Precious Memories: Longshan Temple, Ximendin, and Elephant Hill

Family Reunion Cruise -- 8-Day Roundtrip Keelung, Taiwan on Diamond Princess

Post-cruise -- Taipei, November 27, 2018

Today, we will be touring Taipei on our own. We are quite familiar with the city and being at the center of town we were able to get to anywhere we wanted using the very efficient metro system. It is always nice to take our time, doing whatever we want, and just explore without having to adhere to a schedule set by others.

Reception area/entrance of Gracehome Service Apartment where we stayed in Taipei.

It's always very quiet with nobody else around.

That door is to the laundry room for self-serve laundry, free of charge.

All the Tripadvisor certificates displayed on the wall.

We really enjoyed our stay here. Centrally located, near the metro stop, and friendly hostess and staff.

Dongmen Market

For breakfast, we decided to walk over to the Dongmen Market, which is one metro stop away, and see what we could find there. We have never been there before but have read about it and watched videos and TV programs about this busy market.

This tiny shiao-bing 燒餅shop was recommended by several sources. Naturally, this was the first place we were looking for. They have different kinds of shiao-bing with various stuffings inside. They were really good! We got into a friendly chat with the people there since they were not that busy yet. They were curious about our lives in the U.S.

Li Long Taiwanese Pancake

No. 15-1 Lane 79, Section 2, Xinyi Road

Zhongzheng District, Taipei

This is also a famous shop but we did not get anything here.

I have read that many celebrities enjoy their dumplings here.

The outdoor part of the market.

We found this Fuzhou Fish Ball restaurant.

Ya Fung Fishball

No. 1 Lane 75, Linyi Street

Zhongzheng District, Taipei

Menu in four different languages and with photos.

MOR's order of fish balls/meat balls vermecelli soup.

My bowl of delicious braised pork rice. I know...but the fatty meat was what made this wonderful.

Fuzhou fish ball

with minced pork inside.

A big, airy, and clean eatery.

We walked back to the shiao-bing shop and found it to be very busy with a queue now.

For dessert, we went for some soy milk pudding. It was OK. Maybe we should have just ordered their regular tofu pudding instead of the soy milk ones.

Jiang Ji Dongmen Tofu Pudding

Longshan Temple

After our interesting breakfast, we took the metro to Longshan Temple in Wanhua District.

This is Bangka Park right above the Longshan Temple stop.

Longshan Temple right across from the park.

A historical site.

With many tourists and locals alike.

This temple is in an older part of the city.

Nice waterfall

and a fish pond in the courtyard.

Worshipers praying earnestly.

A decorative sedan for the gods.

Bopiliao Historic Block

We thought it would be interesting to walk around the Wanhua area since this is an old town but did not expect to come upon Bopiliao Historical Block as we walked down Guonzhou Street nearby. This is a very well-preserved area where old buildings are nicely kept and opened for the public. This was definitely a nice find for us that day.

Old store-front along Guongzhou Street.

Ximendin

Walking further from Bopiliao would be the Ximendin area of Taipei. This used to be the main hub for nightlife Taipei when I lived there almost forty years ago. That was where people, young and old, would spend their evenings and weekends there for a few hours of entertainment. It certainly brought back a lot of memories as we walked down the streets. It's much slower and quieter now as most of the 'hip' stores moved to the eastern part of town during the last couple of decades.

We found the eatery that specialized in deep fried pork chop rice, not in the same location, but in the food court at the basement of a department store. We were not sure if we should go in afraid that it would not be the same as the one we enjoyed forty years ago.

Pork chop rice and pork chop noodle, $120 NTD each.

Fortunately, we found them to be just as delicious as years before.

Pedestrian street in Ximendin.

Pedestrian street leading up to the metro station.

Elephant Hill (Xiangshan)

After our afternoon nap back at the apartment, it was time for us to go on a hike, to Elephant Hill. ChC wanted to take some pictures of Taipei 101, hopefully around sunset, so that was what we timed for. It was easy taking the metro red line from Daan Park to the end of that route Xiangshan Station. Just another stop past Taipei 101.

Getting off at Xiangshan Station at Xiangshan Park.

Xiangshan station exit 2

Just follow the sign to the hiking trail.

Good signage pointing in the right directions.

The start of the trail here.

Going up, up, and up!

"Elephant Hill"

This old lady needed to take a break. It was quite a challenge!

We were rewarded with this incredible view!

Many people had the same idea, taking their Kodak moments at the observation platform.

The majestic Taipei 101. I can imagine how amazing it would be to watch the fireworks from here on New Year's Eve.

Coming back down was much easier. We saw a young couple from Indonesia who couldn't decide if they should hike up at the start of the trail. Told them that if an old lady like me can do it, they should have no problem getting up.