I love doing new things. I especially love doing new things with other people who haven't done them yet either. That was a problem in Taiwan. Every place I visited, whoever I was with has already been. The same goes with food -- everyone's (by everyone, I mostly mean M and Mingni) already tried everything before, and I'm stuck being the lone newbie. But not today!!! Elephant Mountain, despite being a popular spot for locals in Taipei, is the one place M and Mingni haven't been to. I was stoked! 

I wasn't sure how treacherous of a hike it'd be, and because it was their first time too, the two of them didn't know either, which actually made me feel even giddier.

It wasn't too bad. There were stairs laid out to take you to the top, so it wasn't at all dangerous or too strenuous. The entire climb took us around 15 minutes...? Not including the short break we took at a rest stop midway. Remember to bring your own water bottle, because there aren't any vendors on the mountain. 

The view was absolutely spectacular -- this photo does it no justice. The mountain isn't very high, but you get see the entire city, and it gives you a chance to admire just how grand 101 really is.

I've been asked before why I don't include more photos of myself on my posts. Wellllll... Not only do I feel awkward when getting my photo taken, but more often than not, the photos end up looking like this. Super attractive, I know.. I was trying to be a DJ, can't you tell?

If I'm lucky, I manage to get one good one (after, like, a dozen shots).

Buuuut 99% of the time, I end up looking like a deer in headlights. Merp.

So! Kind stranger, that is why my face will show up only once in a blue moon. I'm working on my model poses though (that's a joke). Maybe I'll share more of them with you sometime soon (that's half a joke).

Anywho, Elephant Mountain was great! I bet it'd be even better at sunrise or sunset.

After we all had our fill of the view, we scurried down and headed over to 101 for lunch and douhua, a syrupy soft tofu dessert very similar to taho in the Philippines. Sorry for the lack of photos!

I was curious to see how college kids like to play in Taipei, so later in the night, we wandered around the district surrounding National Taiwan University. 

As it turns out, it was just a whole lot more eating and drinking and a little bit of board games. Or maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places. All the same, I'm glad I went, because I discovered the best bubble tea in all of Taipei. 

At this spot: Chen San Ding

It's not really tea.. More so fresh milk with a ton of brown sugar. They cook the tapioca in the sugar and keep it warm at all times. Having worked in a cafe that serves bubble tea, this was a huge no-no for me. I've had one too many customers complain that their boba wasn't cold enough because the bubbles had just finished cooking and hadn't fully cooled. However, tapioca is at its chewiest prime when it's freshly cooked and semi-warm, so maybe the guys at Chen San Ding have figured out the secret. They pour milk straight onto the pearls -- no frills no nothing -- and it becomes the best boba ever. Ever.

Right next door is another university favorite: Lan Jia Gua Bao

I've wanted to try this from day one, and the time had finally come!

There was a line (as per usual) but it moved fairly quickly. I had my bubble tea to keep me busy, so I didn't mind at all. The restaurant was absolutely packed with both oldies and youngsters alike. This is totally irrational, but I feel that it's always promising to see an elderly couple in a restaurant. In my mind, they've been coming here for years and decided that this is the best gua bao in town!

This was my first and only pork bun in Taiwan, but I think the old couple was totally right! What I liked the most about Lan Jia is that you get to pick your choice of meat: lean, fatty, or a mix of the two. I picked lean and I stuffed it with extra cilantro. It was melt-in-your-mouth amazing and I wish I had gotten three more....

We decided to take a break from all the touristy stuff and just unwind for the rest of the night. I took to Foursquare and searched up a trending cafe, which is how I found Witch House, a board game cafe situated in a dark alleyway.

It seemed like a cool place to hang out. They use old bras as back rests. Well, that's new!

It was just me and M, so the only game we could play together was Uno. The only problem was...we forgot all the rules ^^ But that's okay, we just made them up as we went. The only thing we needed to remember was to yell out "Uno!" when we had one card left, right? Simple enough.

It turns out that we were playing it all wrong (hahaha). Whatever, all that matters is that I won and M is a sore loser.