We live in a flat

Roahe St Night Market is not far from Wufenpu, so it always made sense for us to hit both spots in the same day. I’m not a big fan of night market food really, but Mr P is, so a tour of the night markets is something we do when we visit Taiwan.

While we were there, this dog caught our attention because it was walking along by itself but was dressed in a harness with lights. So we didn’t think it was a stray.

We soon lost the dog in the crowd, but bumped into other shop dogs instead.

Including a dachshund manning a stall for dog toys and accessories. Life is hard for a shop dog. At first the dachshund was snoozing on his perch in a round ball, but was poked awake by tourists who were wondering if the round ball of fur was “real”. – –

Anyway, we made our way around the market and what do you know, we suddenly found the dog we were hunting for. I couldn’t see the dog very well when we were following it. I only saw that it had blinking lights on. But now that we had a chance to look at it, it actually was wearing pretty halter straps, with the lights. So I couldn’t understand why it was left to its own devices outside.

Since Mr P was buying food from the stall. I grabbed the chance to ask the staff more about the dog that appeared to be quite happy hanging around them at that moment.

The young man denied that the dog belonged to the stall. Apparently, nobody in the market knew where the dog came from! He shared that they only know that every evening without fail, the dog will visit, all geared up, and make its rounds around the market as if on patrol.

And during its rounds, it does what all dogs do best, hang around and beg for food. Hah!

Certainly looks quite excited at the food smells if you ask me…

I guess we shall never solve the mystery of the patrolling Roahe Street Night Market dog. Maybe you can solve it when you next visit. ;)

Getting to Raohe Street Night Market 

Description: Raohe Street Tourist Night Market is 600 meters in length, near Shongshan Railway Station. There is a decorated-archway in front of the entrance.
Opening hours: 5pm – 12am.
Address: Raohe Street Night Market, 105, Taipei City Songshan District, Taiwan [map]

By Taipei MRT:
Take Taipei MRT-Bannan Line (捷運板南線) to MRT Houshanpi Station (捷運後山埤站). Walk towards Yongji Road (永吉路) from exit no. 4 of MRT Houshanpi Station (捷運後山埤站) and make a turn at Songshan Road (松山路). Raohe St. Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市) is reachable after passing the overhead bridge of Songshan Railway Station (松山火車站) to Raohe St. Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市)

More modes of transport and directions from travelking.com.tw

More blogs on Raohe St Night Market
– Noobcook
– Uncle Tehpeng
– My Kafkeasque Life
– Kampung boy city gal

We were crossing the junction when I spied this serious little dog sitting right in front of the clothes shop outside Wufenpu. He never moved the whole time I was there taking photos.

I assumed he belonged to the shop, and perhaps his job there was to inspect the goods being delivered to the shop.

Seemed to be doing a good job :P and all without moving an inch from his sit position!

He’s a very solemn little boy dog, this one is.

Wufenpu & Sassy Dog

Wufenpu is another rabbit warren of alleys lined with tiny shops selling clothes and accessories. The area is a  garment wholesale paradise, stocking clothes and fashion stores in the city. So it is the place for bargain hunting tourists and locals.

The prices are low and correspondingly the quality can be rather cheap. You have to have the time and a good eye to pick up items that won’t fall apart too soon, among the chaos and poorer quality clothes within.

Me, it just gives me a headache really. So I just skim discount racks to buy wear and throw T-shirts like this one:

I also wanted to check out the store for dogs there called – Sassy Dog. It’s real small outlet and I was disappointed that they didn’t have anything in Donna’s size. This store is good for small dogs, and I guess it made sense since the Taiwanese has sometimes been described as treating their dogs as fashion accessories.

Wufenpu 五分埔

How to get there
The best way to get there is by MRT.
Take the Bannan (Banqiao-Nangang) Line to the Houshanpi Station, Exit 1.
10 minutes walk to Wufenpu: Walk straight along Zhongpo N. Rd. to the intersection of Zhongpo N. Rd. and Yongji Rd. Wufenpu starts on the left.

Operation hours
Monday-Sunday 02:00pm – 23:00pm
週一~週日 14:00-23:00

Sassy Dog

Website
sassydog.com.tw – Facebook – Yahoo auction site

Address
台北市永吉路443巷1弄26號
No. 26, Lane 443, Yongji Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110 [map]

Telephone
02-27637805

Operation hours
Monday-Sunday 02:00pm – 23:00pm
週一~週日 14:00-23:00

In the entertainment and shopping district of Ximending, this little dog is waiting for his human to have the giant helmet put on her so they can be photographed together.

It’s some marketing gimmic, but I imagine the resulting photo can be pretty cute ;)

Dogspotting in Taiwan (series)

• This Goldie mans a restaurant in Ximending, Taipei
• This dog patrols Yeliou Geo-Park
• These dogs own the streets at Pingxi
• Documentary about Taiwan stray dogs: Twelve nights – in a high-kill shelter
• This dog models at Shilin Night Market
• This dog in Jiufen is the King of Purses

This dog looks like a toy on a throne of purses. But he’s real alright!

He guards the purses in this leather goods shop with two other layabouts… so you can definitely tell who’s the hardworking one here! :P

So where are these purse-guarding dogs exactly??

Welcome to Jiufen, the fabled town that gave Hayao Miyazaki the inspiration for the mysterious lantern-lit town in the movie Spirited Away.

Enter the rabbit warren of narrow streets and alleys lined with red lanterns…

… that is not scary at all in bright daylight. :P Even though we are not right into the tourist season yet, this tourist spot is already packed with them… despite the seasonal rain!

We were there around lunchtime, but our driver advised that there are no good places to eat here.

“Just try some of the street food for fun,” he said. “Look at the knick knacks they sell.” He explained that this is really more of a tourist town with shops geared toward tourists.

“Locals don’t come here.”

Where do the locals go then?

“If you live in the north, you holiday in the south. If you live in the south, you holiday in the north. But mostly we fly out to other countries. ”

Right.

So we meandered about and tried the food… including this – World’s #1 Mushroom Under the Sky / 天下第一菇。

Look at the whole stack of them… sure is a lot of #1 mushrooms in Taiwan. Hah! Cut into bite size for convenient munching while walking. ;P

I didn’t take a lot of pictures due to the rain. Boo. But this photo shows you the sort of elevation we were at… and also the rolling mist.

Nothing much to see here but mist, so back we head into the alleyways.

Thought we’ll rest our feet at a ramshackle teahouse. (not pictured)

And this was the view to the right…

… and to the left. Feels like a whole different world?

After the break, we headed on for Pingxi from Jiufen.

How to get to Jiufen

If you can, take a taxi to hit more places in a day! If not, Jiufen is still very accessible by public transport.

By Train: From Taipei, take the train north to Ruifang Station. After exiting the station, cross the street to the bus stop next to the Wellcome Supermarket and board the Keelung Transit bus towards Jiufen. The bus trip takes roughly 15 minutes, and the fare is NT$21 during the week,NT$15 during weekends/holiday.

By Bus (via MRT): From Zhongxiao Fuxing (忠孝復興), Brown and Blue lines, leave from Exit 1 and take bus route 1062 (Keelung Bus) to Jiufen. The ride is about 1 hour and the fare is NT$90. Be sure to sit on the left side of the bus to enjoy scenic views of Northern Taiwan.

Source: http://guidetotaipei.com/visit/jiufen-%E4%B9%9D%E4%BB%BD

From other blogs
– Taiwan’s Jiufen – the real world inspiration for Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away
– I went to the real life Spirited Away
– A trip to Jiufen, New North City
– Spirited away in Jiufen
– Taiwan travels : Jiufen and Spirited Away

Taipei is a pretty fun place for playing the Dog-Spotting game.

This is Ah Mao (阿毛), which literally means furry or hairy.

Ah Mao’s Stone Pot Risotto

阿毛石鍋燉飯 | website • menu
Wucang St, Sec 2,  武昌街2段48之1號 Taipei, Taiwan [map]
+886 2 2388 8098

Ah Mao, the golden retriever, sat like that for a some time before he deigned to turn back for this shot. Hoho.

Ah Mao is the mascot for an Italian restaurant in Ximending called Ah Mao’s Stone Pot Risotto …. or something to that effect if I were to translate it from Chinese to English.

He has the busy job of appearing in one of two to three such shops in Taipei named after him. There he welcomes guests to the shops. This means that we were pretty lucky that he was on shift here when we passed by. :P

A check on a few blogs showed that people found Ah Mao to be friendly and obedient. However, a sign on the door also warns that Ah Mao can get stressed and angry and advises patrons that it is ok to watch him but not to pet him. Makes sense. A human would get stressed and angry too if he/she were continuously bothered without a break.

The establishment is guide dog-friendly, and that’s pretty cool.

Ah Zong’s Flour Rice Noodles

阿宗麵線
Éméi St, 峨眉街8之1號 Taipei, Taiwan [map]
+886 02 2388 8808

We were looking to stop somewhere for lunch, after having small servings of Ah Zong’s Flour Rice Noodles on the street.

Yes, that’s how everyone eats at Ah Zong.

At first we were thinking of eating at this pot-sticker place right next to Ah Zong but that was closed after lunch hours. So we had to look around for places that are open all day.

Mom didn’t feel like stone pot rice at Ah Mao, so no lunch with dog for us. A convenient second option was the cafe above Ah Mao.

Little Place Little Kitchen

好窝小厨 | Facebook • menu below
Wucang St, Sec 2,  武昌街2段48之1號2樓, Taipei, Taiwan [map]
+886 2 2331 0529

Looks potentially quiet for taking a breather from the streets, no?

The stairs leading up to the restaurant – Little Place Little Kitchen (好窝小厨) – was along a side alley. This place is newly opened in February 2014 it seems.

No dogs here but Mom studied the menu and was amenable to it. Phew!

So we headed up.

A look out the window. The place is bustling on street level but above that, the sign of empty rooms and urban decay are not uncommon.

It was a comfortable space to be in. The restaurant interior was pretty green and homey. We were the only customers since it was after the lunch hour, so I had plenty of freedom to take pictures, haha!

Salmon fried rice. Cream of Pumpkin Sauce with Chicken Pasta. Red Cherry Shrimp fried rice.
Iced tea from tea leaves cultivated at Sun Moon Lake.

Looking at food pics makes me hungry again… :P

Ximending Lunch Stop Details

Nearest MRT/subway – Ximending

Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle 阿宗麵線
Éméi St, 峨眉街8之1號 Taipei, Taiwan [map]
+886 02 2388 8808
Related review and pictures at noobcook (en), tummyfull (en)

Ah Mao’s Stone Pot Risotto 阿毛石鍋燉飯 [website]
Wucang St, Sec 2,  武昌街2段48之1號 Taipei, Taiwan [map]
+886 2 2388 8098
Related review, menu and pictures at shibasenji (en), bigfangblog (cn), qpjj (cn,) pearlzhou (cn)

Little Place Little Kitchen 好窝小厨 [Facebook]
Wucang St, Sec 2,  武昌街2段48之1號2樓, Taipei, Taiwan [map]
+886 2 2331 0529
Related review and pictures at miss78213 (cn)

After a leisurely meal, we were ready to hit the streets again. Here’s a quick shot of what the area looks like around the alley entrance to Little Place Little Kitchen.

More Taipei dog-spotting posts to come :P