The Palace That is Not a Palace

The National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) houses the antiques hauled from the Forbidden City when Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan with Kuomintang during the Chinese Civil War. This museum is said to house the most valuable items from the Forbidden City, leaving very few valuable items back in mainland China.

One of the highlights of the exhibits is the Jade Cabbage (翠玉白菜). Since camera is not allowed in the exhibition halls, I need to borrow the photo from the official website of the museum. This masterpiece was carved from an unworked jade with was considered imperfect due to the distinct dual tone of colours. The craftsman exemplary turned imperfection into a perfect piece of art.

Photo courtesy of the National Palace Museum

There are many other interesting things to see in the museum and I leave it to you to explore by yourself when you visit Taiwan. This is one of the places marked as 'must visit.' If you have not been there, you have not been to Taiwan.

The Hit and Miss at Ximending

Ximending (西門町) is a very popular shopping district in Taipei for the young people. It is just like Harajuku and Shinjuku of Tokyo where the latest fashion propagates.

However, we were not there for the fashion but for the famed Ay-Chung Rice-flour Noodle (阿宗麵線). I am never a fan of pig intestine, so I only took the rice-flour noodles. It tasted alright but not living up to the fame that it has gained. My parents who like pig intestine took a bit on it but they said it was full foul smell and couldn't swallow it. My sister also took only a few scoops of the rice-flour noodles and stopped eating. Consequently, more than half bowl of the remaining noodles and pig intestine went into the trash bin.

The famed food in Ximending was a miss, but we were still hungry, so I took out my travel guide to look for another place for lunch. This place selling goose meat caught my eyes and it was not far from where we were. I wondered why the sign says duck meat (鴨肉扁) but goose meat is served. Only after a couch research that I found out that it first started as a roadside stall selling duck meat 60 plus years ago. The business was not so good until they turned it into a goose meat selling stall. Although they are not selling duck meat any more, the sign remains.

When we arrived, the ground floor seats were already all taken. We were seated at the first floor which has more tables.

Since this place sells only goose meat and goose organs, we ordered half of a goose and a serving of the goose stomach. The goose meat was really sweet, tender and juicy; one of the best I have ever tasted. The fat attached to the skin was very thin that it was just enough to flavour up the meat without being too oily. The goose stomach was chewy and flavourful too.

As for the staple food, there are three types only; rice, vermicelli and noodles. Vermicelli and noodles can be served dry or in soup. We had the soup version and the clear soup was sweet and flavourful, probably boiled from the goose racks. Every bowl of vermicelli or noodles is served with a slice of lean pork, bean sprouts and deep-fried shallots.

Although the price tags of NT$600 for half a goose and NT$50 for a bowl of soup noodles weren't considered cheap, the satisfaction from the hit after the miss was priceless.