Saturday, July 18, 2009

stairway to heaven


Hualien

Oh, how I miss Taiwan.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

home

I am home. Back in the states. It feels so strange. I don't want to be here. I miss Taiwan already. Anyone who has lived abroad for at least a month knows this feeling of attachment. Because I've lived there for almost 2 months, and what felt like a long time, I adapted to the culture, food, traditions, and living in the city. Now it's back to greasy and expensive food (only if I eat out, which I promised myself won't be often) and life in boring suburbia. I told my family and friends there that I will return within the next two years. And, I will definitely make frequent stops to my homeland from now on and not wait another eight years to return. In fact, my grandaunt (mom's side) says she will try to arrange an internship for me at the National Palace Museum, where she worked for forty years and where I visited on Saturday.. I have about 400 pictures to upload and so much to update on. My mind is still in Taiwan, and my times are messed up since I slept during the bumpy 12-hour flight. I wonder how long this jet lag will last!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

gratuitous post of the beach ~ Hualien













beautiful Hualien, talking bird, ocean travel, indigenous cultures

Sunday: Jojo handmakes his special dumplings for breakfast...though mine are shrimp instead of pork. Cooking must be in our family because my mom cooks, he cooks, and one of my aunts is a famous cook and has published quite a few recipe books. We leave the house at 7:30am to get to Kunyang MRT Station by bus to connect at Taipei Main Station and take the train to Hualien. Hualien is a beautiful town at the east coast of Taiwan and the most beautiful place I've ever visited (other than Lake Louise).

While on the train we went through mountains (tunnels). One tunnel was very long, it was pitch black. And then all of sudden people ooh and ahh, and there it was--the ocean right outside our window. People are snapping pictures every second, as I am of course.
after the long tunnel

When we get to Hualien train station, my mom's friend of 40 years from college (Yuanshan University, Taiwan) picks us up along with her husband. We eat lunch at this cute cafe near their house. I had the best fried rice ever. Definitely unique and not like the typical fried rice you'd find at a Chinese restaurant or your mom's cooking. All ingredients were fresh and organic--salmon, pine nuts, grape seed oil, and oregano cooked with purple grain rice. The owner of the restaurant comes by our table to chat with us. She seems like a free-spirit bohemian type and tells us she opened the restaurant because she wants everyone to be healthy, likes cooking for others, and another reason that's kind of hard to translate into English.

Mom's friend's house is right across the street from the ocean. The house looks like it belongs in Corona del Mar--American beach house style, and certainly does not look like a Taiwanese/Chinese house. She says when she and her husband traveled to Australia, they saw a house they fell in love with--took pictures of the house and designed their house after that model. I took a two hour, much needed nap and then we went to the beach. We drove there because the beach in front of their house is a harbor with no shore to walk along.

The view is breathtaking. I don't know what else to say about it, but it's prettier than all beaches in Cali...by far. No one is swimming in the ocean. Both Mom and I are shocked by that because the ocean is so clean here. But actually, it's because swimming is not allowed. It's extremely dangerous...just a few feet away from the shore is a 2000 feet drop into the deep end, like diving off a massive cliff. There is not really sand here, it's pebbles instead. I leave mom with her friends and sit alone by the shore. Breathe in, breathe out. The air is so fresh here. No smog, pollution, nasty people hacking their spit onto the ground, nowhere can compare to this place. I watch little kids jumping the waves, but they seem to know to not go any further. The dogs even know it. On my right is a lighthouse and a gazebo. On my left is Taroko and mountains. I end up taking about 300 or so pictures of just the ocean. The sky is turning orange and pink, and I'm wondering where the sunset is. Then I remember that the sun sets on the west...Hualien is on the east coast. But there are strange clouds in the sky, four cotton candy clouds that make the shape of the back of a sitting dog.

We leave up walk further down the shore. It's just as humid here, so I'm soaking in sweat...grrrrreat. So we sit down on the stairs, and beside us is a couple with their talking bird [in a cage]. This bird is called Ba ge--I don't think there is an English word for it. It's not a parrot, but a black bird kind of like a small crow but with a yellow beak. He nods when his owner asks him questions. He can say Wan An! (good morning!) and Baobie (sweetie, baby).

We eat another healthy meal at a small cafe called Lighthouse. Right when we stepped in, I could smell the aroma of coffee mmm. All their coffee is from South+Central America. The owner is half-Aboriginal. Purple soup was served first--made of purple sweet potatoes. Then I ate multigrain bread and a salad dressed with yogurt. Who would have thought that yogurt would taste good with salad. It's a yummy alternative to the boring olive oil + vinegar. I order an iced coffee, grounds from Jakarta, Indonesia.

After dinner we walk to the Tribal Harvest Festival. In case you don't know and a little history lesson, there are three ethnic groups residing in Taiwan: aboriginal, hakka/hoklo (my dad), and immigrant (my mom). Aboriginals (divided into about 13 tribes) are those who are native to Taiwan and were the first to migrate and settle in Taiwan. Hakkas are descendants from those who were "imported" to Taiwan by the Dutch (sometime in the 1600s the Dutch colonized Taiwan) from the Fujian province in China as laborers. They are primarily a mix of Fujianese and Aboriginal--and some are part Dutch [like me, I think, 1/16th or so].

It seems like the whole town of Hualien is here. There are crowds of people here, some tourists from other countries as well. We arrive a bit late as it started at 6:30pm so we unfortunately missed a lot of performances. The center stage is a light pastel green color, and one of the tribes wearing colorful costumes is performing a traditional ritual dance. For some reason, while watching the dance I got emotional and fought back tears. I don't know if it's because I find indigenous culture dances beautiful or maybe because at this moment I realized that I now want to have a career related to cultures/preserving indigenous cultures (+animals, fashion, art, food, marketing). Watching this makes me want to come back here, to Hualien or somewhere in Taiwan where I can study aboriginal culture, language, and history. And, there is still so much to learn about my own family history. After spending plenty of time with my family here, I still have many questions about my ancestors.

~~MORE PICTURES IN NEXT POST :)

Saturday, July 11, 2009

museums, move, thai

Saturday: Today I rode the subway to Jiantan to meet mom so we could go to National Palace Museum together. I think I always underestimate the time it takes to get to a certain place on the subway. When mom called me at 8:35am I was still getting ready. I'm supposed to meet her at 9. I tell her that it only takes 20-30 min from XInpu to Jiantan, which is in the northern part of Taipei. I get there at 9:15, and mom was angry because she says it takes almost an hour to get to NPM from there and the English tour starts at 10. But then again, she always overestimates the time it gets to somewhere in Taipei. So, at Jiantan station we wait for the bus that will take us directly to the museum. We board the tiny bus, which is smaller than the usual buses it's more like a private shuttle size, and we are literally all squeezed inside. Seriously, these people squeeze themselves in no matter how crowded it already is.

the entrance to Gu Gong National Palace Museum

Gugong is beautiful. I was here 8 years ago too, but don't remember anything because apparently Jeffrey and I were fighting the entire time according to Mom. Anyways, this museum was where I had intended to intern at. But because this museum is bigger, more well-known than NMH it's more competitive to aqcuire an internship here. It's like the size of the Met Museum, if not bigger. My grandaunt worked there for 40 years. She says that she will help me get an internship there next summer. Hmmm come back to Taiwan for another summer? I dunno, it's waaaay too HOT here, but if I can fit enough credits this year I most likely will be back. We arrive at the museum just in time for the tour. It is so crowded. NPM is a museum that every tourist stops at when visiting Taiwan. They have an extensive collection of ancient Chinese art representing all dynasties plus special (most of the time contemporary) exhibitions that would be rare to find elsewhere. I spot a lot of tourists, most from Europe and Africa it seems like. And girls [who obviously ai piaoliang love to be pretty] wearing clubbing clothes with black stilettos...and a girl wearing the shortest shorts that I could see more than I'd like ew. Ugh, no manners these people. NPM has three "Mona Lisa's": jade cabbage (see photo, not mine because photography is prohibited), Mao gong ding (bronze vessel from Zhou Dynasty), and something else both Mom and I don't remember. All three are worth millions of dollars, or rather invaluable.

We eat a quick lunch at the museum's 4th floor dim sum restaurant. We order xiajiao (shrimp dumplings, and named different on the menu bc xiajiao is the mainland Chinese name for it), a dish of sticky rice with mushroom, and mom gets a dumpling soup. Afterwards, we begin our power workout through the massive museum. We're in a hurry because Tony, my cousin, is picking us up at 3pm to go to Yingge (it's already 12pm at this time). My favorite exhibits are the Ming Dynasty porcelains, which are so vibrant - some are even bright yellow and magenta as opposed to the typical blue and white designs what they're known for, very modern for that time and a special exhibition showcasing a contemporary Chinese artist, Chen Chi-kwan (no relations). His art style is very modern and unique. There is a recurring theme of suns appearing in his paintings. Finally, we see every gallery in the museum a huge accomplishment to finish the rest of the entire museum in 3 hours! We make our way down to the garden that is adjacent to the museum. It's very peaceful and a nice getaway from the city, although it is in Taipei it's hidden in the hills far away from the noisy downtown.We meet Tony and A-yi in front of the museum and head towards Yingge - small town south of Banciao and still considered part of Taipei County--known for ceramics culture. It is International Ceramics Day, so the Ceramics Museum entrance fee is free if you donate your receipt (the receipts in Taiwan are basically lottery tickets each stamped with a string of numbers). We join a tour at the museum, which is in Chinese so I don't really understand most of it because my Chinese vocabulary of art-related words is not vast, but Tony and mom translate most of it for me. Tony buys me a croissant sandwich with lobster and mayonnaise and I eat it during the tour because I'm starving to the point that I'm shaking and sweating. He tells me that I'm allowed to eat in the museum, which I at first find very odd but I eat it anyways. Then 10 minutes later an old guy in the tour scolds me saying that eating is prohibited blah blah blah. Well, the tour guide saw me eating and didn't say a thing. Anyhow, after the tour we walk to Lao Jie, which is the old street of downtown Yingge. It is a cute pebbled street where no cars are allowed, and there various ceramics stores and slushie vendors...and a random German sausage stand, where the seller was a German guy.
in front of the Yingge Ceramics Museum

After Yingge we go to Ah-gou's to pick up my two heavy suitcases, lugg them down the four flights since there is no elevator in the building boooo, and bid our goodbyes to my aunt and cousin. We drop off the luggage at Da A-yi's house, pick up Judy--my adorable preggars cousin-in-law, and go to eat at a Thai place called Southern City that I ate at before with dad and Jiejie. We ate the 吃到飽 chi dao bao meal, which basically is you pay a fixed price 480NT (dinner) then order ANYTHING on the menu as many dishes as you want. Among the five of us, we ordered maybe 18 or so dishes. This was the best Thai food I've ever had. Not greasy as they make it in the States. Lemon fish (twice); soup with lime and rosemary (not but it tasted like it forgot the name) flavors; tofu in coconut milk (three times sooo delicious!); green curry beef (twice, and this is my only exception to eating beef); Taiwanese water spinach with little shrimp (twice); some kind of curry chicken in coconut milk (did not eat, but did try the sauce); shrimp pancake; fried shrimp balls slathered with mayonnaise; a pork intestine soup; cold seafood with fruits (twice); a papaya salad sooo incredibly spicy...and probably a couple more I don't remember. Oh yeah, and ice cream.

Then with my expanding stomach Tony drives us to pick up my suitcases and we move to Jojo's house for the night. He lives in XiZhi, which is a suburb of Taipei and quite far from downtown.

Friday, July 10, 2009

quattro, quatre, 四

I have four more days til I head back to the States. It kind of feels like a long time, but at the same time I know these next four days will quickly disappear in front of my eyes.. Today is my last day at the museum. I received my certificate of internship and took a few pictures with my "roommates", Cheng boshi, Mr. Tong Ba (head of research dept.), Zhao Laoshi, and another laoshi who was in fact the most welcoming out of everyone else in the office (besides my adviser and Zhao laoshi). On my way to work, the last time I ride the subway to Xiaonanmen, I have to admit that I got a bit teary-eyed. I survived these 7 weeks, hopping from country to country, being crammed in the subway every morning, walking under the blazing sun and arriving at work soaked in sweat from head to toe, food poisoning from eating night market foods, language barriers, ignoring what my relatives say when they comment on how fat I've become since the last time they saw me [which c'mon was 8 years ago], getting laughed at by a salesperson when I couldn't understand what she said in Chinese, writing extensive research papers at work, squinting my eyes when trying to read traditional Chinese characters, cleaning up poo and pee at an animal shelter, accidentally almost swallowing a piece of metal found in my ice cream.......ah, what an adventure this has been.

Coming here has made me realize how important it is to practice Chinese. Hearing others speak it makes me regret that I quit Chinese school and always spoke English with my parents. Of course my Chinese isn't at level one, but when I speak it people immediately know that I did not grow up here. When I go places with my friends or family, others always ask Ta shi cong na li lai de? "Where is she from?" Obviously my Chinese has an "American" accent. And apparently, I do not look Taiwanese. Quite a few people have commented that my facial expressions are not like other Taiwanese girls, and I have dark skin and freckles as opposed to the million other women in Taiwan who obsessively apply whitening creams to rid their tan and freckles. So, yeah, at times I've felt like an outcast, especially when people constantly stare at me. They would observe me, look at me from head to toe, and I dunno what in the hell they are thinking. Maybe She's definitely a foreigner because she's fat (they say that all foreigners are "overweight") or Hmm she looks interesting, certainly not a Taiwanese. I know I will never assimilate to the Taiwanese culture. There are many things within their society I can never accept and agree with. However, I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to come here and spend time with family, meet new friends, and absorb the culture and environment around me.

Zhao laoshi - who helped me arrange this internship
me and my hard-earned certificate
Cheng boshi/Dr. Kee in Sung - my adviser
Mr. Ba Tong - head of research department

Thursday, July 9, 2009

good fusion food; racism; more shopping

Thursday: Shi-jia and I had planned earlier this week to celebrate the end of work at this restaurant that we found on a food blog. It's called Watami @ Zhongxiao Dun Hua. It's a chain restaurant from Japan. Normally, chain places in America don't have that great of quality foods and are known for their family/big group atmosphere and large portions. But, Asian chains are different. We were amused with how many things on the menu there were...sashimi platter, bibimbap (what I ordered, and only came in a stone bowl), steak, kebabs, ramen, sushi, pizza, huoguo, salad, etc etc. There were sooo many drinks too...cocktails, mocktails, wine, sake, sours, smoothies, "healthy" drink..... I had a hard time choosing what to drink. They were all relatively cheap too. 100NT for a cocktail (alcholic & non-alcholic). Thought about ordering a sour or cocktail since I am of age to drink in Taiwan (yay!), but decided not to when I thought how odd it'd be to drink one while eating bibimbap.We ordered a Japanese niangao (sticky fried flour) for appetizer - too sticky and hard to chew but still yummy nonetheless. The bibimbap was good. Different from Koreana's and others I've had from Korean restaurants.
After stuffing our face we rode the subway to Houshanpi third to last stop on the east end of the blue line and pretty deserted. We planned to go shopping at Wufenpu - shopping mecca called "wholesale clothing district". It's supposed to be crazy crowded so I was surprised to see such an empty station. But when we got outside near the district it was more crowded. There were store after store of clothes and cheap(y) shoes.

We went in one store where I spotted a linen blouse that I really liked, I held it up for a long time observing each seam making sure there were no hanging stitches (I do this with almost every piece of clothing that I'd potentially buy)...then the store owners talk to each other and say "Ugh, why does she take so long. It's so cheap (250NT), and made in Taiwan--I don't understand why they won't buy it immediately. Taiwanese people ought to only buy Taiwan-made clothing. They must hate Taiwan or are from Da Lu (China)... I might as well just go to America to sell these clothes #$*#$*W..." After I heard that, I threw the blouse on the floor and we left. So freaking rude and racist.

After going in many stores, I ended up only buying one top. We shopped til almost 11pm til my legs were too wobbly to walk.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

3rd treasure of Taiwan: "199 all you can eat"

aka eat til you feel like exploding at the buffet. Tonight a Jo-ma (mom's 3rd eldest brother's wife) invited us to eat at an upscale hotel restaurant, called Brother Hotel Xiong di fan dian. This is the same exact place I ate last time I was in Taiwan 8 years ago--the place where I tipped over a porcelain plate, and it smashed my big toe. So I remember this restaurant because of that, and well the food is sooo amazing. We ate at the Rose Room, which is the buffet on the 13th floor. I didn't take any photos, unfortunately, since it is kinda fancy. But the food was ahhh heaven. Best buffet food ever. I mostly ate seafood--cocktail shrimp, sashimi, mussel, albalone, cold octopus... and I ate a tiny piece of steak because I was desperately craving it when I saw the juicyness of the medium done steak [yeah, I know I'm a very bad pescetarian]. The desserts were the highlight of the night. I had the BEST creme brulee ever here, 10 times better than the $9 creme brulee at that one overpriced restaurant on Forest Ave in Laguna. What I love about the desserts in Taiwan is that they are not overly sweet, so you can eat as much as you wish to and not feel like a pig. I totally got up three times to get more creme brulee. There was this other dessert that was out of this world. I have no idea what it's called, but it was mm mm good. Even my mom, who claims to be on a diet, ate two cups of it. It was kind of like flan, but not as caramely, more like cream/milk. And it had a thin overlay of jam on the surface. This will have to be my last time stuffing my face in Taiwan...or for the rest of the summer.

Monday, July 6, 2009

c'est bon!

Earlier tonight I went to a cute French dessert/afternoon tea place with my intern friends, Chloe and Shi-jia. We first ate a quick dinner at this chaofan (fried rice) restaurant nearby on Yong Kang St. This was my first time eating chaofan in probably almost a year! It was pretty good. I almost cleaned up my plate, but wanted to save room for dessert at Patisserie la Douceur--especially since I was planning to eat a supersized macaron :)

The pictures say it all...(but I will add captions tomorrow)Macarons (those three hamburger-looking things) ~ left to right: lemon, coffee+hazelnut+white chocolate [what I ate], rasberry


Dark chocolate mousse with mangoes in the center of bottom half--what Shi-jia ordered

Latte ~ two hearts

The most luxurious dessert - sugar and nice :)



Sunday, July 5, 2009

let them eat cake...and peking duck, steamed sea bass, taiwanese style shrimp, and...and.....

We Taiwanese, or actually Asians, love to eat, and eat, and eat til our stomachs can't bear to digest anymore food. Eating is a huge part of our culture, and it is disrespectful to refuse food from others. Today my mom and I were invited to eat a banquet feast by her college friend. There were nine of her college friends in total, so you can imagine how many dishes of entrees we had--dish after dish after dish! Chinese banquet-style meals are set on round tables with a circular lazy susan, and you just rotate it til the food you want to eat is in front of you. I ate to my heart's content, not stopping to think how many calories I was consuming because the food here is not greasy, and there was a lot of food in front of me, how could I stop :)

For those of you who aren't aware [because I had a friend say "I hope you're having fun in China!" to me], Taiwan is an island SEPARATE from China. It is not part of China. nor will it ever be--at least I hope not. Even though I am Taiwanese/Chinese, I am partial to Taiwan because of this cross-strait issue. China's president has rejected Taiwan's bid to join the UN as an independent nation 23 times. The PROC claim Taiwan to be an inalienable part of "One China." So, I just have to put this out there because when my friend, who will not be named, said that I got pretty offended.

peekchurs of Jiufen~

making yuyuan - chewy taro with flour mmmm

the view from the yuyuan place

hi mom

view from the observatory in downtown - mountains+ocean...ah, I so wish I could wake up to this view every morning!


that mountain is a popular hiking spot. My uncle and Wenwen both have climbed to the very top! There are three gazebos/resting spots, and the stairs are so steep. I've read somewhere that some have seen women hiking in miniskirts and heels. Oh, what the women do here to be pretty every second of their waking life.


this breed of dog is Taiwanese. I don't know the English name, but she sure is pretty :) *edit: It's Japanese

Lao Jie (old street)


We ate our lunch at this quaint Taiwanese restaurant that overlooks the beautiful ocean and mountains. We listened to Moon River and other oldies that mom and A-yi both reminisced about.

bead bracelets for sale.

and dragon puppets!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Jiufen = beautiful place spoiled by tourists

This morning David, my cousin whom I had just met today, picked me up at Ahgou's place to take me, mom, Jojo, and da A-yi (mom's older sister) to Jiufen. Jiufen used to be a gold-mining town, and therefore pretty wealthy back in the day. Then, I guess the gold-mining business declined and so it gradually became kind of dead until Hou Hsiao-hsien (famous Taiwanese director) filmed his hugely popular film, A City of Sadness, in Jiufen. Jiufen's downtown also inspired director of Oscar-winning Spirited Away--that city in the film was modeled after Jiufen, so because of these two films Jiufen is now a destination spot in north Taiwan. According to a folklore, or maybe reality I'm not entirely sure, Jiufen used to be occupied by 9 households. The dad or mom would go out to buy groceries for nine people in each family, so the name Jiufen is originated from this story [jiu = nine; fen = fraction].

We were stuck in traffic in Taipei for awhile. The roads here are so narrow, like in San Antonio. I'd never have the guts to drive in Taiwan, even mom said that Taipei is the only place where she'd never rent a car. The people here are crazy drivers--worse than the drivers on Bellaire/Chinatown in Houston! Basically no one follows the laws (except for traffic lights)...

Finally after winding and winding around the sharp curves of the mountain we get the Jiufen, which is already so renao (crowded). David drops us off in front of a 7-11 while he goes further up the hill to park the car. Jiufen is a quaint, little town with vendors on every street selling all sorts of desserts and snacks--most popular are pineapple cakes and fried stuff. Jiufen is also known for its yuyuan (chewy flour with taro) and teahouses with balconies that overlook the Pacific Ocean (Keelung as well).

This place is filled with tourists and tour buses. that I feel the beauty of this place is spoiled. It kind of makes this place less enjoyable, especially when you're trying to move through the crowds within such a narrow space that is probably about 5 feet wide. While waiting for David and Jojo to meet us at 7-11, mom, A-yi, and I go inside 7-11 because it's air-conditioned. The 7-11's here are different from those in the states. They sell fine wine, hard liquor, and $1 beers. You can buy pre-heated ready-to-eat meals here that contain steak... I'm so hungry because all I ate for breakfast was a slice of bread so mom crosses the street (runs for dear life actually because a tour bus wouldn't stop for her) and brings me back a sweet bun with taro inside. Everything tastes much better in Taiwan, even this simple bun that we usually buy at 99 Ranch Market. So, after David and Jojo meets us, we head towards the narrow road. There are lanterns lined up overhead and a plastic cover for shade. On our left and right sides are vendors, each offering samples. We stop at a famous yuyuan eatery. We get shaved ice with yuyuan, grass jelly, and green bean then head upstairs to see the gorgeous view of the mountain and ocean. After finishing we sit there for awhile, catching up with each other. David, my cousin, talks about his job and China. He's like a Wall Street type of guy and works for a global finance firm. His company sends him to Beijing and Shanghai frequently--and now his Mandarin has a Chinese twang.

We walk and walk, up the pebblestone narrow roads, all the way to the end of downtown. I realized that I haven't seen the famous Jiufen scene--the picture that shows up most on Google images when you type Jiufen. I guess I must have missed it because everyone else remembers seeing it. It's sandwiched between two buildings--the stairs/scene. We head back and climb the steep stairs. At top there is a Taiwanese restaurant where we stop by to eat lunch. The restaurant is five floors, the fifth floor being the best to see the view because we sat on the 2nd floor, and there were electrical wires in our view. We were too tired to climb more steep stairs, but the view is spectactular nonetheless. I shared a plate of mushroom+bamboo and sauce with rice and a side of a Taiwanese green vegetable with mom. And I have to say this again...everything just tastes better here. The ingredients are fresher, and there is rarely ever MSG used or tons of grease. We sit there for an hour after finishing our lunch, and then we make our way through the even more crowded street back to the car.

I pass out in the car and wake up to see Taipei again. David drives us to Beitou, where Jeffrey is staying at a 5-star hotel for hospital volunteer training. We make a surprise visit, and luckily he was on a 5-minute break from his intensive class. Afterwards David drops mom and I off at Shilin Night Market, which is the busiest night market in all of Taipei. At merely 5pm it's already crowded, and the sun hasn't even gone down yet. We don't buy anything, even though I see cute cheap stacked heels [the shoes that I've been wanting to buy for summer] and tasty snacks. And, I don't trust night market foods anyway after getting sick from eating crepes at Shida Market. I should save my money too since Judy, my cousin-in-law, is taking me shopping tomorrow and I'm eating out on Monday night with my new friends from the museum (fellow interns). Anyhow, we walk up and down the street looking for a restaurant that doesn't sell fried cod fish or beef noodle soup. Finally we spot a seafood restaurant. We had mango shrimp, pho Taiwanese style, and clams. The food was pretty good.

I will post the pictures from today tomorrow since there are a lot, and posting pictures between paragraphs on blogger is a pain.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

wo shi taibei ren (maybe)

I know my way around Taipei like I know the lines along the palm of my hand. I pretty much can tell a lost tourist how to get to his/her destination via subway, of course, without having to look at the route map. I know where all the teens flock to on the weekends, where the sea is, where I can buy accessories (a 4-story store near Taipei Main Station), where I can eat Italian food (literally,the only place where you can order a salad!), where I can get mochi-on-a-stick...It's always so fun being able to explore a city without having someone to drag you around (aka my mom who drags us museums and botanical gardens). Although, I do wish I could read traditional Chinese characters and speak Chinese more fluently so that I don't have a hard time figuring out what to order at the smoothie stores or noodle vendors. Like NYC, you're never alone in Taipei. I feel like it's more crowded than NY here. Maybe it's because I'm crammed in the subway every morning on the way to work. These people force their way onto the train, even when it's obviously too full to fit just one more person. I noticed that their tactic is: door opens-->turn back to train-->walk backwards into the train-->take itty bitty steps all the while use back to push people into train-->lean back when door is closing. You know that box or zone you make for yourself i.e. don't step within x many inches/feet from me or you're in my space. So, there is no such thing as "personal space" on the subway. People are literally toppled onto each other, and you can feel that person behind you breathing hot air onto your neck, where you can feel each dew landing on your skin. Not a very good feeling...at all.