Day 1 - 10 Jul 2019
It was my first ever yolo-solo trip.
One of the main reason why I wanted to do this is to recharge and to spend time with.. yes, myself. And to break away from the monotony of life. I just wanted to do something different, something I like, at somewhere I really enjoy. It doesn’t take long to decide on Taiwan as the place where I will be spending the next few days.
I reached Taipei around 330pm in the afternoon and checked into CityInn Hotel along Fuxing North Road. After dropping off the luggage, I took a cab to Ice Monster at Xinyi District. When I arrived, I flipped the menu to the page where its famous “Mango Avalanche” beckoned. I ordered and gobbled down the entire bowl but it was too much for me to finish. In the end, the ice portion was left behind.
While I was queuing to order the “Mango Avalanche”, I spotted a NBA store just adjacent to Ice Monster. Perhaps, this was also the reason why I was in a hurry to finish up my dessert. Haha. I knew I’d have to patronise the store; whether I would be getting anything (or not) is not the question. I went to almost every corner, fingered through the T-shirts and browsed almost every items on the shelves. I saw a Lakers’ cap and was tempted to purchase. Thankfully, it didn’t look nice on me and I was able to walk away, not feeling any sense of regret for not buying.
Time for some exercise. My next destination is to do a little hike at Elephant Mountain. I know it may sound ironical but I took a cab to where I was supposed to begin the hiking trail. Haha. No warm up needed; just went straight for the deal. I got a little panicky because the entrance to the hike didn’t seem to be the same as those pictures that I googled prior to my trip. I did what a normal person would do ie to ask around. The people in Taiwan are so kind. One gentleman assured me that this is just another route to take to reach the same destination. Phew. At least, I knew I wasn’t wasting my time and effort as I hiked up the stairs.
After about 20 minutes, voila... the instagrammable view of Taipei city greeted me, especially the iconic Taipei 101. There were many tourists (or maybe some locals) who climbed up the boulder for that picture-perfect photo but being alone, I also didn’t want to inconvenience others. Being 43 years old, I’m also a little scared if I accidentally fall. Anyway, I got some good shots of the picturesque view from various recommended vantage points and I felt that the whole effort was totally worth it.
I went back to the hotel as it was a bit early for dinner. I managed to FaceTime with the kids. After that, I headed to 牛角 (Niu Jiao) for dinner. I ordered their set. The quantity was about just right for one person but the quality didn’t quite make its mark, somehow. It was not all bad; the prawns, the chicken, the grilled beef did tasted alright. Anyway, the overall experience was still good. I just didn’t leave with the “shiok” feeling that’s all.
To end the night, I visited Smexy, a restaurant with live jazz music. I had a bottle of Hoegaarden and enjoyed the performance of jazz standard. “The way you look tonight”, “Honeysuckle rose” and “The nearness of you” were some of the songs that were sung in the set. But perhaps due to where I sat which was at the bar counter, it didn’t do justice to the beautiful delivery of the songs. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself thoroughly, doing what I love best - listening to music.