Taiwan, Days 4 and 5

Taiwan
August 13-18, 2013


Day 4 On Day 4 we went to a restaurant called Dim Tai Fung for brunch. It's famous for its dumplings. The original/best one is in Taipei, but the one in Taichung was very good. After that, we took the bullet train back to Taipei, rested at our hotel for a bit, then went to see the 101 Building. It's a 101-story building with observation decks on the 87th-90ths floors (I think). It's the tallest building in Taipei by far (and the world, for a while), but the skyline was a little...boring compared to Tokyo's (and Seoul's, but.. I'm biased^^). Then we ate at a nearby Thai (that's Thailand "Thai" not Taipei "Tai," heh) restaurant called Rama. A little expensive, but man, I used to eat Thai every weekend and haven't had it in MONTHS... and we ordered Pad Thai and green curry dishes that were unbelievable and filling, so we were happy. :)


You can see the dumpling place from the top of my roommate's friend's
apartment building... (though it's not visible in THIS photo though, heh).




Directions on how to eat the dumplings, a cucumber appetizer that tasted
a lot like kimchi, pork dumplings, and my favorite(!), taro dumplings for dessert.
I could have eaten a whole tray myself. (And I did, for the most part!)




Some views from the ground, and a view from the top.
The moon was very bright that night.



On the way down, they make you walk by stalls that sell items made of
metals and gems and coral. Some things were pretty, but most made
me wonder who would buy such a thing... (someone, apparently).


Unfortunately, I was too busy eating, and didn't take any photos of
the Thai food... but I did get one of the pretty rooftop pool.
Those are glass panes that let you see through the floor...


Day 5 Our flight back to Seoul was at 7pm, and the airport was only an hour or so away, but we weren't quite sure where the airport bus stop was (since we changed hotels midstay)... so, we passed time at a nearby mall until about 2:30, then made our way to the bus stop. It took maybe 30 minutes for the bus to come. And it was only 70 New Taiwanese dollars (about $2.35). The airport buses in Seoul are $3.50 to Gimpo and $8 to Incheon.^^ Anyway, we made our flight with no problems, and arrived in Korea about 10:30....just in time to miss the last bus at 10:45. So we took the airport railroad (which thankfully runs til about midnight) to Hongdae, then took a taxi back to our apartment. It was a long day, but at least I didn't have to get up early like my roommate. :)



The huge mall we shopped at for a bit, and a picture of the entryway
to our gate (the actual gate was down some stairs...).

All-in-all, a fun few days in Taiwan.... and definitely the highlight of my summer break (though, I suppose there are still a couple days to go.. you never know..). I'm definitely going somewhere warm for spring break in February.. Australia and/or New Zealand maybe. If any family or friends are reading this and want to come along... let me know. :P