We stepped outside, and boy, was it humid! It reminded me most of the time I went to Hawaii as a child; that hot, muggy air that just envelopes you The bus ride was uneventful and smooth, and afforded us some nice views of. the surrounding countryside. The vegetation is so lush here, very tropical feeling. Jeff's mother met us at the bus stop, and took us back to the apartment of one of her friends where we are staying. It's a very nice place, apparently worth a great deal even in USD, but they are not staying here currently, so other than the maid we have the place to ourselves. Jeff and I showered, and rather than nap and get our time zone warp even more confused, we decided to start on our day so as to be ready to sleep at the appropriate time tonight.
Jeff's mother had a whole program planned for us. First, for breakfast, we visited a local open air market and bought steamed buns filled with cabbage, bamboo, and mushrooms (delicious!). The market reminded me a lot of the open air markets in Rome, with all sorts of raw food, fish, vegetables, and fruit available for sale.
Market in the morning - Fish!
After eating, we wandered over to Taipei 101, the second highest building in the world, at 101 stories. I could not even fit it in a single photo when we were close to it. It's quite a beautiful building as well, and at night with all the lights on, quite an impressive sight.
After that, because it was still so early, Jeff's mother decided to take us out to a waterfront town about 45 minutes by subway away from the city proper. Once we got there, I was getting really thirsty, especially since the weather was heating up . I had decided against bringing a water bottle thinking it would be a pain to carry and thinking I'd probably be buying a drink or two while out anyways. Mistake. Jeff, meanwhile, was pleased as punch with his camelback backpack with build in hydration system, and kept offering me and his Mom swings from the water tube. We both felt a little funny about drinking from it for some reason, so I really wanted to find something to drink. We happened on a booth that sells fruit blended milk , and I opted for the papaya milk. Since the difference in price between regular and large was so small, I was convinced to go for the larger size, but ... big mistake. It was rich and delicious, but by the time I was half-way done, I was feeling full! It was just milk and fresh papaya all blended together, but it tasted like very rich milk or cream blended up with the fruit. Papaya, by the way, tastes entirely different here than it does at home. There's this whole other delicate almost aromatic flavor to it that the fruit in the US just does not even have. Since I know papaya is great for the digestion, I was hoping it might help me out since some of the plane food had not quite agreed with me the night before.
We wandered through the streets, browsing through shop after shop, and I continued to marvel at the prices (the dollar is strong right now), and just the sheer quantity of items for sale. Ultimately I ended up buying an adorable pair of wooden sandals for my two year old niece, handmade in Taiwan by the owners of the stand. Jeff's mother purchased a big bag of candy and food items to bring back, and Jeff's backpack started filling up!
We headed back to the city around lunch time, and landed at hot pot restaurant for lunch It was delicious, everything I love about hot pot :. Soup, meat, veggies, and incredible dipping sauces.
After that we walked around the area and visited some monuments, and unfortunately my memory of Taiwanese names is failing this jet lagged brain, but they were large, beautiful, and quite impressive. By this point though, it was getting very hot, and even the sunbrella Jeff's mom had brought for me was not doing much. We decided to head back to the apartment for a quick nap before heading out again for the evening.
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As a quick aside, it's been interesting that here as we explore Taiwan's capital city, by mid afternoon I had only seen three other caucasians. Apparently most of the tourists here are from mainland China, not the West. It's kind of neat to come to place like this and not feel like it's just a destination that's catering to my expectations as a Western tourist. It also means I've been getting a lot of looks on the street. "Which one of these is not like the others?" I enjoy it though.
I passed out for a solid two hours, and likely would have slept through the night if I had let myself, but my intro to the famous night market scene was next! Imagine a street fair, Asian style, and you have it. Street foot ., with an emphasis on fried goods and fancy sugary drinks, and lots and lots of trinkets and jewelry type items for sale I ended up finding a few good deals tonight: a long sundress of $ 10, 3 pajama tops for $ 3 each, a pair of flowy rayon pants for $ 9, and a couple of necklaces for $ 5 each. Not bad for my first night! I'd better start reining it in though, or I'll be out of cash pretty quickly. I ' m so glad though that Jeff's mother is here with us; she's pretty great at bargaining and wheeling and dealing with the street peddlers I just tell her what I'm interested in and watch her do her thing I did not eat much tonight; .. I think I was still dehydrated from the day, full from hot pot, and a lot of the fried food just did not appeal to me tonight. I ended up having a star fruit iced tea and a couple small spicy lamb skewers as we wandered through .
Today I am so tired that I'll save my reflections thus far for another post, but I wanted to get the narrative details down lest I forget. I know these days will be packed with new experiences, and I do not want to forget any of them! Good night, from Taipei!
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