Fun in Taiwan: Fort San Domingo

Emily, moi & Nicola. I miss these girls... ):

Fort San Domingo is located in Tamsui, a sea side district in New Taipei City. The fort represents the foreign involvement in Taiwan. Built in 1629 by the Spanish, in wood, it's main objective was to aid the imposition of Spanish rule over the local Chinese and other populations from that area. However, the fort was taken by the Dutch in 1642, who then replaced the original wooden monument with a fort made of stone. 

The weather was very pleasant when my friends and I went there. It was yet another trip from the study program I went to in Taipei. Inside the buildings, there were some pictures/items exhibitions related to the Dutch occupation. Not that interesting, if you're a western kid who's spent an entire lifetime studying Western History and watches a lot of western made films. 

I loved this place because its gardens and the architecture are extremely beautiful. It'd be an amazing place for a photoshoot - I regret not annoying more random people and asking them to take pictures for me. (Notice that I only appear in very few pictures, so sad soooo sad.)  It's also a nice place to go to because it's near a very fun (and crowded!) street market with lots of traditional snacks for you to get (like all touristy places in Taiwan, heh), it is right beside a Starbucks and you can get there by using the Taipei MRT. (The MRT can probably get you anywhere, I think.)

Have you ever been there? Would you ever go there? Lemme know! :)

-Sofia.

Ps.: more about Taiwan: Pingxi District & Sky Lanterns | Melange Café

Fun in Taiwan: Sky Lanterns at Pingxi District

With all these reports on the success that this year's Sky Lantern Festival was, attracting record visitors numbers (link) and whatnots, I can't help but a) Miss Taiwan terribly much and b) Go through the pictures I took when I went there. 

That being said, I've decided to share with you a rather fun experience I had in Taiwan: during my study program, we learned how to make sky lanterns (yays for taiwanese culture classes!) and we even went to Pingxi District, that is where the Sky Lantern Festival happens. Now, I did not go there during the Festival. I went there with my classmates from my study program. It was still daylight when we lit our lanterns, and there were only 5 lanterns - so it's not nearly as pretty as the footages and images you can find online from the Festival. Anyways - Pingxi District is a very lovely place. When I first got off the bus, having arrived there, I felt like I was at The Shire or something. Green, streams, lovely houses, train tracks...

Thanks, Ems, for taking these! I think these are the only pictures I have of myself during my stay in Taiwan...

Bamboo "wish sticks". People write their dreams and wishes on these & hang them up at that specific alley. 

Our sky lanterns :)

Have you ever lit a sky lantern? Do you want to? Tell me what you think!

Yummy in Taiwan: Melange Café (Taipei)

While in Taipei, my aunt took me to a "very yummy waffle place" (her words). It was already 3pm when we got there, and we still had to put our names on the waiting list.  

I kept wondering "Why would anybody wait such a long time just to get some waffles?", because I was very hungry - and I get impatient when I'm hungry. I just wanted to walk across the street and grab something at a random 7-11. Little did I know...

About half an hour later, we walked in and we sat down. The whole atmosphere was different. Classy, finesse, elegant were some of the words that came to mind when I was offered a menu by a very nice waitress. Their menu had English and Japanese translations on each option. 

Melange Café's bar has a very beautiful, smooth and white marble top counter, and the whole place has a pleasant European cafe feeling. I also enjoyed the fact that, despite being full, it wasn't very noisy - maybe it's a general taiwanese thing, people don't speak very loud..

Since we'd gone there for lunch and I hadn't had proper breakfast on that particular day, we ordered their chicken sandwiches and their traditional strawberry waffles. 

The sandwiches were very good - not too salty, not too heavy. Same for the strawberry waffles - they weren't very sweet, which is something I love (not a big fan of very sweet things), and there was plenty ice cream/strawberry syrup for you to mix with the waffles, so they wouldnt be very dry. 

I think 70% of their menu were beverages options - something the staff takes pride on. Nobody ever walks in there without ordering something to drink. I had their passion fruit/iced green tea thingy. It was ok - not that great, not bad either, around 4USD. But it looked good, just like everything else they bring to your table.

The place was packed with people in their early twenties ordering a bunch of food and eating only 30% of what they had ordered. Why do they do that?

It was quite pleasant - and not that pricey. I'd recommend this place for tourists because it's a very famous spot in Taipei, just right off the Zhongshan MRT Station (exit #2) and they have menus in English. However, be prepared to wait around 30 minutes to get a seat if you're going during lunch/dinner time on weekends and holidays. They don't take reservations.

Definitely going back there when I'm in Taipei again.

Do you guys know any yummy waffle places in your city? Maybe I'll go on a waffle-eating world tour someday..!