HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!
okay that's all. we're going to go party now.
see you in 2007!
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)