MRT Xinyi Line Has Finally Opened! 信義線終於通車了！

The Taipei Metro Xinyi Line 信義線 opened for service!!! It was about time...

Now the whole Red Line has an extra 4 stations, excluding the preexisting stations (CKS Memorial Hall, Dongmen, and Daan). It runs exclusively under the long Xinyi Road. Trains starting at Beitou now end at Xiangshan 象山 on the Xinyi Line. However, trains starting at Tamsui Station continue through the Xindian Line and stop at Xindian 新店. So, for trains from near Tamsui or Beitou, please check the destination displayed on the train, as one train leads to Xindian and the other leads to Xiangshan.

This line attracted more than 200,000 visitors the first day. Everyone can expect the blue Bannan Line to be less crowded (it was the only east-west line before the Xinyi Line). Riders can easily go to Taipei 101 台北101 or the Daan Park 大安森林公園 through this line.

Here are the stations in order and color-coded:

1. CKS Memorial Station (transfer to Xindian Line)
2. Dongmen (transfer to Zhonghe-Xinlu Line)
3. Daan Park
4. Daan (transfer to Wenhu Line)
5. Xinyi Anhe
6. Taipei 101
7. Xiangshan (terminus)

An official map can be found on the TRTC's website here: http://english.trtc.com.tw/ct.asp?xItem=69465326&ctNode=27510&mp=122032 

Here is a map showing the new changes to the MRT system. 

For one month (starting November 22), people can ride the Xinyi Line for free!

A Different Market 不一樣的市場

This was an assignment for English class. Hope you enjoy!! 

          Once, when my mother and I went to a night market in Taiwan, we diverted ourselves for hours and hours, until we urgently had to use the restroom. We searched and searched for one, and we found out that the only restroom was in a dark, dirty alley. Quite scary if you ask me. Naturally, I grew fearful that someone would pop out of the darkness and kill me. Of course, no one did, but that unusual experience at the night market stayed with me. In spite of that unusual experience, Taiwanese night markets best serve as diverting attractions thanks to the delicious food, vibrancy, and unique shops.

         To start, night markets sell delicious food. First, night market food is typically inexpensive in cost. A Taiwanese meatball in Taiwan costs approximately one U.S. dollar, while one costs around three dollars in the U.S. One could eat until he or she feels full on three piping hot snacks, after spending only about five U.S. dollars. People indulging in a complete teppanyaki meal in Tonghua Night Market would spend only around three U.S. dollars, claims the Taiwan Tourism Bureau; however, people would pay around 23 dollars for a hibachi steak teppanyaki meal from Benihana’s in the U.S.! Next, a broad variety of appetizing food exists here. Vendors cook delicious traditional Taiwanese and non-Taiwanese food fresh on the spot. Shaved ice, stinky tofu, rice cake, and the world renowned bubble tea are only some of the various foods sold. Eating night market food can offer a novel experience, since visitors eat their food on the streets, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Lastly, several foods only taste well served in the night markets. Traditional Taiwanese night market cuisine is more authentic at its origin, of course. In fact, Taiwanese snacks form a vital part of contemporary Taiwanese cuisine.

          Secondly, in addition to delicious food, the special energy in the atmosphere also highlights night markets. The fact that huge crowds fill the streets at night attests to the animation of night markets. It is only common to spot mountains and seas of people flooding night markets. Vendors sometimes yell out to attract potential customers. With all the talking people, night markets are undoubtedly loud and lively to the extent that night markets would simply not be night markets without the hustle and bustle. Another evidence is how the visitors trek the streets with spirit. These people happily go in and out of shops and enthusiastically eat the various foods as well, granted that the food tastes pleasant. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs enthuses that night markets are “festive and boisterous, and are popular places to relax.” Finally, people occasionally perform on the streets. This only supplements the radiance of the typical night market. 

          Lastly, unique shops in night markets also attract visitors. First of all, the shops here sell items that are much more economical than those outside. Customers can bargain on prices with the store owner, in some stores. One could buy a popular Rilakkuma plush toy in a mall for around twenty U.S. dollars, but night markets would retail the same or close to same plush for six U.S. dollars. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan), “[Night markets] are practical, inexpensive, and play an important role in the lives of Taiwanese people.” Also, many items are sold either exclusively or only in abundance, here in night markets. A shopper could search many malls and never find, for example, a special phone case but may find the one he or she has wanted, at night markets. Equally important, many shops in night markets specialize in unique creations. Artists will sometimes sell their own paintings, calligraphic papers, keychains, dolls, clay objects, and such, all at night markets. Of course, these works of art do not have copies. 

          Undoubtedly, my mother and I continued to shop down the seemingly endless streets until our hearts were content, after our unusual experience regarding the restrooms. We ate as we walked, and we shopped until we nearly dropped, at midnight. People truly enjoy visiting night markets because of their mouthwatering food, vivacity, and distinctive shops. A trip to Taiwan unaccompanied by a journey to the night markets would definitely be incomplete. Without night markets, modern Taiwan would drastically drastically differ from what it is today. 

Yongkang Street Outing 永康街

Other than night markets, Yongkang Street is also pretty famous and busy. It is located in Da’an District, Taipei City.

Yongkang Street is accessible by MRT Dongmen Station 東門站 Yongkang Street Exit
and bus station Xinyi Yongkang Intersection 信義永康街口。It branches off Xinyi Rd. 信義路。
Around MRT Dongmen Station Yongkang Street Exit lies YouBike stations.

This street has many eateries that are worth taking a look at. Nearby is the original Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐, one of the New York Times top ten restaurants of the world! Din Tai Fung specializes in xiaolongbao 小籠包, or tiny, bite-sized steamed buns. 



**Today Din Tai Fung has spread internationally, to Australia, Asia, and America. It all started in this one store near Yongkang Street.**

A renowned Taiwanese beef noodles 牛肉麵 restaurant is located on the closeby Jinshan S. Road 金山南路. It goes by Yongkang Beef Noodles 永康牛肉麵. Yongkang Beef Noodles has been open for over forty years, believe it or not. 

**Beef noodles is a traditional Taiwanese dish.**

Then on a hot day, people can eat snowflake ice at Smoothie 思慕惜, on Yongkang Street itself. Especially during summer, the waiting lines can really lengthen out, but the store's mango snowflake ice tastes extremely well and is definitely worth the wait. 

If you are a bold and daring eater, you can also eat rice cake 米血糕, which is pig blood (that cleans your lungs) deliciously mixed with rice. I personally love it with peanut powder and sweet sauce. A store selling rice cake is located on Yongkang Street, too, but it is kind of hidden from the main stores on the street. Another traditional Taiwanese dish is braised pork rice, or 魯肉飯 (loh bah bng). Faintly, I remember a store selling this was located near Yongkang Street.

Yongkang Street doesn't only have Asian food, but it has other styles of food, like European cuisine. Some people enjoy the numerous European style food cafés nearby.

Now many more cafés near and on Yongkang Street exist, of course. But these few stick out in my head.

-----------------------------
-Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐
No. 194, Section 2, Xinyi Road, Da-an District, Taipei City 台北市大安區信義路二段194號
-Yongkang Beef Noodles 永康牛肉麵
No. 17, Lane 31, Section 2, Jinshan Road, Da-an District, Taipei City 台北市大安區金山路二段31巷17號
-Smoothie 思慕惜
No. 15, Yongkang St., Da-an District, Taipei City 台北市大安區永康街15號

Here come the mosquitoes!

Mosquitoes (蚊子wen zi) in Taiwan target foreigners, so prepare yourself!

In the case that you do get stung by Taiwanese mosquitoes, find a pharmacy (藥局yao ju) soon. The bites are irritatingly itchy and may drive you crazy!

Ask the pharmacists for mosquito medicine like this:

請       問  您   有     蚊      蟲     藥 嗎？

Qing wen nin you  wen chong yao ma?

Hopefully, you will NOT get stung! 

A Smiling Bike? 微笑單車

Besides the MRT, you can bike to places as another form of transportation (others include buses and taxis).

With a rental rate of only 10NTD for 30 minutes, there's no wonder why UBike (YouBike) has become popular. This simple bike system adds to the convenience of travel in Taipei City. 

If you see a bike with a yellow thingy on the back wheel (with a smile or a commercial), your looking at a UBike bike. 

To rent one, you must register your EasyCard at a station's kiosk with a  phone (for an authorization code). 

Then you go to a bike dock and put your EasyCard over the sensor, thus loosening the bike dock. 

After... bike for as long as you want. Don't forget that 10NTD/ 30min. will be deducted from your EasyCard.

Later, when your done with the bike, rack it into any station. And swipe your EasyCard. You're done! 

If you can't find a YouBike station nearby to rack or retrieve a bike from, download this app:

臺北好行 or Fun Travel in Taipei

Hope you enjoy biking with UBike!!

Typhoon!! 颱風蘇力

Omg!!! A typhoon (Soulik) prepares to hit Taiwan!

A typhoon is kinda like a hurricane. Well... work and classes have stopped in the Taipei area. So we can all look forward to strong winds and heavy rain! Yay! Jk. 

Look at this MRT station! Wa sai! 

One time while walking with 4 umbrellas in a typhoon, all of them flipped upside down! 

Last Message: 

BRACE YOURSELVES!!! Jk.

---------------
Aftermath:

Many more trees followed suit.












So, typhoons are something to prepare and be alert for.
Please do not rely on convenience store umbrellas in a huge storm like Soulik (several flipped upside down in a previous typhoon- Not fun!).

Take MRT 啦!

To get to places I take the MRT/ subway (捷運 jie yun). It's sooo convenient.

Yet it's crowded!!!

So when one train comes, a big crowd comes out and transfers to the other one , and it becomes smaller. Then another train arrives. And it repeats and repeats... train after train...

        To take the MRT, you simply buy a token from the token station or you can use an EasyCard (yo yo card) 悠遊卡, and put either on the card sensor. The "door" will open. 

        I recommend the EasyCard, because you can use it for the bus, MRT, convenience stores like 7-11, and much more! You can buy one of these at many convenience stores for 200NTD—100deposit, 100usable (esp. 7-11 for their card designs). 

  The green card is a student card, while the multicolored card is the regular one.

        Next you simply just go the side of the platform that your destination is and slide your card or push in your token at the exits. Careful not to fall into the train tracks (most stations don't have platform screen doors)! Refer to this map:

http://web.trtc.com.tw/img/all/routemapDanfengbig.jpg 

In da Taiwan!

Many people like to go to places like Hawaii for vacation, right? Well I go to Taiwan.

          The airplane.

          My ticket to happiness!

While landing, I thought to myself, "I'm finally home!" Right when I got off the plane, a familiar warm, moist air greeted me.

I knew jetlag would be a derp, so sleeping was the priority. On the second day, it kicked in alright.

DIY Duct Tape Wallet II 寬膠帶皮夾 二

Part 2 (The Accessories)

So... I hope you have been successful in making the wallet. Now I will show you how to make accessories for your wallet. You can place these anywhere in the wallet. 

Step 1:

        First, let's make the gift card holders. Measure your gift cards' lengths. Accordingly, cut six pieces of any color to the length you measured PLUS 1.5 cm or  0.6 in. One piece's length = 

card length + 1.5 cm. Stick two together, so you get 3 strips. Trim the sides for straight edges if desired. 

        Use any left over duct tape of the same color and cut thin strips to connect the 3 strips. 

Do NOT stick this entire piece onto the wallet yet.

Step 2:

        Now we're going to make a coin holder. Make a strip of duct tape the same way we did the wallet, but only use three strips. Cut three strips of the wallet's color to the length of just a little less than half the wallet. 

        Once you get to the step pictured in the bottom right, fold the sticky side in half over the non sticky side. Trim the sides for straight edges. Use tiny strips of the same color to stick 3 sides of this coin holder onto the wallet, and leave the top part open. I suggest adding a cover to it, because my coins fall out sometimes. After sticking the coin holder on, stick the card holder on top.

Step 3:
        For the opposite side of the wallet, we are going to put a business or gift card holder and an ID holder.
        Make another piece similar to the coin holder piece and repeat the steps to stick it on, but leave the left side open.
        Find a piece of plastic, like from products that have a plastic cover. Cut it to the size of your ID card. Stick this onto the wallet with the color of your choice. I used black, the second color I chose.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Comment YOUR questions if you have any and if you're stuck! 

DIY Folder 文件夾

Have you found papers in random places? Well, don't worry! Because you can organize your papers and documents with this DIY folder/ expanding file. 

*Warning: while making this, I took little pictures for the steps, and I am not very clear with the steps in this particular tutorial, so good luck!

You need:

-thick and thinner cardboard scraps

   •from anything: shoe boxes, snacks...

-glue, duct tape, or any other strong adhesive

-optional: an idea for a decoration :)

Step 1:

        Fold a thicker sheet of cardboard into a "U-shape" (now referred to as the "shell").

Step 2:

        Add same length/ width sheets to the shell. Connect with glue, duct tape, or any other strong    

       adhesive. Trim the sides to the desired size.

Step 3:

        For the two sides, you can either leave it like an expanding file's sides or a plain side like mine.   

       But still use cardboard or paper.

  

        Expanding file sides: Preferably, use cardstock or hard paper. Fold to    the pattern in the picture below. Glue both sides to the main shell.

Step 4:
        Last, you decorate the whole thing however you like! ~~
You could even connect the cover to the shell with buttons and strings!


Comment your questions below!! :)

DIY Duct Tape Wallet I 寬膠帶皮夾

Part 1 (The Actual Wallet)

This craft is the ultimate duct tape project.

You need:
-ummm... duct tape!
(of the colors you wish your wallet to be)








Step 1:
        Cut 8 strips of duct tape of the desired color (which will be the wallet's color) and to the desired length. Mine was blue, and about 22 cm, or 8.5 in. long.






Step 2:
        Take one strip and stick it onto another, but leave a little space. Then stick on another strip and try to align it with the space mentioned above. Repeat until all 8 strips are used.

        You should place the strips on top of each other AND leave a little white space between 2 strips, so it will be 2 strips–space–2 strips. The end result is at the bottom picture on the right.

        Fold the resulting sticky parts over. Trim off any non-straight edges, if desired, with a scissor or craft knife. Crease the wallet in half on the white space. After creasing, you should get one longer part in the back, and one shorter part in the front.

Step 3 (optional– for a border):

        Cut a strip of another color to the length of the strips, like 22 cm (I used black). Also, cut this strip in half. Use one half to cut off a tiny, tiny piece. Reference the circled part of the picture to stick it on.


        Stick the other half onto the part on the back, but do NOT fold it over yet.

Step 4 (not optional–
unless you don't want the two parts to stick):
        Cut two strips of the wallet's color to the length pictured (the first part's width).

        Stick it onto the sides as depicted below. Fold over, to stick the two parts. Repeat for the other side.

        Now you can fold over the black strip.
                   ↓

                                           Part 1 Done!! →→→

Comment if you have any questions! :)

Finished the Acrylic!!!

I finally finished the painting of the Taiwan High Speed Rail. This took a long long time!

More Bread!!!

So today my mom and I ate dinner at Panera Bread, the best sandwich shop ever, other than Subway. I personally love Panera Bread. Panera Bread's sandwiches taste more delicious than any other place. Well... because I don't know anywhere else besides Subway, so ya...

Their "Pick 2" is what I recommend here. You choose any sandwich/ panini and another salad or soup. This place seems really healthy. 

Comment YOUR favorite 

sandwich shop! 〜〜〜

Class 302 三年二班

Last night my family and I ate some more Taiwanese food! 

This time... it was at Class 302.

      Peanut rice cake 豬血糕

     And... Of course, we ordered STINKY TOFU 臭豆腐!! To most people it sounds gross, and it even smells, well, stinky. But it's actually pretty yummy. I think if you ignore the smell, stinky tofu won't be so bad. 

 Lastly, we ate snow ice. Where I live it's like living in an oven. It's the perfect solution to the hot blazing sun. Anyone jelly?

DIY Folder 文件夾

~~~A DIY folder!!

To make this simple document holder, I used thick cardboard pieces and brown cardboard paper from random boxes. Sometime soon I will post a tutorial for this, but I don't have any good pics of the steps taken to get here. So sorry!

 

#notsomuchofanexpandingfileorfolder

Comment what YOU think below!〜〜 

Taiwan High Speed Rail Painting 高鐵壓克力

Recently I've been painting a... PAINTING!! It's not done yet. I used acrylic paint. Acrylic is so awesome! Yeah, and btw, if you didn't know, the train is a THSR train (高鐵)。

This train can go really, really fast. I mean like REALLY REALLY fast. You can get from Taipei 臺北 in the north of Taiwan to Kaohsiung 高雄 in only 90 minutes! So crazy, because if you drive, it takes around 4〜5 hours. 

Comment YOUR suggestions! :)

美而美 Taiwanese Sandwich

I also attempted to made a Taiwanese breakfast sandwich— the Mei and Mei sandwich 美而美三明治。This special sandwich makes me reminisce of Taiwan. Well, that's because I frequently ate the Mei and Mei there.

It consists of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, toast, an egg, ketchup, and mayonnaise.

Compare the above to an authentic one:

(This just shows how horrific my cooking skills are.) It looks really messy and sloppy, but who cares?!  ^.^