I think because we visited an art center (I ended up taking pictures of EVERYTHING hahaha!) on this day, I ended up having to divide our Day 2 into two parts! Not to mention, we had lunch in such a unique restaurant, that I just had to take as much pictures as I could to preserve the memory (and share the experience!).
Anyway, for Day 2, we started out our day by visiting the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. For a bit of a backgrounder, the memorial hall was put up in memory of Chiang Kai-Shek, who was the former President of the Republic of China. The monument is surrounded by parks and plazas, and to the north and south of the monument are the National Theater, and the National Concert Hall.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to learn much about the place when I was actually there, since it was a very hot day. So, I didn’t actually get to go inside the buildings.
I was able to tolerate the heat, but my sister didn’t expect it to be such a hot day that she decided to wear a thick pullover (an unfortunate miscalculation! D:). We were hoping that at least one of the buildings was air-conditioned. Luckily, we found out that the National Concert Hall was, so we stopped by to cool ourselves with the air conditioning inside.
Since we were pretty concerned on how my sister looked like she was close to getting a heat stroke, we just swiftly walked through the area to snap some quick photos of what we could, and then immediately left for lunch.
Lunch was such an amazing experience! We ate in this place called Addiction Aquatic, and I felt like I floated right into seafood paradise! I don’t know how my sister’s able to do such good research on great places to eat in!!
Entrance to Addiction Aquatic
You can already see all the water sloping down from the wet market.
Near the entrance of Addiction Aquatic, you can also find some fruit vendors. 😀
For a little side note, Addiction Aquatic is a bit like a wet market–I think it actually is a wet market, BUT they upped the experience by making it a more comfortable place for shoppers. The whole place is pretty clean and organized. Within the vicinity are also pockets of eating areas where you can enjoy your meals from your freshly bought seafood (those that don’t need to be cooked, like sushi, etc.). I’ll let the pictures do the talking. 😀
I cry. ;u; juzlookatdatt.
When you walk in, you’ll see all these fish tanks with pumps running. Because of how they need to condition the seafood, the whole place is actually very cold and breezy (the water helps with the cool air flow).
uhmaygahd. :((
I wanted to include photos with sample prices, so you guys can also get an idea of how much the products are! 😀
Every time I skim through these photos, I end up crying inside. :((
Aside from fresh produce, they also conveniently dessert so you can enjoy a full meal from main course to sweets!
The place was actually so crowded that I ended up just wandering around while I left my mom and my sister in charge of the shopping–I already know they are automatically trusted with this task! hahaha! Anyway, I was contentedly able to enjoy my time taking snapshots of almost all that Addiction Aquatic had to offer. The place is actually pretty big, so it can be difficult looking for your companion in such a crowded area. Anyway, when I regrouped with my family, I saw that they ended up carrying two (I repeat, TWO.) shopping baskets full of food (no shame. HAHA)!
Exhibit A: Shopping Basket #1 (I didn’t get to take a picture of the second one cause I had to look for a table outside)
So, since they were still busy filling up the other shopping basket, I was left with the task of looking for a table outside, since there were a lot of people that day. For these kinds of popular places to eat in, you have to be (kind of) aggressive with reserving tables! lol! The eating areas are a standing up kind of setup; you also need to clean up as you go–self service. So, you have to be generous with the spaces and take up just enough as you’d need.
Finally done with purchasing everything, we snacked on (more of feasted on) our meals at the eating area.
The food we decided to eat for lunch (note that we were very hungry since it was a slightly late lunch and we’re always hungry). This wasn’t even everything we had shopped for yet! lol! We were so overwhelmed that we ended up buying so much and just decided that we can eat the rest for dinner later when we get back to the apartment.
The standing eating area! There were lots of foreigners too!
There are also some nice plant/landscaping stores around the area. Helps with ventilating the place too!
After such a satisfying lunch, we decided to head back to our apartment so we could dump all of our food shopping haul in there! haha! Also, since it was a pretty hot day, we needed a change of clothes. From the miscalculation on the weather that day, we weren’t exactly wearing the most comfortable clothing (like my sister in her thick pullover). The funny thing was, when we got back, the heat completely drained us! We all ended up taking a nap in the apartment for about an hour or two! lol!
After resting up, we had the Huashan Creative Park set next in our itinerary. I’ll be writing about it in my next blog post, since it’s very photo heavy! (That’s why I divided Day 2 into two parts. hehe :D) Anyway, stay tuned for that!! ♥
In case you missed it:
Taipei, Day 1: http://www.armaineyapyuco.com/2016/07/16/taipei-taiwan-april-2016-day-1-taipei-101-ximending-and-shilin-night-market/