Itinerary: Japanese lunch, 823 Park, Shaved ice, Yabooks
I was all set not to visit any more bookstores for a few weeks. But yesterday, a Halloween costume sale at Yabook floated across my FB feed, putting Yabook in my mind; where, like a fly, it wouldn’t go away.
So, today, instead of homeschooling like I’d planned, we went off to 永安市場 Yong-an Market MRT stop. It’s on the brown line, southwest of Taipei city, across the river.
Of course, by the time we got there, it was 11:30 and the kids were all cranky and needing lunch. Given that we did minimal research before hand, we just settled on some random Japanese restaurant, 松亭新日本料理. It was nothing to write home about other than that huge my set lunch only cost $300.
For some reason, at this MRT stop, there are tons and tons of sushi and sashimi restaurants.
Since the restaurant was right next to the 823 park, also known as 四號公園, we went there after lunch. I finally witnessed the phenomenon known as Pokemon in Taiwan. First I saw 2-3 people staring down at their phone, plugged into battery packs, and I thought, oh, tourists who are looking for directions like us.
Then, as the kids were playing, Fleur and I saw a mass of people coming toward us. “Oh, a tour group! Because this is a significant park. The 8/23 is some important date in Taiwan…….Wait a minute, why would a tour group all be staring down at their phone?”
During the time we were there, we must have seen 3-4 waves of people ascending upon the park, including parents with kids. Really crazy the amount of people staring down at their phone.
After running around for an hour, we had to have shaved ice. So we went to one of the 3 black sugar shaved ice place right across from the park. 黑糖剉冰. They didn’t put a lot of toppings on it, but they shave the ice really really fine. Definitely different from most shaved ice I’ve had.
Finally finally, with happily fed kids, we went to the bookstore. I gave the kids a lecture about being well behaved at a bookstore and not run around like they tend to and they actually spent their time reading. Hooray! Fleur and I got to browse in peace. I’m guessing the food and exercise before hand definitely helped.
Thankfully the selection at this bookstore is small so we didn’t spend too too long there. I like this Yabook a lot because many of the newer published books are in mint condition. At the same time, the old books I saw, like the Little House on the Prairie set are often really really old and not worth buying.
After Yabook, it was time to go home, with a quick stop at 勝力 for more stationary goods. I bought some bilingual maps that I will put on the wall so the kids can study geography.
I was so so beat after a day out, I had to eat two egg puddings when I get home. Have you ever watched Japanese dramas where the main character comes home after a long day and goes straight to the fridge to get a cold bear, opens and drinks it, and says, “ahhhhh…..!”.
Egg puddings are my beer during this trip. Every chance at 7-eleven, in Japan, Korea (they don’t have them), and Taiwan, I look for them. There was a food scandal on egg puddings a few years back, so now I eschew the 統一布丁 I used to eat in favor of 義美.
“….ahhhhhh…..!”
Despite the good, dryer weather, that we all went to bed by 7:30!
Addresses:
- Yabook － 新北市中和區中和路350巷8弄12號
- 良古早味黑糖剉冰 －台北縣永和市安樂路232號
