Day 1
We arrived in Taipei early in the AM and a driver was there to pick us up at the airport, just what I've always wanted! Brian's cousin Sarah arranged for our ride, since we were staying at her apartment. I can't remember the name of the district in Taipei she lives in but it is the next 'hood down from Shilin. We walked a 20 min walk to her work, which is an International School and then wandered around in the rain for a few hours. We ate dumplings and drank sweet soymilk at what would turn out to be a daily hangout spot for us next door to Sarah's apartment. Explored more, played on one of the many calisthenics courses in a park, then got hum bow (I know that's not how it's spelled or probably the correct name for it, but you know what I mean) and went home for a well deserved nap (we didn't even get lost once!).
Sarah and Maria (Maria is Sarah's sister and Brian's other cousin living and working in Taipei as well) came back from work and we went for our first dinner. We ate 2 kinds of beef, spinach, fried squid and a chicken dish, and everything was sooooooo so delicious and cheap! After hanging out and chatting at Maria's place for a bit, Brian and I took the metro to the Shilin Night Market, which was pretty insane. Tons of people, carnival games, food, clothes, stands selling everything (and most of the stands were all the same). We wandered around for a few hours and had a few more snacks (you will soon notice a trend here) and then came home.
Sarah's apartment was really nice and made for an extra easy, comfortable transition for us. We had our own bathroom and bedroom with A/C and a key so we could come and go as we pleased. Thanks to Sarah for being such a gracious host!!
Day 2
Got a little bit of a late start, still felt a little jetlagged (in retrospect, the transition into Asia was so so easy compared to the nightmare of readjusting to our own time zone when we got back to the US, which took me at least 2 weeks). We met the girls and walked to their favorite hand-shaven noodle house so that a dan-dan noodle conessueir like myself could judge these authentic noodles and compare the two. :) We ate green onion pancakes, "exploding dumpling," green beans and cucumbers, and I had non-soup shaved noodles while everyone else had soup. It was really great but to be honest, dan dan noodles from Seven Stars Pepper here in Seattle REALLY take the cake.... to outshine the noodles in Taiwan really says something, and believe it or not, after being picked up from the airport in Seattle when we got home, we drove straight to Seven Stars Pepper for dan dan noodles before we even stopped at home! :)
After a nap we took the MRT to a hotspring called Xin Beitou. It was totally packed but really fun and cool (well, scorching hot actually). Brian fully submerged, twice, in the second hottest pool that my sensitive skin couldn't even step foot in! We got pretty lightheaded during the hotspring session, because it was still really hot outside and then getting into a hot pool instantly dehydrates you. There were also cool pools though so we could take a rest in those whenever we needed a break. The best part about the hotspring was that it was only a few metro stops away... if I lived in Taipei I would probably want to go there every single day. So sweet.
After the pools we took the MRT to another neighborhood to find a Lonely Planet-recommended restaurant and ended up getting all mixed up and turned around and I don't think the restaurant exists anymore. It was one of those too-hungry-getting-very-grumpy moments for me and we just ended up having to go to some random over-priced place, but I do kind of feel like there is no bad food in Taiwan anywhere.... so it ended up being fine. :) A little more wandering around after dinner and then off to sleep.
Day 3: Taipei to Sun Moon Lake
We took the high speed rail to Sun Moon Lake for an overnight trip with Sarah and Maria and their friend Virginia. the HSR went 200-something km/hr and we got there pretty quick. We were going to take the bus but it turned out to be a huge ordeal and we wandered around Taipei Main Station for an hour and couldn't get a straight answer about what we were supposed to do. All part of the adventure! :) We got a couple rooms in a nice hotel with a great outdoor patio with a view of the whole lake. Of course it started pouring rain the minute we arrived and we took a yacht tour in the pouring rain. It was kind of funny, it dropped us off at 2 different spots where we just walked around and there was a bunch of touristy stands selling stuff and food. We spent a couple of hours wandering in the rain taking pics; it kind of reminded me of those Hawaiian "cruises" that end in a luau- cheesy but fun. Sun Moon Lake overall was really touristy but it was beautiful anyway. After the boat tour we had dinner that featured local food/seafood and had some water fern-looking thing called "dragon's beard" that was amazing. We had a low-key night watching a little TV and listening to the fireworks outside (it was 10-10-10 which is a holiday there) and then went to bed.
Day 4: Sun Moon Lake to Taipei
We got up early and had a breakfast at the hotel- congee porridge with veggies, etc. It was a buffet style and pretty tasty. We ate on the patio overlooking the lake and it was gorgeous and sunny and hot that day. After breakfast we just wandered around on the boardwalk for awhile and took lots of pictures. It was really nice out and good and sunburny :) Had hot pot for lunch and guess what, Seven Stars Pepper takes the cake again! Love that place. Any Seattle-ites who haven't eaten there... do yourself a favor and get yourself there NOW. 12th and Jackson in the International Dist. Anyway, we enjoyed some passionfruit tea (my new favorite slimy fruit) and then headed back to Taipei by bus and speed train.
When we got home we took MRT to Taipei 101, the 2nd tallest building in the world. I had some ATM problems (of course) before we went up, so by the time we got to the observation deck it was dark. Wah wah. Oh well, it was still fun :) We hurried back to the apartment to try to catch Sarah and Maria for dinner but we missed them so we walked down the street in search of our dinner. We found a non-descript, unmarked street stand and I pointed to what the vendor was making for another customer, and he made it for us. It was incredible.... noodles and veggies and more of that sweet soy milk thing. More wandering around the neighborhood after dinner and a late night dumpling run right before bed!
Day 5: attempt at Taroko Gorge
**Sidenote: it has now been over 6 months since this trip and I really want to start updating this again, but at this rate of detail it will take me another 6 months! So from here on out- just the highlights. The pictures tell great stories anyway- see facebook for the best pics :)**
This day was kind of a hilarious disaster. Got a late start to the day, accidentally dined and ditched on our breakfast (I swear it was an accident!), couldn't figure out how to get a ticket to the gorge, but finally got one. The train dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, but an English speaking tour guide offered to let us ride in his tour bus! We got on and were greeted ver warmly, and just like in my China tour group, we were taken to all the "best" spots and spent more time driving than exploring. On the way back, after driving past the train station, the bus pulled over and the guide told us we were being dropped off. "Thank you! Bye!" He said, leaving us stranded in an unknown place. We wandered aimlessly, frustrated and hungry, til finally a taxi drove by and took us to the train. We made it home and ended up eating the hottest of hot pots for dinner, followed by falling into bed after our emotionally tiring day!
Day 6: Jaioshi
We went to this town with the intention of going in hot springs, but it was scorching hot outside and we really wanted to hike. We took a shuttle up to a waterfall and hiked around for a few hours, but ran out of time to go in the pools (it felt WAY too hot to do that anyway), then got noodles at a local spot and took the train home to get ready for THAILAND!
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