This is a relatively short post since we didn't do much this day. This was Tim's last day, as he had other commitments and had to be stateside for this coming weekend, so we had an elaborate buffet lunch before taking him to the airport!
I didn't take any pictures of the main course, as it was pretty lackluster (in terms of looks - it was very good though).
Some fresh passionfruit, which were quite fantastic
Creme Brulee and Tiramisu - The Tiramisu has a pipette of presumably coffee and rum in it (didn't taste very strong) for you to squeeze and inject. Quite the fun little thing!
The dark center caused by the freshly injected liquid
Yuangyeung - a mix of milk tea and coffee :]
Here we are with our very awesome host and tour guide! He showed us all the ins and outs of Taipei and we spent an awesome week together!
On Tim's last day here, we went back to Ximen to look at the repainting of the graffiti in the Cinema Park.
On our way from the metro station to the park, we stopped by a McDonald to try some local favorites - but not without saying hi to Ronald first!
Taiwan does a summer pineapple special - This box holds either a chicken or shirmp pattied pineapple sandwich!
Another special - pork cutlet with curry
We went with the shrimp patty! I wasn't a huge fan of the pork with curry, but the shrimp was actually pretty good, especially for McDonald's!
The next few are of some of the art being redone! You see some of the previous work here from earlier in the week!
A local roaster!
We went back to the coffeeshop in Ximen to get some for home and also got some coffee to go!
Some of the local rush as we walked back to the subway station
Waiting for the number 1 line - a mostly elevated line - to take us back to Songshan Airport
A (empty) fountain in front of the station at the Songshan Airport as we made our way to Kao!Inc.
Exibit A: Herb waiting to cross the street
Here we are back at Kao!Inc.'s Beans and Beats! It's very well decorated, and if you look through the window in the back, you see a studio! There's also a conference room to the left behind the frosted glass
We tried a latte, which was made correctly and had the Zumbar / Portola (and now Zhanlu) taste, but I wasn't a huge fan of the roast, which seemed to have a bit of a soy sauce taste to it for some reason - other than that though, and if you could get past that, it was a pretty fine latte!
Their upstairs CD selection and listening station
An awesome sticker for their cups
Their downstairs (read: basement) offices and store - a much more complete selection!
Just another look at the upstairs coffeeshop area!
And the front door - this coffeeshop is VERY well done
To close out the night, Tim had a few connections, and was able to get us into a local concert for free - I don't know them, but this band is called 八三夭 (831), which seemed to be a local boy band (complete with the screaming and jumping girls of course). It was a foreign experience for me both in that I didn't understand most of what they were saying, and being a boy band concert, but I did enjoy myself! :] Here is a video clip of them!
This was a bit of a long day - we started off having a good rice noodle breakfast nice and early and walked around the city for a while, and got to see the small dome (vs the new one that is being built).
This interesting zebra butt traffic crossing - might have to do with the Chinese translation of a crosswalk being a "zebra lane"
Some 'murica in Taipei
After stopping by home to grab stuff, we went out to Gongguan, which has a bit of college towny-ness to it because of its proximity to a university.
These amazing things :P
We stopped by Zhanlu Coffee, a very good (albeit a bit expensive) coffeeshop before we headed back for a late lunch - They have wifi and power, and a cup of coffee will let you stay for ~4.5hrs. Buying a drink will earn you a card, and collecting five cards gives you "member" privileges, which gives you a bit of a discount, usually about NT$10-30.
On my ranking of coffeeshops, it's up there with Zumbar and Portola Coffee Lab!
Alex's Cappuccino - about the strength of a Zumbar Latte
My Latte - Good, but I like it a bit stronger
This is from lunch - I just HAD to try out the Taiwanese root beer - It was less sweet, more tangy, and had a stronger root beer flavor
Someone got over zealous...
After lunch, we headed home to regroup and prep for the night - We went out to the Guanghua area where they were hosting the Taiwan NBA Youth Madness competition, and where Tim's friend was the DJ for the evening (DJ Vicar).
Some of the spectators in the rain
I got to have some fun with my autofocus in the next few shots!
DJ Vicar
Bradley Beal (no idea who he is) doing some sort of photoshoot - he was making an appearance at the competition.
We didn't stick around for long, as Tim wanted to see the Triggerman Beat Battle Vol. 2, hosted at the Kao!Inc. offices. I'm not super familiar with this scene, so instead, I will talk about the venue!
Kao!Inc. is a local label that has been around since 2005, but they just opened up a coffeeshop (Beans and Beats) in the main upstairs store area, and converted the downstairs area into their office, and also a record / cd shop! I did not get to try any of the coffee that night, but we come back tomorrow to look through their music and try some of their coffee - I will leave the review of the coffee for tomorrow!
It was there that we met Garvin, who heard us speaking English as Tim was translating for us. We were very surprised to learn that not only is he from the San Diego, but from Mira Mesa as well. Garvin is here in Taiwan for the rest of the year teaching English and working on a film project. He speaks Cantonese, but is learning Mandarin by reading Chinese books and watching TV shows!
One of the competitors
A couple looks at the venue - more to come tomorrow when we return!
A view of some of the neighborhoods as we walk back to the Songshan Airport to take the subway to dinner and then home!
