ONEBUBBLE

Raohe St. Night Market is one of the oldest night markets around, and from what I’ve read, it’s supposedly the first night market in Taiwan. Located near the Songshan Railway Station (like you know where that is…), it’s about a ten minutes cab ride from the Taipei 101 area. The taxis here are much cheaper compared to New York City but it still adds up. For example: a cab ride of about 40 minutes and 20 miles will cost roughly $30 USD in Taipei and I’m guessing about $50 in New York. It’s not dirt cheap like the street food here but if you split the cab with couple of buddies then it’s not too bad at all. It beats trying to figure out the bus routes in a foreign country.

I have heard that this night market is one of the better ones in terms of food deliciousness which makes sense if this is indeed the first ever night market in Taiwan. Well, it’s a good “combo” market meaning it covers both food and shopping. We didn’t spend much time here, but from what I remembered, it had a good crowd, great variety of food, and enough stores on the sides to keep your eyes busy wandering.

We decided to eat here first because the line was long and it looks like everyone was clamoring for one of these steamed/fried buns.

They looked pretty good from where we were standing. By the way, don’t believe the hype. The line died down right after we got on. If we were there ten minutes later, there would’ve been no one there.

These buns were huge and there were HOT!! Like mouth-burning lava HOT!! The taste wasn’t bad but we were stuffed (and burned) so it kind of killed our appetite for the night. I would recommend against this as your first bite.

Another Doraemon sighting. Confession: I grew up reading Doraemon and eating Dorayaki. Anyway, I bought one, left it in my shorts, and forgot all about it. I ate it about a week later (I put it in the fridge after I found it) and it was just alright. Somehow, I don’t think I gave it a fair chance to be good…

We ended the night by spending a good amount of coins at one of these game stations. Here’s Andy trying to win the grand prize. I think it’s either a polar bear or a really fat rabbit.

If you haven’t heard by now, me and DJ Frow. Back aka Mr. ILoveSundaes are embarking on some kind of a trip to Asia – a trip of MEGA proportions if you will. Our first stop is Taiwan which happens to be the birthplace of me, bubble tea and Chien-Ming Wang (two of which are beloved by the people of Taiwan) who unfortunately is sidelined with a sprained right foot. Hopefully, he’ll return to help the Yankees clinch the division by the time we get back to the States.

So, we have arrived safe and sound after a surprisingly-not-so-terrible 17-hour flight. I’ll post more on our trip here later including a run-in with a celebrity. Today, we’ll be hitting up the city of Taipei to run some errands and walk around like tourists. We don’t really have much of an itinerary for this trip partly because we just want to wing it as we go but mostly because we were just too lazy. This is where the interactive portion of the blog comes in. If you have been to Asia or know anyone that has, please help us answer the following question in the comments section of this post.

In the cities of Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo, where are some great:

• places to eat?
• places to checkout and visit?
• places to to demonstrate our incredible basketball skills?

Anyway, we thank you in advance for your participation. Along with this trip, this post also marks the beginning of another endeavor – my attempt in joining the blogosphere. Writing is definitely not my forte by any stretch. In fact, I suck. So yeah help a brother out. Comments, suggestions…or grammar tips are all welcomed.

That’s all for now. Hopefully, this won’t be the last post.