They say that life's a blur. On the Gao-Tieh (literal translation, High Steel/Metal/Iron) or Taiwan High Speed Rail, Taiwan is a blur with periodic stoppages of structures and people. Be that as it may be, it was still a bit of a rush down memory lane, conjuring up images of childhood and growing up that i've not seen or thought about for quite a time. More on that later.
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| Breakfast is served |
The day begun with what can typically be viewed as a typical Taiwanese breakfast. Rice balls, shao-bin (fried bread... but not the kind that folks in Britain grew up with, this is more like a fried pancake with a dough that is multilayered and will puff, delivering, at the end, a golden brown rough rectangle with a hollow center expanding out in thin chewy layers of dough to a flaky golden shell that tends to drop flaky crumbs wherever you are or will be going to -- a nightmare to eat in cars if you care about how clean your car/your shirt/your pants will end up), soy milk (sweet or savory, hot or cold or iced), thin pancakes
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| Egg coated pancakes with ham |
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| Egg coated pancakes with bacon |
pan fried in egg batter or rolled with fried egg and meats, and various baos (chinese buns with delicious fillings -- the combinations of the fillings are endless, but generally pork, or lamb, or meat and veg, or just veg). There are a number of breakfast only food stalls that open up around the hotel to serve the morning commuter. Those who walk, scooter, moped, or drive. Folks walk up and just yell an order towards the general direction of the shop owners/attendants and await the responding "oh!". If no response is heard, the order is then yelled at a louder volume, sometimes prefaced by a "yo! shopkeep!!" When you are at a popular stand, the atmosphere could be quite hectic and the cacophony of sound, quite chaotic. When the order is being processed, the conversation flows back the other way. The shopkeeper or attendant, if they are worth their salt, will be yelling back questions regarding add-ons, options, or spice levels. Unlike the order placer, the shop staff do not wait for a response, if you are out of earshot, then they will make your order however they feel it should be made. It is a system that works, unless you are the poor slub living above the shop with the windows open, then it works and works well as an alarm clock.
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| some times rice can be so beautiful, no? |
The rice balls that i obtained was slightly changed from yesterday's balls. i had them add hot sauce in mine (i will have them add more on Saturday when we will again breakfast in Taipei) and had them omit the pickled veg in Jenn's. The soy milk was ice cold and served in an "insulating" take away cup designed for cold and hot drinks. Two shao-bin, one in each bag, was also obtained. Then the wanderlust took hold and off i went around the block, to see what else there is to be had. Around the corner, at a permanently covered alley between two buildings (permanent in that wall coverings has been put up and has stayed up
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| Shao-bin and two pork baos |
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the fillings of
the bao |
and electrical fans has been mounted in place to cool the person slaving over the hot flat top grill) housed a small shop doing egg coated pancakes and soup noodles (with or without tripe). There i ordered two egg coated pancakes, one with ham, the other with bacon. i was quite tempted by the soup noodles, but, already, there was a lot of food for just two of us. The lady quite efficiently cooked up the egg coated pancakes with meat, drizzled the "house special sauce" and rolled the bad boy up before dicing the roll into chunks with dual spatula action. The diced up bits are then swept into the ubiquitous paper box and closed with rubber band and placed into a plastic handled bag for take away enjoyment.
And enjoy we did. My riceball, with the added spice, was nice, but i will want it to be a bit more intense (thus the comments above). The egg coated pancakes with the "house special sauce" and meat (the "house special sauce" is a hoisin like sauce) was wonderful. The egg added a fluffiness to the thin chewy pancake that gives spongy way to the salty meat awash with a hint of sweet hoisin sauce lovliness. The shao-bin were everything that it should be. Flaky on the outside, thing chewy layers on the inside that were just a wonder to chew on. Of course, a mess was made 8). The meal was finished off with the pork bao, steamed buns finished off on the flat iron to give it a nice charred and crispy bottom. A bite elicited delicious meat juice from the doughy pouch around the meat filling and it was delicious, rich and flavorful indeed.
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| The |
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| HSR |
Breakfast done, we packed and made our way to the Taipei train station for the HSR train to Zhuoying (literally means the "right hand side military camp", in the past, it was a military fortress and strong point). The Taipei train station is a large and airy building that,
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| #825 Train |
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| arrives |
somehow, has been turned into a huge sales floor for a bakery called "Breeze", purveyors of delicate Japanese inspired confectionary and pastries as well as western inspired tarts, cakes, and pies. Found within the station is also the ubiquitous 7-Eleven and, to my joy, a vendor
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| All Aboard!! |
dedicated to selling Taiwan Railroad bentos. These are boxed lunches containing rice, meat, and vegetables designed for the nourishment of train passengers. When i was younger, the boxes were paper on the outside and foiled on the inside. Two rubber bands, each running diagonally from corner to corner, kept the lid closed and secured the plastic wrapped chopsticks to the box. These bento boxes would be sold by loud hollering ladies in straw hats and carrying huge baskets of the bento boxes. They would walk up and down the platform, collecting money from outstretched arms and handing up bento boxes in twos and threes. An entire train could be fed during the brief stop over... amazingly. The shop on the main floor was found easily by looking for the line of hopeful customers. This shop only sold fried pork chop rice bentos in three variations -- with pickled veg, with boiled seasonal veg that seems always to be broccoli and carrots, and a combo of the both pickled and boiled veg. They all had a soy sauce hard boiled egg and a sheet of soy sauce braised gluten. The shop in the basement seems to have more variety, but i didn't look closely. As a child, there were three options. Soy sauce chicken leg and thigh with rice, Taiwanese minced pork ragu with rice, or breaded and fried pork chop with rice. Each is served with a bunch of pickled mustard greens, a few slices of takuan (a traditional Japanese slightly sweet pickled daikon radish that always is of a bright yellow color for some odd reason), and a soy sauce hard boiled egg.
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| Taiwan Railroad Company Bento! |
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| Breaded pork chop rice |
With our bentos (the basic box, with just pickled veg) in hand, we went to await the train. The entire process is surprisingly civilized. We had business class seats, basically meaning that the seats are assigned. There was no pushing in line, there was no
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A typical Taiwanese home, note
the stainless tanks atop. These
are fresh water storage for each
home/building for times of
natural disasters |
bum rush for the empty seats. Folks calmly boarded and stowed their luggages and sat down. Then the train attendants pushed their carts down the line offering news papers and concessions. Every seat also gets an offer for a cup of coffee or tea or a bottle of water. A free "tomato cheese cake" muffin is also offered. i must admit, the "tomato cheese cake" muffin was good. Not exactly savory but not sweet. You can taste the "cheese" in the cheese cake and i even got a tomato seed for my efforts! Score!
The train ride was relaxing and quiet. The scenery flowed by but i gave myself a challenge to photograph a number of things. A traditional Taiwanese/Chinese house of the "Three in one" type (two vertical wings on each side of a horizontal main hall), a traditional Chinese/Taiwanese grave, and a local deity shrine. and something else typically Taiwanese.
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| a traditional Taiwanese/Chinese 3 in 1 home |
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| a traditional Chinese tomb/mound |
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