Stinky Tofu Alley

Last week I cycled up Elephant Hill for the second time with the bike group.  The previous 3 trips had been really tough so it was nice switching it up with something familiar and much easier.  Elephant Hill is located in the South East corner of Taipei.  The climb up the hill it self is very gradual and it makes for an easy ride with some gorgeous views.  Another common moniker for this ride is "The Graveyard Run" and that's because the whole hill is littered with small to medium sized tombs.  It sounds a bit creepy but it's a beautiful site as all the tombs are coloured differently and it sort of looks like a mini village sprawling over the hillside.

As I've done this route before I didn't take many pictures except that one above showing the typical Taipei 101 building.  When you're standing at the base it's difficult to see just how much taller it is than everything else around it.  This always gives it some nice perspective.  It's not common to see the top not inside the clouds.

We rode back down the other side of the hill and instead of heading back along the river path, we took a detour to Stinky Tofu Alley in the Shenkeng District.  As the name suggests, this is where you can find some of the "best" stinky tofu in the area.  There's a handful of varieties but the predominant fashion seems to be either deep fried or grilled (typically served with some sort of pickled veg).

Chandra stood in line and bought some for me as I was walking around taking picture

Wanda (local Taiwanese woman) was showing me one of the lines that had to be over 50 people long!  Apparently it was the most famous Stinky Tofu cart and it had a good reputation.  I can't imagine waiting in line for 45 minutes for Stinky Tofu, and I'm sure many of my readers can't even imagine waiting in line to get paid to eat Stinky Tofu (an acquired taste really).

yes, the circle is the restaurant and the lineup goes out of the picture...

this is what all those people are waiting in line for.  I don't get it!  But I can't knock it until I've tried it I suppose...

We took the long route back to Gonguan and I ended up biking right past my office and my house so I departed earlier than the rest of the folks.  We'd biked at least 30km that day and I was good :)  Plus, I had to get back to squeeze in some Diablo!