View from the top

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

Back to the recap... Where did I leave you last? Ahh, The Taipei 101 building...

So my cousin, her friend, and I went all over the city. Before we did any shopping, I told them that I wanted to try some bubble tea from Taiwan. I've had it in Canada and the United States, but I wanted to see what the more "authentic" versions tasted like.

Apparently the stuff that we have in N. America is edited for our sweeter tastes.

The places we went to had never heard of fruit flavoring put into bubble tea. When I told my cousins about how we have "fusion tea" were it's green tea and some sugary syrupy flavor, they just looked at me funny.

So it's truly just tea. And sometimes milk tea. Don't get me wrong, it's sugared up, just not flavored with nice fruit flavors like green apple, kiwi, or mango.

I'm not saying that there's no fruit infused bubble tea in Taipei - I'm just saying that I wasn't able to find it (I had it twice).

Anyway, back to Taipei 101. So far it's the tallest building in the world. For now.

This particular part of town is very nice. It breaks the stereotype I had of Taipei. Everything was nice and clean, shiny and new. All of the surrounding areas had very posh shopping. There was even a movie theater! Many of these areas are connected by covered, open air walkways leading to the building itself. There were many young people around, but not as many as I'd expected (probably cause it was a weekday). Maybe cause it was a school night or something. But I'd say there were mostly people in their 20s to 40s? All the high fashion reminded me of when I was poking around Tokyo howevermany years ago.

So for dinner we met up at this restaurant on the 4th floor of the Taipei 101 bulding. I can't really tell you the name (because I coudln't read it) but I just know it had 2 characters in the name :)

So dinner was very tasty. But best of all, I got to feel my first earthquake!

I thought a train was rumbling by.

It was kind of funny - Everyone just looked at each other, confirmed it was an earthquake, and just kept on eating.

So that was the excitement for that night.

After dinner we went up to the observatory on top of the building and did the touristy thing - Tons of pictures and enjoyed the view.

the following day my cousin picked me up at 9:00 in the morning to go sightseeing. Our first stop was to take a train up north to an old mining town turned tourist area. Back in the day, it was a booming mining town until everything was gone (mined?) and many people left. Well, the town changed to a tourist attraction because of the mountains and the great views from the top. Tourism also increased after they filmed a movie there.

The vew at the top of the mountain was super nice. We ate lunch at a restaurant near the top. It was a little cold and rainy so we didn't eat outside - it was a bummer too because they had a very neat rooftop restaurant area. Anyway, I was still not feeling well so I had very little to eat.

One thing that was extremely helpful was that the menu was partially in english! I was getting tired of going to restaurants, looking at the menu (all in chinese which I can't read), and my dad asking me what I wanted to eat off the menu.

From the momuntain we could see the coastline as well. I tried to get some good pictures (which I should get around to posting, along with my DC and NYC pics from earlier this year).

Anyway, so we had to get a move on because we had many other places to go...

So we rode a train back to the main Taipei Main train station and switched over to the metro (the new-ish subway). We rode the red line all the way till the end to Danshui. We walked along the riverside and poked around the area.

Which led to the most favorite part of the trip...

Usually when I travel for pleasure I rarealy get homesick. Not like summer camp where you want to go home right away, but I didn't realize how much I did miss home until we stopped at the not very well known Seattle based coffee shop called Starbucks.

So there we were, sitting by the river, on the 2nd floor of the Starbucks on the outside patio. Drinking tea and coffee drinks out of real mugs.

On a cultural note, apparently the Taiwanese don't like using paper cups inside the cafe - It feels cheap and/or low class. So when you drink in, there's only one size - the standard mug size. Anything else you get the paper cup.

Who knew? In retrospect, I should have stolen a mug.

Anyway, so I had some Tazo tea (although not the same flavors at home), hung out, talked, and we watched the sun set. As it got dark, we could see tiny lights across the river off in the distance.

And that was my favorite Taiwan moment.

Being in Starbucks reminded me of home, and of course it's my favorite hangout. I couldn't have asked for more.

So after Starbucks, we headed off and went back to the downtown area (where we were the night before). Apparently, my cousin is a huge fan of Chili's. But sadly, her friends aren't - So she rarely gets to go.

The thought of getting something to eat other than Chinese food (In Taiwan, they just call it food) sounded super good - and my appetite suddenly came back.

Besides, I was really feeling the need for a salad.

The goofy thing was that if you didn't look at the people that were in the restaurant, you'd think you were at a restaurant in the U.S. Seriously - Even the tabletop tiles were similar (if not the same). There were quite a few caucasians in the restaurant too, which I thought was funny.

I'm sure they wanted an escape from "food" too.

Wednesday we returned back to Taichung from Taipei. It was nice to be back at my parent's place. We took the rest of the evening pretty easy. Did some light grocery shopping (for stuff to bring back) and ate at a really kick butt Teppanyaki place. (I also found out that the word "teppan" means the steel cooking surface, and "yaki" means stir-fry). I loved it - the focus was on the food - not the showmanship of the chef. There was no flinging of food, no clanging of cooking utensils. Just some really well seasoned vegetables and fish.

While I was staying at my dad's place, I fell in love with pineapple jelly on toast - so I had to make sure I bought a j ar back to the States.

So now this brings us up to Wednesday night. Thursday (all day) I went with my dad out to the countryside to see one of my aunts. She lives out in farm country where they grow Chinese radishes (or just "radishes") - Anonther not so good smell for me. :) We had to ride a train out, then a bus. Then we had to walk in the last part of the trip (about 15 minutes).

The last time I was there (about 4 years ago), all the roads were just dirt. This time, they were freshly paved. I know paved roads are a good thing, but it really takes away from the "countryside" effect.

Anyway, Friday my dad took me out shopping and sightseeing around Taichung. I've actually never seen too much of it - So it was nice to get out and walk around. Once again, shopping malls are shopping malls. And roadside stands are pretty much the same. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.

For lunch, my dad took me to a Chinese place, but there was a twist - The menu was "Shanghai style." So that was interesring. We had this crazy pork dish that was really good, but I would have hated to see the nutrition statistics on it.

Saturday morning, we took the 4:20 a.m. bus from Taichung to the airport and I was on the plane by 8:30 a.m.

One thing's for sure, I can't say I was bored on this trip :)

Anyway, so the trip home was 4 hours shorter because of a pretty strong tailwind. I wasn't going to complain :)

On the way home, they showed 3 movies, but I only watched one - That Hillary Duff movie, The Perfect Man. It was cute, but kind of sucky and unrealistic at the same time.

They also showed Sky High and Noel - I had no desire to watch the first one, and I missed the 2nd one because I was listening to music and napping.

The trip home was definitely quicker. It felt really really good to hear those 2 words from the Customs guy: "Welcome Home."

-Kirk