艾茉蕾披薩店 - Amore Pizzeria

艾茉蕾披薩店 - Amore Pizzeria

Address - 羅斯福路四段140號.  No. 140, Section 4, Roosevelt Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100.  (Near Gongguan Station)

Opening hours - 11:00 - 22:00 (All Week)

Price - 99 up.

Phone - 02 2362 0808

Facebook page - Amore Pizza

The first I heard of Amore Pizza was in a newspaper article in Taipei Times.  They claimed despite Amore Pizza's shabby old looking brown interior this was one of the finest pizza establisments in town.  The Mrs. quickly looked it up and found out that it was located behind NTU close to the back gate.  This was a bit of a tricky spot to find.  When we eventually found it, it wasn't hard to miss the drab shades of brown that Taipei Times spoke of. 

I don't remember what we first had when we went there, but I am certain it was most likely pepperoni.  If a pizza place does bad peperoni then clearly they're not worth visiting again.  Luckily for Amore Pizza or some would say unluckily the pizza I ate that day was enough to keep me going back.

Then suddenly one day we decided we wanted to eat a decent pizza and Amore Pizza was gone.  We hopped on the scooter and looked around incase for some odd reason we were looking in the wrong place, but it really was gone and we weren't going clinically insane.  

At this point I did think it was gone forever, and was rather disappointed because like most people I do love to have a decent pizza from time to time.  Apart from the usual suspects of Pizza Hut and the other cheap take away pizzas there really wasnt / isn't that much choice in Taipei.  

Then one day from nowhere, out of the blue my Mrs. said, "Amore Pizza is open again".  It didn't close it just moved.  "HMMMM, Moved?" I said with some kind of sinister gleee that I would again be chomping on that good ole pizza of theirs...but where was it? 

Turns out it had a new location between Zhongxiao Dunhua, and Zhongxiao Fuxing.  This new location was as awkward to find as the previous one.  Jammed in the middle of two busy MRT Stations, but hidden away down the back lane like some sexy pizza gem that would make Pinky and Brain give up their conquest on conquering the world and wet their pants with excitement.

The other news was, the inside looked identical to the last one.  All that drab brown was there too, but who cares when good pizza is the order of the day eh?  You could look at those drab brown walls all day.  As long as they kept serving sexy tasting pizza.

THEN NO!!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!!!  It happened again.  It was gone, it was no longer hidden in the little back lane.  It was closed and gone!  And we were back to eating Pizza Hut.  We felt pizzerless which was the equivalent to a husband who's wife has ran off and left him for the 20 stone butch lesbian.  It's depressing...maybe not that drastic but you get the point, every city needs a good pizza place with a reasonable price. 

Never fear however!  My Mrs. came and saved the day again like she is the batman of the pizza world or some random shit like that.  She again informed me that Amore Pizza had upped and moved.  Again! This time it relocated to Gonguan.  It was lke Amore Pizza was trying to get rid of me and didn't want me to be a regular anymore.  

I was very pleased it was still alive, breathing and serving that goddamn sexy pizza.  This time they seem to have left the brown behind too and went for bright yellow.  This seems to be the best location of all three they've had.  However the secret is firmly out the bag this time, and the bright yellow decor is screaming, "SEXY PIZZA IS HERE BITCHES." Unlike indie music hipsters I don't mind the secret being out and I keep returning for more.  

They serve all types of pizza and pasta, including pizzas for one person.  I by far prefer the sausage and pepperoni.  The Mr's likes to get meatball pasta, I do believe she only gets the meatball pasta so I can help eat the salad and bread, which comes together with the pasta order.

All in all if your looking for somewhere to eat pizza, that won't break the bank like some of the other 'trendy' looking places around Taipei you wont be going wrong heading to Amore.  I can assure you, it's even better than a lot of the so called trendier ones too.  Enjoy...Today Pizza!  Tomorrow the World!

- See more at: http://www.taipeimagpies.tw/news/item/news/amore-pizzeria#sthash.MSTUITYo.dpuf

National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine, Taipei

National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine, Taipei

Address - No. 139, Beian Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, 104

So before I begin with this blog, let me point out one thing quickly.  I don't think this place is worth visiting on it's own.  That's unless your mad into this kind of history then you might like just paying a visit here without going somewhere else too. If your not that mental about history I would advise you to see this as well as other tourist places in the area like; the National Palace Museum, Shilin Night Market and Yangming Shan. 

Anyway I have known about this place for donkeys, practically since the day I arrived in Taiwan and had a google of what to see in Taipei.  For some reason or another I have never got round to having a bit of a peek at it.  

Due to my failed attempt to go to the hot springs due to it being the most crowded place I have seen in Taipei since the Chinese New Year holiday started, it give me the chance to eventually pop in here on the way back.

There was a massive lack of parking spaces.  We managed to find about 6 scooter spots in total about 10 minutes walk down the road from the entrance to the square, and that was it.  There were no car parking spots, and cars were just sat outside the entrance.  

We managed to get to the Shrine at a good time as they were in the process of changing the guard.  I managed to barge my way through the other tourists to get into a good snapping spot.  It's odd when they change the guard here, your not behind a fence like in London, there is just a little red ribbon.  There was a bit of novelty added to it all as some other bloke came out and corrected the guards uniforms for them when they eventually stood up on the little podium.  I thought it's probably a good job he didn't have a wedgie.  When their routine was finished we decided to go and have a nosey around the rest of the place.

As you walk through the entrance you enter onto a big square that is reminiscent of Chaing Kai Chek Memorial Hall without the Theatre and the Concert Hall.  Once you walk through the main square you arrive at another entrance.  This entrance is shaped and designed more like how a temple would look.  Inside this area there is a smaller square, and it has a big shrine area which is blocked off and guarded.  

At the left of this area, there is another room with plaques.  On the plaques it looks like they have all the martyr's names who died fighting to create the Republic of China, if your not reading this in Taiwan and don't know the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China are not the same country.  The ROC equals Taiwan, and the PRC equals China, no matter what your told by Chinese media about them owning everything from their new man made islands to Haiwai...it's just not true.  Taiwan is an indpendent country.

Around the place, there were some small signs explaining different things like how the Canton Uprising was the Catalyst for the Republic of China being born. 

The Shrine was generally interesting and good to see, but on the downside there wasn't much information around telling you about the history of the place.  This is why I would only plan a trip there coupled with a visit to the National Palace Museum (at the very least) which is close by. 

- See more at: http://www.taipeimagpies.tw/news/item/news/national-revolutionary-martyrs-shrine#sthash.HxXdw0Ll.dpuf

Taipei Lantern Festival

Taipei Lantern Festival

This year's Taipei Lantern Festival will take place around the Beimen (North Gate) area and Section 1 of Zhonghua Road.  These areas can be accessed via Biemen or Ximen MRT Stations.  The lantern Festival will start on the 4th February and run until the 17th February 2017.

During this year's festival vistors can look forward to seeing traditional lanterns plus light shows that will be projected onto buildings and sites around the area.  There will be different zones throughout the areas where you can see different types of displays plus light shows. 

According to the promotion material the reason for holding the lantern festival around the Beimen area is to show people this old part of the city.  

The lantern festivals held around Taiwan are really interesting to see, I would highly recommend not missing them.  As we are located in Taipei I look forward to checking out Taipei's every year.  Each is different, and has a different theme to it, but please don't get the sky lantern festival mixed up with the normal lantern festival. None of these ones will be flying through the air. 

There will be different activities throughout the districts of Taipei City, including street performers, stage shows and light shows.  Times and schedules are all on the Lantern Festival Website(details below) 

Promotion Video - Taipei Lantern Festival

Taipei Lantern Festival Website

- See more at: http://www.taipeimagpies.tw/news/item/news/taipei-lantern-festival#sthash.KnPv5D69.dpuf

A Good Dentist Near Guting

A Good Dentist Near Guting

Address - No. 69, Section 1, Heping West Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100.  台北市和平西路一段69號.

Opening Hours - Morning. 早診10:00~13:00，Afternoon. 午診14:00~17:00，Evening. 晚診18:00~21:00.

Phone - (02)2394-0123

Closest MRT - Exit 8 Guting Station, 5 minutes walk. 古亭站8號出口步行約5分

One Christmas while I was teaching, some of my students decided to give me a box of sweets.  I couldn't wait to open them and have a try, because they were traditional Taiwanese sweets that I hadn't seen before.  

The packaging was all in Chinese and I still struggle with reading even though I studying as much as I can, so obviously I couldn't work out any goddamn meaning on the box as per usual.  

After teaching I dashed home as it was Christmas Eve and I had Christmas Day off which is pretty much a novelty in Taiwan.  On the scooter, at the traffic lights I decided to rip into the box and pop one of the sweets the students give me hurridely into my mouth before the traffic lights turned green and The Wacky Races continued.

As I was in such a hurry I didn't pay any attention at all to how the sweets felt.  If I was paying more attention I would of realised that they were as hard as a bloody rock.  As things turned out, I proceeded to try and crunch through it.  My teeth on the other hand disagreed with my decision and part of it cracked off.  

Just my god damn luck I thought, I also think I ate the tooth not just the sweet.  As you do!  Christmas Bloody Eve!  We had a nice meal booked for Christmas Day and now my tooth was broke, utter nightmare. It's really, really how my luck seems to go!  

I had no choice but to pick a dentist, luckily the one I picked was good, and the dentists were really nice and helpful.  I ended up having to get my tooth capped to save it which set me back a fair bit.  If I remember correctly the total cost was between 6000-8000NT.  I was going to blame the kids, I should of blamed the kids but it was clearly my stupidity.  They all found it hilarious when I told them what happened.

If your living in or around the Guting area and looking for a dentist I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one.

- See more at: http://www.taipeimagpies.tw/news/item/news/a-good-dentist-near-guting#sthash.SmMsEQ5K.dpuf

2019 Asian Cup Final Qualifying Round Draw

2019 Asian Cup Final Qualifying Round Draw

The draw for the final round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying took place today, and Taiwan have been drawn in a group E alongside Bahrain, Turkmenistan, and Singapore.

The top two in the group will go to the final held in the U.A.E leaving a slight bit of hope that Taiwan might actually make it to the finals.  It is only a tiny glimmer of hope, surely Bahrain will take the top spot as they are likely to have a load of naturalised Brazillians playing for them like a lot of the Gulf States.

From our team's selfish point of view we are hoping some of the games will take place in Taipei, and every game doesn't held in Kaohsiung due to the massive white elephant stadium Taiwan built there.

Saying all that, if Taiwan make it through it would be a minor miracle!  Taiwan Jia You! 

- See more at: http://www.taipeimagpies.tw/news/item/news/asian-cup-final-round-draw#sthash.pCOWOh2Y.dpuf

Stories From a Foreign Perspective - Buxiban Nonsense Part 1

Stories From a Foreign Perspective - Buxiban Nonsense Part 1

Stories From a Foreign Perspective - Work Banquets

Stories From a Foreign Perspective - Work Banquets

New Year's Eve at Taipei 101

New Year's Eve at Taipei 101

3pm Afternoon Games, on a Wednesday...Why not?

3pm Afternoon Games, on a Wednesday...Why not?

Nothing Premier about Taiwan's Premier League

Nothing Premier about Taiwan's Premier League