After so so so so many years (say 5?) away from Taipei, I am finally going home! In many ways, Taiwan is my home more so than Hong Kong is, I lived there for 8 years of my life. Which actually is the longest duration I've remained in one city ever. Best of all, Taiwan as THE BEST FOOD! Noodles, fried chicken on the street, the most pure soymilk ever....soooo gooooooooood.
Day 1 consisted of the plane ride and waiting in the hotel to check in. No so interesting really. We had a late lunch and then went out to dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Liao, my dad's old colleagues. The restaurant was pricey of course, but very good. The best way to describe it was as a Chinese/Japanese restaurant. The white tuna sashimi was incredibly fresh, and to Ricky's delight, Mr. and Mrs. Liao ordered a fresh alaskan king crab. The gigantic crab was sitting happily in its tank and then it ended up salt-baked on our table. Needless to say, very fresh. :)
Day 2, we decided to go to Wu Lai (烏來), a hot springs resort area. We went to a hot spring "resort" (these are all really small) called Beauty Spa (美人湯). Being shy as we are, instead of going to a group hot spring (you have to be naked) we booked our own little rooms. So Ricky and I had our own room with two tubs, one big one for hot spring water and the other for ice cold freezing water. The idea is that after you get really hot in the hot water, you plunge yourselve into the freezing water for a while, then back and forth. It's supposed to be good for your skin (stimulates the pores) and your circulatory system. The water came through taps, but this way it is
much cleaner and more private (of course). The room also has a view, so as you relax in the incredibly hot tub of water, you also can look out over the mountains.
I was so relaxed afterwards, I kept yawning on the way to lunch. :) For lunch we went to the local
"mountain people" (山地人) or aborigini run restaurants where they serve very local specialties. They even grow their own vegetables and these are vegetables that aren't for sale anywhere else in the world. The bamboo rice was also extremely good, a little bit sweet with the smell of bamboo baked right into the rice.
The restaurant was situated on a busy street full of little rest
aurants and shops, mostly run by the local aboriginis. The area is famous for the sticky sweet dough (mua ji) covered with seasame powder, iced eggs, and other street eats. Ricky bought a huge pork sauage from a stall that called itselft the first "black pig sausage" stall in the area. The sausage was pretty huge, and I think Ricky liked it!
After Wu Lai, we drove home to rest and get ready for Cathy's wedding. I was pretty excited because I would get to see a lot of old friends from TAS who I hadn't seen for years! The wedding was Chinese style, so it was not very personal (but of course!). But Cathy looked gorgeous. After the wedding, we took the car to a little bar where TAS was holding a New Year's Eve party. The plan originally was to first go home and change into more casual clothing. But the streets were so packed with cars (because it was New Years Eve) that we barely got to the bar on time.
After the countdown, Ricky and I hightailed it back to the hotel, we were tired. It took 30 minutes to go one block. We saw an ambulance stuck in the traffic in front of us and I thought, if it really was an emergency, the guy is probably dead. The streets were flooded with people, trying to get rides and then deciding it was better to walk. The subways were so fully that people were kept waiting outside the stops until people started clearing out. Nuts! But kinda fun to watch from the safter of your own car. Ha ha... In the end, Ricky and I walked through the middle of a NYEve concert to get back to the hotel...very eventful!
Day 3, was a tour of Taipei city. We started with breakfast at a local market (noodles, yummy) and then headed ov
er to the Palace Museum of Taiwan (故宮博物館). It's a must see for any tourist as the museum houses a lot of treasures that Chiang Kai Shek took from China when he fled the communists. The downer was that the main museum was under construction, hence a lot of the largest (and most spectacular) pieces were put away. Bummer... more for Ricky than for me. Then we had lunch. After lunch, Uncle Keith came and picked us up to go to more places. First we went to the Martyr's Shrine and was just in time to catch the changing of the guard (there's this whole ceremony -very fun). Then we went to the Grand Hotel for some pictures, another tourist must-see. After that, we stopped by the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial for som
e pictures. Whew, whirlwind tour of Taipei.
We went to a highly recommended Japanese restaurant for dinner, but Ricky was sick of Japanese food and therefore in a bit of a "mood". Food is THE most important thing for him. Haha... plus, before dinner we dropped bya mini night market (just happend to walk by) and bought fried stuff from a fried chicken stall (salty crunchy chicken). Ricky prefered the street vendors to the fancy restaurants, so even though we ruined our appetites for dinner, it was OK.
After
dinner, we took the mass transit (me for the first time in Taiwan!) to Shi Lin Night Market, the largest night market in Taipei. It was really crowded! We walked around, just to get the "experience" but didn't really buy anything. I wasn't in the mood to push around with other people just to buy cheap stuff. But we did buy food...fried chicken steaks (there was a line), malaysian "pulled" tea (which came in a plastic bag...so Taiwan), pepper cakes, lots of yummy stuff at night markets. :)
Day 4, my parents left today becaue my mom has some cantonese opera performance on 1/3 that she had to go prepare for. Rick
y and I decided to just take it easy and chill out. We went to some of the shopping malls in the area just to see the city (as the locals do!). We made it a point to go to a bubble tea place that is famous for being "the first" bubble tea store in Taiwan. Started in Tai Chung, it opened a chain store in Taipei, no doubt knowing they could make a few extra $$ that way. Then we spent a few hours at Eslite book store, 8 stories with a coffee shop, a tea shop, gift shop, etc. Ricky and I love buying books...so we went nuts. Ricky bought mostly books for learning Chinese, which often not available in the U.S. I bought some souvenirs for Helen and Heidi. For Helen, and architect book, and for Heidi, a day planner printed especially by Eslite...and a Chinese novel for myself.
We got lost in the book store, had too much fun, and was almost late to Catherine's b-day party!! The party was at a Xin Jiang barbecue place, very cute. The only draw back is the Xin Jiang people eat a lot of lamb, and we don't...ugh. But the company was great, my old TAS friends. It was so much fun catching up and seeing what everyone is doing now. Yuting and Andrea, who weren't at Cathy's wedding also came, so it was nice seeing them!
Day 5, after one last Taiwanese style lunch, it was time to go back to HK. I'm gonna miss Taiwan!
