I could go for some coffee right now

 Hello! Today I wanted to talk about some of the cafes we have visited. Of course there's the quick coffee places attached to the 7-Elevens and the typical Starbucks that attracts both international and local peoples, but we have tried to pick some more quirky places with a bit of charm to get our coffee fix. This past week we tried a place called Vino Vino Cafe, that's set in what seems to be a more laid back street with some small boutiques and restaurants. In fact we ate at the Italian restaurant right by this cafe a while back which is what sparked my interest in this place. We  arrived around lunch time and found out that they unfortunately don't serve their "special" coffee until night time but we decided to stay and have a light snack. We had a tuna sandwich and green tea. I was surprised by the tea though because it came in a tall glass and was foamy at the top giving it the appearance of beer! And here I thought everyone in the restaurant just liked to drink afternoon beer out of little twisty straws haha! This cafe was charming to me partly because it reminded me of some of the cafes in Paris. It had an open view facing the street with windows ajar letting in the breeze and soft relaxing music playing overhead. There was also a second floor where customers could sit in a more open area without windows.
toilet Chaplin lol

 
Our whole reason for visiting this cafe in particular though was for their specially made coffee art, so as not to be disappointed we came back again that same evening to get our drinks. It cost a little bit more for the fancy coffee but it doesn't seem like something many places do so it was worth it for the experience.
Caramel cake~

         

The next cafe we visited was kind of a surprise to me. It is called  安和65 or Anhe65 and it is an art gallery/ cat cafe. The entrance was kind of set back away from the main streets and not entirely noticeable at first as any sort of coffee shop. Once we walked in I noticed the first cat asleep on an ice cream trolley. You have to walk down to get into the actual cafe area where it opens up into a basement-like area with concrete floors and various artworks decorating the walls. I was a little bummed at first that there was only one other cat asleep on a chair but the place had a really nice urban artsy feel to it that distracted from the lack of kitties. The art work was fun and colorful and they had some small items by local artists for sale as well. We sat and enjoyed our drinks with some cheesecake adorned with a cat drawing done in some kind of green sugary stuff. 

             

The last cafe we visited actually visited today was Minimal Cafe which is also a cat cafe but this one lived up to it's name and was full of cats. The first thing I noticed aside from the cat drinking from hte fountain on a shelf was the smell, it definitely smelled like cats! I didn't mind at all and neither did any of the other customers. It had a very laid back feeling much like all the sleeping cats we kept spotting. Some in chairs and others lazying about on the counter where we made our orders. I had a French iced coffee and Yue had a weird banana latte thing blegh. The coffee was delicious but kind of pricey at $6, I just hoped the extra money was going to pay for the cat food lol.. the furniture was a bit shabby and covered in cat hair but we didn't have to pay any extra fees to sit with the cats or pet them. They came and went as they pleased, one even found its way onto the coffee mugs and was just laying there on top of them. I sure hope they wash those haha! I honestly didn't mind it at all but I don't think a place like this could ever exist back in the US simply because they have such strict laws about workplace hygiene with food.  We both thoroughly enjoyed our cat time though after being surrounded by dogs everywhere all the time. Definitely a unique place I'm glad we could check out.

<---This cat wasn't haven't it today lol
                                         
                                   

Well that's it for now, I'll add more updates soon!

Bye~

Side trip to Tainan

Alright guys, so from Pingtung we took a short overnight trip to Tainan that backtracked us a little more North. It wasn't really included in the plans but Yue's family recommended we try going somewhere and we ended up in Tainan. It was about an hour by train and we were greeted enthusiastically with maps and guides of the area. We checked into our hotel, which was pretty nice and located right near the station and a variety of shopping, and then headed back outside to explore the area. We had arrived fairly early so we had plenty of time to walk around. We browsed the shops and then found ourselves at yet another mall so we took the opportunity to find ourselves some lunch. This mall didn't really have a food court area but instead had a few nicer restaurants around the top and by top I mean 13th floor. This mall had 13 floors! We were pretty hungry after working our way to the top so we decided to try a burger place that had a sort of 50s theme. They had a good selection of burgers and the prices were only a little higher than usual. We ate a burger that was topped with a dollop of peanut butter and it was surprisingly good. That was some of the best peanut butter (º﹃º)

We walked around the mall and found an even bigger Daiso, then we looked for the night market that we heard was nearby. Everyone told us it was pretty far by foot but we walked all the way there and back and we made it okay, exhausted but hey at least we had the softest hotel beds to crash in. The night market was smaller than many we have been to but just as lively. There was food and vendors selling all sorts of stuff as well as some games thrown in. We tried some Takoyaki and it wasn't Japanese standard cause there was corn inside and the octopus was teeny, but it was still good and cheap so no complaints. 

The next day we had the hotel's complimentary breakfast which was made up of a vast assortment of both Asian and American breakfast items. We checked out and walked around again but this time lugging our extra bags, We went back to the mall because there was another mall literally right across the street and we figured we'd check it out. Unfortunately so did every other person in the city. All the malls and most other businesses don't open until 11am here so that was why we assumed all these people were outside waiting. It turned out that there was also some sales and special deals going on at the mall for the weekend so people were shopping like crazy. We were both pretty tired and my eye was bothering me more than usual so we stopped and took a break at a cafe in the mall called The Dazzling Cafe. We had a Croque Madame and some drinks. We've made a habit of trying unique cafes and this one had a specialty we did not get to try but perhaps at it's other location in Taipei we will get to. Our Trip To Tainan was short and uneventful but it was nice just being the 2 of us for a little while. Then back to Pingtung and the land of lost wifi we went. We stayed another night and then took the train all the way back to Tapei. 

Back in taipei now wooo~

 Savi

OOPS I'M BACK

Woah sorry for that long gap without any updates. We took a short trip that ended up being not so short haha( ^▽^;)

I'll get to that in the next post though, for now let me start back in Taipei before we left. This post is pretty picture heavy so I apologize if it takes longer to load. We had our first "shaved ice" (more like Suno) here at this place called Smoothie House. I guess it's a pretty popular location for it because there were many of these same restaurants in the area. Anyway, we tried the one covered in fruit and it was quite big. We split it between 3 people and I was satisfied. The pricing was about average I think for something similar in the US. 

After the tasty treat we hopped on the train and headed over to see the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall. It's a fairly large and noticeable building built in a very traditional style. I thought maybe it had been a former palace or something but it was actually built in the 80s as a memorial to the deceased president Chiang Kai-Shek. It houses a performing arts center and a concert hall as well as a historical center.

 HUUGE DOORS

 There was a band getting ready to practice I think, as we left. There were a couple gardens surrounding the main halls. They were pleasant and although very small, they offered a refuge from the hustle and bustle of outside where you could sit for a moment and watch the wildlife. It was extra hot outside while out in the open so we didn't stick around too long.
   Bicycles and scooters seem to be the travel must around here so we thought we'd give bicycle riding a shot. My last attempt at using a rental bike resulted in torn tights and a few scrapes, this time I'd say I fared a little better. Tell me why all the bikes for rent are always so BIG!? They never have smaller ones available so I'm stuck riding very high off the ground with my feet barely touching. It's okay while I'm moving but stopping and getting off are a challenge hence my new bruises on my leg. We rode and rode very far all the way to the shopping district of Wu Fen Pu and I only nearly got hit twice, not too bad for my first time biking in Taiwan! WE SURVIVED HAHA

We walked around a bit and I'm not sure where it was we ended up (We were basically just following our guide of the day) but there was more shopping and food so we stopped and ate at this funny little Italian place where they played kpop and most of the customers appeared to be women. Yue and I had a pesto pasta dish that was delicious and as usual it came with black tea (I don't know if I mentioned this fully but Black tea is the tea of choice here).

The day was not yet over though, there were many salons in the area so after checking some prices we picked one and Yue got herself a haircut. The salons here seem much more laid back and very busy for how late it was (it was after 9pm). I suppose people don't have time to get haircuts and end up getting it done in the evening. The stylists appear to wear what they want so they almost look like customers until you see the scissors come out! Yue is pleased with her new cut~

OKAY we called it a day after the haircut and a stop by the steam bun stand! And what a full day it was. I'll be updating more soon with our trip down south as well as a few more vlogs hopefully. The next few posts will also be pretty picture heavy as well so be prepared! 

~Savi