At around 10am, after a wholesome, traditional Taiwanese breakfast consisted of the famous Egg Pancake (Cong You Bing), Flatbread (Shao Bing) and homemade soya milk - all prepared by Blythe's grandma, Blythe took her friends to a Youbike station, which is a public bicycle sharing service offered by the Taipei City Government. They each rented a bicycle, except for Tiffany who did not know how to ride one and had to sit on the back of Claire's bicycle, and decided to cycle around Taipei whilst visiting famous tourist attractions and landmarks.
Their first destination was the well-known Chiang Kai-shek Memorial hall, a national monument, landmark and tourist attraction erected in memory of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China. After watching the guard mounting ceremony in the main hall, they took a group photo of this special building.
Their next destination, which was very close to the memorial hall, was the shopping district of Ximending, which is the go-to place for young Taiwanese people, as it is the hub of Taiwan's fashion and subculture.
"Wow, this is just like the Soho district in London," marvelled Eliza as she glanced at the wide variety of stalls selling all sorts of things, from "I love Taiwan" T-Shirts and Japanese comic books to vintage records.
"No wonder they say this is the Harajuku of Taipei," mused Jeffrey, who had been to Japan the year before. "But, somehow, I feel like Ximending has even more charm."
Suddenly, they discovered that Tiffany was missing.
"OMG, where's Tiffany? " enquired Eliza as she glanced around, but couldn't perceive her high-school classmate. "Oh, bother! She must've got lost in the crowd!"
"Don't worry, she's over there!" smiled Blythe as she pointed at a food stall selling Taiwanese oyster vermicelli. In fact, Tiffany, after walking around for such a long time, began to feel hungry and was tempted by the aromatic smell of the delicious noodles served with savoury oyster soup.
"Wow, it's half past twelve already!" exclaimed Shaun after glancing at his watch. "Looks like Tiffany's tummy is better at telling the time than my watch." They all laughed.
~To be Continued~
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