Taiwan 🇹🇼 Day 5: Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Dongmen Market, Badouzi, Shifen, Pingxi Old Street, Shilin Night Market, Lehua Night Market

First stop for the day was Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall NTD16. 

It was tooo hot that I couldn't take it (I prefer hot climates tbh compared to cold ones but this one, I couldn't stand).

Twinning with the Arch of Liberty //this was my 'Lin Chen-hsin' outfit

Cooling ourselves with milk tea from 711 NTD60

Hangzhou tops my XLB list. One order for NTD150. 

At the back of National Chiang Kai Shek Memorial hall is Hangzhou Xiao Long Bao - the local rival of Din Tai Fung. I've read that tourists mainly flock to DTF while locals would opt for Hangzhou XLB.

Belle really wanted to try TKK Fried Chicken which is like the Jollibee of Taiwan daw. So from Hangzhou XLB we walked to the nearest TKK which is in Dongmen. Basically we walked one train station. We passed by a local palengke, Dongmen Market. Their palengke is really clean! I think Suki Market in Dapitan Arcade compares.

We got the curry bento from TKK Fried Chicken NTD160 and 2 pieces of chicken for NTD55. The chicken isn't anything special (I didn't like it) but I love their curry bento - curry biased.

From Dongmen Station, we went to Nangang NTD24 and transferred trains to Ruifang. Apparently in Ruifang, you have to wait for the train to make a turn in Badouzi before it goes to Pingxi PHP186. But we rode it all the way to Badouzi lol

You could stop for awhile in Badouzi and visit Shen'ao Elephant Rock.

We arrived too late at Shifen for the waterfalls (closes at 5PM) so we skipped Shifen for Pingxi.

4 color sky lantern - NTD200

To be honest, if you wanted to fly sky lanterns, you could also do it at Shifen. Pingxi is very small and there are only shops that sell souvenirs and sky lanterns unlike Shifen where there are a lot of food. The scenery? not much difference so I guess it wouldn't really matter if you choose either station. But for a normal day, pick Shifen instead of Pingxi definitely because in Pingxi, the train waiting time is long and when you get stuck for about 30 minutes to 1 hour, there isn't much to do unlike in Shifen.

Wagyu NTD100, Oyster Pancake NTD65, Braised Pork NTD35

Last stop for the day was Shilin Night Market PHP226 + NTD20.

On the top floor of the Shilin Night Market Building, you can buy food and item souvenirs. I suggest you buy your souvenirs here especially the item souvenirs instead of the usual tourist places because they've got it all for you lol. 

The top floor is also filled with arcade or perya games for about NTD100 per game.

Milk tea NTD40, Chicken NTD70

The ground floor of the building is the foodcourt. Do take note of the beautiful architecture of Living Mall just outside Shilin Station - it's the golf ball looking one.

That night, after we went home, we discovered Lehua Night Market near Dingxi NTD24 while looking for laundry detergent lol.

📍Pink - Places we've been to

National Heritage Month: National Museum

I wasn't able to take any decent levitation shots other than this because there were a lot of people.

Lately I've been hanging out at National Historical Commission of the Philippines. I know you'd be like, what the heck am I doing there when my course deals with numbers. Research *cough cough* studying, I mean. Because the main library at my uni is closed 'til June 8 and the National Library is under renovation. And I'm almost broke so I can't really spend every day at cafes.

May is National Heritage Month. AND National Museum is having FREE ADMISSION for the whole month of May! FREE! Regular rates for adults is P150 and P50 for students.

Anyway, since I was in the area studying my arse off and planning my last hangout with my friend for this school year because he's leaving for the province already (how unfair is that? TT_TT), we took advantage of the free admission.

It's my second time - the first one was last year - in National Museum (the building near Luneta not the one near the City Hall) and I must say, the way they handled their artifacts are much better than last year. I was so disappointed when I visited last year because you could like touch the artifacts and no cctv or personnel would reprimand you for doing so.

I've had this preconceived concept of museums and I guess I expected a lot from National Museum since it's "National" so it's supposed to be like the best (or the forefront) museum in the country where not only us Filipinos would learn about our country but foreigners who visit as well. 

And you could what? Touch hundred or thousand of years old artifacts just like that? - Sorry. Too much conviction about this topic.

 They also have this new exhibit up called Lantaka of War and Peace showcasing weapons just like the last picture!

PS. In the National Museum near Luneta, the air conditioning fails (bring fans if you want) and the elevator is so slow that I recommend you use the stairs instead. No need to worry about that in the National Museum near the city hall though :)

National Museum (near the city hall):

I find National Museum's doorknobs cool.

So much love for Fernando Amorsolo's sketches <3

I didn't really appreciate modern art. I just couldn't figure them out. I'm boggled.

The green room is my favorite. //Painting pictures are raws except for Spolarium

The thing I was looking forward to for this trip was definitely Juan Luna's works. I was not disappointed. I loved them! <3 <3 <3 I also tried a #followmeto pose but it was a fail so I'm not posting it here.

We toured both museum building for about 3 hours I think. I just wish there'd be tour guides who would explain the significance of paintings and artifacts though. I ended up telling my friend wrong facts. We ended up stalking a man who seemed knowledgeable about history because he was explaining to this girl about the paintings.

But, good job National Museum - you're definitely bringing Filipinos closer to their heritage!