Taipei Day 2

On the second day we went to the town of Yingge. It is a small pottery village outside of Taipei. We took a train from Taipei station it is only about 30min. away and well worth the excursion. The train was only 32 New Taiwan dollars, so it was much cheaper than taking a tour, which I think was 6,000. We walked to the pottery district and I was surprised at how nice it really was. I think I had been there a number of years ago when the Tri-S trip came to Taiwan and we had purchased a tea set. But we never made it into the city we just went to this one guys house studio and bought directly from him at I'm sure a considerable discount. Most of the pottery was tea pots and cups. It just shows how much a part drinking tea is in the culture of Taiwan. I would have loved to buy a blue and white tea set again, but I settled on just a small cup with peaches on it. I would have bought the tea pot too, but the colors weren't as vivid on it for some reason.

We found a nice little restaurant there and Shige had noodles again and I had a beef and rice dish. I didn't think this was going to be that great of an excursion but I was way wrong and would recommend it to anyone. It was another day of lots of walking and so we headed back and crashed at the hotel for a couple of hours.

The day before on our way home from 101 I had spotted what I thought was the Mongolian BBQ place that we used to go to when guests came to Taiwan. So I made a mental note and we heade out to the "Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ" around five o'clock.


And sure enough it was the place that I remembered. Altogether for the 2 of us the bill came to $990 Taiwan dollars. About $25 US a piece for an all you can eat smorgasborg. Pictured above are the guys cooking up our meal. You get a bowl and fill it with Pork, Chicken, Lamb, or Beef. Or all of the above or any combination that you can think of, then add cabbage, onions, bean sprouts, carrots, and other vegetables, then you add what ever sauces you think are approriate or just add them all top it off with a big helping of garlic then you hand you bowl over to one of the 3 men and they fry it up for you on this big grill. Even if it is just for the experience of watching these guys cook up the food this place is well worth the visit. And for anyone in Taipei it can be found at. Nanjing E. Rd. Sec. 3 no. 176. Check it out.

We ended the evening with coffee at McCafe, and then off for a foot and body massage at a small place near the hotel. After all our walking it was a welcome relief. And actually the foot massage I think helped my lower back more then the boddy massage.