Day 2 Maokong Gondola and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (4 nights in Taipei - March '17)

Shilin Night Market

So this night market wasn't what we expected - we came hungry and only found food carts on the outskirts and select areas of the market. The market is comprised of shopping, an underground food court, and random carnival games.  We tried an oyster omelette (bleh) and a large assortment of delicious dumplings and baos (larger version of dumplings)

The one and only time we tried an oyster omelette (neither of us really enjoyed the sweet/salty sliminess of it) and one of many delicious dumplings that are cooked on the side of a large cast iron pot - incredibly juicy and tasty

Overall this ended up being the one and only night market we went to since we noticed the food in almost all of the tourist spots we visited was similar (and readily available to us on a daily basis since we were staying in Ximending).

Day 2
We started our day queuing in a line to get coffee and a popular combo of sliced white bread with ham and egg at Fong Da Coffee. The coffee was quite strong and tasty but the cup it came in was very small for the price we paid - I think $4 USD or so for this small cup with no refills. It looked like there were some locals who waited in line too - coming from the bay area where good coffee is abundant, I would only recommend coming here if/when there isn't a line.

Since portions are small in Asia, we also stopped by Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle for a cup of their goopy noodle soup. The price is very affordable for a small or large size of soup (under $2 USD), and it has a very unique flavor. I either added too much vinegar (don't forget to check out their condiment station!) or they added too much pepper, but in the end I couldn't handle the amount of heat. There's no seating so you have to stand and eat, and the line goes by fast because they have established a pretty good assembly line for soup. Overall a must try!

Maokong Gondola

After satisfying our appetites, we made our way to our next tourist destination. This was an interesting site as it seemed locals actually came here for fun. We arrived on a Sunday and the line wasn't too long. There's a line for tickets at the front, but if you have a Taipei i-pass, you can actually use funds from that and just go directly to the entrance. There are 2 lines - one for the more common lift with no clear bottom, and a shorter (but time-wise longer) line for the clear bottomed lift. My friend waited in one and I waited in another line - the clear bottomed line won and we were seated in a lift with a woman and her son. It was a very quiet and comfortable ride since temperatures were in the high 60s/low 70s. There were 3-4 stops to the top of the mountain and you could get off at any of them. We opted to stay until the very end.

Once we arrived at the top, we walked around a quaint town with what appeared to be random cat cafes and shops. We also picked up some snacks including an ice cream / shaved peanut crepe dessert from this man below.

We found that we could take a bus back to the train station instead of taking the gondolas so we opted for that - it was much cheaper but the roads were narrow and windy so we both got a little car sick on the way back.

Overall it was a relaxing visit and I would recommend if you have some extra time in Taipei - may not be worth the visit if your trip is short.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

This site was definitely a must visit - the memorial is huge and has some interesting wax figures inside the museum. It doesn't take long to visit but it's a nice stop.  We got lucky and came right when they were finished switching the guards. We spent an hour walking around the site. 

Before heading back, we found a lu rou fan restaurant nearby called Jin Feng Minced Pork Rice which was delicious and your typical hole in the wall with small portions and very affordable prices. We probably spent about $6 USD for the 5 dishes in the photo below. 

Needless to say, we were dead by the time we finally got back to the hotel. Our last meal of the day was at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Ximending called Sushi Express. Prices were affordable but the sushi itself was just okay.