Taipei - Day 3 - More Ramen, Movie, Pizza

 Wednesday ended up being a bit of a chill day. We had our usual buffet breakfast, then went back to the room to veg. Eventually we got enough gumption to leave and get some lunch. Dad wanted to try the ramen house we went to, and he also needed to go to the bookstore near the Taipei 101.

Sometimes you decide to dress for comfort.

That passes quickly.

Be still my heart! If someone could translate this, I'd love to know what it is!

It was a bit of a rainy day so we decided to catch a film. We saw Argo which felt appropriate being a Canadian in a foreign city. Enjoyable!

I trust all things Ben Affleck. I never thought I"d say that.

Back to the hotel. I started to feel very nauseous, and had to have a bit of a lay down. My dad's boss Andras came over to the hotel around 7:30 to meet us for dinner. We had drinks at the hotel first. Andras is great. He's Hungarian, but has worked all over the world. My dad worked for him back when he lived in San Jose. Andras is a total A-type personality, and picks up culture wherever he goes. Him and Dad had found a pizza joint they both liked, so we taxi'd over to it.

She was singing Country Roads. My co-worker Loralee would have loved it!!

Kitty! Made me miss PussPuss.

Pizza

                                     

And that was day 3! At first I felt a little guilty having a lazy day when we're all the over here, but I've had to keep in mind that I'm on vacation! I can do whatever I want! Ch'yaaaaaa!

Taipei - Day 2 - National Palace Museum and Hunan!

I am starting to feel pretty comfortable in the city. There hasn't really been a big culture shock like I was expecting before we left. Taipei feels just like any big city, only I can't speak the language. We've hardly been anywhere though where someone in the room doesn't speak at least a little English. 

On Tuesday Dad had to go into work, so Mom and I grabbed our transit cards and headed to the MRT and on our way to the National Palace Museum. 

It's definitely Christmas!

MRT? No problem!

Up the many stairs to the National Palace Museum.

Get a long little doggy.

Yerp.

Admission was cheap. $5. And not to be a totally uncultured jerk, but it kind wasn't worth much more than that. For me anyways. It was room of endless bowls. And snuff jars. And paintings. And with no context or connection to the history, it was hard to stay interested in the material. We tried really hard though! We had a little snack in the coffee house attached to the museum

Coke tastes like coke!

Mom loves a good crusty bun.

Shot from the top.

What the $5 did get us was a walk through the totally beautiful gardens beside the museum. It's amazing what you can do with such a small space and a lot of care. 

Mom was shocked and I didn't want to pose with these guys.

Garden of Perfected Benevolence. It really was.

 On the way to the museum I noticed a weird sign about Tibetan Buddhism. On the way back I mentioned it to Mom and she had noticed it too. I managed to snap a pic of it on the way back. I"ll have to look up what this is all about.

Tibetan Buddhism vs. Chinese Buddhism

Before I left for Taiwan, Jeff told me that I had to go for Hunan food. I found a highly recommended restaurant called 1010 Hunan Cuisine. The food was amazing. It was a bit tough to order as the restaurant didn't have anyone who spoke even a bit of English. I tried to order dishes that weren't too crazy on the spicy level as Mom doesn't do spicy like Dad and I do. I'd like to go back and get some different stuff before we leave. Yum yum!


                                              


                                     

Sink/Counter

I crashed shortly after dinner. Still doing the jetlag dance.

Taipei - Day 1, Exploring and Taipei 101

My first day in Taipei started at 5:45 am CST. Would have been nice to sleep a bit longer, but I'm glad Mom and I weren't waking up at 3:00 in the morning. Got ready and headed downstairs for breakfast. We are staying at the Regent Taipei Hotel and the buffet breakfast here is incredible. Best ever. Lot's of Chinese, Western, and Japanese breakfast choices. Everything is fresh and beautiful.

View from our table.

Part of the room.

Breakfast round 1! Cornedbeef hash, bacon, hashbrown, steamed bun, dumpling and omlette!

Round 2! Papaya, pineapple, watermelon, passion fruit. Sounds like a Heather Blush tune! Oh and some salmon.

Dad had to go to work for a meeting so Mom and I had the first part the day to ourselves. We stopped for a moments rest after lunch, then wandered the busy Taiepei streets. We got some coffee and spent sometime in the green space by our hotel. There are not a lot of parks that I've seen so far, so we're fortunate to have a lovely green space close by, which you can see in the pics.                                    

Little department store across from the hotel. Mom bought shoes.

Taipei 101 waaaay in the distance there.

A chain of coffee shops where they roast their own beans.

This guy must have been here for hours smoking and dancing.

By lunchtime I was starting to feel kind of funny. I was dizzy, nauseous, and my hands were shaky. We were looking for lunch, but I have to admit that it was a bit intimidating. Mom tried to go into a few busy lineups, but I was so nervous about communicating that I backed out. We went down another street back to our hotel, and based by a ramen house. It was bright and had lots of pictures. We went in and sat down and looked at the menu. Our waitress didn't speak English, but one of the cooks clearly did! I was a shocked and a little disappointed with myself at how much relief I felt just being in the presence of someone who spoke English. The food was tasty, the beer was cold, another great success!

Best ramen ever. Broth flavour explosion!

Mom and I were pretty draggy after that. We met Dad at the hotel and had a lay around for an hour or so. Then it was up and at-em to go see the Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world!

Big!

Not so big right?

Pictures will never do this building justice. I almost fell down dizzy looking up at it.

We took the MRT to get to the area. Busy but not overwhelming. So far I haven't experienced any sort of culture shock. I even managed to find a Bobbi Brown to replace the gel liner I forgot back home!

Up to the observation deck!

And it was fast! 84 floors in 37 seconds!

Just in time for sunset!

Facing East. 

Winnipeg made the cut! Never knew it was that far south of Vancouver though...

From the observation level, 91st floor.

Parentals!

One of the dampers that keeps the building stable.

How it works!

A damper baby! These little guys guide you through the 101. Adorable.

Grocery store find!

Lot's of Roots stores!

HEY THERE ALBERTA!

Attached to the Taipei 101 is a shopping mall. Of course. We wound our way through it to find the famous Din Tai Fung. Mom and I weren't entirely hungry so we didn't order much. For as much as I've ready about the dumplings at this restaurant, I wasn't super impressed. The wontons were delicious, but everything else was so-so. And another example of being exhausted and forgetting to take photos. Dang.

We took a cab back. It was terrifying. More on that another time.

The shoes I wore on the plane weren't the best for walking, and at the time I could feel some rubbing happening on my left foot. By the end of the night I had a full blown blister. Thankfully Dr. Dad was there for some needle and tape work.

Travel isn't always glamerous.

Dr. Dad to the rescue!

Ouch!

After that it was rest and early snoring from Mom. I was asleep by 9 too. More adventures tomorrow!