VIETNAM - Saigon, random photos

Alley in the morning

Butcher "shop" in the alley

Waiting for lunch in the alley

Streetside mechanic fixing a broken scooter chain

Lady selling soup outside of Notre Dame Cathedral

Fresh fruit and juice vendor

Patriotic alley with flags hung above every door

Removing empties from a bar/restaurant

Check out the wiring for this corner (and the warning sign about tampering below)

From the night before: food, playing cards, and ash from burning ghost money

Sidewalk chicken coop with chooks

The business side of a street cart

Electrical panel at Ben Thanh Market, unlocked and with doors hanging open

Tourists having lunch at Ben Thanh Market

Beautiful pickled fruit and veg vendor display

Weasel coffee - I thought it was a bad translation until...

How "weasel" coffee is made

Gorgeous modern sculpture and signs at the Art Museum

Compelling statue at the Art Museum

Our Vespa drivers catching a quick breakfast while we tour the flower market

Garbage collection at the flower market ... and this is a small pile

Roses ready to be delivered

Young man with fighting rooster in the flower market

Inside the Taoist temple

Coiled incense hung from the ceiling

Our classic Vespa tour group

Gorgeous classic restored Vespas

VIETNAM - Saigon, Feb. 14

Last night was horrible. After dinner I got back to the hostel and hung out in my room. After a while I started smelling weed - aka pot. It was wafting up the "chimney" that runs through the center of the hostel and vents all of the steam from the kitchen and the bathrooms. It's an old school way to control moisture, but it works like a hot damn. The only problem is that the chimney acts as a noise conduit, and it also exposes you to your neighbour's drug habit.

Songbirds for sale

I went downstairs to ask about it but the male clerk who works the night shift clearly didn't give a rat's ass. So, I went for a walk around the block to clear my head and give my pothead neighbours a chance to finish their puff fest. Most of the smoke had cleared - bad pun, I know - by the time I returned but by then the drunks started returning from the restaurants and bars. On previous nights they just went up to their rooms to pass out, but last night they decided to have a party downstairs in the common room. The loud talking, shouting, laughing, and general clamor was hard to block out.

When I did get to sleep, I was awoken every hour or so by the door bell ringing. The male clerk usually turns off the door bell fairly quickly and lets people in, but this night he was taking his sweet time. I found out why when I went downstairs in the morning - I guess he had participated in the revelry the night before. He was passed out on one of the couches, and someone I assume was a hostel guest was passed out on the other couch. There were empties and cigarette butts strewn everywhere.

Normally I'd just sleep in a little later, but I had arranged to go on the "Insider's Saigon" classic Vespa tour that morning and had to be ready for a driver to pick me up at 8am. So, I dragged myself out of bed, cleaned up my room, packed, and was waiting downstairs by 7:30am.

Riding "pillion" on a classic restored Vespa

The Vespa tour was pretty amazing. You ride "pillion" - a term I'd never heard before - or as a passenger on the restored Vespa. I didn't mind that at all because, you know, CRAZY traffic!! The tour started out with a coffee stop at a local park where men gather every day to socialize, gamble, and occasionally sell songbirds. It was the first time during my trip when the "noise" was something other than traffic. After coffee we mounted our "steeds" and scooted out to a shrine erected for the first Buddhist monk to self-immolate himself in protest over unfair political and social practices. In this case, he was protesting the 1950s dictatorship in southern Vietnam. Our next stop was a Taoist shrine, then an historically significant Catholic church, and then a Chinese medicine shop that was unfortunately closed for Lunar New Year.

My favorite stop was the flower market. We scooted through the narrow roads and laneways, then got off and walked around admiring the various flower inventories and marveling at how industrious everyone seemed. Our guide explained that the market was busiest at night, but that the vendors still did a good business in the morning and afternoon. By early evening most of the vendors would sell their damaged flowers for "petals" which are typically strewn about small shrines.

We also scooted out to New Saigon, over to the Independence Palace - which was closed, again - and to Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. I had already seen Notre Dame and the Central Post Office so I bought a drink and waited with the drivers. Plus, I was bloody dehydrated and just needed a sit. After that we returned to Cafe Zoom where we had lunch. I had a Mexican-style salad with chicken. You guessed it, the chicken was overcooked and dry. Oh, well. The rest of the salad was excellent and I ate as much as I could.

Lighting incense at a Taoist temple

I really enjoyed going on the tour, in part because I got to hang out with a group of travelers. I've been doing everything by myself so far and this was my first - and only - experience exploring Ho Chi Minh City with other people. One member of the group, Alistair, is an Englishman traveling with his daughter and a friend. I swear, Alistair is totally my brother-in-law Bruce's doppleganger! I had to take pictures to prove it. His friend was an interesting lady. She is a reptile specialist but has taken on a job running a bear sanctuary in the mountains outside of Hanoi. Another fellow is also an Englishman but he lives and works in Australia and has gotten citizenship there. There is also a couple from Singapore who are here because her grandmother died in 2012, which prevents the family from participating in any major celebrations for the next year. I had no idea about that restriction. We had a great time chatting about Singapore and the other places we've traveled in Asia.

I had to check out of the hostel so at around 1pm I said goodbye to the group. Back at the hostel I showered again, finished my packing, and arranged for a pre-paid cab to the airport through the hostel. At the airport I walked around and around the departures level idly looking through the cheap tourist souveniers to see if there was anything I might want to buy - the answer was no. The flight back to Taipei was great, and I was very happy to be back in Taiwan. I smiled for the entire bus ride to Songshan Airport, and luckily caught the second-to-last train to Dazhi on the MRT. Home sweet home!

VIETNAM - Saigon, Feb. 13

This morning I decided to go to the War Remnants Museum. It looked a bit far on the map, so I thought it might be a good idea to catch a cab. I walked up to Pham Ngu Lao Street to flag one down. A cyclo driver approached me immediately about where I wanted to go. I thought "What the hell, why not?" so I negotiated an hour's ride for $100,000, on the condition that he drop me off outside the museum. He was clearly pissed that I wasn't paying the $300,000 he wanted so he half-heartedly drove me around a bit, not saying anything. About 30 minutes into the trip he stopped and pointed across the street and said "War Museum." So that was the end of that!

Tank outside of the War Remnants Museum

The War Remnants Museum is quite small, but it doesn't need to be very large to convey the horror of war in Vietnam from the 1950s to the 1980s. On the top floor, the gallery of photographs taken by war journalists were truly amazing. What I didn't realize is how many Asian war journalists operated in Vietnam, and how they managed to embed themselves with the Viet Cong and other resistance groups, as well as with families in villages and towns affected by the fighting. Those photographs are really stunning and though-provoking.

Tiger Cages Display

The biggest "complaint" about the museum is that its displays are biased. For example, one of the galleries is called "American War Atrocities." Another is called "Effects of Agent Orange" and contains a mix of photos, military equipment, and human specimens in jars. You see, Agent Orange didn't just defoliate the landscape - and that's a nice way of saying it - it poisoned the people and has caused generations of children to be born with devastating birth defects. Some of the fetuses and children that did not survive were preserved and are sitting on shelves, with no need for explanation. To say that the museum is biased is foolish. You can't have a My Lai and a Con Dao and not have a gallery called "American War Atrocities."

As I left the War Remnants Museum I looked at my map and noticed that the Independence Palace was nearby. I decided to swing by to check it out. On the way there I was followed by a coconut vendor. I ignored him for a while but then he pulled out a coconut, cut the top off, popped a straw in it, and shoved it into my hands. "I guess I'm buying a coconut," I thought. I asked the price and he said "18" - a reasonable price. I looked in my wallet and I only had a $100,000 note, so I held it up and asked if he could change that. He grabbed it and gave me a bit of a measuring look, then handed over a $20,000 note. "Hmmm, suddenly 18 has become 80?" I thought. I am savvy enough to the price of things now to know that a coconut should not cost $80,000, so I reached over to grab my $100,000 note back. He was having none of that so he grudgingly gave me a $50,000 note. I gestured at the wad of notes he was carrying and said "$10,000 more!" so he gave it to me, along with a death stare. I decided not to argue for the remaining $2,000 and just turned and walked away. By the way - disappointing a tout makes the coconut juice taste so much sweeter!

Coconut juice is sooooo good

Sadly, the Independence Palace was closed for lunch so I was out of luck. The mention of lunch made me realize how hot it was and that I hadn't had anything to eat, so I decided to walk towards Ben Thanh Market and find someplace to eat. As I was walking down Nam Ky Khoi Nghia I saw a lovely building across the street that was painted canary yellow and built in a pagoda style. I crossed the street to take a closer look and discovered that it was a restaurant. It had a fantastic selection of Vietnamese dishes and the prices were reasonable so I went in. I am so glad I did!

Fabulous lunch at Quan An Ngon

The Quan An Ngon restaurant was a fantastic surprise. The service was excellent, from the hostesses who show you to your table, to the waiter who takes your order and the servers who bring your food and drinks. What I found fascinating is that they had cooking stations throughout the main level where you could see your food being prepared. For example, the noodle station prepared all of the dishes containing vermicelli. The crab and rice cake station just prepared these special deep fried delights. I'm sure there was a bigger main kitchen but it was really cool to see some of the traditional cooking methods on display right next to your table.

I ordered something I typically have at home - cold vermicelli noodles over cucumber, lettuce, bean sprouts and mint and topped with barbecue pork. You pour a slightly spicy fish sauce mix over it all and dig in. It was absolutely delicious and the perfect meal for a hot day.

Tourist shopping mecca

After lunch I walked to Ben Thanh Market to see if it was open. It was! I wandered around the "tourist crap" section for a while - buying nothing, of course - before heading over to the far more interesting food section. That's when I had a bit of fun examining all of the strange goodies and ingredients. One of my favorites there is "Weasel Coffee" which is made from the coffee beans that are eaten and excreted by weasels. For reals, folks.

There is a pretty distinct "smell" in any Vietnamese store or market, it seems. I can't explain it any other way than "Asian mothballs." I'm sure there must be some kind of preservative used with most products to prevent damage from heat, damp, and critters. The musk of it permeates everything. I find it quite offensive and after a while I had to get the heck out of Ben Thanh Market to get some "fresh" air.

I looked at my map and noticed that the Art Museum was fairly close to Ben Thanh Market. I thought that admiring Vietnamese art might be a nice way to cleanse my mind of the images from the War Remnants Museum. It took a while to find the Art Museum because my mental compass failed a bit in the heat. I eventually turned up the correct street and there it was - a gorgeous colonial mansion converted to an art gallery. "Perfect!" I thought.

Art Museum interior courtyard

The museum wasn't air-conditioned, as I would expect, but the windows were all open and there were one or two fans in every room. It was cool enough that you could stay for a while. I started in the modern art area and meandered up and down the floors and through the rooms in no particular order. Some of the art intrigued me and I stayed to look at it from all angles. I found myself drawn to the modern Vietnamese bronzes and sculptures. I also quite enjoyed the pottery and carvings from the period when Vietnam was occupied by China, but that's just me and my preference for Chinese culture I think.

From the Art Museum it was a short walk back to the hostel. I tried another Indian restaurant for dinner - Baba's Kitchen. I must be on a roll, because I had another delicious meal. So far, the best food in Vietnam is Indian!

VIETNAM - Saigon, Feb. 12

I was again woken up early by the sounds from the kitchen downstairs. I had a quick shower, checked some things online using the computers in the common area, then walked down the street to a coffee shop I'd seen the day before that looked like it might be good for breakfast. The place, called Cafe Sozo, is a Western-styled coffee shop with baked goods for sale and a small menu of hot breakfast items. I ordered coffee and toast with marmalade, then headed upstairs to the second floor as the servers suggested.

Quoc Tu Pagoda

I enjoyed the atmosphere but it took forever for the servers to bring my coffee, and even longer for them to deliver my toast. The coffee was cold and the toast was mangled and unevenly toasted. The one thing they got right was they served the toast with a generous dollop of marmalade. I was pissed off to have yet another bad meal in Ho Chi Minh City, but then I read some of the literature displayed on the walls and realized that the cafe trained disadvantaged youth and that profits supported a number of non-profit groups serving the disabled. Okay, then. All is forgiven.

My big adventure for the day, I decided, was going to be to walk to the Quoc Tu Pagoda in District 10, which was a hop-skip-and-jump across District 3 from where I was in District 1. (It must be a French thing.) The walk was interesting as well as a bit dangerous and really, really hot. It took about 45 minutes to get to the pagoda, by which time it was close to noon. There were literally hundreds of people at the pagoda - not surprising given that it was Lunar New Year. As far as I could tell I was the only foreigner/tourist at the pagoda. I didn't want to intrude on people's religious affairs so I waited politely until people had finished their prayers before taking photos. No one approached me or gave me the death stare, so I assume I wasn't doing anything too offensive.

Outside, I had the luck of witnessing a drum and dance troupe perform. I have seen drum and dance troupes performing all over the city, but these young men - and they were all men - were really quite good performers. They performed for about 30 minutes, which I expect is about as much as they could handle in the noonday heat.

Sidewalk produce market

I started to feel woozy, perhaps because of the heat or perhaps because of the incense, so I walked a couple of blocks down the street to a hotel I had noticed on the way to the pagoda. The hotel's cafe, called the Rose Cafe, was a little "oasis" outside that was shaded by trees and umbrellas. It was filled with locals so I knew it would be a good place to stop. I was so thirsty that I ordered three drinks. I sat there drinking, sweating, and fighting dizziness for quite a while. I realized that I might be experiencing the leading edge of heatstroke, so I decided against walking home. I waited until I felt like I wasn't going to collapse and then walked across the street to what I thought would be a good location to catch a cab. Sure enough, one came by quite quickly. The driver didn't speak English but I had my travel map and was able to point to where I wanted to go. That 10-minute air conditioned trip was totally worth the $50,000.

I rested up at the hostel until late afternoon, then walked down Bui Vien to try Mumtaz Indian Restaurant. A sign outside the restaurant said it was recommended by the Lonely Planet, so I thought it might be worth a try. I certainly wasn't expecting much because of my earlier experiences.

I ordered the "thali," a mixed plate of curry, daal, rice, naan, and pickle. It came in three varieties - chicken, mutton, and vegetarian. I decided to try the chicken and the owner led me to a table with a view of the street.

Almost all restaurants on Bui Vien are open-air, which means that the front of the restaurant is open to the street. Tables that are close to the street provide some great people-watching opportunities. Well, that is if you have introvert tendencies, like me. A lot of the younger foreigners use their positions at street-side tables to preen and display their beautiful exteriors - "see and be seen" is perhaps the best way to describe it.

Sidewalk produce market

I was really just interested in enjoying the slight breeze and having something to occupy me while I ate my meal. Solo dining is a bit of an art, and one of those "arts" is displaying body language that lets people know you are totally cool with dining alone. Smokers have it easy in that regard, those bastards. My favorite thing to do, though, is to sit back with a drink in hand and just observe the world passing by, as if I'm enjoying a theater performance. And, thankfully, Vietnam streets are quite theatrical.

The thali, when it arrived, was huge. It could easily have fed two people. The chicken curry was good but the chicken was dry and a bit chewy. I'm not sure why, but almost all protein is overcooked here in Vietnam. Maybe it's a hygiene thing? Anyway, I enjoyed the potato curry much more. The daal was also delicious, and the rice and naan were perfect vehicles for sopping up the sauces. The pickle was mostly onion, again, so I only tried a little bit. I left the restaurant fully satisfied at finally having a good meal.

Sidewalk produce market

It was still early so I walked around the area again. I'd seen a very informal produce "market" set up on the sidewalk of a nearby road earlier in the day so I walked over there again to take some photos. I also went up and down some of the small alleys, just because I was curious. Most of the alleys are a mix of homes, hostels, restaurants, shops, and "living rooms." People in Ho Chi Minh City spend a lot of time just sitting out in the alleys eating and socializing.

I did a bit of shopping as well. I'm finding it incredibly hard to find nice gifts for people. There is a shit tonne of crap to choose from - pardon my French, and the pun - but nothing hand-made or unique. (I did buy something but I can't say what it is here, because it's still a secret.)

I was in one shop when I heard a loud disturbance outside. I moved to the front of the shop to snoop, and saw an older white guy sitting at a table at a cafe across the street, talking to a middle-aged Vietnamese woman. She looked pissed, but also kind of pleased. It's hard to explain. He kept repeating "He said it to me, not to you!" The woman looked away from him repeatedly, then got up and announced to the entire street "I don't know this man!" and stalked off. He got up and followed her, still bleating "He said it to me, not to you!" I figure it was a bit of a "customer" spat.

VIETNAM - Saigon, Feb. 11

One of the "joys" of staying in a hostel is the hustle and bustle of staff and travelers coming and going. So, I wasn't surprised to be woken at 7am by the sound of crashing pots and pans coming from the kitchen just downstairs from my room.

I had a slow start and eventually wandered outside around 10am. I walked to the intersection of Le Lai and Le Loi streets to see if the Ben Thanh Market was open. Sadly, it being the day after Lunar New Year it was closed. So, I kept walking down Le Loi until I got to Nguyen Hue Street, which is described by various sources as "the most beautiful street in Ho Chi Minh City." When I got there, the street was blocked off and the locals were having a helluva street party. The entire street was lined with flowers, mostly yellow chrysanthemums. The main activity, from what I could see, was taking photos of yourself and your family and friends in front of various Lunar New Year decorations. Sadly, it was difficult to get a good photo of the scene with my little point-and-shoot camera.

Notre Dame Cathedral

I also walked up and down Dong Khoi Street, which runs parallel to Nguyen Hue. In the guidebooks, Dong Khoi is described as the "Paris of the Orient," so I was expecting French cafes, bakeries, and restaurants. Perhaps I'm not very discerning, but I didn't get a very French vibe from the street.

That said, Dong Khoi Street is where you will find the Opera House, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and my favorite place - the Central Post Office. The Opera House and Notre Dame Cathedral were closed to the public so you could only admire them from the street. However, the Central Post Office was open and doing business.

I stopped at a small cafe on Nguyen Du Street. It had three floors so I went up to the top where there was a nice open-air patio with a great view of Notre Dame Cathedral. I ordered a fresh watermelon juice and it was a fantastic thirst quencher. I will tell you this - Vietnam does fresh squeezed juice really, really well.

Central Post Office

By this time I was feeling the heat so I headed back to the hostel. I chose to walk along Nguyen Du Street because it was quieter than Le Loi and it had more shade. At the hostel I had a cold shower and - most importantly! - washed my feet. The streets of Ho Chi Minh City are filthy and after a while your feet are completely covered with dirt and other kinds of detritus that you probably don't want to think about.

I had another disappointing dinner at a "Vietnamese" restaurant. I forget it's name, but I was tempted to give it a try because of the appetizers. I ordered deep fried veggie spring rolls and chicken satay. The spring rolls were a chewy mess that did not come with dipping sauce, as I expected. The chicken "satay" was not satay at all, but some kind of stir fry with an unidentifiable sauce. Again, there was more onion than chicken.

After eating I wandered around the "Western" area, as it's called, in ever-expanding circles. There's something about just wandering around with no specific purpose that allows you to really take in a place. I stopped and took photos of interesting things, laughed at the sight of local kids playing on the sidewalk with their families, examined how different street food carts were arranged, and observed shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and touts doing business.

VIETNAM - Saigon, Feb. 10

I don't know why, but I had a gut feeling that something was going to go wrong with my mini-hols in Vietnam. I was almost stressed about leaving, even though technically it was a very simple trip: a short non-stop flight, staying in just one hostel in one city, and lots of options for things to do in the immediate vicinity.

Well, that gut feeling was proved right when I arrived at the visa desk in the Ho Chi Minh City Airport. I was surprised to see a list of required entry documents - that I didn't have. Now, I'm a fairly experienced traveler and I had checked entry requirements for Vietnam on two different web sites, including the Ho Chi Minh City Airport web site. Nothing mentioned that I needed a passport photo and a letter from the Vietnam government inviting me to visit. I filled out the visa application form anyway, and was able to pay a tout a USD$5 fee to take a passport photo right there at the visa desk. What I didn't have was the letter of invitation.

I was asked to wait until the bulk of the visa applications had been processed, so I did. About 30 minutes later two different visa desk officials asked me why I didn't have the letter of invitation. I calmly and politely explained that I had not seen that requirement when I researched the trip. I asked if there was any way to get the letter of introduction issued right there at the airport. They looked shocked and somewhat offended, and I was told no. As they walked away I steeled myself for the possibility that I'd be catching the next flight back to Taipei.

I waited a while longer, answered whatever questions the officials asked, and eventually a military officer came up to interview me. He was very stern, with that cold stare that makes you want to die inside. Again, I was calm and polite and - most importantly - patient. When he left, another official came up and explained that since it was Lunar New Year the officer was willing to sign a letter of invitation but that I would have to pay a USD$160 fine for breaking the law. That was no problem, except that I didn't have enough cash. I was allowed to exit security and go outside to a bank machine to withdraw the money - sans passport of course! I paid the fine, got the visa, collected my luggage, exited security, and found a quiet place to sit outside to absorb the last hour's events.

With the hard part over, I found a taxi and paid about three times the normal fare for a ride to the hostel. My driver dropped me off at the side of a busy road and pointed to a small alleyway, and said that my hostel was down there. "Okay," I thought. The alley was filthy, and full of people and noise and confusing smells. At night, the strangeness of a foreign land seems even more strange, if you know what I mean. A younger me would have turned and ran, but I carried on with a "let's see" attitude. I found the hostel with no difficulties, and it was just as modern and clean as it looked on the website. Things were looking up!

It was close to 10pm by this time and I hadn't eaten in a while so I secured a map and walked to a nearby street called Bui Vien that, according to the hostel staff, had a lot of restaurants. I'll write more about Bui Vien later, but let's just say that at night it's a madhouse of socializing locals, drunk foreigners, scooters, taxis, street food carts, dogs, and touts.

I picked a restaurant - any restaurant would do by that point - called the Vietnamese Kitchen and had an entirely disappointing meal of chilled beef salad, which was mostly pickled onion. The stress of the day had taken it's toll by then so I paid my bill and retreated to the air conditioned bliss of my private room back at the hostel. I watched a bit of telly but it wasn't long before I turned out the lights and slipped into unconsciousness.

Street food in Danshui and ... English high tea?

Yesterday afternoon Roshana, Emma, and Kathryn and I met in Danshui for the express purpose of stuffing ourselves full of street food or "xiao chi", which translates to "small eats." The last time I went to Danshui I was with a strict vegetarian who was also experiencing a bit of culture shock, so needless to say we didn't try any food from the hawker stalls. I was jazzed to have a chance to eat weird things on sticks!

Deep fried mushrooms and squid!

Danshui has a mix of hawker stalls (semi-permanent structures) and truly mobile hawker carts.
One thing that you often see with hawker food, especially on the mobile carts, is that most of the food is pre-coooked to some degree. This saves space - no prep area - but it also means a faster turn-around when a customer orders something. The hawker typically just has to finish the order off with a quick deep fry or a few turns on the barbecue grill.

The hawker stall kitchen where it all happens!

I didn't get a picture of it, but there are some hawker carts that have small engines on them that power the cooking equipment. You can actually see the arms and pistons and belts and gears moving! It's fascinating. There's usually a rubber band or two holding everything together, too!

Almost everything is served on a stick, even things you normally wouldn't eat on a stick, like eggs. The Taiwanese freaking LOVE eggs and eat them almost every day. One special hawker treat is quail eggs on a stick. I tried them and they were ... eggs on a stick ... cold eggs on a stick. They were okay but I'm not sure I would have them again.

Quail eggs! I had some of these.

Kathryn and Emma had the fried potato crisps on a stick. They're kind of cool because the potato is cut into a continuous spiral and then fed onto the stick before being deep fried and seasoned. You could probably get more crisps for your money by buying them in a bag from the store, but the thing is, it's just fun to eat your crisps on a stick. That's worth it, right?

Kathryn got potato crisps on a stick, as well as the spring onion pancake you see in the stall behind her.

Ice cream is very popular. There are several soft serve ice cream stalls scattered throughout the hawker market. Kathryn and Emma tried vanilla and chocolate. They said that it didn't have a strong taste, nor did it taste like milk-based ice cream. It was probably some kind of non-dairy product. The berry-flavored ice creams were also very popular with locals. 

Kathryn and Emma got soft ice cream cones, a popular treat!

Toward the end of our food tour of Danshui, Kathryn got an iced fruit juice drink that was largely colored sugar water. That's very common in Taiwan. Natural sugar isn't sufficient - the locals top it up with fructose syrup until it's nearly undrinkable. 

I opted for sugar cane juice which you might be surprised to learn is not terribly sweet. At least, it's not sweet compared to the other "juice" options. It might be artificially colored, though, because I don't recall the sugar cane juice being such a bright green color when we drank it in Malaysia.

Sugar cane juice! It's very refreshing and not nearly as sweet as the other "juice" options.

After stuffing ourselves in Danshui we hopped on the MRT to head back into Taipei. I wanted to go to Yongkang Street by the Dongmen MRT station to shop for shoes. I'd been told by a colleague at work that there were some good shoe shops there. At first only Roshana was going to join me, then Emma and Kathryn decided to come along as well.

When we got to Dongmen there was a general consensus that it would be nice to sit down and have a drink - tea, not alcohol - and Roshana suggested the Rose House tea room. She'd walked by it numerous times on her way back from the university and had always wanted to try it. We decided to give it a go.

The Little Prince Afternoon Tea set.

It was a wood-paneled, heavily carpeted, and garishly floral English-style tea room with staff dressed in maid and servant uniforms. There were two menus - one for food, and one for tea and coffee. Roshana, Emma, and Kathryn were a bit peckish and decided to order afternoon tea. I figured in for a penny, in for a pound and joined them. We ordered two Little Prince Afternoon Tea sets - English sandwich, bacon "burger", mini quiche, creme brulee, English scone with clotted cream and jam, Scottish shortbread, fruit roll cake, cheesecake, rose lychee jelly, and rose macaroon. It was decadent. And, it was cheap - $10 per person including set gratuity.

The afternoon tea pretty much finished off Kathryn and Emma, so shopping was really out of the question after that. We dawdled down the street until we got back to Xinyi and the Dongmen MRT station, and decided to head our separate ways - the girls back to the World Scholar House hostel and me over to the Daan MRT and home in Dazhi.

And that, my friends, is how you eat in Taiwan - from hawker stall to English tea house in one day!