Taipei 2008 Day 4 (Around the World in 80 mins?!)

Day 4 in Taipei...It was time to see the world...Welcome to the Miniatures Museum Of Taiwan (MMOT)! As its tagline goes: "Big Wonder in a Small World", the Miniatures Museum of Taiwan was the first and only one of its kind in East Asia. One would be truly amazed at the exquisite art forms of historical European architecture, modern American homes, fantastical fairy-tale story worlds and well-known world sites & buildings. MMOT is located at B1, No.96, Jian Guo N.Road, Sec.1, Taipei. Entrance fee: NT180 (adult). Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-6pm. (Got 10% discount for the ticket, thanks to the Youth Card =P)

MMOT is a must-visit for all! It was such a wonder to see all these miniature art forms and buildings. One can only imagine at the amount of effort, concentration, time and patience the artists spent to re-create reality in a smaller size. One would be left almost awestruck at the exquisteness of the mini-worlds being created. Words simply cannot describe how beautiful, how breath-taking and how delicate & charming these miniatures are...
Imagine a TV the size of a postage stamp that actually works, a chandelier with 40 bulbs; each the size of a grain of rice, magazines the size of your fingertip with print that you can flip to read and dainty pieces of desserts that look good enough to eat!
These artists are so competent and dexterous with their hands that they can even create a miniature within a miniature! Look carefully at the above picture and you will see three frames (just above the cute elephant table). Within each frame, lies another miniature setting! Simply exquisite!

After visiting the museum (almost reluctant to leave this magical & enchanting world, if not for growling stomachs), we headed to Wufenpu Wholesale 五分埔 (near Houshanpi MRT). Please avoid going there on Monday, as that's when they do stock-take. This place is well-known for its countless boutiques, selling fashionable clothings and accessories. The walkway's rather narrow, so be prepared to squeeze with other patrons as well as deal with motorbikes that keep weaving in and out through the small alleys to deliver goods. Seeing a big lorry parked in the middle of the road is a common sight as delivery personnel unload newly arrived goods, which are then despatched to the bikers for delivery. So you end up hearing the engines of the motorbikes (signaling you to give way) as well as the loud hip-hop music coming from the stores. Some good bargains can be found here as clothes can go for NT100 (~S$5), some dresses for NT290-NT490 (~S$15-25) and shoes for NT200 (~S$10). However, there's no fitting room so you can only gauge the measurement by putting it against your body or asking the shopowner's advice. As I looked around, I could only think of how crazy & excited some of my friends would be at finding these great bargains for clothes (heehee, right, Van & Jas?)

Now...on to my fave topic...food at the night market!!! It's a pity that my camera battery went flat, so couldn't take pictures of all the fantastic food at Raohe Night Market 饒河夜市, located near Songshan railway station, quite near to Wufenpu. Running 600m from the intersection of Bade Road Section 4 & Fuyuan Street to the Ciyou Temple on Bade Road, it offers a large variety of items, ranging from food & daily necessities to clothing & gadgets.
One of the famous must-try food is the Pepper Bun 胡椒餅.Courtesy of http://deciphergigi.wordpress.com/
Didn't really like the pepper bun though it's crispy and freshly made, found it to be too peppery (hahaha =P). Basically, it contains marinated minced meat with spring onions. Quite fragrant and there's a long queue at the stall. Price: NT45 Rating: 4/5 (for those who like minced meat bun)
Next, we tried medicinal spareribs soup 藥燉排骨. It's similar to Bak Kut Teh, but with a stronger chinese herbal taste as the spareribs are simmered with over 10 kinds of Chinese herbs. However the spareribs are really sparingly little with its meat.
Price: NT60 (pork) / NT70 (mutton). Rating: 4/5 (for the taste of the soup)
My personal favourite was the fried sotong 炸花枝. It was super crispy on the outside and moist & chewy on the inside, delicious! My mouth still waters as I think about it!
Price: NT50 (small) / NT100 (big) Rating: 5/5 (must try!)
Sotong balls (5 on a stick): NT20

Shopping at the night market was great! (haha, at least for me, the bargain queen). Singapore has its S$1 shops (or S$1.99 shops in the past) and Japan has its 100yen shops...while Taiwan has its NT10 (~S$0.50) shops! Wow!
Also found 2 pairs of sandals at NT85/pair!!! (Saw one of the designs at the Taipei Underground Mall for NT200 a pair...good thing I didn't buy it then =P). The NT85 shoe shop's just besides another shoe shop which sells shoes for NT93 =)
Alas! It was time to head back ( only walked half of the night market) and we headed to Songshan Railway Station to take a train back to Taipei Main Station for NT18. Yet, we found another great bargain, just outside the ticketing counter as there was a lady selling bags for NT199! All kinds of shapes & sizes...yours truly couldn't resist and ended up getting 4 bags =)
Most definitely wanna visit Raohe Night Market again!