Day 4: Taipei shopping, Taiwan international beef noodle festival, 24 hours of books

Disclosure: I was exhausted. My feet had blisters. 

It was to be a lazy Sunday. The previous night, I had been soaking my feet in ice water (make do with the garbage bin in the shower - does a wonder for the feet on holidays). 

We went to hunt for the local church we had found online prior to our stay. On the way, we walked passed the "camera street". I was really impressed, it was truly filled with all things electrical, but note, doesn't open till later in the day.

When we finally found the church, we saw people (many many people) wandering the streets in matching outfits (later on, we discovered there was a charity walk earlier that morning).

After church, we took the opportunity to walk around the proximity. Including the areas surrounding the peace park. The history of the peace park is worth reading about, but I won't dwell on it here.

To my mother's delight, we also passed by several bookshops. People in Taiwan just love to read. It's a facinating culture. If you ever go to a bookshop you will find people camped out just reading, even in the middle of the night.

We split ways with the rest of the group (who weren't worn out). They went to see the presidential buildings and wander around the 101 area (which we already did on our first day). We went to look for other delights. This is a special shop full of preserved meat. It was really funky actually, to find so many different animal parts - pig ears, stomach, pig bellies, you name it, it was there. I took a picture of the only things that most people won't find offensive- chicken wings. The taste was a bit too bitter and seasoned for my taste, but mum enjoyed it.

We also stopped by a fish noodle shop. It was "street food" but somehow, the shop had taken over the lobby of a building that was either under renovation, or about to be taken down. Slurpy, gooie goodness.

We headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. I had a few more articles to write before the rest of our journey, and I was waiting for another travel companion to arrive. Mum headed to a supermarket, several blocks from the hotel. She came back later on happily carrying teabags, and other gifts, that was substantially cheaper than we saw at the street markets.

I sneaked out in search of gifts myself. The Daiso at XMD was well stocked with homewears, gifts, and beauty accessories. I bought myself some facemasks, they were only A$1 for 100!! Yes, I know. Amazing value. I also bought a heap of other stuff, useless now that I've taken them home, but most I had given out as novelty gifts, including kitchen wall laminate that I gifted away.

My aunty arrived exhausted too. The best had dropped her off in the middle of no where, and she had walked from Taipei Main Station!

So as a reward, we found an award winning beef noodle soup shop nearby. NOT impressed. They were serving Australian meat, and cold/lukewarm soup. Granted it was 3pm in the afternoon. But anyhow, it was disappointing quality for Taipei, and the prices were like highway robbery, compared to other street shops.

But we were in luck, a few MRT rides away, we found the Taipei Noodle festival. One of the highlights planned for our trip. There were demonstrations from quality chefs, tastings, and all in a very cool venue. We tasted some noodle soup for free- hot, flavoursome, and left a nice aftertaste. And samples were for sale for a very reasonable price. NT$50!

We also took time to check out the shops in the venue. This is a must see shop there- an old record store which had antiques and many gifts you can buy. The funky feel is surreal, as if you weren't in Taiwan anymore. The other shops worth looking at include the handicraft shops with handmade necklaces, and gifts. Very retro, very stylish, and affordable by western standards.

After all of that, we rushed back to the hotel to meet with our travel companions and have dinner at a famous hotel. Absolutely wonderful food. And the price, 10 times more than you would pay on the street, but well worth it.

The dessert shop underneath the hotel was great too. And the handmade pineapple cakes we bought here was a crowd winner.

To cap off what was meant to be a lazy day, we went to the Eslite bookstore. No photos allowed inside, but for those that can read chinese, it's a real treat. Seriously, people were standing around everywhere with books in hand, they were sitting on stairwells, on the ground next to bookshelves (occupation health and safety alert).

And to prove how much Taiwanese people loved books, we found a library inside a MRT station!

WHAT A DAY. Totally exhausted from walking. Visited more than 3 bookshops, ate award winning beef noodle soup, - so much for a lazy Sunday.