Taipei II

Thermal Valley/Yangmingshan National Park/Din Tai Fung -- March 3, 2016

After a restful night at the Hyatt, we were ready to spend the day away from the hustle and bustle of Taipei City. Lin took a day off from work and picked us up at the hotel in the morning after we had a simple breakfast of coffee and egg tarts in our room. He asked where we wanted to go for the day and I thought since it was around flowers blooming season, it would be nice to go up to Yangmingshan National Park, aka Yangming Shan. As we were heading that direction, Lin thought it would be nice to also drop by Beitou on the way. 

Thermal Valley, Beitou

Beitou is a popular hot spring town where people go for the sulphur hot spring. Locals belief that the hot spring can heal certain physical pain and ailment. There are a number of hot spring hotels and resorts here in Beitou, and as imagined, they would be full on holidays. Fortunately, we came on a work day, so the town was very quiet and calm. It has been 37 years since my last visit here.

As we walked down the hill from the parking space, we were met by this happy guy.

Across the street is a small park.

We turned around this corner...

and the sign pointing to the right direction.

It is free to enter the site. There is the information center and gift shop/cafe near the entrance.

It is quite different from my last visit here. It used to be that people could walk around the pool and cook the eggs in the hot water. Now, it's all enclosed. A much safer and cleaner operation.

Steaming hot!

On our way out, we saw a vendor selling hot spring eggs and corn. We just had to get some.

Not sure if they actually cooked the corn using the hot spring though. It did not taste anything strange.

Then we came back to the hotel/restaurant where the happy statue was and planned on having lunch there.

Fu Kitchen: 238, Guangming Road, Beitou, Taipei, Taiwan

We noticed that they actually have a hot spring set up where you could cook eggs in.

The ideas is that you need to buy the eggs from them.

We couldn't resist getting a few raw eggs from the reception desk to try this out.

Full instruction posted.

5 minutes-runny yolk; 6 minutes medium rare; 8 minutes well done.

Eggs in the baskets

After they were cooked, now getting the cold water 'bath'.

6 minute egg with soft yolk

simple menu of the restaurant

Pork chop rice set

They all ordered the ramen, with soft boiled egg again.

Yangmingshan National Park

Located on Mt. Yangming, this national park is like the backyard of Taipei with cooler weather and beautiful scenery. It's also a popular site for people to come and enjoy the flowers blooming in the spring. It is definitely a choice location to spend a couple of hours especially on this fine day.

There were a lot of visitors that day because of an organized activity for senior citizens from the different districts in Taipei. Hundreds of volunteers showed up to help make this a special day for the elderly, many of them in wheelchairs. It was quite touching to see the young volunteers helping those in wheelchairs using the portable restrooms. God bless them!

Cherry blossoms, not a lot though.

A statue of Wang Yang Ming. I think he was a poet.

Quite nice!

The famous flower clock.

Xiaoyoukeng(小油坑)

We have never been to this part of Yangmingshan National Park, which is a short drive from the main park in a much more remote area near the top of the mountain. The sight and smell of this volcanic landform reminded me of Yellowstone National Park. It's hard to believe that this is just a short distance away from Taipei.

Gorgeous!

As we were driving back to Taipei, I saw this unusual building structure and quickly snapped a picture. I believe it is a restaurant and the building was designed by a young woman. Felt like it should be in Barcelona.

http://www.five-dime.com.tw/html/homepage.htm

Din Tai Fung, Taipei 101

After we got back to Hyatt, we rested for a couple of hours before heading out to meet the rest of Lin's family at the Taipei 101. We shall have dinner at Din Tai Fung that evening, without making prior reservation at this very popular dumpling restaurant at the basement of Taipei 101.

We ate here two years ago and really enjoyed our experience there so we decided that we will dine here again on this trip. We saw a couple of Din Tai Fung when we were in Southeast Asia. One inside the Marina Bay Sands mall and one at the Chinatown Point Mall in Singapore. I understand that they are all over the world now. There is one in Arcadia but our experience there was not to our satisfaction so we never went back for a second try. Last time we only had a short wait in line for lunch and the food was fantastic. This time we have seven people and I was wondering if they even have tables big enough for us. 

Taipei 101 is just a short walk across the street from Hyatt.

nicely decorated

Oh, my! Looked like a mad house. 

We got a number and was told that the wait would be around 40 minutes.

With this many people in line, I was not surprised. We were called after about 30 minutes and were lead inside this very busy restaurant.

We walked past the glass-enclosed kitchen area where they were churning out endless dumplings for all to see.

1-star Michelin

dishes on display

We walked past the main dining area which has basically tables for small groups.

We did not know that they actually have much more space in the back for larger groups as we settled at a table that could fit 10, at least.

Below are some of the food we had that evening.

My favorite, Drunken Chicken.

The 'must have' Xiao Long Bao. We ordered three of those.

Fried dumplings (shrimp and pork pot stickers)

steamed vegetable and ground pork dumplings

vermicelli with bean curd puff and pork roll

Dan Dan Noodle (noodle in spicy peanut sauce)

Hot and sour soup

Looks like a regular dish of fried rice, but this shrimp fried rice was actually very good.

I really should not order this. It's something I can do at home but it's their popular item, house steamed chicken soup.

Shrimp and pork Shiao Mai, surprisingly delicious!

Sweet buns that I did not try.

8 flavored Sweet sticky rice, again, I did not touch but everybody else said it was good.

Din Tai Fung: http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/

After that amazing meal, we had to walk off some calories around the Taipei 101 mall before going back to the hotel.

Our last night in Taipei.

Tomorrow we will head home after this adventurous journey.