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.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
day 12
slept in again. it's become habit. karen arrived around 1 p.m. to take us to a vegetarian buffet.
oh. my. god. food again. AHHHHHHHHHH (though very good food)
so we tried a lot of different things and steamed buns etc that all tasted yummy. next? CAKES. we sampled 6 different types of cakes and then each ate a piece of our favorites. awful! then we tried different flavors of ice creams, too. afterwards, we felt super unhealthy so ate some healthy stuff like fruit and salad. my aunt brewed me a "slimming tea." you know you're getting fat when your AUNT brews you a SLIMMING TEA.
We also drank some of the almond tea again. It's so amazing, not kidding. It smells so good, like cherries, and we both bought some to take home.
A lot of today was riding in the car, and walking around Taipei in the rain. We went through Da'an park, which would have been really nice if it hadn't been such a gray day. And we also visited a supermarket, oogled the bread selection (looked yummy) and took pictures of strange foods. Like pig's heart.
And that's really been it..right now we're at Steph's Aunt Karen's, and we've been updating for the last couple of hours.
for your viewing pleasure.
tomorrow we're going to go to the National Palace Museum and Longshan Temple, so hopefully the weather is good!
all right. catch you all later.
oh. my. god. food again. AHHHHHHHHHH (though very good food)
so we tried a lot of different things and steamed buns etc that all tasted yummy. next? CAKES. we sampled 6 different types of cakes and then each ate a piece of our favorites. awful! then we tried different flavors of ice creams, too. afterwards, we felt super unhealthy so ate some healthy stuff like fruit and salad. my aunt brewed me a "slimming tea." you know you're getting fat when your AUNT brews you a SLIMMING TEA.
We also drank some of the almond tea again. It's so amazing, not kidding. It smells so good, like cherries, and we both bought some to take home.
A lot of today was riding in the car, and walking around Taipei in the rain. We went through Da'an park, which would have been really nice if it hadn't been such a gray day. And we also visited a supermarket, oogled the bread selection (looked yummy) and took pictures of strange foods. Like pig's heart.
And that's really been it..right now we're at Steph's Aunt Karen's, and we've been updating for the last couple of hours.
for your viewing pleasure.
tomorrow we're going to go to the National Palace Museum and Longshan Temple, so hopefully the weather is good!
all right. catch you all later.
day 11
after waking up late.. again, my nanny brought me and k to see her husband. it was really nice to visit, especially since he has cancer so i might not see him again next time. before that though, my nanny dragged me to see a few different people who knew me as a two-year-old. i didn't really recognize them, but that's okay. apparently i was a really fussy baby.
there is a bakery right next door to where my nanny lives that makes these HEAVENLY pineapple cakes. we bought some fresh out of the oven and they were SO SCRUMPTIOUS (i'm running out of synonyms for delicious).
While at Steph's nanny's apartment, she showed us lots of pictures of Steph as a toddler. (CUTE. although Steph doesn't think so) and then her nanny took us to the Lin Family Mansion and Gardens, right in Banciao, which we've been meaning to visit for a while. It was pretty amazing, all these huge buildings and ponds and trees right in the middle of the city. It was built 150 years ago, and it's routinely restored, so all the paintings and carvings on the walls seemed pretty fresh. Everything was so intricate: the lamps, the doors, the windows, all wood and beautifully carved.
I LOOK LIKE A BALL NOT A PERSON IN MY BABY PICTURES. SO EMBARRASSING!!
anyhow the Lin Family Mansion and Gardens is really pretty, and i pretended that it was my house (since my last name is lin. it was fun) k took a lot of pictures and i recorded a lot of footage. we even got some pictures with college students in traditional chinese dress. they were making a movie for a class or something like that.
then we came back, had some fried dumplings for dinner. once again, STUFFED.
Afterwards, since it wasn't too late yet, we went on a quest for jeans. Steph's mom wants her to buy a lot here, since you can get them hemmed for free and she can't often find good jeans back home. Enough to last her through college apparently. So anyway, that's what we were looking for this time in the shops in Banciao. We finally found a couple of pairs that fit her (yay!) and we're supposed to pick them up the next day after they're hemmed.
Each day is passing so quickly, because they're always pretty full. We've been lucky with the weather so far. 2 full weeks of rain were predicted, and it's only poured about 2 days, so we've been able to do a lot more than we could have otherwise, and Steph's relatives seem to have made it their mission to take us to as many different cool places as possible. So that's been awesome. Anyway, I guess that's about it for this day.
there is a bakery right next door to where my nanny lives that makes these HEAVENLY pineapple cakes. we bought some fresh out of the oven and they were SO SCRUMPTIOUS (i'm running out of synonyms for delicious).
While at Steph's nanny's apartment, she showed us lots of pictures of Steph as a toddler. (CUTE. although Steph doesn't think so) and then her nanny took us to the Lin Family Mansion and Gardens, right in Banciao, which we've been meaning to visit for a while. It was pretty amazing, all these huge buildings and ponds and trees right in the middle of the city. It was built 150 years ago, and it's routinely restored, so all the paintings and carvings on the walls seemed pretty fresh. Everything was so intricate: the lamps, the doors, the windows, all wood and beautifully carved.
I LOOK LIKE A BALL NOT A PERSON IN MY BABY PICTURES. SO EMBARRASSING!!
anyhow the Lin Family Mansion and Gardens is really pretty, and i pretended that it was my house (since my last name is lin. it was fun) k took a lot of pictures and i recorded a lot of footage. we even got some pictures with college students in traditional chinese dress. they were making a movie for a class or something like that.
then we came back, had some fried dumplings for dinner. once again, STUFFED.
Afterwards, since it wasn't too late yet, we went on a quest for jeans. Steph's mom wants her to buy a lot here, since you can get them hemmed for free and she can't often find good jeans back home. Enough to last her through college apparently. So anyway, that's what we were looking for this time in the shops in Banciao. We finally found a couple of pairs that fit her (yay!) and we're supposed to pick them up the next day after they're hemmed.
Each day is passing so quickly, because they're always pretty full. We've been lucky with the weather so far. 2 full weeks of rain were predicted, and it's only poured about 2 days, so we've been able to do a lot more than we could have otherwise, and Steph's relatives seem to have made it their mission to take us to as many different cool places as possible. So that's been awesome. Anyway, I guess that's about it for this day.
day 10
we woke up super late again. around 11. then we had some late breakfast at my cousin's then i talked with my old grandma a bit. she's 93! and very, very cute. she only speaks taiwanese though, and my taiwanese is sort of nonexistant, but i managed to say a few things and we laughed a bit etc. however it was time to go to tucheng to meet my aunt karen and uncle.. king. (his last name is wang, which means king in chinese, so he calls himself king. hehe)
mm we took the MRT (getting pretty good at it, actually) and rode to meet my relatives, then went to eat teppanyaki, which um.. sort of hard to describe. there's a really large stove (?) where meat and stuff is cooked right in front of you. sort of like benihana's. it was also very good. there's almost nothing that doesn't taste good here except for odd things like tripe and pig tongue.
Yeah, to be honest I've liked almost everything I've had here. Only few exceptions are things that that are mostly made of glutin...not too crazy about that. And this Japanese fishball thing (narutos?). Yuck. But really, most everything is good.
After that they took us by car to the Hot Springs at Wulai. There was a resort sort of place where we rented two rooms by the river with the hot baths in them. One for Steph's aunt and uncle and one for Steph and I. There was a big tub in the center of the room, and three walls surrounding it. The third had a railing since we were pretty high up, and it opened out to the river so we could look at the view. We filled up the bath, and you could see the steam coming off the water it was so hot. (at least I thought it was hot...like PAINFULLY hot. Steph informs me otherwise.)
kari has a very low pain threshold. her hot is not hot and her cold is not cold. the lukewarm water to me was hot to her. the cold water to her was on the lower end of lukeworm. so unfortunately, i dipped myself in a warm bath and for kari it was super hot.
I DO NOT. Steph just has an unreasonablely high pain threshold. Seriously, the water was boiling. STEAM was coming off of it.
IF IT'S NOT STEAMING, ITS NOT HOT. DUH. IT'S SUPPOSED TO HAVE STEAM.
so yeah. at hot springs you don't go in with anything on. you have to be naked and all you have to cover you is a teeny towel. so kari was kind of iffy about it (i was used to it because i went to japan 2 years ago and went to their hot springs). but it didn't end up being awkward, except for the part where her hot was not hot.
I left my bathing suit in Banciao anyway, since we went straight from Taipei to Wulai. And Steph didn't have a bathing suit. But it was really ok. And the water felt really good once it cooled down a little bit. We got an hour in the room, because that's all we rented it for, and then we got out all pink. (red, in my case. actually quite red)
We then drank tea and coffee (I'm actually getting to quite like tea. Although coffee is still ick.) and Steph's aunt and uncle took our bags back to Banciao while we headed off to the Shilin Night Market by MRT.
it was really busy and full of food, jewelry, and just every imaginable vendor. kari got a cool pair of sunglasses (my pickkkk- i am so trendy. heehee) and we looked at more earrings and clothes. we had some really delicious almond drink, and a strawberry stick thing coated with sugar/honey hardened syrup. umm we also had sweet potato cooked a special way- i really liked this. yum. so basically, a lot more shopping. i saw a shaved ice restaurant, and kari has never tried it before, so i dragged her in. shaved ice is super good. it was flavored with condensed milk then over it we put red beans and peanuts.
then there was another portion that was just filled with tiny restaurants. MORE FOOD. GAH. i can't handle it anymore! there were some small gift shops too where we bought some presents for friends etc.
Finally we took the subway back and went to bed.
mm we took the MRT (getting pretty good at it, actually) and rode to meet my relatives, then went to eat teppanyaki, which um.. sort of hard to describe. there's a really large stove (?) where meat and stuff is cooked right in front of you. sort of like benihana's. it was also very good. there's almost nothing that doesn't taste good here except for odd things like tripe and pig tongue.
Yeah, to be honest I've liked almost everything I've had here. Only few exceptions are things that that are mostly made of glutin...not too crazy about that. And this Japanese fishball thing (narutos?). Yuck. But really, most everything is good.
After that they took us by car to the Hot Springs at Wulai. There was a resort sort of place where we rented two rooms by the river with the hot baths in them. One for Steph's aunt and uncle and one for Steph and I. There was a big tub in the center of the room, and three walls surrounding it. The third had a railing since we were pretty high up, and it opened out to the river so we could look at the view. We filled up the bath, and you could see the steam coming off the water it was so hot. (at least I thought it was hot...like PAINFULLY hot. Steph informs me otherwise.)
kari has a very low pain threshold. her hot is not hot and her cold is not cold. the lukewarm water to me was hot to her. the cold water to her was on the lower end of lukeworm. so unfortunately, i dipped myself in a warm bath and for kari it was super hot.
I DO NOT. Steph just has an unreasonablely high pain threshold. Seriously, the water was boiling. STEAM was coming off of it.
IF IT'S NOT STEAMING, ITS NOT HOT. DUH. IT'S SUPPOSED TO HAVE STEAM.
so yeah. at hot springs you don't go in with anything on. you have to be naked and all you have to cover you is a teeny towel. so kari was kind of iffy about it (i was used to it because i went to japan 2 years ago and went to their hot springs). but it didn't end up being awkward, except for the part where her hot was not hot.
I left my bathing suit in Banciao anyway, since we went straight from Taipei to Wulai. And Steph didn't have a bathing suit. But it was really ok. And the water felt really good once it cooled down a little bit. We got an hour in the room, because that's all we rented it for, and then we got out all pink. (red, in my case. actually quite red)
We then drank tea and coffee (I'm actually getting to quite like tea. Although coffee is still ick.) and Steph's aunt and uncle took our bags back to Banciao while we headed off to the Shilin Night Market by MRT.
it was really busy and full of food, jewelry, and just every imaginable vendor. kari got a cool pair of sunglasses (my pickkkk- i am so trendy. heehee) and we looked at more earrings and clothes. we had some really delicious almond drink, and a strawberry stick thing coated with sugar/honey hardened syrup. umm we also had sweet potato cooked a special way- i really liked this. yum. so basically, a lot more shopping. i saw a shaved ice restaurant, and kari has never tried it before, so i dragged her in. shaved ice is super good. it was flavored with condensed milk then over it we put red beans and peanuts.
then there was another portion that was just filled with tiny restaurants. MORE FOOD. GAH. i can't handle it anymore! there were some small gift shops too where we bought some presents for friends etc.
Finally we took the subway back and went to bed.
day 9
Christmas Day! Although it didn't feel like it. No snow etc. We wandered around Banciao for a bit, discovering that a christmas tree had appeared overnight by the Hi-Mart, and early that afternoon we took the MRT into Taipei.
when we arrived in taipei, i had this glorious plan to drop off our bags at my dentist cousin's office before going to the taipei 101, but.... plans were ruined after an experience with this asshole taxi driver. so we got in and i said to go to "jie long lu" (jie long road) at the crossroad with the night market. however, my chinese isn't THAT good, so i didn't know how to say everything with all the roads and whatnot. believe it or not, this dumbass yelled at me! i'm the CUSTOMER. a PAYING customer! AND A FOREIGNER. AND A TEENAGER. jeez. so he said "hey, it's not like all taxi drivers know every single road." for pete's sake you are a TAXI DRIVER. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE ROADS. so yeah i offered for him to just take us to jie long road and we'd search ourselves, and in a very bad tone he replied "it's like 6 km long, you're going to search for it yourself?" so i got really pissed off and just said "fine. just take us to the frickin taipei 101." so he did and we left without saying goodbye. GOOD RIDDANCE.
Ok. So yeah, then we went into the Taipei 101...the tallest building in the world. It's filled with the most expensive designer stores... Prada, Gucci, Dolche and Gabbana...you get the picture. We didn't really go into much, because obviously we don't have that much money (sadly). Although we did have fun looking at the jewelry at Tiffany's. Then we went up to the observatory via the fastest elevator in the world, 101 meters per minute, up to the 89th floor. It was a bit cloudy, so we couldn't see all that far, but you could still look over the entirety of Taipei. We took the listening tour, and when it got dark the whole city was lit up and it looked really cool.
my favorite is watching the little teeny cars. anyway, we decided it was time to eat dinner so we went down to the basement where the food court is. it's HUGE. i've never seen a larger selection of foods in one food court. we walked around in a circle about 2.5 times before settling on what to eat. kari had a japanese thing.. something-don. anyhow i sampled some and it tasted really good. it was a rice bowl (well like cauldron) with fried eggs and onions, then over that was chicken. it came with a soup hotpot. and mine? EVEN LARGER. holy crap, okay. i had a sizzling plate of spicy pepper beef with onions and bean sprouts with some tofu and egg on the side, then a bowl of rice, a bowl of veggies, and a bowl of soup. it was so good, but way too big.
Side note: All the places in the food court have plastic representations of the food they serve...so bowls of plastic shrimp, chicken, etc. in glass cases. Which I thought was kind of funny. Ok back to Steph.
i always get really thirsty here, because instead of a drink to quench your thirst, everyone has hot soup. and i'm just not used to it, i need something cold to wash down my meals. so right behind me was a fruit smoothie shop that looked so delish, so we got a papaya milkshake. SO GOOD. it was seriously, so so good. afterwards i looked at kari and then we decided to get another drink. hehehe. so then we got a kiwi slushie, which was also really amazing. i love fruit!!
By the way, we're splitting almost everything here because the portions are so huge. It's rare when we don't. But it's STILL so much food...we both still end up really full.
After leaving the Taipei 101, we met up with Steph's dentist cousin and he took us to his apartment, where we were to spend the night. After hot showers, we went down to the movie theater in his basement to watch Pirates 2..which Steph hadn't seen yet and I've seen twice. Haha. So we finished watching at about 3 in the morning, and went to bed. Merry Christmas.
when we arrived in taipei, i had this glorious plan to drop off our bags at my dentist cousin's office before going to the taipei 101, but.... plans were ruined after an experience with this asshole taxi driver. so we got in and i said to go to "jie long lu" (jie long road) at the crossroad with the night market. however, my chinese isn't THAT good, so i didn't know how to say everything with all the roads and whatnot. believe it or not, this dumbass yelled at me! i'm the CUSTOMER. a PAYING customer! AND A FOREIGNER. AND A TEENAGER. jeez. so he said "hey, it's not like all taxi drivers know every single road." for pete's sake you are a TAXI DRIVER. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE ROADS. so yeah i offered for him to just take us to jie long road and we'd search ourselves, and in a very bad tone he replied "it's like 6 km long, you're going to search for it yourself?" so i got really pissed off and just said "fine. just take us to the frickin taipei 101." so he did and we left without saying goodbye. GOOD RIDDANCE.
Ok. So yeah, then we went into the Taipei 101...the tallest building in the world. It's filled with the most expensive designer stores... Prada, Gucci, Dolche and Gabbana...you get the picture. We didn't really go into much, because obviously we don't have that much money (sadly). Although we did have fun looking at the jewelry at Tiffany's. Then we went up to the observatory via the fastest elevator in the world, 101 meters per minute, up to the 89th floor. It was a bit cloudy, so we couldn't see all that far, but you could still look over the entirety of Taipei. We took the listening tour, and when it got dark the whole city was lit up and it looked really cool.
my favorite is watching the little teeny cars. anyway, we decided it was time to eat dinner so we went down to the basement where the food court is. it's HUGE. i've never seen a larger selection of foods in one food court. we walked around in a circle about 2.5 times before settling on what to eat. kari had a japanese thing.. something-don. anyhow i sampled some and it tasted really good. it was a rice bowl (well like cauldron) with fried eggs and onions, then over that was chicken. it came with a soup hotpot. and mine? EVEN LARGER. holy crap, okay. i had a sizzling plate of spicy pepper beef with onions and bean sprouts with some tofu and egg on the side, then a bowl of rice, a bowl of veggies, and a bowl of soup. it was so good, but way too big.
Side note: All the places in the food court have plastic representations of the food they serve...so bowls of plastic shrimp, chicken, etc. in glass cases. Which I thought was kind of funny. Ok back to Steph.
i always get really thirsty here, because instead of a drink to quench your thirst, everyone has hot soup. and i'm just not used to it, i need something cold to wash down my meals. so right behind me was a fruit smoothie shop that looked so delish, so we got a papaya milkshake. SO GOOD. it was seriously, so so good. afterwards i looked at kari and then we decided to get another drink. hehehe. so then we got a kiwi slushie, which was also really amazing. i love fruit!!
By the way, we're splitting almost everything here because the portions are so huge. It's rare when we don't. But it's STILL so much food...we both still end up really full.
After leaving the Taipei 101, we met up with Steph's dentist cousin and he took us to his apartment, where we were to spend the night. After hot showers, we went down to the movie theater in his basement to watch Pirates 2..which Steph hadn't seen yet and I've seen twice. Haha. So we finished watching at about 3 in the morning, and went to bed. Merry Christmas.
day 8
we woke up kind of late today, and went to eat at ding tai fung (a really, really, REALLY delicious restaurant) that serves food like shao long bao (little dragon dumplings- they have pork and soup inside!) and shrimp dumplings and sweet and sour soup and chicken soup and all this other really yummy food. the line stretched out the door and down the block, it was crazy! so we (me, k, aunt karen, and g-ma) went to go shopping a bit and got 3 shirts for NT$500 (about.. 15 bucks) then we rushed back to eat.
After eating, we went to ANOTHER restaurant to drink bubble tea (where we saw a cute waiter.)
i kept telling kari to take a picture with him but she's shyyy.
It's not like I can ask him myself...and I don't want to just point to the camera and to him.
Anyway, then we split up. Steph's uncle took us to walk around Taipei a bit more and to the underground of the Taipei Main train station, where there are tons of shops and places to eat. Poor guy...he had to wait for us while we went into every jewelry shop, shoe store, and a couple of stores selling bras. But it was fun for us.
after that, we went to Ximending, which is the place for cool, hip teens. it was super busy and everyone dressed like an asian popstar. i felt pretty frumpy. so we looked at a lot of clothes, sunglasses, hats, earrings, shoes, etc. normal girly things. once again, poor uncle!
hahah this next part is funny to remember. we decided to eat dinner at this bbq place, where you grill your own food. it's actually really cool and fun. unfortunately, we were already full before (CONSTANTLY FULL) and then we stuffed ourselves to the max. no joke.
They kept giving me things to eat!! Steph doesn't like seafood or mushrooms, so she kept putting stuff on my plate. And then Steph's uncle put food on my plate. And in the end I was so full I couldn't even walk...and it hurt to laugh...and we had to wait 15 minutes before I felt like I could get up. Not kidding. I swear, if there's any Chinese I remember 10 years from now, it'll be "hao bao" (REALLY FULL) and "wo bu uh" (I'M NOT HUNGRY).
i've truly never seen kari so round, and that's saying something.
we walked around ximending some more and went down an alley that is famous for tatooing and piercings. some of it was pretty grotesque. example.. lacing your entire back to look like you are wearing a corset! ew. however, k and i saw a shop that did nails, so we thought "hey, never done them before. let's do it!"
it took about an hour, but they turned out sweet. mine are deep purple and kari's are blue, and we both have little flowers and curlicues on our nailss. delish.
Although now they're chipping. I'm sad. Steph's are still holding up though, and we're thinking of getting them redone before we leave Taiwan.
Finally, we took the MRT back to Banciao. Fun day.
After eating, we went to ANOTHER restaurant to drink bubble tea (where we saw a cute waiter.)
i kept telling kari to take a picture with him but she's shyyy.
It's not like I can ask him myself...and I don't want to just point to the camera and to him.
Anyway, then we split up. Steph's uncle took us to walk around Taipei a bit more and to the underground of the Taipei Main train station, where there are tons of shops and places to eat. Poor guy...he had to wait for us while we went into every jewelry shop, shoe store, and a couple of stores selling bras. But it was fun for us.
after that, we went to Ximending, which is the place for cool, hip teens. it was super busy and everyone dressed like an asian popstar. i felt pretty frumpy. so we looked at a lot of clothes, sunglasses, hats, earrings, shoes, etc. normal girly things. once again, poor uncle!
hahah this next part is funny to remember. we decided to eat dinner at this bbq place, where you grill your own food. it's actually really cool and fun. unfortunately, we were already full before (CONSTANTLY FULL) and then we stuffed ourselves to the max. no joke.
They kept giving me things to eat!! Steph doesn't like seafood or mushrooms, so she kept putting stuff on my plate. And then Steph's uncle put food on my plate. And in the end I was so full I couldn't even walk...and it hurt to laugh...and we had to wait 15 minutes before I felt like I could get up. Not kidding. I swear, if there's any Chinese I remember 10 years from now, it'll be "hao bao" (REALLY FULL) and "wo bu uh" (I'M NOT HUNGRY).
i've truly never seen kari so round, and that's saying something.
we walked around ximending some more and went down an alley that is famous for tatooing and piercings. some of it was pretty grotesque. example.. lacing your entire back to look like you are wearing a corset! ew. however, k and i saw a shop that did nails, so we thought "hey, never done them before. let's do it!"
it took about an hour, but they turned out sweet. mine are deep purple and kari's are blue, and we both have little flowers and curlicues on our nailss. delish.
Although now they're chipping. I'm sad. Steph's are still holding up though, and we're thinking of getting them redone before we leave Taiwan.
Finally, we took the MRT back to Banciao. Fun day.
day 7
umm.. day seven began with me taking a really long shower, and my aunt and uncle getting frustrated with how laggy i am. i'm normally not this laggy! but the combination of bad haircut, fatness, and no makeup, makes me take a long time to be presentable.
we went up finally and there was a huge breakfast feast all laid out. it was traditional chinese food, such as rice gruel with pumpkin. then there were other side dishes like fried eggs with some sort of vegetable, tofu, radish pickles, and eggplant? there were mushrooms, too. there was also this really delicious drink made from some sort of pine needles, but SO good. i bought a package for me to drink at home. yum!
Then our host prepared red tea for us in the tea room. The tea leaves were one hundred years old, and Steph says she could tell it was really good. We also ate some kind of nut that's supposed to be good for your skin...you bite into it and the shell comes off and it's kind of leathery inside, like dried fruit, but they tasted pretty good. They also served us a drink that's supposed to do something to the pH in your body...aand it tasted like vinegar.
We then toured the B and B and got some great footage of the cottages and the mountain views. It was very peaceful and picturesque. Finally, we were off.
what a great day! the next stop was the Formosa Aboriginal Village. upon arrival, we were whooshed up via cable car, which i thought was pretty cool. there was this really cute kid that was sitting next to kari, who turned to his mutti and said "i think there is a foreigner sitting next to me!" i asked if he wanted to take a picture with us, but he was shy and ran off the car the minute we touched down.
It was really interesting seeing the totem poles and huts that had been preserved, and we then watched a performance by some aboriginal peoples in native dress. They presented the different tribes, and then performed ritual dances such as a harvest dance and setting off a boat on its maiden voyage. we got to take a picture with a really cute aboriginal guy afterwards, too. :-D
(i'm a little miffed he stood next to kari but i'm over it. maybe.)
there were some other singing performances and whatnot as well. kari and i were dragged into dancing with them. it was fun, yet sort of awkward. (Kari: I had no idea what I was doing!! The woman said to watch the people in front of us but we were still pretty clueless.)
We also went on a roller coaster, much to Steph's dismay. I had to promise her it was the only one she had to go on. It was fun. It went through the dark but didn't loop upside down or anything, so it was actually pretty tame. Although Steph didn't think so. (i screamed out of FEAR. pure, unadulterated FEAR. kari is so mean.)
We stopped for dinner at a small eatery near Puli. It was REALLY good..the guy who owns it used to be a really famous chef at a hotel. After eating, he said we could try making dumplings. We put the filling in a small round bit of dough and then we were supposed to pinch the edges shut. We were not too successful. There's a picture of Steph with her failed dumpling that's really funny.
umm then we drove back to taipei, about four-ish hours so i could visit my cousin. he's in the army right now but has weekends off, so i got to see him. he looks cooler now than the last time, but is still super skinny. i think he is skinnier than even mr. dan knox. (Yeah, he is - Kari)
so we arranged some plans with my cousin for this upcoming saturday :)
By the time we left Taipei to go back to Banciao, it was about 12:30...the MRT closes at midnight so Steph's uncle had to drive us back. And we got scolded a bit by her grandmother by getting back so late....
We can't remember whether it was this night or the next, but we're pretty sure we experienced a mini-earthquake. The whole apartment shook for about 20 seconds...the windows were rattling really loudly, and it was a bit scary. It passed really quickly though. And we didn't even feel the earthquake that happened recently in another part of Taiwan. It didn't affect us at all.
we went up finally and there was a huge breakfast feast all laid out. it was traditional chinese food, such as rice gruel with pumpkin. then there were other side dishes like fried eggs with some sort of vegetable, tofu, radish pickles, and eggplant? there were mushrooms, too. there was also this really delicious drink made from some sort of pine needles, but SO good. i bought a package for me to drink at home. yum!
Then our host prepared red tea for us in the tea room. The tea leaves were one hundred years old, and Steph says she could tell it was really good. We also ate some kind of nut that's supposed to be good for your skin...you bite into it and the shell comes off and it's kind of leathery inside, like dried fruit, but they tasted pretty good. They also served us a drink that's supposed to do something to the pH in your body...aand it tasted like vinegar.
We then toured the B and B and got some great footage of the cottages and the mountain views. It was very peaceful and picturesque. Finally, we were off.
what a great day! the next stop was the Formosa Aboriginal Village. upon arrival, we were whooshed up via cable car, which i thought was pretty cool. there was this really cute kid that was sitting next to kari, who turned to his mutti and said "i think there is a foreigner sitting next to me!" i asked if he wanted to take a picture with us, but he was shy and ran off the car the minute we touched down.
It was really interesting seeing the totem poles and huts that had been preserved, and we then watched a performance by some aboriginal peoples in native dress. They presented the different tribes, and then performed ritual dances such as a harvest dance and setting off a boat on its maiden voyage. we got to take a picture with a really cute aboriginal guy afterwards, too. :-D
(i'm a little miffed he stood next to kari but i'm over it. maybe.)
there were some other singing performances and whatnot as well. kari and i were dragged into dancing with them. it was fun, yet sort of awkward. (Kari: I had no idea what I was doing!! The woman said to watch the people in front of us but we were still pretty clueless.)
We also went on a roller coaster, much to Steph's dismay. I had to promise her it was the only one she had to go on. It was fun. It went through the dark but didn't loop upside down or anything, so it was actually pretty tame. Although Steph didn't think so. (i screamed out of FEAR. pure, unadulterated FEAR. kari is so mean.)
We stopped for dinner at a small eatery near Puli. It was REALLY good..the guy who owns it used to be a really famous chef at a hotel. After eating, he said we could try making dumplings. We put the filling in a small round bit of dough and then we were supposed to pinch the edges shut. We were not too successful. There's a picture of Steph with her failed dumpling that's really funny.
umm then we drove back to taipei, about four-ish hours so i could visit my cousin. he's in the army right now but has weekends off, so i got to see him. he looks cooler now than the last time, but is still super skinny. i think he is skinnier than even mr. dan knox. (Yeah, he is - Kari)
so we arranged some plans with my cousin for this upcoming saturday :)
By the time we left Taipei to go back to Banciao, it was about 12:30...the MRT closes at midnight so Steph's uncle had to drive us back. And we got scolded a bit by her grandmother by getting back so late....
We can't remember whether it was this night or the next, but we're pretty sure we experienced a mini-earthquake. The whole apartment shook for about 20 seconds...the windows were rattling really loudly, and it was a bit scary. It passed really quickly though. And we didn't even feel the earthquake that happened recently in another part of Taiwan. It didn't affect us at all.
day 6
we woke up early and my aunt and uncle on my dad's side came to take us to Puli, four hours away from Banciao. i slept most of the time (on the way there).
We stopped at a monastary/temple on the way there that was really beautiful. The weather was great, sunny and warm, so we took off our jackets while we wandered around. The gardens there were amazing, with lots of miniature bonsai trees, and we also saw lots of statues including a huge golden "happy buddha." We wanted to take a picture of it, but there was a nun that stopped us. It's difficult to tell whether the people there are nuns or monks, because they all have shaved heads and wear the same black robes.
One nun showed us around a bit and was quite helpful as her English was fairly good. She guided us through a Buddhist prayer as well, where we each lit a candle and repeated words about helping all beings, and then we each were supposed to make a wish. Although I felt a bit like a fraud, it was still interesting.
after a bit of confusion, we went to the buddhist art exhibition where a german guy gave us an informational tour in english. when we saw him we were like "deutsch!" so he asked if he could talk in german. umm.. no. it was really interesting though. for example, the lions in chinese culture always look really weird b/c artists back then didn't know how lions look, so they borrowed from other animals like frogs or dogs.. hence their strange appearance. also, we learned different hand gestures such as "passing on the teaching" and "no fear." now, kari and i can greet you in buddhist gestures when we see you next. mine will be "no fear" because you won't recognize how fat i've become.
Then Steph's aunt and uncle took us to Sun Moon Lake at sunset. It's really famous in Taiwan, a very touristy spot because the water is bright turquoise. It's also surrounded by mountains, and was quite beautiful. We took a walk along the shore until it got dark and chilly, and then headed to the bed and breakfast in the mountains where we stayed the night.
It's the cutest place. Steph and I got our own room that has the most amazing view of the mountains and is decorated all in pink and white and that has a connecting bathroom. There was no tub for the shower, which threw me. At Steph's grandparents' apartment there's no curtain, and you're supposed to get water on the floor, but I've been really careful when showering there because it just feels wrong to get water on the floor. So not having anything at all at Puli was a bit strange.
We were supposed to drink tea with the owners of the bed and breakfast that night, but Steph fell asleep straight away. Oops. I took a shower, and didn't realize until later that since it was one of the first times I washed my hair since dying it, I got brown dye on my shirt. Yuck. But oh well.
Steph is MIA right now because she's talking to her cousins but she'll write more of the next posts.
We stopped at a monastary/temple on the way there that was really beautiful. The weather was great, sunny and warm, so we took off our jackets while we wandered around. The gardens there were amazing, with lots of miniature bonsai trees, and we also saw lots of statues including a huge golden "happy buddha." We wanted to take a picture of it, but there was a nun that stopped us. It's difficult to tell whether the people there are nuns or monks, because they all have shaved heads and wear the same black robes.
One nun showed us around a bit and was quite helpful as her English was fairly good. She guided us through a Buddhist prayer as well, where we each lit a candle and repeated words about helping all beings, and then we each were supposed to make a wish. Although I felt a bit like a fraud, it was still interesting.
after a bit of confusion, we went to the buddhist art exhibition where a german guy gave us an informational tour in english. when we saw him we were like "deutsch!" so he asked if he could talk in german. umm.. no. it was really interesting though. for example, the lions in chinese culture always look really weird b/c artists back then didn't know how lions look, so they borrowed from other animals like frogs or dogs.. hence their strange appearance. also, we learned different hand gestures such as "passing on the teaching" and "no fear." now, kari and i can greet you in buddhist gestures when we see you next. mine will be "no fear" because you won't recognize how fat i've become.
Then Steph's aunt and uncle took us to Sun Moon Lake at sunset. It's really famous in Taiwan, a very touristy spot because the water is bright turquoise. It's also surrounded by mountains, and was quite beautiful. We took a walk along the shore until it got dark and chilly, and then headed to the bed and breakfast in the mountains where we stayed the night.
It's the cutest place. Steph and I got our own room that has the most amazing view of the mountains and is decorated all in pink and white and that has a connecting bathroom. There was no tub for the shower, which threw me. At Steph's grandparents' apartment there's no curtain, and you're supposed to get water on the floor, but I've been really careful when showering there because it just feels wrong to get water on the floor. So not having anything at all at Puli was a bit strange.
We were supposed to drink tea with the owners of the bed and breakfast that night, but Steph fell asleep straight away. Oops. I took a shower, and didn't realize until later that since it was one of the first times I washed my hair since dying it, I got brown dye on my shirt. Yuck. But oh well.
Steph is MIA right now because she's talking to her cousins but she'll write more of the next posts.
day 5
It's been so long since we've gotten to a computer...Steph and I are beginning to despair of finishing our homework before we get back to the U.S. because we'd rather update this.
my memory is a little rusty, but i think we spent all of day five just shopping in banciao. it was a bit drizzly, but it was still fun. kari got some really gorgeous shoes for prom, and i have yet to find anything. compared to the states, everything here is really cheap. we must've bought at least 5 pairs of earrings each already because each pair is usually only about one dollar.
While we were out we bought some pork buns for dinner (quite good) and I tried some guava juice..we're still having trouble finding skim milk here. There only seems to be lowfat.
So not much else to update on day five.
basically we eat and sleep. life of a pig. (shop, too, but pigs don't do that) please don't be alarmed when i return obese. kari just doesn't seem to gain any weight. but i do. so you are warned
my memory is a little rusty, but i think we spent all of day five just shopping in banciao. it was a bit drizzly, but it was still fun. kari got some really gorgeous shoes for prom, and i have yet to find anything. compared to the states, everything here is really cheap. we must've bought at least 5 pairs of earrings each already because each pair is usually only about one dollar.
While we were out we bought some pork buns for dinner (quite good) and I tried some guava juice..we're still having trouble finding skim milk here. There only seems to be lowfat.
So not much else to update on day five.
basically we eat and sleep. life of a pig. (shop, too, but pigs don't do that) please don't be alarmed when i return obese. kari just doesn't seem to gain any weight. but i do. so you are warned
Saturday, December 23, 2006
day 4
Steph's nanny came by early in the morning to take her to get her hair cut because her bangs were (in her opinion) too long. So we went to this woman's apartment, where Steph got her hair cut last time.
it turned out DISASTROUS. i am not being melodramatic. they aren't bangs anymore. they're like 2 cm. long. it was really really really really awful x 92846786123.
It wasn't THAT bad. The lady was trying to make it look modern and tried to give it more shape...so she gave steph side bangs and lots of layers and er...a bit of fringe. Which would have been cute except for the last part...
it WAS that bad. for those who know me, i HATE layers. hate them. and well.. who cuts fringe that short?! so i cried for an afternoon and rolled myself into a ball. kari took a picture as proof.
ANYWAY, later that day Steph's other aunt took us into Taipei to visit her cousin who's a famous dentist. We both got our teeth cleaned (for free!) and then went to the cousin's apartment building. That's right. He's so rich he owns a whole apartment, something like 5 floors. It was pretty much pouring outside, so it was lucky that the apartment wasn't too far from the dentist's.
Once we got there, we went in and met Steph's grandma (who was so CUTE. She's about ninety-something years old and super short with bright white hair) and yet another aunt. Her aunt had prepared a lot of food, including some fruits only grown in Taiwan. We especially liked this pineapple thing that was incredibly sweet. We also looked around the apartment, which is really amazing. The design is very modern, and it's really elegantly furnished, so that was fun.
a little elaboration on the apartment. it's all wood paneled and marble. the ground floor has a home movie theatre that looks really expensive. i've seen it before, but it's still impressive. the garage is cool, too. my cousin (odd since he's around 50 but still my cousin. my nephew is 3 years old) has a lot of expensive cars (porsche, etc) and the garage "floors" rotate with the car on them? that's the best i can describe it. the balcony looks out on taipei and you can see the taipei 101, the world's current tallest building! i think it looks like a bunch of chinese take-out boxes stacked on top of each other, but it's supposed to resemble "graceful stalks of bamboo with ribbon tied around." silly.
Later, Steph's first aunt took us to a department store in Taipei. We went down to the food court to eat dinner (all the department stores always have food courts or grocery stores in the bottom floor) and tried shabu shabu. It's a Japanese "hot pot" where water is boiled on the table and you have all these raw meats and vegetables that you stick in the water to cook and then eat. It was really good, although I had to use chopsticks the entire time. They didn't have any forks. So pretty much all of my concentration was focused on not dropping my food (although I'm getting better at it).
just a side note, we are constantly full, because everyone keeps shoving food at us. i've gained another 5 pounds already.
No she hasn't. But seriously, we always have a full stomach.
We then split up, Steph's aunt going in one direction and Steph and I wandering the seven floors of the store, which also contains the biggest bookstore in Taipei. Although we were pretty much exhausted and I had to kind of drag Steph around. We didn't buy anything except a berry yogurt ice cream thing for dessert. You get to pick the fruit to put in it, and then they make the ice cream with it, so we tried mulberries and blueberries. It turned out really good.
i was sleeping against the wall when my aunt came. sad. i'm sure passerby were like "what is the white girl doing with a sleeping taiwanese girl??"
Finally Steph's uncle picked us up to drive us back to Banciao, where we immediately fell asleep. Again.
yay.
it turned out DISASTROUS. i am not being melodramatic. they aren't bangs anymore. they're like 2 cm. long. it was really really really really awful x 92846786123.
It wasn't THAT bad. The lady was trying to make it look modern and tried to give it more shape...so she gave steph side bangs and lots of layers and er...a bit of fringe. Which would have been cute except for the last part...
it WAS that bad. for those who know me, i HATE layers. hate them. and well.. who cuts fringe that short?! so i cried for an afternoon and rolled myself into a ball. kari took a picture as proof.
ANYWAY, later that day Steph's other aunt took us into Taipei to visit her cousin who's a famous dentist. We both got our teeth cleaned (for free!) and then went to the cousin's apartment building. That's right. He's so rich he owns a whole apartment, something like 5 floors. It was pretty much pouring outside, so it was lucky that the apartment wasn't too far from the dentist's.
Once we got there, we went in and met Steph's grandma (who was so CUTE. She's about ninety-something years old and super short with bright white hair) and yet another aunt. Her aunt had prepared a lot of food, including some fruits only grown in Taiwan. We especially liked this pineapple thing that was incredibly sweet. We also looked around the apartment, which is really amazing. The design is very modern, and it's really elegantly furnished, so that was fun.
a little elaboration on the apartment. it's all wood paneled and marble. the ground floor has a home movie theatre that looks really expensive. i've seen it before, but it's still impressive. the garage is cool, too. my cousin (odd since he's around 50 but still my cousin. my nephew is 3 years old) has a lot of expensive cars (porsche, etc) and the garage "floors" rotate with the car on them? that's the best i can describe it. the balcony looks out on taipei and you can see the taipei 101, the world's current tallest building! i think it looks like a bunch of chinese take-out boxes stacked on top of each other, but it's supposed to resemble "graceful stalks of bamboo with ribbon tied around." silly.
Later, Steph's first aunt took us to a department store in Taipei. We went down to the food court to eat dinner (all the department stores always have food courts or grocery stores in the bottom floor) and tried shabu shabu. It's a Japanese "hot pot" where water is boiled on the table and you have all these raw meats and vegetables that you stick in the water to cook and then eat. It was really good, although I had to use chopsticks the entire time. They didn't have any forks. So pretty much all of my concentration was focused on not dropping my food (although I'm getting better at it).
just a side note, we are constantly full, because everyone keeps shoving food at us. i've gained another 5 pounds already.
No she hasn't. But seriously, we always have a full stomach.
We then split up, Steph's aunt going in one direction and Steph and I wandering the seven floors of the store, which also contains the biggest bookstore in Taipei. Although we were pretty much exhausted and I had to kind of drag Steph around. We didn't buy anything except a berry yogurt ice cream thing for dessert. You get to pick the fruit to put in it, and then they make the ice cream with it, so we tried mulberries and blueberries. It turned out really good.
i was sleeping against the wall when my aunt came. sad. i'm sure passerby were like "what is the white girl doing with a sleeping taiwanese girl??"
Finally Steph's uncle picked us up to drive us back to Banciao, where we immediately fell asleep. Again.
yay.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
day 3
i woke up early to go walking with my ah gong (grandpa; i don't know pinyin so the spelling is probably totally off.) i came back and was running late, so washed my hair and woke kari up, and we raced to the bakery amid funny looks. the bakery, called yamazaki, is located in the underground of the Banciao train station. we passed by the first day while exploring and it smelled and looked so good, that we decided to get some in the future. both of us bought a piece of walnut bread, which tasted kind of like a croissant with walnuts in it. we were both craving milk, except there is no such thing as skim milk here! just whole and lowfat. so.. i got lowfat and kari tried tropical milk, which is actually pretty delicious. then we raced back to the apartment in record time. the whole trip took only about 15 min. then like.. a minute later, my aunt arrived to take us to taipei for our photoshoot.
It was raining, so once we got to a place that her aunt could park the car, we took a taxi to the right building. Upon arrival, Steph and her aunt bargained with the people there and got the price knocked down by a bit. (In Taiwan you bargain with everyone). We each agreed on four outfits each and 34 pictures in a book for each of us. Then ...it began.
in taiwan, when you get professional pictures done, they do everything for you. hair, makeup, accesories, etc. the makeup was pretty shocking at first because it has to be really heavy so it will show up under the bright lights/pictures. mine unfortunately, was not heavy enough, but whatever.
So we each got dressed and made up. Then we were separated to get the pictures taken. I obviously didn't know what the photographer was telling me to do, but I was able to follow her hand motions fairly well. The next three outfits, we had some pictures of both of us together that turned out really well. The whole process pretty much took the entire day because the hairdos and makeup were really elaborate. We ate mcdonalds chicken nuggets and some bread around noon and went right back to shooting. It was really fun, though. It felt like being a model for a day.
kari is the cutest thing ever. they makeup ladies kept oohing and aahing over her eyes and hair and well.. everything. she seriously looks like a model from vanity fair or something in the pictures. i'm mucho jealous. me and my aunt (karen) agreed that she looks kind of like brooke shields in some of the pictures.
anyhow, the entire process is really tiring. and we have to leave right now to go visit some relatives on my dad's side. so we'll try to catch up later!
PICTURES ARE COMING! LOVE YOU ALL! :-D
s and k
It was raining, so once we got to a place that her aunt could park the car, we took a taxi to the right building. Upon arrival, Steph and her aunt bargained with the people there and got the price knocked down by a bit. (In Taiwan you bargain with everyone). We each agreed on four outfits each and 34 pictures in a book for each of us. Then ...it began.
in taiwan, when you get professional pictures done, they do everything for you. hair, makeup, accesories, etc. the makeup was pretty shocking at first because it has to be really heavy so it will show up under the bright lights/pictures. mine unfortunately, was not heavy enough, but whatever.
So we each got dressed and made up. Then we were separated to get the pictures taken. I obviously didn't know what the photographer was telling me to do, but I was able to follow her hand motions fairly well. The next three outfits, we had some pictures of both of us together that turned out really well. The whole process pretty much took the entire day because the hairdos and makeup were really elaborate. We ate mcdonalds chicken nuggets and some bread around noon and went right back to shooting. It was really fun, though. It felt like being a model for a day.
kari is the cutest thing ever. they makeup ladies kept oohing and aahing over her eyes and hair and well.. everything. she seriously looks like a model from vanity fair or something in the pictures. i'm mucho jealous. me and my aunt (karen) agreed that she looks kind of like brooke shields in some of the pictures.
anyhow, the entire process is really tiring. and we have to leave right now to go visit some relatives on my dad's side. so we'll try to catch up later!
PICTURES ARE COMING! LOVE YOU ALL! :-D
s and k
day 2
We woke up really early in order to be picked up by Steph's godparents Heather and David. (like last year's cutest couple!). They both speak English really well, so it was nice for Steph not to have to translate everything. Heather's brother was driving, and we traveled to Yilan. It's a really small town, because until recently it's been isolated. Normally it would be a day trip through the mountains to get there, but a 12.9 kilometer tunnel that took ten years to complete is now open. On the car ride there I tried wax apples for the first time (good - but strange texture. The inside is fuzzy?!?)
heather and david decided to take us to a mountain where tea is grown. originally we wanted to visit aboriginal people, but it would take too long. and it's the same situation as the native americans in the early part of american history. they've been pretty much killed off. so tea was the more .. peaceful option. the mountain path up was really windy, i was getting so dizzy and slammed into kari and heather a couple times. they made me sit in the middle. *pout* however, it was worth it. the mountains go as high as 10,000 ft! (my ears kept popping on the way up) so we looked at the gorgeous view for a bit, and then bought some tea to sip while enjoying the view. it was great. so peaceful and just relaxing, which is difficult to find in a busy place like taipei. we ate a lot of peanuts (complimentary!) and kari tried a red bean pancake. i was a little nervous b/c i had given her red bean ice cream before, which she didn't like. but she liked this, so yay :)
heather and david decided to take us to a mountain where tea is grown. originally we wanted to visit aboriginal people, but it would take too long. and it's the same situation as the native americans in the early part of american history. they've been pretty much killed off. so tea was the more .. peaceful option. the mountain path up was really windy, i was getting so dizzy and slammed into kari and heather a couple times. they made me sit in the middle. *pout* however, it was worth it. the mountains go as high as 10,000 ft! (my ears kept popping on the way up) so we looked at the gorgeous view for a bit, and then bought some tea to sip while enjoying the view. it was great. so peaceful and just relaxing, which is difficult to find in a busy place like taipei. we ate a lot of peanuts (complimentary!) and kari tried a red bean pancake. i was a little nervous b/c i had given her red bean ice cream before, which she didn't like. but she liked this, so yay :)
Heather's brother had researched where to eat in Yilan, so after traveling back down the mountain, we ate in a little restaurant in the town that was really cute! All decorated in pink with interesting vegetable-shaped lights. The food was traditional Yilan-style, and as soon as each dish was ready it was brought out so it'd be hot. Each person helps themselves from the dish..difficult, in my case, because I had to use chopsticks. Stephanie videotaped me successfully (sort of) using them to transfer chinese cabbage to my plate. The food was great though. Afterwards Heather's brother and husband fought over who should pay the bill. It's tradition that the eldest person pays, but everyone fights over the bill anyway. Going Dutch is unheard of. Then we headed off to Yingge, a town known for it's pottery.
yingge is such a cute little town! it's got cobblestone streets and lamps and is just, so so.. Las Vegas-y? haha. there are palm trees everywhere. shops line the streets and are brightly lit, displaying all their ceramic creations. we couldn't believe that some of them were actually made of out of clay because of the paint details! first though, we found a place to make our own pottery!
the potter welcomed us and gave us each a long apron to wear. we seated ourselves on a long wooden bench were pottery wheels were lined up. he got us started by centering the clay (k is giving me the correct terms b/c i am not a potter) on the wheel. i needed a LOT of help. k's grandma is a potter, so she kind of knew what to do, so the potter mostly left her in peace. as for me? not so. it was fun though. i normally don't like getting my hands dirty, but the feeling of clay was pretty cool. we both made cups and then brought them over to a table where the next step, decorating, began. it took a really long time to think of what to do. kari was given a chinese name (ka-li; no 'r' sound in chinese, really) and she wrote it REALLY beautifully! we were all mucho impressed. i sat around for like 15 minutes trying to think of something. david took footage, and you can view me sitting there like a doof when we get our visuals up. seriously. every 5 minutes he goes "have you started yet?" and i go "hai me! [not yet!]"
Steph ended up writing her name in English really big on her cup, and then writing her Chinese name as well. Then we went into the town to look in the shops. We both loved the pottery that had this beautiful glazing on it that made fan shapes, so we each bought something. Steph also got a bowl that she wanted to be able to use to eat out of at home, and Heather's brother bought me a set of cups "for my parents" (they're really pretty!).
steph: they kept making fun of me for getting such a big bowl to eat out of because i'm trying to lose weight, and if i ate out of it, i'd be ginormous.
Then we drove into Taipei, where we met Heather's sister-in-law, and went to dinner. It was really delicious, and we both ate a ton. There were about five dishes, one of which I really liked with mushrooms and bak choy. We also ate xiao long bao, these dumpling things that you have to eat right away while they're hot with chopsticks and a spoon. I ended up making a mess eating the first one I had, getting juice all over my face (heather's brother laughed at me. I think they were all pretty amused) and Steph had to grab a couple more for me because I couldn't pick them up with the chopsticks. The next two went more successfully :-D. But I succumbed to using a fork for most of the night. After thanking them and bidding them farewell, Steph and I took the MRT back to Banciao and again conked out for the night.
we're alive!
hello family, friends, and whoever else might be reading this!
we are not dead! my grandparents don't have a computer, and my uncle's laptop is broken (i used it last summer as my source of internet). so our updates will probably be sporadic. we are disappointed too.
umm... we also meant to update with pictures but kari left her usb cord at home and i forgot to pack mine in my purse, so it's at my grandparents. sorry!
here's the adventure so far:
our flight was delayed for 2 hours in detroit. we hadn't even flown yet and i was feeling uncomfortable. and kari, too. then the flight from detroit to osaka was approximately 14 hours. we couldn't even pass the time watching movies (usually 3) because the audio wasn't working. kari and i were kind of mad. and very, very bored. so we talked to the girl next to us. she's indian but her parents live in japan, which we thought was quite interesting. anyhow the airplane food was not the greatest- my favorite was the mid-flight snack. our breakfast was gross. reheated teriyaki pork (did not taste like pork) and fried rice. i think we ate four times in 17 hours, so both of us felt pretty bloated. i peed like 11 times total. something about airplanes make me thirsty? who knows. osaka to taipei was about a 3 hour flight. poor kari was sad she spent only a total of 5 minutes in japan because we had to run to catch our flight.
finally we arrived in taipei at exactly 10 p.m. there was a guy there that was holding mine and k's name on a sign and i felt pretty special because that usually only happens to businessmen.
After being speeded through the customs (Steph's aunt knows somebody who works there who helped us out) we met Stephanie's grandmother, aunt, and uncle and they were alarmed at the amount of luggage we had. Steph's uncle took our four ginormous suitcases in his car to Banciao, where her grandparents live, while Steph's aunt took us there on a bus since we couldn't fit in the car. We called Steph's parents around then to say that we had arrived and that's when Steph found out that she'd gotten into JHU. (I think the people on the bus must have thought she was crazy because there was quite a lot of happy yelling). After the half hour ride, where we counted at least 6 seven eleven's, we arrived at her grandparents' apartment. We received a room with a double bed and dragged our luggage into it. Then I called my parents to say hi, and they told me I got into U of M (FINALLY) so I was pretty happy. And then we showered and pretty much immediately went to bed. Which, by the way, is a blanket over hard wood. Although now I'm used to it, the first night was a bit uncomfortable.
day 1
The next day Steph woke up early to go walking with her grandfather, and then we went into Banciao to explore. The weather was really nice, although colder than we thought it would be. Neither of us packed enough fall/winter clothing. Unfortunately, it was too early and everything was pretty much closed except for convenience stores and street vendors, but eventually we went into the FE21 mall to look around. It was very posh, and I made my first purchase: starbucks hot chocolate. Then we went into the grocery store in the basement where we saw the biggest apples we'd ever seen in our lives. About as big as a melon. Not kidding. So we took a picture of it for proof, but got yelled at (?). Steph tried to pretend she didn't understand chinese, but we didn't realize that there was a sign clearly showing that cameras were not allowed. Oops.
around noon my nanny came by to see me
nanny: oh you are so beautiful! your friend is so beautiful! you guys are pretty tall!
me: er, what? (????????????)
nevertheless, i was supremely happy to see her. she took care of me from the age of.. newborn to around 2. around the same time my uncle came and we all headed off to Danshui/Tansui, about an hour away by car. but that's because they drive SLOW here on the highways or just normally. maybe 40 mph; 60 mph at most. in the city it's around 25 mph.. and NO ONE follows traffic rules. k and i have almost been run over about 3 times. so we have yet to come home in one piece. (rayner family, don't worry. i protect kari so i'll get hit first.)
Danshui was just gorgeous. we arrived early afternoon and the place was thriving. first we walked through a little crowded street market (taiwan is basically just an open air shopping place) where i got a scarf to shield me from the suprising chill. it's pretty funny though, everyone here is really bundled up in winter jackets and keep asking us why we aren't cold. but the weather was pretty much perfect that day. lots of blue sky and a bit of wind. kari got a jade bracelet that is really beautiful- a deep, green color which is lucky. then we went crazy with trying food. first there was bubble tea. i've had but kari hadn't. her reaction? "pretty good!" then we had fried pork things/skewers with fried dough? it was REALLY good. like REALLY. kari ate guava for the first time- 2 types.
AND I tried squid. Steph's nanny offered it to me and I didn't want to say no, so I ate it. And it wasn't actually that bad, just the texture was kind of funny. But then she took another one and dipped it in a sauce and said try this one too! And I was like AAH NOO. Steph ran away at the mention of seafood. Lucky girl. (Really though I guess it wasn't that bad). Later we tried taro root in crackers (good) and the best doughnuts EVER. really fresh and hot and covered in sugar.
and we really wanted to try these two-foot long ice creams. seriously. when we walked by there were these guys holding them in a position that basically pantomimed sticking a sword up one's ass. it was pretty funny. however, we had to catch the boat to Bali, which is right across the Danshui River. before that though, we visited Fort San Domingo which was originally operated by the spanish, who were then kicked out by the dutch. the english came next. it was really interesting and we saw encaustic tiles (humanities moment!) and took a lot of pictures of the gorgeous sunset. we also got yelled at again for taking pictures inside the fort. dang.
next we passed by the school that asian superstar Jay Chou went to. hehehe. also, there was a preserved aboriginal house, which i have never seen before, and obviously k hasn't either. we both found it really interesting. there was a slight problem though: neither of us can read chinese! so we couldn't understand any of the signs. i could only pick out a few words.. shame shame.
So after arriving in Bali we looked at the crafts and sat by the sea. We went into a photo booth too, where we could take pictures that turn into stickers. The problem was that it didn't give us enough time between pictures to get into poses, so they turned out pretty awful. And we couldn't read what the screen to edit them said, so the backgrounds we picked turned out kind of garish. But they're still really funny. By this time the sun had pretty much set and it was getting really dark and chilly, so we headed back to Danshui, and then took the MRT (subway) back to Banciao. It was quite a long ride, and we stood for most of it, grabbing onto the handholds hanging from the ceiling because the train swayed back and forth quite a bit. Looking into other cars, you can see them bending, and it's kind of scary, but the subway is the best way to travel long distances for us. Once we got back, we were really exhausted, and went straight to bed.
to be continued.. we are posting now so the computer doesn't crash.
we are not dead! my grandparents don't have a computer, and my uncle's laptop is broken (i used it last summer as my source of internet). so our updates will probably be sporadic. we are disappointed too.
umm... we also meant to update with pictures but kari left her usb cord at home and i forgot to pack mine in my purse, so it's at my grandparents. sorry!
here's the adventure so far:
our flight was delayed for 2 hours in detroit. we hadn't even flown yet and i was feeling uncomfortable. and kari, too. then the flight from detroit to osaka was approximately 14 hours. we couldn't even pass the time watching movies (usually 3) because the audio wasn't working. kari and i were kind of mad. and very, very bored. so we talked to the girl next to us. she's indian but her parents live in japan, which we thought was quite interesting. anyhow the airplane food was not the greatest- my favorite was the mid-flight snack. our breakfast was gross. reheated teriyaki pork (did not taste like pork) and fried rice. i think we ate four times in 17 hours, so both of us felt pretty bloated. i peed like 11 times total. something about airplanes make me thirsty? who knows. osaka to taipei was about a 3 hour flight. poor kari was sad she spent only a total of 5 minutes in japan because we had to run to catch our flight.
finally we arrived in taipei at exactly 10 p.m. there was a guy there that was holding mine and k's name on a sign and i felt pretty special because that usually only happens to businessmen.
After being speeded through the customs (Steph's aunt knows somebody who works there who helped us out) we met Stephanie's grandmother, aunt, and uncle and they were alarmed at the amount of luggage we had. Steph's uncle took our four ginormous suitcases in his car to Banciao, where her grandparents live, while Steph's aunt took us there on a bus since we couldn't fit in the car. We called Steph's parents around then to say that we had arrived and that's when Steph found out that she'd gotten into JHU. (I think the people on the bus must have thought she was crazy because there was quite a lot of happy yelling). After the half hour ride, where we counted at least 6 seven eleven's, we arrived at her grandparents' apartment. We received a room with a double bed and dragged our luggage into it. Then I called my parents to say hi, and they told me I got into U of M (FINALLY) so I was pretty happy. And then we showered and pretty much immediately went to bed. Which, by the way, is a blanket over hard wood. Although now I'm used to it, the first night was a bit uncomfortable.
day 1
The next day Steph woke up early to go walking with her grandfather, and then we went into Banciao to explore. The weather was really nice, although colder than we thought it would be. Neither of us packed enough fall/winter clothing. Unfortunately, it was too early and everything was pretty much closed except for convenience stores and street vendors, but eventually we went into the FE21 mall to look around. It was very posh, and I made my first purchase: starbucks hot chocolate. Then we went into the grocery store in the basement where we saw the biggest apples we'd ever seen in our lives. About as big as a melon. Not kidding. So we took a picture of it for proof, but got yelled at (?). Steph tried to pretend she didn't understand chinese, but we didn't realize that there was a sign clearly showing that cameras were not allowed. Oops.
around noon my nanny came by to see me
nanny: oh you are so beautiful! your friend is so beautiful! you guys are pretty tall!
me: er, what? (????????????)
nevertheless, i was supremely happy to see her. she took care of me from the age of.. newborn to around 2. around the same time my uncle came and we all headed off to Danshui/Tansui, about an hour away by car. but that's because they drive SLOW here on the highways or just normally. maybe 40 mph; 60 mph at most. in the city it's around 25 mph.. and NO ONE follows traffic rules. k and i have almost been run over about 3 times. so we have yet to come home in one piece. (rayner family, don't worry. i protect kari so i'll get hit first.)
Danshui was just gorgeous. we arrived early afternoon and the place was thriving. first we walked through a little crowded street market (taiwan is basically just an open air shopping place) where i got a scarf to shield me from the suprising chill. it's pretty funny though, everyone here is really bundled up in winter jackets and keep asking us why we aren't cold. but the weather was pretty much perfect that day. lots of blue sky and a bit of wind. kari got a jade bracelet that is really beautiful- a deep, green color which is lucky. then we went crazy with trying food. first there was bubble tea. i've had but kari hadn't. her reaction? "pretty good!" then we had fried pork things/skewers with fried dough? it was REALLY good. like REALLY. kari ate guava for the first time- 2 types.
AND I tried squid. Steph's nanny offered it to me and I didn't want to say no, so I ate it. And it wasn't actually that bad, just the texture was kind of funny. But then she took another one and dipped it in a sauce and said try this one too! And I was like AAH NOO. Steph ran away at the mention of seafood. Lucky girl. (Really though I guess it wasn't that bad). Later we tried taro root in crackers (good) and the best doughnuts EVER. really fresh and hot and covered in sugar.
and we really wanted to try these two-foot long ice creams. seriously. when we walked by there were these guys holding them in a position that basically pantomimed sticking a sword up one's ass. it was pretty funny. however, we had to catch the boat to Bali, which is right across the Danshui River. before that though, we visited Fort San Domingo which was originally operated by the spanish, who were then kicked out by the dutch. the english came next. it was really interesting and we saw encaustic tiles (humanities moment!) and took a lot of pictures of the gorgeous sunset. we also got yelled at again for taking pictures inside the fort. dang.
next we passed by the school that asian superstar Jay Chou went to. hehehe. also, there was a preserved aboriginal house, which i have never seen before, and obviously k hasn't either. we both found it really interesting. there was a slight problem though: neither of us can read chinese! so we couldn't understand any of the signs. i could only pick out a few words.. shame shame.
So after arriving in Bali we looked at the crafts and sat by the sea. We went into a photo booth too, where we could take pictures that turn into stickers. The problem was that it didn't give us enough time between pictures to get into poses, so they turned out pretty awful. And we couldn't read what the screen to edit them said, so the backgrounds we picked turned out kind of garish. But they're still really funny. By this time the sun had pretty much set and it was getting really dark and chilly, so we headed back to Danshui, and then took the MRT (subway) back to Banciao. It was quite a long ride, and we stood for most of it, grabbing onto the handholds hanging from the ceiling because the train swayed back and forth quite a bit. Looking into other cars, you can see them bending, and it's kind of scary, but the subway is the best way to travel long distances for us. Once we got back, we were really exhausted, and went straight to bed.
to be continued.. we are posting now so the computer doesn't crash.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
one day til departure
it is exactly 8:00 p.m. as i am writing the very first post in our taiwan trip blog. i have just arrived home from the school holiday concert, but kari is still there because of band. (haha!)
excitement is mounting on both ends- we both cannot believe this is really happening! it's been a dream since middle school. and since we are also spectacular procrastinators, our luggage is not yet packed. my luggage will be filled with mostly things for my family aka. mounds of vitamins, candy, and peanuts. please don't ask.
unfortunately i have a deutsch vocabulary project and some calculus to finish. this concludes the end of the first post. the next time.. we'll be in taiwan :)
stephanie
excitement is mounting on both ends- we both cannot believe this is really happening! it's been a dream since middle school. and since we are also spectacular procrastinators, our luggage is not yet packed. my luggage will be filled with mostly things for my family aka. mounds of vitamins, candy, and peanuts. please don't ask.
unfortunately i have a deutsch vocabulary project and some calculus to finish. this concludes the end of the first post. the next time.. we'll be in taiwan :)
stephanie
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