After we left the hall, we met up with Kevu and Mr. Olsen for another hike up Yangmingshan. It was pretty much the same as any other time. The temperature gets significally cooler up top, which was a huge relief, hiking in near 100% humidity weather.

Went home, and yadda yadda yadda. I leave you with a panorama of Kevu pondering the yangmingshan area.

count: 63

After buying all my needed ingredients and doing a little fruit shopping, we set the food back at Daphu’s and went out again. Daphu’s family and I met with Ellen’s family at Brother Hotel. We went there to eat lunch at one of the restaurants inside.

Once again, I was met by a feast, where new dishes would come to replace empty ones. The food was good and I ate well, enough to make me sleepy.

After dining, we returned home but Daphu and I quickly set out again. It was raining outside, the first time since the day I came to Taiwan. The temperature was still warm, but without the sun constantly baking our backs, it was a much more pleasant experience. The rain came in waves, periods of heavy pouring followed by a lighter shower. My socks got wet.

We took a look at the local baseball field near Daphu’s place. Unfortunately, there was a game in progress so we couldn’t wander inside. I think that the game was canceled due to the rain, because I saw a team leave on a bus soon after we left the area.

We returned home so that I could start cooking dinner. We were joined by Kevu and he and Daphu helped me prepare the meals. The food turned out decently, although I overcooked the chicken a bit. Drats!

We ended the day after dinner as it was getting late, and Kevu went back home.

Happy Birthday, Sunshine.

count: 59

Technorati Tags: Taiwan, Taipei, brother, hotel, food, tienmu, baseball

After a lazy morning, ate some 水餃 “water dumplings,” for lunch. Some had corn on the inside, which was interesting.

Visited the Eslite bookstore, a pretty large store located in a shopping center near the Taipei 101.

I forget if if was the same shopping center, but I noticed a large gathering of women nearby a hair salon.

Then some guy appeared, and he led into the salon as the girls started peppering him with camera flashes. Seemed like a minor celebrity, as the crowd wasn’t THAT big. Or it might have been just some random guy, which would have been hilarious. I bet if I had a person escorting me inside, I might’ve produced the same effect.

We returned to the ever present Taipei 101, to get a better look at the shops rather than see the observation deck.

Expensive grocery store in basement.

The area around the 101 is filled with 2 floors worth of other stores and shopping centers, and pedestrian bridges link all of them together. A little ways out, there’s a movie theater and some other shiny buildings.

While in the area, I also happened to receive my first and last tissue advertisement in Taiwan. Exciting, no? From what I know, companies/events have people hand out small bags of tissues with an advertisement insert. It’s a win-win situation. Companies can spread the word, and we can wipe up our bodily fluids.

I’ve seen this advertisement quite often. I can read a good deal of the characters, but can’t make out any reasonable meaning to them. Anyway, look at the guy. Keeps money away from wife and at the same time, food away from child. What a terrible person. Yet, they are all smiling. Why?

We then left to go meet up with the rest of Daphu’s extended family on her mum’s side. We left together and went to a fancy chicken soup restaurant for dinner. Chicken soup? Fancy? Yeah, it was pretty fancy.

Chicken soup is the main entree and you pick what type you want. While the actual soup stays the same, there were different additions. The ones that I remember were, shark fins, bamboo shoots, and some spongey thing that Daphu had. You also pick either toasted rice or noodles to go with the soup.

Besides the soup, you also select smaller entrees for your meal. Don’t remember if I specially ordered it, but I recieved some egg roll things in a peanut sauce. It was yummy.

Daphu got some veggie stuff. Bamboo shoots and… Yeah.

Everyone at the table was also given a cup of cooked battered shrimp in a sweet sauce. At first I thought we were getting some weird pastry. It tasted very much like a pastry, except for the shrimp. It was interesting, and not at all bad. The sprinkles were a nice touch.

We were given our soups on top of a small individual gas burner, which were neatly hidden beneath the table surface. The soup below was Daphu’s with the chicken in the center and the spongey stuff around it. Whatever the spongey thing was, it drew in the flavor of the chicken quite well and it was a yummy spongey thing.

I was also given a plate of beef and tomatoes, with some baby bok choy. There wasn’t really anything special to say about it. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t spectacular either.

Some slightly bitter greens. Went well with the soup. You can see some of my doodling on the placemat. I get fidgety.

The chicken soup was very rich in flavor, and pretty thick. The chicken itself was tender and fully cooked through. The flame below kept the soup hot at all times, which was an added bonus. I enjoyed every last drop. Since the restaurant specializes in it, they definitely knew what they were doing.

After the meal, everyone was given some herb tea in some nifty personal tea-steeping cups. I’m not big on herb teas usually, but it was a nice way to end the meal.

Daphu’s family left but her aunt stayed with us to show us around a bit more during the night. We went to the Breeze center, a large shopping center, for a little while as Daphu’s aunt had an errand to run.

There were nearly 14000 people inside. Wow. This is just one shopping center too.

Afterwards, we rolled over to the Raohe Night Market. (There’s too many ways to write it – gah) Smaller than the Shilin Night Market, and located in a different part of Taipei. In terms of everything else, it was pretty much the same as the Shilin Night Market. Similar foods and items were for sale.

You know how America has dollar stores? Well Taiwan has 10NT (~30 cents US) stores. I bought some measuring spoons for my apartment back in the states for a cool 10 NT.

What about the other pages?

A douhua stand, with all the toppings laid out.

Ah. The highlight of my night market experience. Carrot juice. I was able to get some freshly prepared over at the Raohe market. For those of you who’ve never had carrot juice before, you’ve been missing out on one of life’s great pleasures. Carrots aren’t too cheap in the States, so you might not find it worth the effort and money to get a cup of juice, but if you do – ho boy. Carrots aren’t exactly the juiciest of items to grind down, so you know when you get a tall cup of that deep orange liquid, you savor every drop.

Good stuff. Don’t settle for Jamba Juice’s carrot juice. They mix other not-so-yummy stuff with the carrots. And it’s gotta be fresh. Canned stuff is a no no.

Was getting late, so we waved off Daphu’s aunt, and taxi’d back home. Another delicious day.

count: 59

Technorati Tags: Taiwan, Taipei, eslite, taipei, 101, breeze, center, chicken, soup, raohe, night, market, carrot

Say hello to Audrey!

We were joined on the biowalk by Christine, a graduating senior. (Hmm… I’ve just realized I still haven’t sent her the photos yet. Gah.) Getting to our area of the mountains involved taking a taxi to a hospital. We had to leave through the back entrance in order to get to our path. Interesting, eh?

It was a warm day as usual, and I could tell already that I’d be sweating beads by the time we reached the top. As we started up the steps, you could see that we were already pretty high above the rest of Taipei.

A good part of the particular hill/mountain we were on was made up pale yellow sandstone, worn smooth over the years by rainfall. As we were climbing the steps to the top, you could see large piles of the worn down sand lying to the sides. Many people had climbed the mountain before, as many had scratched their mark into the mountain surface.

On the way back down, parts of the path became very veggified. A machete would have done wonders.

We reached a road, where we had a long downhill descent. I felt an eerie urge to duck into a ball and roll down the road all the way down. I prolly would have died, but it would have been glorious.

Returned to the school, and waved farewell to Christine and Mr. Olsen. Apparently today was the last day of class for seniors. We went to a local 7-Eleven to get some refreshments.

Orange walls! wai!

We each got a cold bottle of Pocari Sweat. Pocari Sweat, for those who have not had it before, is not sweat. It’s a Japanese sports drink, that’s supposed to act like gatorade. The taste is pretty unique from American drinks, but I’d say it’s closest comparison would be Squirt without the fizz. Now the real question is, do you know what Squirt is?

Bid Kevu farewell, returned home, enjoyed a cool shower, and ate dinner with Daphu.

count: 53

Technorati Tags: Taiwan, Taipei, yangmingshan, pocari, sweat

Before heading to the airport, we packed our belongings and moved them over to Daphu’s. Remember the Shidong market from the post on the first day? (two months ago… D:) Well, we decided to pick up some breakfast from the restaurants on the top floor of the Shidong Market.

We ate an assortment of yummies, including some dumplings, Chinese sausage, soup, some rice thing, and veggies, among other things. The food was very cheap, very delicious, and very satisfying. All in all, a very good meal.

For a cool dessert, I had a frozen banana? milk slushie thing that was topped with azuki beans. It was unique and pretty tasty.

Afterwards, we drove over to the airport and waved off Joe and Anju. Daphu’s dad drove us back to Taipei city. Along the way, we stopped by at a gas station. The car ride was warm and Daphu had already dozed off.

These were the gas prices as of May 30th, with the numbers on the right being cost in NT per liter. Characters on the left: 92, 95, and 97 octane, from top to bottom. Is that cheap?

As the tank was being filled and the windows wiped, I was wondering if I should’ve started posing Daphu’s body and taken photos. Decided to save that for another time, I joined Daphu in her slumber.

After returning to Taipei City proper, we went to Daphu’s high school to see her brother’s English class perform various skits. Some were quite interesting.

Right before the performances, I met Ellen, Daphu’s highschool classmate and friend. We went to Daphu’s place where Ellen joined us for dinner. For the first time since being in Taiwan, I was fed a homecooked meal, courtesy of Daphu’s mum. It was yummy, and a pleasant way to end the day.

That was pretty much the end of that day, and following day was a lazy day. A week’s worth of walking around had clearly taxed Daphu and I quite a bit, so we spent the day relaxing. It was a much appreciated rest.

Ate some 豆花, bought groceries, and read some books. My laundry was starting to get stinky, so tossed them into the wash. Daphu hung my clothes, including me boxers, to dry. XP The weather in Taiwan is hot enough where many people hang up their clothing, rather than use electric drying machines.

I remember taking at least a handful of photos, but I can’t seem to find any. Meh, oh well.

count: 51

Technorati Tags: taiwan, taipei, shidong, food, gas