Travel logs - Taiwan Day 11

It is strange how I get to spend the most time online when I am at my Grandpa's place. I guess it has to do with the fact that there is nothing else to do here. I have a love-hate relationship with this internet cafe. I love the fact that it is so convenient and cheap (20 yuen/hour which is about 67 USD cents/hour). I hate it because a lot of the computer are old and decripit. Some of the equipment works half of the time including the internet. Also, people smoke like chimneys in here. Urh... I havent experience second hand smoke this bad since high school.

Since my last entry, I have spent some more time in Hsin Chu and Taipei; mainly Taipei. I ended doing all the touristy stuff. :) My friend Yen yu took me to see the Gu Gong Museum in Taipei. They have on display a large amount of ancient Chinese artifacts. I regret not knowing much about the history, because I don't think I appreciated the whole point of the exposition.

On one of the off days, my cousin took me to the top of Taipei 101 (tallest building of the world with the fastest elevator, as of today) and I got a crash geography lesson on the layout of Taipei.
I got to say that shopping inside 101 is kind of boring, most stores are either European or American, which makes it really pointless. Also, the price for most stuff in there was a lot higher than in Canada or the States. I got a chance to meet up with Annie and do some catching up. :)

As a more cultureal experience, my aunt took me to a Joshua Bell's violin recital at the National Concert Hall in Taipei which is next to Chang Kai Shek's Memorial. Listening to Bell play so well made me regret not taking my violin lessons more seriously. That guy played some mad fiddle. I
never knew human fingers could move that fast. My aunt is taking me back to the Concert Hall to listen to my cousin's concert. She is going to be singing and playing some chinese concert/musical. I can't wait. :)

Among other things, my sis took me to the night markets and I finally got to shop. I got to say that going shopping with a local makes it so much easier. My sis did all the haggling and I did the looking. :) It was awesome to finally meet up with her after two years. Funny thing about the night market, yesterday I went to another night market with my friend Yuen Yu and we got conned. It pissed me off at first, but then I laughed caused I finally eperienced something I never expereienced before. :) What happened was, the sales lady was trying to convince us to buy more from the store and we said we would if she could give us a deal. We try haggling with her, but she said she couldnt lower the price any longer, but could give us a gift for each person. However, after we paid, all she did was give us a VIP card. Totally useless for me since I was never going back to that store. haha. I guess the fact that I told her I was from out of the country made it easier for her to trick me. XD

Oh.., I almost forgot to mention the food I ate. How can I forget about the food? Taiwan is all about the food. I had some delicious Hunan cuisine, Grilled shrimp, veggies and ribs in spicy sauces. Really good. I also had a bunch of food at the night markets. Most memorable among them are: stinky tofu, lamb in medicinal stew, Pepper Cake. The stinky tofu was not bad, it tasted like fried spicy tofu. It didnt stink once I put it in my mouth. :) As for the lamb in medicinal stew, it was a lot better than I expected. My mom used to make me drink some weird medicinal stuff as a kid to make me stronger or something. I used to hate it. However, the lamb I tried out was delicious. Totally different from the stuff my mom used to force me to eat. Finally, my favorite new discovery in this trip was the pepper cakes I tried at the night market. It was so delicious. It tasted like a fried baozhi. :) MIAM

Travel logs - Taiwan Day 2

I am currently in my Grandpa's little town, in the middle of nowhere. I arrived to Taiwan last night and spent the day in Hsin chu. My friend drove me down to see my grandpa. I barely spent one hour with my grandpa before I decided to drive to the town to get access to internet. I am an addict, I know. XD I am getting new pictures uploaded as soon as I find some time. :) One thing I found interesting so far is that how easily I can blend in. I kind of blend in until I open my mouth that is. XD haha.
So far my trip has been uneventful. I went to the Temple Night Eatery place in Hsinchu and had some Meat balls soup and also some fried meatballs in sticky rice. It is actually yummier than it sounds. I have been drinking a lot of different drinks, especially tea. It seems that everywhere I go, I end up drinking tea.