Time flies..when you're busy. And trying to make up work for school like crazy.
SO...Summary of trip:
AMAZING. AWESOME. CANT EVEN DESCRIBE IT.
Anyway, now I can eat with chopsticks. And I know about 30 Chinese words/phrases.
and she likes hot asian guys.
Well...her cousin Yusin is pretty cute. And only 22 ;-).
Oh, and neither of us gained any weight. Go figure.
It's been two weeks, and we're still missing Taiwan. VERY MUCH.
northville is very boring. practically nothing to do. it's very flat in michigan. it's very rural in michigan. it's very blah in michigan.
taiwan, we will be back in five years.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Going Home
The night before, we had set out alarm for 5:30...because the taxi was supposed to come at 6 to take us to the airport.
4:30, Steph's grandma wakes us up.
grandma: "an-an it's 5:30, get up!!"
stephanie: "grandma ..... *looks at clock groggily* it's 4:30!"
kari also groggily points at clock
grandma: "no your clock is slow! go check the one outside!"
i go and check. it says 4:30
cleaning lady: "ah ma! it's 4:30!"
grandma: "oh goshh sorry. AH GONG (grandpa) YOU SAID IT WAS 5:30!!!"
Sooo..we went back to sleep. And woke up at 5:30. For real this time.
After a hurried breakfast, we said goodbye to Steph's grandpa and the cleaning lady, and the taxi took us to the airport along with Aunt Karen and her grandma.
i nearly cried, i was so sad.
Me too...it felt awful to be leaving.
At the airport, after standing in the wrong line for half an hour, and finding that one of the suitcases was overweight (fortunately Steph's aunt has connections..so we didn't have to pay extra), we said our final goodbyes and got on the plane.
and flew for a long time. but it felt much shorter b/c the audio was working this time.
the end. we got back.
dad's car almost got towed :-/
My parents flipped over my hair. Not really. But they were surprised.
my dad flipped over my fatness. really. but he was not suprised.
;)
the end!
4:30, Steph's grandma wakes us up.
grandma: "an-an it's 5:30, get up!!"
stephanie: "grandma ..... *looks at clock groggily* it's 4:30!"
kari also groggily points at clock
grandma: "no your clock is slow! go check the one outside!"
i go and check. it says 4:30
cleaning lady: "ah ma! it's 4:30!"
grandma: "oh goshh sorry. AH GONG (grandpa) YOU SAID IT WAS 5:30!!!"
Sooo..we went back to sleep. And woke up at 5:30. For real this time.
After a hurried breakfast, we said goodbye to Steph's grandpa and the cleaning lady, and the taxi took us to the airport along with Aunt Karen and her grandma.
i nearly cried, i was so sad.
Me too...it felt awful to be leaving.
At the airport, after standing in the wrong line for half an hour, and finding that one of the suitcases was overweight (fortunately Steph's aunt has connections..so we didn't have to pay extra), we said our final goodbyes and got on the plane.
and flew for a long time. but it felt much shorter b/c the audio was working this time.
the end. we got back.
dad's car almost got towed :-/
My parents flipped over my hair. Not really. But they were surprised.
my dad flipped over my fatness. really. but he was not suprised.
;)
the end!
Last Full Day
We woke up around 10..11?...so we didn't get much sleep, considering how late we'd been out. After a small breakfast (about half a red bean bun each) Steph's two older cousins arrived. We had some time to kill while waiting for the adults before going out for lunch, so we lazed around in the movie theater room.
We were obviously quite exhausted.
the next thing we did was go visit my deceased grandpa at his um.. shrine, i guess you could call it. the place is really high on a mountaintop, so we drove up and when we got out, the sun was literally beating down on us. we walked in and the interior is decorated with lots of gold and pictures of different deities etc. it looked pretty intricate. so then we rode the elevator up to the floor where my grandpa is buried. first we had to wash different fruits as an offering to the gods, then we burned incense sticks and prayed to the gods (it was slightly awkward because i am agnostic). people are all cremated for the most part, because of lack of space, and so the place was filled with a bunch of compartments to house the remains. stickers on the compartments represented if the person was male/female, dead/alive, or no one had yet purchased the box. picking the box is a tricky thing because you have to follow fung shui rules: the ones in the best, most harmonious spots cost the most, etc.
I obviously did not participate in this. Steph, her two cousins, and her uncles did, and I watched. It was really interesting.
okay. that's all for that. we left and went to eat lunch at a superfancy italian restaurant owned by a japanese guy. but the food was delicious.
Steph's dentist cousin took us, and ordered everything for us. It didn't taste exactly like Italian back in the States...but it was still really good.
Afterwards we said goodbye to her cousins and her dad's side of the family (SO SAD. WE MISS THEM. A LOT.) and then went back to her grandparents' apartment. Where we proceeded to put off packing.
we put off packing for a very long time.. until it was time to eat dinner. so we ate a GINORMOUS dinner with my mutti's side of the family. it was all very good but i was so very full.
Last delicious meal in Taiwan. :-(
Then...it was time to pack. Frantically. Unbelievable how much stuff we accumulated...Steph's aunt brought us this huge extendable suitcase so that we'd be able to fit everything in, and our four bags were stuffed to the max.
i got a huge workout hauling the bags to figure out how heavy they were. i am now buff.
Then we went to bed....
We were obviously quite exhausted.
the next thing we did was go visit my deceased grandpa at his um.. shrine, i guess you could call it. the place is really high on a mountaintop, so we drove up and when we got out, the sun was literally beating down on us. we walked in and the interior is decorated with lots of gold and pictures of different deities etc. it looked pretty intricate. so then we rode the elevator up to the floor where my grandpa is buried. first we had to wash different fruits as an offering to the gods, then we burned incense sticks and prayed to the gods (it was slightly awkward because i am agnostic). people are all cremated for the most part, because of lack of space, and so the place was filled with a bunch of compartments to house the remains. stickers on the compartments represented if the person was male/female, dead/alive, or no one had yet purchased the box. picking the box is a tricky thing because you have to follow fung shui rules: the ones in the best, most harmonious spots cost the most, etc.
I obviously did not participate in this. Steph, her two cousins, and her uncles did, and I watched. It was really interesting.
okay. that's all for that. we left and went to eat lunch at a superfancy italian restaurant owned by a japanese guy. but the food was delicious.
Steph's dentist cousin took us, and ordered everything for us. It didn't taste exactly like Italian back in the States...but it was still really good.
Afterwards we said goodbye to her cousins and her dad's side of the family (SO SAD. WE MISS THEM. A LOT.) and then went back to her grandparents' apartment. Where we proceeded to put off packing.
we put off packing for a very long time.. until it was time to eat dinner. so we ate a GINORMOUS dinner with my mutti's side of the family. it was all very good but i was so very full.
Last delicious meal in Taiwan. :-(
Then...it was time to pack. Frantically. Unbelievable how much stuff we accumulated...Steph's aunt brought us this huge extendable suitcase so that we'd be able to fit everything in, and our four bags were stuffed to the max.
i got a huge workout hauling the bags to figure out how heavy they were. i am now buff.
Then we went to bed....
what really happened on new years eve
So that morning, Steph's uncle on her mom's side took us to Leofoo Amusement Park. Her aunt was supposed to come too, but couldn't, so her grandma came. Steph was less than thrilled.
(not about my grandma coming, the fact that we were going to an amusement park.)
It was about a two hour drive there, during which we napped. When we got there, the first thing we saw was a Christmas parade, complete with fake snow and people dressed up as gingerbread men etc. We also saw dogs that Stephanie swore looked fake. Hmm.
they looked like teddy bears turned into dogs or something. it was REALLY bizzare.
So of course the first ride we go on was a WATER RIDE. Her uncle and grandma wanted to go, and no amount of "it's too cold!" would persuade them otherwise.
we got very wet. the end.
Steph's grandma was not too happy about getting wet, after she had been the one who was all enthusiastic.
quote "these are wool pants, wool doesn't DRY!" kari and i were in jeans. those don't dry either.
Next was passed "the screaming condor," the fastest roller coaster ride in the park. I looked at Steph to see if she wanted to go and she vigorously shook her head no. I then looked at her uncle and grandma. And they didn't want to go either. Basically nobody but me wanted to go. And I didn't want to go alone, so I didn't get to. But that was ok.
IT LOOKED SO SCARY. KARI IS CRAZY.
It looked exciting...to me, anyway. ANYWAY-
- it was like asking for a death wish-
anyhow, it was about lunchtime, so we decided to get bentos which were less than stellar (pretty much the only bad food we've had the entire trip). i saw a vendor that was selling PRETZELS and i adore pretzels, so i eagerly went to buy one. the price was a rip-off, but whatever, how could pretzels go wrong?
they were wrong. there was CHEESE inside. who puts cheese inside pretzelsssss?? so i tried to trade it back but apparently there is no such thing as pretzels without cheese. so i wasted money. blahh. k and i both don't like cheese, so no one was going to eat it. my grandma ate some and asked me why i wasn't eating it. i said i don't like cheese. she asked why kari wasn't eating it. i said she didn't like cheese either. my grandma went, "you guys are americans and don't like cheese? americans love cheese! how do you live in america and not like cheese?"
i don't know grandma, i don't know.
After lunch we wandered into the South Pacific themed part of the park, and then the Aladdin part. Where we saw pyramids and sphinxes mixed into the decor (?!?). But we went on a couple of rides, and they were pretty fun. One was supposed to be like a jeep ride through caverns underneath the sultan's palace, and we agreed that that one was the best. We were disappointed by another...like a mini roller coaster but the seats spin, called Tornado. But ours didn't spin. Huh. We rode another mini roller coaster, too.
Our reactions:
Next was the zoo portion.
so we saw this thing called the monkey ride or whatever, where you basically ride a suspended two person bike around the park. so it was fun and we got to see all these really funny monkeys. i got really excited when we neared the flamingos b/c they are pink and interesting looking. so we pedal closer
and i go "kari! flamingos!"
then i go "ugh they smell bad! PEDAL FASTER!!"
so we jetted out of there. who knew flamingos smelled so bad?
We also took a bus tour/safari and saw lions, bears, hippos, baboons, and other exotic animals. So that was pretty cool. Although all through the zoo part we felt bad for the animals...especially this one camel who was giving rides to kids. It looked so tired.
At this point we'd seen pretty much everything. And done pretty much everything. EXCEPT that roller coaster. But nobody wanted to do it still, so we got ice cream and left.
ice cream. yummm.
it took another two hours-ish to drive back, so kari and i quickly got ready to go to my uncle's house for a new year's dinner.
I was NOT too happy. I took a shower...and then found out we had to leave in about ten minutes. So I still had wet hair, was makeup-less, and quite frazzled by the time we got on the MRT. Which was absolutely PACKED. People shoulder to shoulder, bumping into each other whenever the train swayed. It was so crazy that day, it would randomly stop and messages would come up saying sorry for the wait and then it would start up again. It took us twice as long to get to Taipei as it normally did.
after a long MRT ride, we finally made it. my cousin, eric, came to pick us up and we had to walk back to their apartment. so we arrived ladadada and ate a pretty delicious dinner. EXCEPT k and i were tricked into eating ......
......
..........
COW STOMACH.
GAAAGGG. it was not very good, and the texture was sort of rubbery. bleh.
You could tell there was kind of the outer stomach and the inner lining part....Steph's aunt refused to tell us what it was and insisted we eat it. And then she told us and we both turned green.
yeah. gross. then we primped and got ready to go to the Taipei City Hall, close to the Taipei 101. There was a huge concert going on and the place was packed with over 100,000 people. It's sort of like Times Square in NY, so we had to squeeze our way in and out. we formed sort of a conga line ahahah. (me, kari, eric, and yusin- my two older cousins took us there.) when we finally settled on a place to sit down, a couple of famous bands came to play like Mayday. There was this other group that was absolutely AWFUL, i kept wincing. just too chipper and boy band. however, overall it was really sweet and there were small fireworks going off randomly and confetti etc.
then it came time for the countdown to the fireworks going off on the 101. i recorded it but uh.. counted wrongly haahha. what a doof. anyhow, it still looks really cool, though a bit like the 101 is exploding. the fireworks were quite pretty, and everyone oohed and ahhed and lasted about 4 minutes or so. it was really exciting to be there, packed in with thousands of people, all screaming and cheering. it was fantastic.
Yeah, it was pretty amazing. Normally I'd be sitting at home in front of the TV with my family watching the countdown. This year, we were actually there. It was awesome.
Afterwards it was almost as bad as a mosh pit...so many people going in different directions. We saw someone faint, and we had to all hold on to each other to avoid being separated. We didn't actually manage to get out of the huge mob until about 1. We got to a department store to try to find a bathroom...and there was a ginormous line for the ladies'. So we tried a different place, and there was still a huge line. So we said screw this, and Eric and Yusin led us to the men's bathroom. Which was slightly awkward, but we weren't the only girls in there.
the most awk part was that the urinals were right across from the sinks, so we couldn't really look in the mirror.
While there, we got ice cream (AGAIN) and then we set out to find a good place to play with our sparklers. Me and Steph had bought them from a lady on a corner on Christmas Day, and had hoped we'd get a chance to use them.
sparklers kick ass. it was sort of magical to play with them on new years eve, in the dark, with other random people, just waving them around and "painting" pretty pictures and whatnot. i had the best time. it was like i was 6 again. :)
It was a struggle to light them at first, but once we got them going it was great. And yeah, other people randomly joined in and it was just so much fun. We all just stood in the middle of a parking lot (by the way, the streets looked like a hurricane had hit. Garbage etc. everywhere) and waved them around.
After that...we hung out some more. And got home quite late. But it was a really great day.
(not about my grandma coming, the fact that we were going to an amusement park.)
It was about a two hour drive there, during which we napped. When we got there, the first thing we saw was a Christmas parade, complete with fake snow and people dressed up as gingerbread men etc. We also saw dogs that Stephanie swore looked fake. Hmm.
they looked like teddy bears turned into dogs or something. it was REALLY bizzare.
So of course the first ride we go on was a WATER RIDE. Her uncle and grandma wanted to go, and no amount of "it's too cold!" would persuade them otherwise.
we got very wet. the end.
Steph's grandma was not too happy about getting wet, after she had been the one who was all enthusiastic.
quote "these are wool pants, wool doesn't DRY!" kari and i were in jeans. those don't dry either.
Next was passed "the screaming condor," the fastest roller coaster ride in the park. I looked at Steph to see if she wanted to go and she vigorously shook her head no. I then looked at her uncle and grandma. And they didn't want to go either. Basically nobody but me wanted to go. And I didn't want to go alone, so I didn't get to. But that was ok.
IT LOOKED SO SCARY. KARI IS CRAZY.
It looked exciting...to me, anyway. ANYWAY-
- it was like asking for a death wish-
anyhow, it was about lunchtime, so we decided to get bentos which were less than stellar (pretty much the only bad food we've had the entire trip). i saw a vendor that was selling PRETZELS and i adore pretzels, so i eagerly went to buy one. the price was a rip-off, but whatever, how could pretzels go wrong?
they were wrong. there was CHEESE inside. who puts cheese inside pretzelsssss?? so i tried to trade it back but apparently there is no such thing as pretzels without cheese. so i wasted money. blahh. k and i both don't like cheese, so no one was going to eat it. my grandma ate some and asked me why i wasn't eating it. i said i don't like cheese. she asked why kari wasn't eating it. i said she didn't like cheese either. my grandma went, "you guys are americans and don't like cheese? americans love cheese! how do you live in america and not like cheese?"
i don't know grandma, i don't know.
After lunch we wandered into the South Pacific themed part of the park, and then the Aladdin part. Where we saw pyramids and sphinxes mixed into the decor (?!?). But we went on a couple of rides, and they were pretty fun. One was supposed to be like a jeep ride through caverns underneath the sultan's palace, and we agreed that that one was the best. We were disappointed by another...like a mini roller coaster but the seats spin, called Tornado. But ours didn't spin. Huh. We rode another mini roller coaster, too.
Our reactions:
Next was the zoo portion.
so we saw this thing called the monkey ride or whatever, where you basically ride a suspended two person bike around the park. so it was fun and we got to see all these really funny monkeys. i got really excited when we neared the flamingos b/c they are pink and interesting looking. so we pedal closer
and i go "kari! flamingos!"
then i go "ugh they smell bad! PEDAL FASTER!!"
so we jetted out of there. who knew flamingos smelled so bad?
We also took a bus tour/safari and saw lions, bears, hippos, baboons, and other exotic animals. So that was pretty cool. Although all through the zoo part we felt bad for the animals...especially this one camel who was giving rides to kids. It looked so tired.
At this point we'd seen pretty much everything. And done pretty much everything. EXCEPT that roller coaster. But nobody wanted to do it still, so we got ice cream and left.
ice cream. yummm.
it took another two hours-ish to drive back, so kari and i quickly got ready to go to my uncle's house for a new year's dinner.
I was NOT too happy. I took a shower...and then found out we had to leave in about ten minutes. So I still had wet hair, was makeup-less, and quite frazzled by the time we got on the MRT. Which was absolutely PACKED. People shoulder to shoulder, bumping into each other whenever the train swayed. It was so crazy that day, it would randomly stop and messages would come up saying sorry for the wait and then it would start up again. It took us twice as long to get to Taipei as it normally did.
after a long MRT ride, we finally made it. my cousin, eric, came to pick us up and we had to walk back to their apartment. so we arrived ladadada and ate a pretty delicious dinner. EXCEPT k and i were tricked into eating ......
......
..........
COW STOMACH.
GAAAGGG. it was not very good, and the texture was sort of rubbery. bleh.
You could tell there was kind of the outer stomach and the inner lining part....Steph's aunt refused to tell us what it was and insisted we eat it. And then she told us and we both turned green.
yeah. gross. then we primped and got ready to go to the Taipei City Hall, close to the Taipei 101. There was a huge concert going on and the place was packed with over 100,000 people. It's sort of like Times Square in NY, so we had to squeeze our way in and out. we formed sort of a conga line ahahah. (me, kari, eric, and yusin- my two older cousins took us there.) when we finally settled on a place to sit down, a couple of famous bands came to play like Mayday. There was this other group that was absolutely AWFUL, i kept wincing. just too chipper and boy band. however, overall it was really sweet and there were small fireworks going off randomly and confetti etc.
then it came time for the countdown to the fireworks going off on the 101. i recorded it but uh.. counted wrongly haahha. what a doof. anyhow, it still looks really cool, though a bit like the 101 is exploding. the fireworks were quite pretty, and everyone oohed and ahhed and lasted about 4 minutes or so. it was really exciting to be there, packed in with thousands of people, all screaming and cheering. it was fantastic.
Yeah, it was pretty amazing. Normally I'd be sitting at home in front of the TV with my family watching the countdown. This year, we were actually there. It was awesome.
Afterwards it was almost as bad as a mosh pit...so many people going in different directions. We saw someone faint, and we had to all hold on to each other to avoid being separated. We didn't actually manage to get out of the huge mob until about 1. We got to a department store to try to find a bathroom...and there was a ginormous line for the ladies'. So we tried a different place, and there was still a huge line. So we said screw this, and Eric and Yusin led us to the men's bathroom. Which was slightly awkward, but we weren't the only girls in there.
the most awk part was that the urinals were right across from the sinks, so we couldn't really look in the mirror.
While there, we got ice cream (AGAIN) and then we set out to find a good place to play with our sparklers. Me and Steph had bought them from a lady on a corner on Christmas Day, and had hoped we'd get a chance to use them.
sparklers kick ass. it was sort of magical to play with them on new years eve, in the dark, with other random people, just waving them around and "painting" pretty pictures and whatnot. i had the best time. it was like i was 6 again. :)
It was a struggle to light them at first, but once we got them going it was great. And yeah, other people randomly joined in and it was just so much fun. We all just stood in the middle of a parking lot (by the way, the streets looked like a hurricane had hit. Garbage etc. everywhere) and waved them around.
After that...we hung out some more. And got home quite late. But it was a really great day.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
day 14
We actually woke up early (for once) to go pick up our professional pictures from the studio in Taipei. Aunt Karen and Uncle King (that name still cracks me up) drove us, and then they dropped us off at Steph's other aunt and uncle's apartment (the ones on her dad's side).
Steph's two older cousins were home for the weekend, and we got to talk a bit...sort of, in my case...because their English isn't that great. The older one is 26, and his English name is Eric. The younger one is 22 and I guess he doesn't have an English name? So I still don't know what to call him.
Anyway, the two of them, Steph's aunt and uncle, her grandma, and us went to go eat lunch together. Where I was tricked into eating eel. Although to be honest it just tasted like fish and if they hadn't told me what it was I wouldn't have known.
oh yeah, after lunch we went to the sun yat sen memorial hall and looked around for a bit. there was an anti-aids gathering going on. there was singing, and a few teen dancing groups.
my cousins are really funny. later they took us by SCOOTER (YESSSS) to a flower market. it was so very fun. we had to wear helmets that look like they came from speed racer. haaha. very unattractive. but the scootering was great. i love zooming around on them.
Steph's ridden on scooters before, but I haven't. So this was all new to me. But it was fun, and it feels like you're going fast because of the wind in your face. Although remember Taiwan's speed limits are not very high, so we weren't actually going very quickly. So don't worry mom and dad, they're pretty safe. Scooters seat two, so each of us went with one of her cousins and then switched on the way back from the flower market.
At the flower market, we basically wandered around and looked at a bunch of the plants. There were some really sweet bonsais and lots of orchids, etc. Steph loved the miniature cactuses, but sadly we can't bring any plants back to the U.S. with us. I bought an orchid to give to Steph's grandparents to thank them for letting us stay with us, and she bought a plate and some carved wooden pigs (haha).
so after our wonderful flower experience, it was time to go eat dinner with my girl cousin (forgot her english name). it's weird to call her my cousin because she's around 45 or something like that. unfortunately.. dinner was at a very renowned.. SEAFOOD PLACE.
i really really do not like seafood. i ate a lot of pickles. and drank a LOT of juice.
I ended up eating eel (again) and shrimp..and fish..and crab..and I don't remember exactly what else. But it was good, and very fresh.
After dinner we to Steph's cousin's apartment (the big one, that he owns himself) to karaoke...quite the entertaining experience. The adults sang Chinese songs, and Steph and I sang Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Billie Jean, and a couple other English songs.
it was really fun. but the highlight for me was watching my two cousins sing jay chou. hehehee. they can't sing AT ALL. but they still valiantly ploughed on. :D it was great.
time passed VERY quickly, it was already 11:20 pm when we finished our little KTV experience and headed back. k and i were extremely tired and pretty much fell asleep immediately.
Steph's two older cousins were home for the weekend, and we got to talk a bit...sort of, in my case...because their English isn't that great. The older one is 26, and his English name is Eric. The younger one is 22 and I guess he doesn't have an English name? So I still don't know what to call him.
Anyway, the two of them, Steph's aunt and uncle, her grandma, and us went to go eat lunch together. Where I was tricked into eating eel. Although to be honest it just tasted like fish and if they hadn't told me what it was I wouldn't have known.
oh yeah, after lunch we went to the sun yat sen memorial hall and looked around for a bit. there was an anti-aids gathering going on. there was singing, and a few teen dancing groups.
my cousins are really funny. later they took us by SCOOTER (YESSSS) to a flower market. it was so very fun. we had to wear helmets that look like they came from speed racer. haaha. very unattractive. but the scootering was great. i love zooming around on them.
Steph's ridden on scooters before, but I haven't. So this was all new to me. But it was fun, and it feels like you're going fast because of the wind in your face. Although remember Taiwan's speed limits are not very high, so we weren't actually going very quickly. So don't worry mom and dad, they're pretty safe. Scooters seat two, so each of us went with one of her cousins and then switched on the way back from the flower market.
At the flower market, we basically wandered around and looked at a bunch of the plants. There were some really sweet bonsais and lots of orchids, etc. Steph loved the miniature cactuses, but sadly we can't bring any plants back to the U.S. with us. I bought an orchid to give to Steph's grandparents to thank them for letting us stay with us, and she bought a plate and some carved wooden pigs (haha).
so after our wonderful flower experience, it was time to go eat dinner with my girl cousin (forgot her english name). it's weird to call her my cousin because she's around 45 or something like that. unfortunately.. dinner was at a very renowned.. SEAFOOD PLACE.
i really really do not like seafood. i ate a lot of pickles. and drank a LOT of juice.
I ended up eating eel (again) and shrimp..and fish..and crab..and I don't remember exactly what else. But it was good, and very fresh.
After dinner we to Steph's cousin's apartment (the big one, that he owns himself) to karaoke...quite the entertaining experience. The adults sang Chinese songs, and Steph and I sang Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Billie Jean, and a couple other English songs.
it was really fun. but the highlight for me was watching my two cousins sing jay chou. hehehee. they can't sing AT ALL. but they still valiantly ploughed on. :D it was great.
time passed VERY quickly, it was already 11:20 pm when we finished our little KTV experience and headed back. k and i were extremely tired and pretty much fell asleep immediately.
day 13
So this is the day we were supposed to go see Longshan Temple and the National Palace Museum....BUT. We overslept.
SO...after a late start, we decded to skip the temple and just go to the museum. We didn't have anybody to take us there, however, but we figured we could find it on our own. 2 and a half hours, two rides on the MRT, a taxi ride, a bus ride, and much confusion later we got there.
and only because we followed some college guys going to the same place. pathetic.
so we finally got there and marveled at the size.. entered, bought tickets, and went to see some exhibits. sadly for me, almost all the ones i thought looked interesting were not even open yet, like the ancient treasures of the forbidden city and the furniture from the something dynasty.
We did still see some cool stuff. Like Ju wares, ceramic pots that are very rare and known as very beautiful because of the light blue, somewhat transparent glaze used on them. We also saw an exhibit on calligraphy and wall paintings, a Tibetan exhibit, and also the evolution of pottery etc. There were some amazing jade carvings too, so intricate that you had to look through a magnifying glass to see all the details.
seeing everything took a lot longer than we expected, so we scurried down to the gift shops. (the museum closes at five) a lot of the scrolls for sale were really pretty, but also really expensive, but we did end up with a few cool things. which you guys will have to wait to find out about.
ah yes. then it was very cold, and the traffic was very bad (rush hour). we had to catch bus 255 to get back to shilin mrt station, so we could get back to the main taipei station, so we could get back to fuzhong station in banciao. there were many problems.
first, the buses were mucho full and we couldn't get on the first one that came by.
then, we had to wait in the cold.
next, we finally got on bus 255 which was also tres full and loud
even more, the bus was very jerky and we were crashing into people. (on the bus, not road)
once, the bus stopped very abruptly, and all the standing passengers (us) almost fell over.
after that, we finally got off but didn't know how to get to shilin, so we followed a bunch of schoolkids.
finally, we made it. (after getting to taipei main station, we're good to go)
The museum was worth all the trouble...I guess...but we were incredibly tired once we got back to Banciao. I fell asleep right away to be prodded awake by Steph an hour later so that we could go walk around. I fell back asleep. She then took my blankets. Bleh.
So we very sleepily (in my case) walked around Banciao, went into a couple of shops, and then walked back.
i was afraid people would think i was kidnapping kari and then mugging her or something because she was stumbling around. yikes.
So anyway, it was kind of a low-key evening after such a hectic day.
SO...after a late start, we decded to skip the temple and just go to the museum. We didn't have anybody to take us there, however, but we figured we could find it on our own. 2 and a half hours, two rides on the MRT, a taxi ride, a bus ride, and much confusion later we got there.
and only because we followed some college guys going to the same place. pathetic.
so we finally got there and marveled at the size.. entered, bought tickets, and went to see some exhibits. sadly for me, almost all the ones i thought looked interesting were not even open yet, like the ancient treasures of the forbidden city and the furniture from the something dynasty.
We did still see some cool stuff. Like Ju wares, ceramic pots that are very rare and known as very beautiful because of the light blue, somewhat transparent glaze used on them. We also saw an exhibit on calligraphy and wall paintings, a Tibetan exhibit, and also the evolution of pottery etc. There were some amazing jade carvings too, so intricate that you had to look through a magnifying glass to see all the details.
seeing everything took a lot longer than we expected, so we scurried down to the gift shops. (the museum closes at five) a lot of the scrolls for sale were really pretty, but also really expensive, but we did end up with a few cool things. which you guys will have to wait to find out about.
ah yes. then it was very cold, and the traffic was very bad (rush hour). we had to catch bus 255 to get back to shilin mrt station, so we could get back to the main taipei station, so we could get back to fuzhong station in banciao. there were many problems.
first, the buses were mucho full and we couldn't get on the first one that came by.
then, we had to wait in the cold.
next, we finally got on bus 255 which was also tres full and loud
even more, the bus was very jerky and we were crashing into people. (on the bus, not road)
once, the bus stopped very abruptly, and all the standing passengers (us) almost fell over.
after that, we finally got off but didn't know how to get to shilin, so we followed a bunch of schoolkids.
finally, we made it. (after getting to taipei main station, we're good to go)
The museum was worth all the trouble...I guess...but we were incredibly tired once we got back to Banciao. I fell asleep right away to be prodded awake by Steph an hour later so that we could go walk around. I fell back asleep. She then took my blankets. Bleh.
So we very sleepily (in my case) walked around Banciao, went into a couple of shops, and then walked back.
i was afraid people would think i was kidnapping kari and then mugging her or something because she was stumbling around. yikes.
So anyway, it was kind of a low-key evening after such a hectic day.
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