Last Saturday, the Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli meetup from the backpacker forum was held at the Ganzai Dian branch near the Hsinchu Performing Arts Center. Ganzai Dian is a famous organic supermarket in Hsinchu that also serves healthy meals. Before 10:30 AM, ordering a drink comes with a complimentary breakfast set. I ordered a 'Magic Adam' drink, which arrived with a small timer—the server said to open the lid after three minutes when it beeps. The breakfast plate was generous, with a hot dog, ham, a fried egg, three multigrain bread slices, and two servings of fruit. Eating here with sunlight streaming through the window felt satisfyingly leisurely.
During the meetup, the organizer Joyce mentioned a good noodle shop nearby for out-of-town friends. My friend Sheng-shun asked about it and came back with just 'Linsen Road' and 'no signboard' as clues. I immediately knew—it had to be the 'Banyan Tree Noodle Shop' I wrote about earlier. Sure enough, that was it. Since Sheng-shun hadn't tried it, we went there later. I specifically asked if they had pork bone soup; the auntie said it's only available at certain times, like 12:30 PM and 2:30 PM. Since it was just past 2 PM, we pre-ordered …