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

Taiwan, Day 3

Taiwan
August 13-18, 2013


Day 3 On Day 3, we took the bullet train back to Taichung, and met my roomie's college friend at the station. He took us took Xitou Forest (as he'd spent his military service as a guide at the forest, he was quite knowledgeable about the paths), a beautiful, remote location about 45min by car. Nearby, there was a village with stores and restaurants, though we traveled a bit further down the mountain to eat a full course Taiwanese meal (so I was told), complete with Lazy Susan for serving. Later in the evening, we went to a fancy bar/lounge, and ended up staying at the friend's nice house in Taichung. (Another night wasted on hostel fees, but at least our big luggage had a secure place to chill for the night...)



Bullet train from Taipei to Taichung. ~$20 for the ~1hr trip.



It rained on and off during our guided trip through the forest, but still, it was quite pretty (and relaxing!).



The forest was serene (if not misty!). Then we came to this lake w/ a wooden bridge.
When we crossed it, it swayed quite a bit. Scary, but worth it.


We stopped for a snack near the lake. Apparently, guava fruit comes in colors
ranging from white (that we had at 7-Eleven) to red (seen here). You can't eat
the seeds, so you either cut or bite & spit them out. :)



A town near the forest... where they sold souvenirs (namely tea and keychains...).


We had LOTS of tasty food, including pork, bamboo, chicken... and my favorite, fried (with honey
and sesame seeds) sweet potato! The restaurant had a pretty "water feature" in the corner.


Finally, we went back to Taichung proper, to a bar/lounge with a cover band. They supposedly
had to sing any song someone requested, including English covers. Sometimes they made up
the words, but overall, they sang the English songs pretty well (even if the drummer and
keyboardist were relegated to the rafters...). :)

Day 4....soon!

Taiwan, Day 2

Taiwan
August 13-18, 2013


Day 2 Day 2 started out in Taichung, where we had delicious hotpot for lunch and cakes from a cafe for dessert, before taking the 2.5-hour bus back to Taipei and moving our luggage to our new hostel. Then we went to a bar/lounge called Brass Monkey, owned by an Aussie expat. It turned out to be Ladies' Night, so we bought a few drinks at first, then settled for the free screwdriver-type drinks they offered for free to all the ladies.




The hotpot restaurant, called 輕井澤, which is pronounced "Qīng jǐngzé", but for
some reason it's called Karuisawa (Japanese pronunciation of the characters, maybe?).
Anyway, for $50, 4 of us got huge plates of veggies and meat and noodles/rice to cook.



There was an outdoor cafe next door called 85*C. So many cakes.
And each slice was only ~$1.50. The same cake is at least $4 in Korea.^^



The bus ride back was uneventful. And though it was 3x the price,
the new hostel was >3x nicer than the first place... :)



The service was a little lacking at the bar, and my chocolate martini
was made using bitter cocoa powder... but somehow things improved
when we discovered the free Ladies' Night screwdrivers (vodka & oj).^^

Days 3-5 will be coming eventually....^^

Taiwan, Days 0-1

Taiwan
August 13-18, 2013




Day 0
My roomie, Mary, was planning to go to Taiwan by herself, but then I said I wanted to go too. She'd bought tickets via a Korean travel agency, and she helped me to reserve the same flights. I booked on Saturday, though, and couldn't pay (via bank transfer) til Monday, and somehow they ended up not actually booking my flights (though I paid). We didn't find this out til the night before, when Mary was able to check in, and all I had was a confirmation number for my payment (no actual airline ticket number). The travel agency didn't open til 9am, and our flight (well, Mary's) was at 10:30am, so after she spent quite a while talking to airline staff and the travel agency, they ended up booking me a seat on the 4pm flight, and switching Mary's flight to match (which was good, because by that point, it was after 10). So we had to kill 5 hours at the airport. The adjoining building has a movie theater, but we were too tired from waking up at 6, so we ended up napping in a cafe with big cushions on their seats, then walking around for a while, and finally sitting at the gate for a couple hours. Sucks we had to arrive in Taipei 5 hours later than planned, but... at least we both made it there. And somehow my hostel reservation was also not actually booked, either. I emailed them myself and received a confirmation email... but, apparently, my luck that day was not very good, heh. Anyway, they had a spare bed, so I had a place to sleep, but the hostel ended up being kind of dirty, so we only booked two nights (of the 4 we'd be in Taiwan), hoping to find a better place in the meantime.



A view from the plane, and the (dirty) $12/night hostel.


We ate noodles (and drank what we guess was plum tea) at a nearby noodle
shop, then had beer and snacks at a 7 Eleven. The green fruit is guava.

Day 1
We woke up about 9 and had breakfast at McDonalds. (Though, they didn't actually serve breakfast foods.. so it was more like an early lunch.) At about noon, Mary's high school friend and her sister met us at our hostel. They helped us book a different, much nicer hostel a couple subway stops away. They took us to Tamsui (formerly Danshui), a seaside tourist area in the NW corner of New Taipei City (conveniently located at the last stop on the Red subway line). Unfortunately, it was a hazy/rainy day, so the view wasn't that great, but it was still a nice atmosphere. We ate lots of cheap street foods. After that, they invited us back to their house in Taichung with them (Taichung literally means "Central Taiwan"). We rode a bus for about 3 hours, then headed to a night market, where we had more street food, including stinky tofu.



A view of Taipei 101 and a mass of motorbikes from/at our subway stop;
our first hostel's alleyway; the new hostel intersection.


We bought bubble tea before our hourlong subway trip to Tamsui.



Tamsui streets and street food (flavored quail eggs and pastries filled with cream).



A view of the mountain across the water, and a "deep water" sign.
There was a man fishing next to it, but I didn't take a picture.


Pens!!! So many pens at a store in Taichung.



The night market in Taichung, where we ate dough balls filled with
radish, an egg omelet, and stinky tofu. Man, that is an accurate name.
It smelled so bad...and didn't taste all that great either.^^

Days 2-5 to follow.