Wednesday 6/10/09 - Whales and Chi

In the morning we had a 3-person scooter ride on Todd and Shu-Fen's scooter through the city to get to a famous pot sticker breakfast place. It was a little scary but mostly fun dodging cars, buses, and other scooters!
Then we took a bus to a long riverside pathway to rent bikes only to discover that the bike shop wasn't open during the week. A guy pointed out that we could rent boats just a bit further down the river so we went over to check it out. They were paddle boats...okay, at least it was a beautiful day to be 3 grown adults traveling down a river in a whale shaped paddle boat, so we went.

Afterwards, we wandered around Taipei a bit. This was our hottest day in Taiwan so far. Every other day the weather hasn't been too hot (especially by this girl's standards), but today it was HOT. We went in and out of stores just to cool off. I bought a happy Budha necklace at the jade market.
In the evening, we met up with Shu-Fen at her work and walked to a Temple. There are many ornate temples all throughout Taiwan where people go to pray and to leave gifts (mostly food) for God. We were given two incense sticks by a woman standing inside the temple. We stood facing the wall where a beautiful statue stood and we prayed. Then we stuck one incense stick into a big pot with sand in the bottom, burning side up so it would continue to smolder until it burned down to nothing (or until our prayers were answered?). We repeated this process facing the opposite wall where another statue stood.

Many people stood or knelt in prayer and then threw down two pieces that looked like halves of a small red plate. Shu-Fen told us that if they land with one side up and one side down three times in a row than the answer to the question that you are praying about is "yes."

Finally, we stood in line to have our energies adjusted and our chi altered a bit. Here, these elderly women are making sure that everything is in order and we felt good as new.

We had dinner at a Mongolian BBQ with Jay. I met Jay several years earlier, when we came to Todd and Shu-Fen's wedding in Vermont. Short on conversation, he was the only non-English speaker there, he busied himself with picture taking. And boy did he take pictures of everything. It was good to see him again.

Tuesday 6/9/09 - National Palace Museum

On Tuesday, we went to the National Palace Museum which holds all of Taiwan's national treasures. Items are chronicled from prehistoric time through the last dynasty (the Ch'ing dynasty ending in 1911) to present day. Unfortunately, Shu-Fen has to work this week, but Todd is off from school and has been an excellent guide so far. Our new tripod is really coming in handy. Todd had to run up this statue to just barely get into the picture in time.






In the evening, we went to Taipei 101: currently the world's tallest completed building (although they will be outdone by Dubai at the end of the year). Named for being 101 stories high, the indoor observatory is on the 89th floor and the outdoor observatory is on the 90th floor. The elevator ride to get from the 1st floor to the 89th floor took 33 seconds! The building was built with a segmented design to resemble bamboo and has eight segments to encorporate the Chinese lucky number eight. After our amazing views from the top where the surrounding "skyscrapers" seemed dwarfed, we had dinner at the bottom at a hibachi grill.

Monday 6/8/09

On Monday, we tried our first egg stewed in tea, our new favorite food. It has the added bonus of pairing nicely with pearl milk tea.














Next we went to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall built in honor of the political and military leader of 20th century China.





The large grounds areas are extremely well kept with ornate trees and flowers.







The buildings along the entrance are colorful and detailed as they lead visitors to the main hall.





Arriving at noon, we saw the changing of the guards ceremony.










The woodwork on the ceiling of the memorial is perhaps the most impressive view though it's really hard to pick a favorite part; this place is really neat.
























For lunch we had hot pot, basically fondue broth with Chinese spices. The seafood, meat and vegetable selection was much broader than you would find in the U.S. and it was all you can eat, this served as our dinner as well.
















In the evening, we went to KTV - a building of individual party rooms for singing karaoke (to the original music videos or to random scenes if the videos are unavailable, which is often the case for the American songs).

Afterwards, we strolled around down town, fulfilled some food cravings and headed home.

Sunday 6/7/09

On Sunday, we went to a popular dumpling breakfast place in Yilan. Just a small outdoor kitchen with a few sidewalk tables, several women were preparing the meal. One to flour, one to flatten, one to stuff, one to pinch, one to cook and, of course, one to take the money. They only sell one type dumpling, so deciding what to order was pretty easy: "聽廿老張群 we'll have 40, thanks."

After breakfast, we headed north along the eastern coast. Most of the coast line is rocky, providing beautiful views and natural perches for fishermen. We stopped in Fulung for the Fulung railroad lunch box, and continued north to Jinguashi city and the Yin-Yang Sea overlook (pictured here). Scholars say that the Jinguashi geology has a large amount of pyrite that, after millions of years has formed Fe3+ which does not dissolve easily in water. This forms iron ion floating particles when it flows into the sea, resulting in the strange sight of the Yin-yang Sea where the two color waters don't seem to mix.

As we continued up the coast, we went through some construction zones where we were encourgaged to slow down by artifical workers waving flags (this is common our guides - Todd and Shu-Fen - tell us). About a block later, we saw a real worker standing there doing nothing; layoffs seem imminent when your artificial coworkers are out performing you.

In the early evening, we reached Yehliu Geopark, a very scenic area where rock formations have been carved out by years of wind and water. Trails and small bridges take tourists all around the park and allow for a close-up look at the most famous formation at the park Queen's Head rock.




















































We had dinner back in Taipei and took a trip to the supermarket. Here's a picture of some of the dried meats/fruits/vegetables available. Those things that look like candy in colorful wrappers are actually dried bits of fish, surprisingly tasty.

Saturday 6/6/09 - Weekend on the Coast

On Saturday, we left Taipei and headed east through the mountains to the coastal city of Elon (have to confirm spelling). Shu-Fen's brother loaned them a car, thankfully sparing us from trying to fit all four of us on a scooter! We stopped along the way to eat seafood; this was the case of food that we picked from; we passed on Kermit and had several delicious seafood dishes, tapas style. Britton has taken a liking to a pineapple shrimp dish that we've had 3 times now, but the first one at our first dinner in Taipei was the best. We also stopped at the National Center for Traditional Arts which demonstrated traditional musical instruments, paper art, clay art, the properties of charcoal, and the art of traditional candy making. :-9 We also listened to this woman in traditional clothing lead the crowd in what I'm assuming was a traditional song, though it sounded totally new to me. Here we are on a bridge of the center's grounds, where you can actually move and live in student dormitories if you would like to learn these arts. Todd and Shu-Fen pose for a picture.


Later we went to a night market for a look around the shopping and some interesting food. We had squid balls with wasabi sauce and dried fish flakes on top. We had chicken hearts and chicken butts, seriously, who knew chickens had butts? We also had beef noodle soup, pork rolls, edamame, and seasoned cucumbers.

My favorite food was the pearl milk tea that we had at the end and which, by the way, we've been drinking almost every day. Delicious balls of black tapioca come up your straw along with the tea; it is a sip, chew, and taste experience like no other. If you've never seen it before, look closely at the drink in my hand.

We stayed at a really beautiful hotel, the lobby would have made a great picture but no photography was allowed! Traditional furniture with fine leathers and peacock decor left and right and the whole room could be controlled with the buttons on a panel next to the bed. (Some day this blog entry will sound very out-dated).

Thursday and Friday 6/4/09 & 6/5/09 Birthday

On June 4th, it rained most of the day and we went to the fresh market at night (just across the street from where Todd and Shu-Fen live) to get ingredients for dinner. Even in the rain, the market was crowded with people, scooters, and venders urging people to buy their goods. Shu-Fen made us a wonderful meal, soup, Peking Duck, and Thai basil and beef, followed by a Taiwanese style birthday cake (think, "cake light") filled with fruit from a local bakery, yum!

On June 5th, Britton and I went on a walk through a local park (park statue pictured) and the city to get to a mall, which turned out to be disappointingly westernized (US/Euro brands, US/Euro prices) but with a unique Taiwanese flare as all the sales clerks bowed as we walked by and greeted us in Chinese. Later in the afternoon, we went to "camera street" with Todd where all the little shops were filled with cameras (no, the deals are not great and we did not buy one, but now we have a cute little tripod for our current camera to help take self-pics). Then we met up with Shu-Fen for Korean food, followed by home for some much needed rest.
A typical sidewalk in Taipei is covered with scooters, parked side by side; the traffic is made up of far more scooters than any other type of vehicle. The light turns green, the scooters rev their engines, and their off! Just a normal day in Taipei, but worth a picture for us foreigners.

First days in Taiwan

On June 2nd, we landed in Taiwan after a 32 hour trip from Tampa to Houston to Tokyo and finally to Taiwan. Getting in late, we had some yummy dumplings and bequeathed a suitcase full of various requested American items that we brought with us (imagine a world with no twizzlers, granola or fat-free mayo!).

One Wednesday June 3rd, Britton and I were recovering from jet lag and Todd took us on a walking tour of a nearby park and a fresh market (different vegetables and live squid!) where a very long side street was jam packed with venders and people buying their produce and dinner. We didn't take any pictures...did I mention we were recovering from jet lag?...hate to blog without pictures.

Later in the evening we met up with Shu-Fen after her work and went to her sonogram appointment with her. At first the back was turned and then the legs were crossed and then the baby stretched out and we saw that it was a...no we can't tell you that. Not until the happy parents announce it themselves. Here is a picture with all of us and the ob/gyn.

Now it's Thursday and the rain is giving me a good opportunity to blog.