TAIPEI | Eating, Elephant Mountain, Leg Cramps, Sky Lanterns and More Food | 12 Days In Taiwan EP1

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- [William] We're going on another adventure.
- [Woman] And you're good to go.
(upbeat music)
- So we made it on.
Didn't expect to be catching a flight
from Toronto to Vancouver but,
you know, due to some mix-up,
we kinda got things worked out.
But travel's serendipitous like that.
You never know what's gonna happen.
(upbeat music)
Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited
but I am just really really tired right now.
12 more hours to go
and then we land in Taipei and hit the ground running.
Free tea?
We're doin' it!
(upbeat music)
In December, we had the opportunity
to travel to Taiwan with my wife, Chantelle.
We explored the country from top to bottom.
We learned about something called Taiwanese "Re Qing"
and came out of it with that much more of an appreciation
for the people, the culture,
the landscapes and very full and satisfied tummies.
I don't know if we pushed ourselves to the limit
as much as we have on this trip,
but that's kind of what travel is all about.
This was one awesome trip that I'll never forget.
(static buzzing)
Last time I only stayed here a couple days
but didn't give Taiwan the attention it deserved.
Only stayed in Taipei,
got hit with the typhoon,
didn't really get to see a whole lot.
So this time, I'm back.
I'm going to live like a local in Taiwan
and truly see Taiwan for everything that
most people don't really know about.
Hey, they said it.
It's Time for Taiwan.
Well, it's an early start.
I got my bags
and I guess we're heading out.
Looks like who it is.
We're on the cab, we got picked up by Kevin of Avis
and there's wifi on board.
(upbeat music)
Let's check it out.
Looks like you need to put this in.
And we have light.
Hello, lights?
(button clacking)
Lights on.
Maybe.
Okay, I can't figure it out.
It's right here, this is how you turn it on,
not on the inside.
There are more lights here.
I don't know what they do.
(water running)
(razor buzzing)
(yawning)
All right, so just
back from a bit of a nap.
I feel like a bit more like a normal person.
I'm still exhausted.
So, gonna check out a few food places today.
Not sure what it's gonna bring me
but I got a few recommendations.
Tummy's growlin'.
Thank goodness for pocket wifi.
Hey, 7-Eleven.
Yes, the tea egg.
Whoa, so many different EasyCards.
The only character I recognize from here
is Bad Badtz-Maru.
Now I didn't know it at the time,
but I actually bought the wrong card.
It wasn't an EasyCard.
It was something called an icash 2.0.
Okay, that was a slight detour.
Oh, so right across the street over there
is the original Din Tai Fung.
I've been there before.
There's quite a bit of a line.
I'm not gonna go this time,
but this definitely brings back memories.
I gotta say the weather here feels amazing.
It's not humid here at all.
It's overcast, so not sunny.
(horn beeping)
Think we're down this street.
Oh shit, I guess I'm here.
Check out the line.
Hopefully this line isn't too long,
but I guess I made it here for the wait.
(speaking in Mandarin)
We got a couple things right here
that I want to try out,
so the first thing is
we got the non-spicy version of
the beef noodles.
This is good.
This is good stuff, man, look at that.
So I don't know how I'm gonna top this but,
I'm probably gonna have more
throughout this whole trip.
We've got these pork ribs
in a bit of spicy rice.
Hopefully I'll be okay
but man, this looks delicious.
That's some good pork rib.
I can't even read the signs here.
It's all in Chinese but I just told them what I wanted.
I wanted beef noodles,
I wanted this
and that was it, so that's kinda how it goes.
A little thirsty now,
so I think it's time for a drink.
(upbeat music)
(speaking in a foreign language)
I dedicate today to food.
So we're on the famous Yong Kang Street right now.
On to more food.
Guys, made it to Smoothie House.
So many choices.
I got this behemoth right here.
I don't know how I'm gonna finish this by myself.
We got, guys, we got like mango, shave ice,
panna cotta, this is good.
This is not like
your Icee back home.
It's something different.
I'd almost call it a shaved snow.
It kinda just melts in your mouth.
Brain freeze.
I mean, so I'd totally eat more,
but I am so full right now.
Wish I had two stomachs though.
(bell dinging)
That would be really good.
Last time I was here, they used token.
What?
No token?
So what you notice here in Taiwan
is just how clean the subways are,
whether it's on the platform or on the train.
Big difference.
So, in a turn of events,
it's a bit rainy right now,
but we're at the start of the trail of the Xiangshan climb,
which is where you get those views of Taipei 101.
So we're gonna attempt it, see what we get,
and hopefully the rain doesn't come down on us.
Now this is the vertical climb
that you're facing.
(exhales) You see this?
You see this, this is bonusfide sweat.
Ooh, it's hot.
Well guys, this is what we came for.
And eventually,
guys, I made it to the top.
All right, so behind me, we've got the six giant rocks.
We've got a ton of people lining up
for those epic views of Taipei 101 from Elephant Mountain
and let me tell you, it was definitely worth the climb.
(upbeat music)
Oh shit, think I pushed it too hard on the stairs.
So I'm like literally stuck here.
Can't move (groans).
Crap.
That was a bit of a scary moment.
Legs totally spazzed out.
The knee basically locks down and
you can't move.
It's just locking on to your legs.
Man, had to sit down for a bit.
I'm on the move again, I'm mobile! I'm mobile!
I'm good now.
All right, so we're at the Jing Mei Night Market.
I'm here with my friend.
Yes, it is the local place only.
I'm here with Joshua.
He's an expert in Taiwan.
- I wrote the Lonely Planet Guide
and now I work for MyTaiwanTour
and when I tell you
this is the best grilled octopus on a stick
that you will ever find, believe me.
- This is it.
We got the octopus.
- Tell me what you do is you basically hold that out.
- Okay.
- Put stuff in it.
It's gonna be cheaper than you think it's gonna be.
(speaking in Mandarin)
- That's how you do octopus.
This is legit octopus right here.
- [Joshua] Thing that I like about this market is that
it tends to be cheaper, they have better stuff here.
- And was there a lot to choose from and discover.
Okay, so we're moving on
to a different part of the night market.
- [Joshua] Never seen this at this market.
But basically a bread
and then they're gonna wrap in this case,
I think it's gonna be. - Taiwan hamburger.
- Taiwan hamburger, exactly.
Oh man, what is this?
(speaking in a foreign language)
It's some sort of fried cake.
Hello, ni hao.
(speaking in a foreign language)
- [William] Whoa.
- [Joshua] He's doing something.
- [William] Oh, he's doing the flipping.
See, this is how.
He's getting his workout right now.
- [Joshua] Yeah yeah.
- On to the next place.
- So she's making spaghetti.
What they're gonna do
is they're gonna put that on one of those sizzling plates
and then they're gonna throw a,
and it's always a very cheap cut of beef.
You know, it's $100 NT. That's 3 bucks.
You're gonna get that,
some just grease on it, boom,
and then, 'cause that's not enough for you,
they're gonna crack a raw egg on top.
- Man, so many options.
- And this, by the way, is considered
a small night market.
- And then we passed by this oyster omelet place
and I knew I just had to try it.
- I wouldn't know how to judge like
what a bad one would be.
'Cause it's always been like very gummy and chewy.
- So after all that food, we were pretty thirsty
and we passed by this juicing shop
and they just so happened to have really fresh bitter melon.
This is my first time trying it raw
and ooh, yeah, hm.
Got a drink and it wasn't, it wasn't not that bad.
Now one of my night market favorites
turned out to be this.
These are basically made out of sweet potato
and they are just balls of deliciousness.
- [Joshua] So it puffs up, so it's crispy.
It's not greasy.
- Just wrapped up the night market here.
Joshua's been an amazing host.
- Thank you.
- A real true local experience.
I'm pretty full.
We're gonna head back now,
and I do have one more surprise for you.
(lock beeping)
Yes.
Sleeping already?
- Hello.
- [William] Well, surprise!
Morning and welcome.
You made it to Taiwan. - Hello, I did.
- [William] So yesterday I came in
and you were totally sleeping.
- Yes. - Did you not
hear my door knock?
- [Chantelle] No, I didn't. - The doorbell.
- I was really tired.
I slept nine hours, at least, straight.
- So we're at the Sonnien Hotel.
I have quite the Asian cuisine for breakfast
this morning, minus the nuggets.
But I made everything from the fried rice
to the red bean buns.
Dim sum, soy bean milk.
We got congee.
Quite the assortment here.
And then something called nato,
which I think, I have no idea what it is.
And, look at that.
I think it is like some, oh,
oh my god, you got it on the mic.
Oh, doesn't look pleasant.
Oh, that aftertaste
with the fermentedness is blegh.
Closing it up. (laughs)
So for a second day in Taiwan,
we actually joined a tour company
called MyTaiwanTour
because we wanted to see Juifen
and do our own sky lanterns, and as well.
So right now we're at the top of the refinery.
Again, the Japanese-occupied mining operation
that was here.
Essentially to dig out different precious metal.
Gold, silver, copper as well.
This is, we're pretty much at the top of it.
And this is a building where they, I think,
extracted or, you know, did some processing with the metals.
We saw a tunnel earlier.
There are about nine tunnels here in total.
And in back there, we also saw a chimney
that basically pushed all of the poisonous chemicals,
exhaust, out into the mountain,
elsewhere away from the town.
Apparently, before the Japanese left,
when they lost the war, World War II,
there's a whole bunch of gold
that they couldn't bring back to Japan,
so it's somewhere here.
We don't know where it is.
It's still around.
Nobody's found it yet.
There are treasure hunters that come here,
so I don't know, if you're looking for gold,
this might be the place to come.
Check out them gold waterfalls.
(water rushing)
Okay, so this is an old funicular
that they used to transport materials.
It's pretty cool, they've put it together.
It's not running of course,
but it goes all the way back down
to where we just were at the beginning.
Cool.
So we explored a few more tunnels
before we head up to Jiufen.
And Jiufen is a popular place for tourists.
It's usually packed.
The day we went was pretty rainy,
but what it's best known for
is Miyazaki's Spirited Away.
This was the sight of inspiration for him
and so a lot of people come here
as bit of a pilgrimage
but also a great place
to find Taiwan sweet potato tea house.
From the tea houses to the souvenir shops,
where you could buy knickknacks,
and of course, lots of food,
it was a great place to explore for sure.
The eating must begin.
(speaking Mandarin)
50 Taiwan dollars.
- Mm.
- Had a green one.
Yellow one's probably yam.
It's like a red bean soup
but like other beans as well.
White ones, taro ones.
So many balls.
(laughing)
Chantelle's on a mission
for her smelly tofu, stinky tofu.
(speaking in a foreign language)
How stinky is the tofu?
- Mm.
- Uh, we're in another shop now.
I think they specialize in balls.
I'm having a lot of balls today.
I think this is like, we got beef balls
and fish balls, all the balls.
(upbeat music)
Ooh, tea eggs, check it out.
Do not try to eat these.
Don't eat it, it's real coal.
Now another thing we really wanted to try
was this thing called the A Zhu Peanut Ice Cream Roll.
And it definitely lived up to our expectations.
Ooh.
It's pork, pork chops.
It's in a bit of glutinous cake.
You got like bamboo shoots.
Mm, it's really tasty.
And last but not least,
sticky rice on a stick.
So we just got to Pingxi,
and we're doing the lanterns.
We're gonna set them up,
up into the sky.
Oh no, it's coming back down.
No.
Hopefully, ours goes up to the top.
Oh, so the story behind it
is that what they used to do
is that through a lot of burglars in this town.
Burglars, thieves, and so when they were here,
they actually got the kids and the parents
to go up into the mountains.
So in order to let them know
that the burglars were gone,
they basically put up these sky lanterns.
That's how they did it.
To tell them it's safe. - Tell them it's safe
to come back home. - Safe to come back, yeah.
As you can see,
there's a lot of sky lantern action happening right now.
This street is pretty much filled with sky lantern shops
where you can make your own
and we're gonna do that in a moment.
But behind us, you'll see them flying up into the sky.
Now the crazy thing is that this is a live train track,
so a train actually comes through once in a while
and everyone has to get off in a rush,
but yeah, we're excited to do this.
Let's make our own sky lantern.
So MyTaiwanTour actually had a store reserved for us
and with the master in front of us,
he showed us exactly what we needed to do
to build our very own lantern from scratch,
with nothing more than just paper,
glue and the metal ring to finish it all off.
And then it was off to making our very own
and it was, it was a bit challenging
but we got it done
and the final step was to write our wishes
on each side of the lantern.
He inspected our lantern
to make sure we didn't screw up in any way,
gave us the go ahead
and then we were off onto the train tracks.
(laughing)
(speaking in Mandarin)
3, 2, 1!
And just like that,
our lantern was in the sky
and even though we don't know if our wishes came true,
it was still pretty damn cool.
At the end of the night, we were dropped off
at Shilin Night Market.
And as the largest night market in Taiwan,
we shopped around and, of course,
we ate a lot more food.
Got our first goods.
Think a lot more food to come tonight.
You know, when you're in Taiwan,
you gotta have wild boar sausage.
Really good.
- Matcha milk tea.
- Now we're gonna engage in one of Taiwanese people's
favorite past times, The Claw!!
Few seconds.
- [Chantelle] Oh.
Oh no.
- [William] No.
- I didn't get it.
- Oh.
Oh, close.
Okay, fourth time is a charm.
We're gonna get this bad boy.
Oh, so close.
And how could you resist
giant soy honey-glazed octopus?
(laughing)
So one of the quirky things
about Taiwanese night markets
are the homemade carnival games
that you'll find everywhere
and Shilin Night Market is no exception,
which has a giant collection of games.
So we're just walking around, exploring,
seeing what was up,
and then we finally decided,
maybe it's our time to play.
One of the things you gotta do here
is play the games that they have here
and there are ton of them.
I don't like balloons but I do like balls
so we're gonna try this out.
How it works is that you get nine balls,
it's 100 and essentially,
try to hit as many targets as you can.
There are nine targets.
Six will get you a win.
Seven, eight, nine will get you bigger and bigger prizes.
So, here we go.
Probably a lot harder than (indistinct).
Oh man.
Oh, I only got four.
- [Chantelle] Nice try.
- I only got four.
Next time on Twelve Days in Taiwan.
So Professor William here...
Why?
Brr, Marco.
(upbeat music)
Full of surprises.