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隊友們機動力實在太慢、選擇困難症、豫猶不決，我有點受不了，都係算啦，無緊要。發現新奇食品，蚵仔包 ﹗我好想試呢，決定買幾個到隔離舖頭坐住食。團長推介過魚湯超好味，我當然要試試啦 ﹗可以揀魚頭、魚片或魚腩呢。過魚咩黎架？台灣原名為鮢過魚，香港名為深海大龍躉，舖頭牆上面貼住晒資料啦 ﹗

我是看見 Agoda 有優惠才定下這馳名的老酒店的，這《華王大飯店》是一間老字號的酒店，亦是我一說名字連我老爸也立即能說出這酒店位於高雄那兒的老品牌。

在大城市，選擇這酒店的重要因素是鄰近有捷運站，另外就是要近重要的地標，而我選擇 《華王大飯店》的原因就是這酒店近《鹽埕埔》捷運站，同她就位於高雄的著名地標《愛河》的旁邊。

這酒店，在外看你會覺得他很舊，可是一入大堂，你就會感覺到她的華麗一面，另外，原來現時的酒店經理是日本人，所以在服務上加入了日本的禮貌交化原素，令客人感覺特別的親切。

房間，也因為良好的管理而感覺到特別的整潔，而且我們在台灣住了多晚，終於有一晚是用雙枕頭的，令我們睡得特別的舒服。

很舒適的一晚，睡得好，也令我們之前累積下來的疲累感全消。 

高雄，同台中一樣，是我們的中途驛站，所以我們只短短的在酒店附近的區域行行走走。而最遠也只是到了近商業中心區的一間百貨公司行行算了。之後，爸媽就先帶同小兒回酒店附近食牛肉麵及行行愛河河畔，而我們就繼續的鬧市遊蕩。

就在百貨公司的對面，我們看見一棟好特別的建築物，我隱約中看見了教堂兩個字。再細心多看一眼，這一棟很奇怪的建築物叫做 《高雄佛教堂》，通常，我們只會稱佛家勝地為寺、廟、壇、法院或佛堂，叫做教堂這也是我們第一次看見。

在好奇心的駒使下，我們參觀及研究了這一個《高雄佛教堂》一番。

這一個《佛教堂》，是《佛光山》設立的，目的是在鬧市商圈中，讓信徒尋找到一片寧靜的樂土。由於位於市中心，每當舉行佛教活動時，都會以《高雄佛教堂》，既方便，又能增添城市特色。

這《高雄佛教堂》亦會定期開設修行班，方便信眾。 

愛河，經過了一輪的整頓同美化之後，已經成為了高雄市民閒遊、情侶拍拖、拍婚照及遊客必到之地。

風大，入夜之後天氣凍，是令我們匆匆地拍克照就走的原因。雖然，我們並沒有感受到漫步愛河的浪漫，但回酒店看看這一張照片，在五福四路的高雄橋拍出來的高雄夜景，也是很美麗的。

事後我同太太說，我們一齊在這兒跳河，不就是我們雙雙墮入愛河麼.....

說過，一直想來彰化的原因就是因為《張信哲》的名曲》《到處留情》，也說過我爸是一個老台灣，台灣的一切，他都一一知曉。從前，我間中會問起彰化值不值得去，爸永遠都會道出一個景點，那就是《彰化大佛》了。

整個風景區叫《八卦山風景區》，當中以這一尊大佛為中心，令到整個山頭都充滿著佛家同消閒的氣色。

從彰化市內看，幾乎每人個地方都能看見大佛，登山後，我們在大佛的風景台上，可以鳥瞰彰化全市，台灣的建築物不高，從觀景台望出去，基本上是一望無際的。

這一尊大佛，曾經叱吒一時，不過名聲早已被香港的大佛取代了，不過，若大家的確是來彰化市一遊時，這一個地標性的景點，的確是不得不來，不來就等於沒有來過彰化市。

由於是我們行程的最後一天，行程是匆匆忙忙的，老爸的朋友說要帶我們到鹿港，說車程要一小時。在怕打擾朋友及怕時間不足之下，本來我們是堅拒的，但朋友堅持，說來回很快的，大不了他直接送我們到機場。在不好意思再推搪之下，我們就登上他的車，真的不用一小時，就到達這一個我們一直以為是海邊的小鎮。

鹿港，雖然不是海邊，但也是一個近海的古老小鎮，當中，令我們大開眼界的，就是熱鬧得非常的鹿港老街。 

相比之下，這鹿港老街有點像淡水老街，都是一條以食為主及售賣傳統手禮的商業街。比淡水好的事，這兒尚未嚴重地遊客化，像淡水、九份、十分，早已變成遊客天堂，老街中的店子是為國外遊客而生。

鹿港老街，依然保持著台灣人的樸素，週末的遊客雖多，但大部份都是台灣本土的居民，令到整個老城區，依然保持到應有的老城市集的風味。

整個老城區，人流最多的就是天后廟周邊，而且蚵仔煎小檔，基本上是這兒的主角。可是我們都吃得很飽，而且時間也不多，只買了一點在途上食的飽點及一些特別的伴手禮，便要匆匆的回去彰化站，再回去烏日，趕回台中機場。

希望再來時，這地方依然能保持其樸素的風格啦。 

鹿港的老城區，以這一個天后廟來做中心點。地方很大，廟前的廣場也很大。絕對是有足夠空間去辦大型活動。

而且，這是是進入鹿港食街的入口，當中要爭先做生意的小販，都會聚集在廟前的廣場，很是熱鬧。

這《鹿港天后宮》已經有4百多年的歷史，多年來，依然香火鼎盛。可是，由於是人多及時間關係，我們取消了人內參觀的念頭，單是在外拍照留念，從外觀看看這古舊而宏偉的天后宮，在當場，的確可以感受到其氣勢。

有機會再訪彰化縣的話，必定會花一天的時間再來。 

高鐵的時速的確是驚人，令從前由台中至高雄需要兩個多小時的車程，一下子把兩者拉近至一小時，台中、高雄，已經在各自的一小時生活圈之內。

現時台灣高鐵的總站，是左營站，同我們在不夠一個小時內上車的台中高鐵站一樣，他們與台鐵共構了一個車站，成為了該區的其中一個交通樞紐。而這一個左營站，更取代了高雄車站，成為了通往南台灣同東台灣的主要大門。 

這是一個主要的轉乘站，所以站內的設施非常之齊全，在台鐵新左營站的樓上，更是一個小型的商場，有不少食肆及商店，在個多小時的轉車車程中，一點也不會令你覺得悶。

車到了，新設計的車站方便行動不便的人士，每一個月台都有獨立的升降機，而高鐵的大廳同台鐵的大廳是平面連接的，轉車很方便。就算是選擇在左營到站高雄的人，這站的地底層就是高雄捷運，也是方便至極。

同一個建築物，原來仲有一間新光三越，果然是一個可以滿足任何旅遊人士的大型車站。 

由高雄回台中的一天才發現新光三越，不然我們也不會花時間去逛這一個說大不大的車站商場。

這車站商場，有一個店字，叫做《環球新狙營店》。佔地三層，售票廳的一層，有一間小型，主要售賣女仔玩意的小百貨，另外就是一個一個獨立的小食亭，當中有西式的餅點，台茶，地道小吃，快餐店同咖啡室。

二樓，有書店、有賣衣服的商店、食店同一個大型的兒童遊樂場，小兒看見有啱佢玩的東西就一支箭的衝了過去。

另外也有一個方以進行沙灘排球比賽的沙池，平地沒有比賽的時間，是可以讓人入去玩的。

說多一次，這一個左營/新左營車站，絕對不會把你悶壞。 

當自強號的列車進入了枋寮站，這代表我們進入台灣鐵路網中，其中一段最險要，風景最美的，就是最南端的南迴鐵路。

當列車離開枋寮站之後，整段鐵路就會依著台灣西部的海岸線行駛， 台西的海岸，面對的是台灣海峽，南中國海，也許是天氣的關係，海色水色是比較暗沈的。

當你發現火車開始進入山區時，大家也可以作一個小睡，因為山上的這一段南迴鐵路，隧道多，露天的地方少，說是台灣環島線的最高點就是在南迴鐵路段，但該最商點據說是位於最長的中央隧道之內。

穿過了不知多少條隧道，突然聽到車上有的喜悅地嘩了一聲，連坐在靠海方窗邊的一位台頭大漢也把火車窗簾拉開，欣賞台西海岸，太平洋的風景。

明顯地，天色同海水的顏色，同台西比較起來，是兩回事。台東的海同台西的海，很明顯，是兩個不同的水流，這兒的，好像完全沒有污染過，海水清藍，天也清藍，看出去，心曠神怡。

由於面對的是太平洋，這兒的海浪，也特別的大。 

兩個多小時的車程，我們來到了，來到充滿鄉郊氣息的台東。這一個簡單樸素的小城市，單是從火車站看出去，已經非常之舒服。一下車，雖然沒有田園的風味，但樸素的民風，就從車站的員工身上感受到出來。

一出站，我看見我十多年沒有見的英國同學，我們的喜悅，絕對不比老爸同他老同學的喜悅少。

台東車站，感覺很是鄉郊，用來拍一些描述 80 年代的台灣電影，是非常合切的。而車站外，有好幾個巨形的石像，這石像代表了當地的原住民，說明台東是我們的地頭，不得冒犯。

台東，不計長途客運巴士，只有兩個真正對外的交通站，其一就是這一個台東車站，其二就是台東機場。可是，根據朋友所說，台東始終地方偏僻，常住的人口不多，很難發展起來，所以火車站周邊，也沒有像台西的城市般，發展起來。 

這是台東市區最好的酒店嗎? 我不知道，只知道在酒店的官網中看見張艾嘉、以及成龍也曾來過投宿。

這酒店，並不是位於最正市中心的地區，不過，台東很細的，若是有足夠的腳力，可以用力地做一個 walking tour。

一登入門，這酒店給我們的感覺就是乾淨，雖然沒有美麗的海景，但作為一間商務酒店，其設備齊全，房間舒適。而這酒店對面的空地，就是他們的停車場，大家若是駕車來台東，而又想住近市區，這一家酒店是好選擇。 

台灣的服務，是可以媲美日本的，櫃檯的員工非常之友善，亦很幫忙，第二日我的朋友要上班，我們自行遊時，也沒有硬推他們的導覽服務，反而指出酒店的轉角，就有公交車站，可以到達《山線》或《海線》的主要景點。

另外，這酒店也有免費的車站及機場來回接送，走的那一天就不用麻煩朋友了。 

閒來台東，我們先逛逛公園吧。我們把車停在海濱公園，再穿過一條綠水橋，我們就慢慢地散步至森林公園的內部。

這一個森林公園，地方非常大，是騎車的熱點，所以大家有公園漫步時，要小心前前後後左左右右，因為經常性會在突然之間，不知在那一個方向殺出一步單車在你附近。

這公園內，最出名的景點就是琵琶湖，我們從木板路走到石路，在琵琶湖的中央過橋，小湖末端有一個小小的渡頭，往盡望出去便是大海，是好多情侶拍照之地，我們一家人，當然也輪著在這一個地標留影。

邊漫步，邊聊天，不知不覺，我們三位年青人已被老人同小孩拋離.....

小朋友後來說了一句，"呢個公園冇野玩" 他說這話的原因就是因為這公園沒有兒童遊樂場.... 

漫步完森林公園，我們回到海濱公園看看海。在這一個公園的中央，有一個竹鼠的巨球，這巨球叫做《國際地標》。

很精心的設計，整個球，完完全全只是用竹用籐搪建，在外觀，這一個球充滿了時尚感，在內看，這是傳統中國的籐藝。

晚上看，加上了燈光的特別效果，顯得這國際地標更加之美麗。

看海，聊天，小朋友又投訴了.....而且入夜後的海邊風很大，我們決定前往下一站，食晚飯。 

老爸在台中會友時，友人說來台東，一定食吃當地產的釋迦。釋迦是什麼，沒有圗片，爸的朋友一時也說得不清楚，建議我們到當地後再問問吧。

用餐時問一問朋友， 釋迦是什麼? 朋友立即說飯後一起去水果街，也順道帶我們感受台東晚上的一面。

這一條水果街，旁邊就是台東的觀光夜市，可是我們來到台東時正元旦正日，而且夜市只開星期四、五、六、日，這一晚雖也是熱鬧，但比起週末就差很多。說回水果檔，元旦日營業的，也不多。

水果小店，賣的水果的確是多籮籮，不過我們的目的是釋迦，釋迦是什麼? 我們終於找到答案了，原來釋迦就是蕃荔枝， 當地人稱之為釋迦，原來就是蕃荔枝長得像釋迦牟尼的頭一樣，故冠此名。

我們買了兩個不同品種的釋迦，水果店說要隔幾天才能吃。回到香港，第二天的早上立即吃，兩者的味道都十分之甜，傳統的釋迦，肉質帶爽，另一品種的，肉質腍，極多汁，非常之香甜。

後悔沒有多買....不過，多買了也拿不到。 

冬粉=粉絲,超好食,小菜都好正!GOOD!

紅豆好食,雪糕麻麻!男友話雪條係滑,但不是他喜歡的茶.

另外,薑茶好好味! 

太部份都係100-150一碟,好多台灣人食,只有我地一枱香港人.

因為好多都一放在枱,就會比人搶,所以想食要快手. 

男友水果冰較好吃,西瓜不太甜,但加其他配料好好食.

即炸,要等十分鐘左右,因為太多人等,拿上手仲燙手.

The man over 60 is the son-in-law of the founder of this shop of cured ducks who currently resides in the Pingtung County with another shop there.  I've talked to him knowing that their family originates from Nang Hai, Guangdong province of mainland China, which followed the Chiang's regime in moving to Taiwan in 1949.  He told me he is still in good health, and he was a Guomintang general when Taiwan was still under the rule of the Chiang's family.

Conversation last for half an hour with both of us standing in the shop as the shop is only a place for buying the ducks out but not eating the ducks there.  With NTD$170 I bought a pack of spicy duck which is a pre-packed, chopped up half-duck.  Besides half-duck you can also find a whole slew of duck items like duck wings, gizzard, liver....etc.  Spicy or not at the discretion of the customers, I've seen many local dwellers bought the duck and streaked away with their scooters parked outside the shop not even needed to take their helmets off.

The duck meat is a bit hard, it is intended to be eaten out of the fridge, but very tasty, a bit sweet with a balanced blend with the spiciness.  The duck skin is the gem alas not healthy, that's life!  I placed the duck inside the hotel's fridge and enjoyed a few pieces every morning, toothsome!

And above the taste of foods there is always the warmth and affection of southern Taiwanese to be treasured, what an experience!



 

 

If you hadn't visited the Ruifeng nigh market in the Zuoying district of southern Taiwan, you surely wouldn't have believed that a humble snack stall among many many others would have been up to such a professional standard, eat your heart out 5 stars hotels in HK!  

Actually on the day of my visit, I chose this little stall just because it was among the few that still had empty seats.  The menu of this snack stall is all about stinky tofu which invariably cost NTD$60, so I ordered a Deep-fried Salty Pepper Stinky Tofu, then bided my time taking some photos and videos of the buzzy surrounding.  

The tofu is not of strong taste as you would find in HK, or made of bona fide sewage as you would find in mainland China, the outside is golden yellow and crispy, with a good partnership with green onion, small salted dry fishes, and consummated with spicy pepper on top, I promise you it's a top notch thing by any standard!  

Just a bit too salty and add to the burden of you kidney, but you wouldn't have it everyday, right?  Next time you visit Ruifeng, take notice that Monday and Wednessday are night market holidays.  

Together with a few photos of the stylish Tainan Museum of History I want to introduce this old shop in the Anping district of Tainan selling traditional shrimp rolls and many other traditional snacks of Tainan.

I took a tourist bus to the Anping district with my maps, being led astray by my own carelessness I hopped off at a bus station or two earlier than what should have been, I asked a middle-aged man just came off his scooter still with his helmet on, he enthusiatically showed me the way and invited me for a free ride with his scooter, my goodness, it was just about 200m away from where we had started, and he could well have told me to tread my weary way to it! That's Tainan people, a genre of Chinese these days you could rarely found in the world.

Back from my digression to foods this Wang's shrimp roll is not very mouth-watering indeed, the deep-fried wrapper in batter is crunchy enough, the pork, shrimp and green onion as filling are fresh, texture is satisfactorily varied but the pork is too mushy to my tongue and the shrimp too small, garnished with some shredded pickled ginger the different tastes don't seem to blend with each other well. The paste comes with the shrimp rolls includes some wasabi and bland oyster sauce.    

I decided to give the Tainan shrimp roll another chance so I came in this Zhou's Shrimp Roll, I ordered a Shrimp Roll and a bowl of Fish Balls Soup.

Being much more commercially run than the previous Wang's Shrimp Roll, the shrimps they used are bigger in size but they cut the shrimps down into dices, the taste of shrimp is more intense than the shrimps of Wang's and less meat filling is used. Some pickled ginger for garnishing is very salty though fresh and crunchy.

The Fish Ball Soup is disappointing, artificial favouring is used and the texture is monotonous, though veggies in the soup are fresh.  I resolved that would be the last dish of shrimp roll for me in Tainan. What about the fish balls, I thought I would give it a second chance, let's see.

A lot of deep-fried shrimp cake free trial along the Anping Old Street,  I wonder anyone would still starve to death living in Tainan!

This Zhou's eatery is about desserts such as tofu custard(pudding), sweet mung bean soup....etc, customers can order them either cold or hot. I really intrigued to compare their tofu custard with that of HK's, as there are famous eateries for tofu snacks in HK too. I ordered a Tofu Pudding with Mung Beans, I ordered it cold, the mung beans dissolve in mouth immediately, the result of prolonged cooking, the tofu custard is firmer than HK's in texture, greater fragrance of soya beans than HK's, overall a bit too sweet but no big deal.

Great delicate dessert! 

This renowned traditional drink business sell his drinks for only a few HK dollars, and generally Taiwanese restaurants, no matter how famous they are, sell their delicacies at a much lower price than HK, take the famous Din Tai Fung as an example, its Xiaolongbao is 80% more expensive in HK than in Taiwan, why?

Due to the hegemonic control in all walks of lives by a few property tycoons, and collusion with an undemocratic government, rental has ratcheted up to an outrageous level, go to any restaurant in HK, very probably a large portion you paid doen't end up in your mouth but into the pockets of a greedy rapacious few, how unfair it is, shame of HK!

The standard Winter Melon Tea is too sweet and faint in taste of winter melon, however, the Low Sugar Winter Melon Green Tea is much better, so much refresh taste of the green tea and winter melon, so re-invigorating, particularly in the hot humid summer of Taiwan, for NTD$15 or HKD$4, it is a patent steal !   

This eatery is famous for its oyster foods, it has two floors and the 2nd floor is much more spacious and comfortable. I ordered an Oyster Omelette hoping that it would beat the one I had had in the Taipei Shihlin night market. I could tell it trounced the Shihlin market’s, which costs NTD$45, a landslide victory for this Chen’s oyster eatery indeed.  

The Oyster Omelette is a fried assortment of oysters, mung bean sprouts, sweet potato powder, egg and onion, with a sweetened tomato sauce on top.  It is a very traditional snack of southern Taiwan and the Chiu Zhou area of mainland China.    

The oyster they use are really fresh, each of them are sturdy and succulent, the scallop of the oyster even so tiny can still be felt in your mouth and is chewy and tasty, the mung bean sprouts are so fresh and crunchy, and the tomato sauce evince the real fresh taste of tomato.  The assortment of texture and color is wonderful to your eyes and taste buds at the same time.  

For anyone with interest in good foods, it couldn’t be something to be missed anytime in Tainan.  Judging by the price of NTD$50, it’s again a steal by any standard.

This shop with a fetching yellow signboard is at a very prominent location in the old street of Anping. They sell a variety of foods, from rice cake, rice dumpling to milkfish thick soup and a lot more. 

Frankly my stomach had already been quite full when I pottered along and passed by this eatery, but every tradition Tainan snack is an enticement on its own so I couldn't help but entered to find a seat for a new excursion.

The rice dumplings they sell are humble ordinary day to day thing for Tainan dwellers, it is drizzled with an sweetened oyster sauce all over its surface, a little bit of garlic sauce is also provided for different people's palate, the glutinous rice is starchy enough, five spices powder has probably been used to give the smell of the glutinous rice, the lean meat inside the dumpling is a little bit hard and not succulent enough though the fatty meat is velvet and full of fragrance, peanuts, dry shrimps and a small cutting of shitake mushroom can also be found.

Corrugated iron sheet is used on one side of the walls, may feel hot in the peak of summer but with air conditioning it was very comfortable on the day of my visit.

Not great delicacy, but worth a try especially taking the price into consideration for some budget backpackers to fill their stomachs in Tainan. 

The close vicinity of the Anping Castle is no doubt a cauldron of traditional Tainan snacks and delicacies, among them is one with the red-brick wall of the Anping Castle just outside its entrance in a narrow and buzzy street of the tourist district.  

This eatery is yet another famous site for a great variety of Tainan seafood, like milkfish, oyster, shrimps and fish balls.  I waited for 5 minutes to get a seat and I ordered an Oyster Soup and a Fish Ball Soup, it was hot as furnace when it arrived a few minutes later.  

The Oyster Soup is drizzled with a tiny bit of sesame seed oil, there are shredded pickled cabbage and ginger slices inside, the oysters are in no doubt of freshness, they all have a sturdy and gleaming outlook, the taste to some extent resembles that of the French Gillardeau (relative of the Tainan oyster) but only at a fraction of the price.  

Tainan fish balls are incorrigibly perverted by artificial favouring, and possess the same monotonous texture, with this in mind, I'm blunted with my interest to give them further comment.

A new day in Tainan teeming heavily throughout the whole morning, I actually started at too early an hour that many of the shops and restaurants near the famous tourist site Chikan Tower had not yet been opened.  Actually beforehand I had never had schedule to visit this noodle eatery, it was by sheer chance when my umbrella didn’t seem quite capable of keeping away all the splashes that I stumbled across this eatery in the street corner, and the sudden thought sprang up to my mind that it is a rather famous one selling the tradition Tainan Tan-Tsai Noodle.  

A lot of people were eating there and worse still they were not willing to leave even after their meal as the weather outside was still appalling.  When I finally could manage a seat sharing a table with some other tourists, I ordered only a small size Tan-Tsai Noodle, simply because I couldn't anticipate with people standing all around me with their dripping umbrellas I could relish slowing reading my newspaper for a bowl of noodle.  

It is not a large bowl of things with a fish ball, a soy braised egg, 4 small fresh shrimps, and some fermented black bean favoured meat paste as the main contents. Garnishing includes coriander, green onion, and mung bean sprouts atop the noodle.

The noodle is not the chewy type and is delicate and soft, the soup while not special by itself accentuates the deliciousness of the noodle.   The fish balls all over Tainan are the same incorrigible artificially favoured, monotonous texture type.  The soy braised egg’s egg-white after prolonged steeping in marinade evinces a hard instead of the usual elastic texture, one may say it is special but it doesn’t impress me.  It is the orchestration of different textures, and freshness of the garnishing things that give the uniqueness and scrumptiousness of this famous Tainan tradition cuisine.  

Worth it, and I could relish it, even in the rain.  Shouldn't I have ordered a large bowl instead!

With rain still pouring my next stop was this 2 floors eatery selling the Tainan traditional snack Rice Cake.  I took some photos of the special decoration hanging on the wall showing rice cake bowls with celebrity signatures, ranging from the president Ma Ying-Jeou, to the brother of the renowned Ang Lee, who is also a film director himself.   

After a short while my take away rice cake was ready, I ate the rice cake standing at the entrance looking at the glass pane nearly all covered up with photos of the shop owners taken with film stars, pop singers, politicians.......foreign or local.  

The texture of the rice cake is very velvet, with a few dices of marinated pork and salted duck egg-yolk. 

A snack with a bland palate, not a delicacy, no sumptuous thing, it is the old memory of traditional food that we treasure.

Rain changed into sporadic at last when I roamed my way through the tourist district of the Chikan Tower, and finally reached this eatery famous for its Duck Meat Thick Soup.   Surprisingly there were only a few customers with a lot of empty tables, I took my seat and ordered a bowl of this Duck Meat Thick Soup. 

Thick soup is just starched soup to make the texture more gloopy, the duck meat they use is cut into thin slices, I think thin slicing facilitates fast cooking to keep the tenderness and succulence of the meat, they achieve this, with the duck meat easily dissolve in your mouth while the soup is discernibly getting in the taste of the duck meat too.  The pieces of radish in the soup are very fresh and tasty, while garnishing they use some shredded ginger, the soup is drizzled with some brown vinegar.  

Yet another gem of the marvelous Tainan cuisine, don’t miss it!

This meat dumpling stall is near to the temple with which it gets its name.  A long queue of umbrellas in a downpour outside the stall attests the quality of this Meat Dumpling, which is sold at NTD$50 per 3 pieces, not ordinary but very large pieces I promise.  

The wrapper of the Meat Dumpling is extraordinarily thick, so three pieces are enough to fill a big man's stomach.  The wrapper gets a nice fragrance of rice with a chewy, velvet and elastic texture.  There is no soup inside the dumpling like that of the Xiaolongbao's.  The big round brown meat ball inside is very special, the meat tastes hot spicy, and the texture is coarse because meat fillets instead of minced meat are used, what an unorthodox improvisation and management of textures!   

The chili paste as the condiment to the meat dumplings is as refreshing as mint, albeit a bit too salty.  

A thing you wouldn't ubiquitously found in the street of Taiwan or anywhere else, a marvelous snack.  

A modern style shop in the main street of the Chikan Tower district specializing in pot-stewed and smoked items, such as chicken and duck parts, tofu, and a whole raft of many other things.  

As I was near the end of this culinary journey, what would be better than getting some snacks to be enjoyed on my way back to HK?  I came out of the shop with a package each of Smoked Tofu, and Spicy Duck Wings.  

The Smoked Tofu is so unique in taste, the special fragrance penetrates deep into the center and resembles that of meat, so you get the illusion of eating chicken frank instead of tofu! 

The pot-stewed duck wing is very special too, the taste is a bit light and on the sweet side, and the meat is rather dry and not tender enough.  

Time to say goodbye, closing this journey means preparation for the next will begin,  Japan, Thailand, Europe……?  Until then, goodbye and good luck.