but we were blessed. We could actually afford NT$3300 for 3 persons and for 90 minutes. Talk about feeling rich. We are wealthy and prosperous. 

Leaving the luxurious hotel...

Goodbye, Radium Kagaya! Memang kayalah kita orang duduk berendam di dalam kolam kecil dengan bayaran beribu wang Taiwan selama 90 minit. Kaya sungguh kita~! Puji Tuhan atas segala yang diberikan. Amen~!

Day 5: Thermal Valley...

~ 18th March 2014 ~

Where to next? We came to this post with arrows pointing towards the north, north-west and east. We were going to the last stop right at the end. I do not know how far is 410m away from where I was standing, but I knew it was within walking distance.

One of the sights that made tired and hungry tourists happy would be to see the sign indicating that they've arrived at their destination. Thermal Valley was also known as Hell Valley and Jade Springs Valley. I wouldn't agree on Hell Valley as hell would be a place hotter than what Thermal Valley has to offer. But it you fall into the almost boiling hot stream, I bet you will equate that you're in a condition where you felt that you're burning in hell on Earth. Jade Springs Valley would be more acceptable. The colour of the spring is almost as green as the colour of jade.If you do not know what jade is, it's a type of coloured stone mostly found in various shades of green. My grandma loved jades. I still remembered that she would have a salesman bringing a briefcase to the house filled with jade bracelets for her to choose. When she wanted to give me one, I was looking at the one purple in colour. I do not like green so any colour would do but in the end I turned down the offer. Just not to my liking. A treasure to you may just be a piece of junk to me.

Hell on earth...

The heat could be felt from the entrance of Thermal Valley. According to the thermometer reading at the area, it was 97 degree Celsius. That's really hot, almost to the boiling point of water. The were gurgling sound if you were aware of it like the hot water has swallowed something alive. I was wondering what if Pinky drop into the water. I told her I would definitely not rescue her. Then I thought about what if we use the fishing net and put some eggs into the hot water, we would have hard-boiled eggs for dinner. Nobody did that. I don't think we're allowed to do that. I abide by the rules~! 

Face-steaming session...

The hot steam should be good for health. Look into it and vapour steam your face~! Free facial done while sight-seeing. 

Steamy....

Wouldn't it be nice to be here during winter? Cold and hot... cold and hot.... cold and hot.... I was really fascinated by the sight of vapour coming out from the surface. The house on top of the hill above this valley, was the whole house hot all the time? What makes the colour green? What are the minerals in the water? Has anyone dive in before? How do you actually study this place? I'm really interested.

Three happy sweaty and stinky people at sauna. Packed up tripod and walked away before the camera melts. I don't have much to say. Sometimes you looks at some photos, and you just don't know what to say. It's our first encounter with such a place. I can look at this place and say,"What's so special about this place with hot steam forming now and then?" Actually we were really excited beyond words. It's such a special place different from anywhere else. 

A gentle reminder to the public....

A note for those who got scalded by the almost boiling hot water. Rinse in room temperature water. If you use icy cold water, you will get cold burn then you will be burnt twice, hot and cold. Cut off your clothing while soaked in water. Then, I cannot remember what mi mama has translated already. Jump to the last one with a clear picture of an ambulance. Call the ambulance to take you away. The doctors will know what to do with you.

Day 5: Beitou Hot Spring Museum...

~18th March 2014~

Map for kids... or map illiterate...

This is the map of interesting places to go to around Xinbeitou. Looks like a small place but believe me, you wouldn't be able to finish it in one day if you love to snap photos. You need to do brisk walking and breeze through the place. I wanted to visit the library but I think it's not open because it was under renovation. Thus, we went straight to the Hot Spring Museum. I like the building which looks like our Malay kampung (village) with a complete taste of Japanese in the interior of the building. There was no entrance fee required, I think. Couldn't remember. I only remember the time when we were poor and also the time when we were rich. The above is a really interesting illustrated map for those who couldn't read maps properly.

The Beitou Hot Spring Museum...

There... there.... the beautiful building with Malay feel for the wooden planks part, English-like on the red bricks and white part with window on the far left top and totally Chinese-feel for that open balcony. I love looking at these kinda buildings. You're suppose to take off your shoes and leave it at the shoe shelves like pigeon holes and then wear their slippers inside. Good idea. No need to mop the whole place until you break your back. Some inconsiderate visitors might leave their shoe prints all over after stepping on muddy soil. 

I half wished that my ancestors were Japanese.... Love everything Japanese...

Ahhhh.... that feeling on the floor was really good. Actually we spent some time here because we were too tired to walk. We don't mind crawling on the mat and sprawled on the floor like we were at home. There were many people walking in to snap photos. How I wish I can build another floor in my house and design it in this style with a tatami bed. That will be the room for my international travel buddy who can drop in anytime and stay as long as she wants. It shall be done soon... It shall be done... one day... It shall be done...

Pin your messages to the world... 

We reluctantly crawled up from our four feet to standing tall on both our feet then we marched on. That message board was for you to write down anything and pin it on. I don't think I wrote anything there. Actually I don't know what's that board for. Too many words to be asked to translate. I do not want to bother my translators right now.

Dedicated to the study of Dr. Yohachiro Okamoto

The minerals from the hot spring were given a thorough research by a Japanese mineralogist, Dr. Yohachiro Okamoto. That's all I could tell you. Now, I regret for not reading everything on the display board. Next time I'll take a photo of each piece of short article so that I could read them when I'm home. I also don't know what else Dr. Yohachiro Okamoto have contributed to the people through his studies and researches. He must be a great and wise man who pour out his heart and soul into the studies of minerals. One shouldn't be so ignorant to the studies of a learned man. Sorry, Dr. Yohachiro... very sorry I didn't learn more about your findings because I was more absorbed into photography.

The empty hot spring bath pool for public....

This is how the hot spring pool for public should look like when it was empty. It looked quite deep so should everyone be paddling around like ducks or sink to the bottom? I don't mind swimming in warm water during the cold weather. Or did I hear everything wrong about this place? Geez... I don't seem to be paying attention when I should. Anyway, I did pay attention to the windows. I love windows. I don't know why.... just love windows but I never open the windows in my house. After the curtains have been put up, then that's it. I'll never see the windows and I will never take a peek to the outside world.

The window with stain glass...

Windows with curtains hooked on both sides...

A window with me.... I climbed through the window actually...

See... I told ya'... I can miss out almost everything but I will always pay attention to the windows.... just another one of my odd likings to one part of a building structure.

Day 5: What One Shouldn't Do in Xinbeitou...

~18th March 2014~

Welcome to Xinbeitou~!

The golden arch of Xinbeitou, the blend in of old and new. An old style arch which stood stall surrounded by more modern designed apartments. I prefer this place rather than where we were staying in Xinsheng North Road, the red-light district of Taipei, I would call it so whether you agree with me or not. A day in Xinbeitou is definitely not enough what more, we had only a few hours in hand and we have another destination after Xinbeitou on the same day itself.

Little monsters...

Something to ponder upon with our Malaysian education system. I have seen school kids and even high school students at various places of interest during schooling hours, in their school uniforms with their school teachers. There weren't many school trips back here. I have been to Kuala Lumpur with the whole class accompanied by two teachers when I was 16. Over in Taiwan, I think they believed in a balanced education, where work and play come hand-in-hand. All work and no play make those kids turned into dull, boring and unimaginative and completely not creative youngsters. Are we producing geniuses? No, we're not. We're not even producing good competitive quality students. The complaints about PT3 were baseless. If the students have studied properly and used their brains and seen more instead of just doing more paperwork, they would have learnt better and better able to cope in the change of examination style. Whose fault? Teachers fault? Education department's fault? Teachers' fault? Actually, all were at fault~! Students do not even know the basic that they should know. They know not of what has been taught. Either they have been sleeping or the teachers are not doing a good job. The change is a good one, a change that will make the students put on their thinking caps. But the learning environment of just getting stuck to the books with so little information, ought to be revised. The children in Taiwan and China and also in other parts of the world, no doubt they were spending their school hours at the amusement park, I guessed they learnt more than our students. I say,"Release the kids out to learn through observation~!" If you think our teenagers are hooligans and could not be controlled, then I will let you know that all over the world whether American kids, Australians kids, Chinese kids and Taiwanese kids, they are all the same... all little tykes.

The dog lover...

Yo, mama~! A dog in a pram? Okay... in a blanket conclusion, some dogs live a better life than humans. I bet that dog must have air-conditioned room for hot summer nights and also processed imported dog food which cost than human food. I love dogs but I would never take my dog out in a pram, walking around town or maybe because Malaysia doesn't allow dogs in most public places, so I do not have such habits. Hmmmm.... I only put my doggie in the bicycle basket and cycled around the badminton court in front of the house. But my doggie slept on the bed with me with his own pillow and plush toys. My doggie did have a few items to his name. He has his own treasures. 

Where to go in Xinbeitou?

You will come across this sign. Everything is just within walking distance. We did walk through Beitou Park but again, no photos can be found of that place. I just remembered a few old men sitting there and not much to see. We were trying to walk as fast as possible. Looking back now, I kinda regret not going to the Plum Garden. I've never seen a plum tree before. I need to see it for once at least. Well, in another country then. 

Free leg-dipping in hot spring drain...

Now... now... the main purpose one wanted to be in Xinbeitou is to get the hot spring bath experience. The stingy mentality should be removed once you're on a holiday. I do not encourage excessive splurging like buying a branded bag that will cost you a five-figure amount or to eat a bowl of some weird animal that will cost you a big tear in your pocket and give you stomachache, heartache and headache after that. Spend wisely but not to the extent of saving NT$200 (RM20) for a hot spring bath experience. Along the way to the Death Valley, we saw so many people going down to the river, looks more like a monsoon drain to me, and got themselves busy soaking their legs in the hot water. I read in some blogs where people did that and we were tempted to join in the crowd, but something held us back against doing so. So, we walked on and felt the tugging of going down to the big drain where some parts look like it has mini waterfalls to have our free leg-dipping experience.

Hot spring water from the source....

We walked along the five-feet way. The smell of sulphur seemed to linger in the air along the way. The source of hot spring should be quite near, but there was another smell which I was quite familiar with. The smell of dirty drains but where did that come from?

The fellow contributors to the river...

Oh, my~! Then we saw the drainage pipes from hotels and houses. Waste water of sorts all went into that big drain which looked like a river. Oh, my~! Oh, boy~! Thank you Lord for stopping us from going down there for a free leg-dipping session. My skin is rather sensitive. I have filter system fixed to my shower as my skin will itch all over, it's a good indicator to tell that the water is not clean. If we were to leg-dip in that water I wouldn't know what would happen to my skin. Thank God, my stinginess thriftiness  was not present at the wrong time.

Read it if you are able to...

According to Pinky and mi mama, that sign was a reminder to the public not to play in the water. Those going into the monsoon drain were Chinese-speaking people, they were Chinese from China. Shouldn't they be able to read the sign with no hiccups at all? If I were to be down there, you couldn't blame me. I read none of the words on the pole except for the word '水' - water. Whatever I studied in the first few months of my kindergarten years, I could remember. Anything after that was a complete blank. I would take that sign as encouragement to get into the water as it was free. 

Uncle very eager to leg-dip in water...

After reading the sign, three people walked past us and went straight down the staircase leading into the drain. We were thinking, what on earth were they doing? Pinky even read that sign aloud, they should be able to understand simple Chinese even if three of them were as illiterate as I am. The white-haired uncle started removing his shoes and socks and the young man, should be his son, followed suit. The lady was smarter, actually she has to hold his coat. You wear so smartly and you crawled into the drain. What does that say?

Uncle completely satisfied~!!

Oh, uncle~!! Eeewwwwwwww.... that's water from the hot spring mixed with toilet water and water from the sink and who knows what else. Eeeewwwwwww.... reminder to others: Please do not jump into anything that looks enticing. Look for the contributions of sources. Gosh.... 

Public hot spring bath...

You want an experience and you want it cheap, go to the open air hot spring bath and take a dip for a few minutes with strangers in your bathing suit or your birthday suit. You will never know who take a leak in the water. You can't dip for long, your time limit should be 30 minutes if I'm not mistaken. Check it out in other places. Not only Xinbeitou has hot spring baths, the whole of Taiwan, they have it. If not just go to Japan, okay... That's all. The one and only thing not to do in Xinbeitou... hehehe.... Enjoy yourself there. After going through all the photos, it jogs back sweet memories with my international travel buddy and it's mi mama's first time traveling. 

Day 5: The Short Train Ride to Xinbeitou~!

~ 18th March 2014~

This is one place one shouldn't miss at all. We were keeping up with our agenda of the day but we missed the place which looks like England. Definitely missed that but it's okay, I'll go to England to make up for whatever that's missing.

Xindian, Red line...

From wherever you are, look out for the Xindian Line, the Red line and take the ride up north until the last station. You have to get down or the train would send you back to the other end. It was quite a long ride from Shihlin to Beitou. I did what I know best. Enjoy the view while snapping a few photos as remembrance.

Old... old.... old... and more old buildings...

It's still really rundown no matter how I look at those apartment buildings. The dull colour and some of the buildings need a good washing or a new coat of paint. Most buildings have tiles or marbles as the wall coverings so it should be washed. Well, I guess maintenance in every part of the world is one that is difficult to be carried out. 

Arrived~!

You will need to take the next train ride to Xinbeitou or else you wouldn't be able to reach your destination. Maybe you would like to try a new route rather than follow mine. There should be lots of places and things to see at Beitou town itself, but the main attraction would be at Xinbeitou.

Whee~

The train station itself has shown you what you could do in Xinbeitou. A picture speaks a thousand words. Whoever came up with this idea, thumbs up for the design as they were really attractive and eye-catching. 

Hot spring bath~!

The one major activity to do up north there would be to dip yourself into the hot spring pond. You can either choose to go to the public hot spring centres where you would be asked to strip naked. We were not that open to do that so it would be a no-no. Not going no matter how cheap or even if it's for free~!

Karaoke?

Entertainment~! You could find it there but don't ask me where. I have no interest in such things. I bet you will find a lot of things to do there.

Clean train ride.... slow scenic ride....

The train came in a short awhile. More like the train rolled in and we thought it was just slowing down at the slowest speed. Then, when it was time for the train to chug off, it went rolling away in such slow speed I knew I could walk faster than the train. It was a scenic ride but funny me, I couldn't even find a photo of the outside view. The scenery should be the same, with all old apartment buildings with wires hanging carelessly. Buildings that need a good ol' scrubbing. 

Don't miss this ride. It's not worth going by bus or taxi. Take this ride. You can never find such slow ride in a cartoon painted train with a screen showing you everything you could do in Xinbeitou. It's a beautiful old train, worth riding~!

Day 5: Happy Discovery of Roti Canai in Taipei~!

~18th March 2014~

After spending an hour or so under the hot sun outside the National Palace Museum, we went to the bus stop to head on to our next destination. This time round, I was not very sure which bus to hop on. Well, we could always ask the bus driver.

The sparkling clean public bus...

The public bus was really clean. The body of the bus might looked like some old piece of junk, but don't you think the interior look nice? It's as clean as our Rapid buses. Where were we going? We're going back to where we came from. I suppose it was the metro station at Shihlin. 

Watsons.... Watsons everywhere...

The bus will drop you at the opposite road. Before we walked towards the station, we stopped by at 7-11 and bought a whole lot of cold drinks. You will need that on a hot and humid day. There seems to be Watsons everywhere. Not to forget, too, I saw a Proton Waja car making side-parking. I never know that our national car was sold in Taiwan. Should have taken a photo of that but the driver might not like it. Going back to the main topic, you know I've been eyeing for that roti canai since I saw it first.

Chinese pizza??? Chinese pizza??? Seriously???

I know I hardly recommend any sort of food to the world. It's because I hardly dine outside. I have my own kitchen that works wonders. So, here goes... Lin Chinese Pizza aka Penang's famous roti canai. I really do not know how could Penangnites live outside the island for so long. I was craving for Penang food since the first day I flew out of our little comfortable island, also a well-known food haven. The smell of roti canai or roti telur couldn't escape from my sense of smell. I was surely happy that we didn't find any eateries along the way. Good to be back to this street with familiar smell.

Two boxes of roti canai dough out from the refrigerator...

 I was actually waiting for the lady to flip the roti canai like how the mamak would do it back home. Mamaks are Indian-Muslims and those who sell roti canai has the skill of a professional in flipping the dough in the air. It was an acquired skill and their bare hands could stand the heat from the flat pan. I love the roti telur at the flats where I stayed. It was the best I've ever tasted and this new discovery in the heart of Taipei City, gave me the warmed of being back home, not to forget the hot weather that made such good reminder. The taste of roti telur or the Chinese pizza was similar to the one at home. The only missing part was the spicy gravy or we just simply call it 'kuah' not the Kuah Town in Langkawi Island. Oh, well. The lady was not gonna flip the dough in the air. You see that machine? That machine was used to flatten the dough, so no bare hands required to make roti canai. I believe that if I'm able to flip the dough in the air, I would have attracted all the attention there and then. The machine to flatten the dough was wrapped with a layer of plastic so that the dough wouldn't stick on it.

I can even imagine the aroma.... if only food can be downloaded straight from the screen...

There were additional stuff used in the making of the Taiwanese's Chinese Pizza... *sigh* I still prefer calling it roti telur. Sounds odd to call it a pizza whether it's the Chinese pizza or an Italian pizza. I realized that Taiwan food has lots of spring onions to enhance the taste and that leaf on the roti telur should be basil? Now, I seriously recommend this roti telur to those who miss home or to those who never had the chance to visit Penang Island, the island where food is famous for. If you're not sure of the place, you can call them up. I bet you can see that photo bright and clear. You might chance upon this roti telur by the roadside as well but well, just stop over this place for a slight taste of Penang Island.

Yo~! Use bare hands la...

The amount of heat they are not touching. The lady even had plastic glove on. That's for cleanliness and hygiene. If you look at how our roti canai is done, the health freaks would have fainted long time ago and vowed never to eat hawker food ever again~! Our roti canai tosser would sometimes wipe his bare hands on his shirt tail, then wipe his oily hand on his sweaty forehead. When you pay for your roti canai in your crisp Ringgit bill taken from the change given to you by the fishmonger, our dear roti canai tosser would use that same hand to accept the Ringgit note with a smile and thank you and continue flipping and pressing on the roti canai on the flat hot pan. Then you might think that you will get a diarrhoea after eating food prepared by unclean hands, but you are mighty wrong. We, the Penangnites have such strong stomach, nothing would make us sick and definitely I've never come down with diarrhoea after having that. No precautions needed for Penang's hawker food~! *I have a strip of charcoal pills brought along just in case we got diarrhoea in Taiwan**chuckle chuckle chuckle*

I would opt for roti telur back at home, done with such professional tossing skill, but since I was in a foreign land, that would do just fine to satisfy my craving for food back at home. I found roti canai in Shenzhen years before which they changed the name to whatever bread, not even knowing the origin of the food. *tsk tsk tsk* Please, even if you don't have the courtesy to mention Penang Island, Malaysia as the country of origin of the roti canai, at least don't change it's name. But at least in Shenzhen, the chef did toss the dough like how we did ours~! I don't know about our neighbour Singapore, you call that roti pratha right?

I'm craving for roti telur now... *slurp slurp slurp*

I remembered this. Again, we shared this piece as well. If given a choice, I would have chosen to spend the whole afternoon sitting there chewing on one roti telur after another. I missed home more than I do when I last traveled. At least there's free connection and I got to chat with hubby every night. 

Cold barley dessert with grass jelly....

The shop selling roti telur has cold desserts as well. No need to look for any drinks from outside. You can get everything from the same shop. That's why I highly recommend the air-conditioned place for you. That's a really nice bowl of barley with grass jelly and taro cakes. I think it's taro cakes coz I made them before. Definitely used taro with tapioca flour to mix them with.

Ice shaved with more pearl balls.... doesn't sound right... who cares....

Don't like the previous one, get this bowl of shaved ice with pearl balls. I like both very much. It's a hot afternoon, anything cold and sweet would do. Gosh... I'm craving for roti telur in the middle of the nite now.... will go and have one soon...