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Location | Taichung, Taiwan

Wow, this trip went by incredibly fast. I’m going to miss Taiwan a lot. Now that I’m older, I have more money, I can appreciate Taiwan a lot more than I used to. Even though my best time in Taiwan was still the summer of 2005 (I miss you TTT-ers!), this time was just as great hanging out with family and old friends.

We got back from Sydney around 6pm and back to Taichung around 8. My cousin and his girlfriend stopped by with bubble tea and their dog Manto. It wasn’t very eventful except the unpacking.

Friday started out early. First I woke up early to go get my eyeliner tattoo redone on the left eye. The under-eye line was faded. After another horrific 20 or so minutes, we were off to go do some shopping. We went to Mei Hwa Tai, Sogo and Net. At Net I spent US$400 on a new wardrobe… heh. I’m a big spender.

We had lunch at Chun Shui Tang. I got the Kung Fu Noodles, turnip cake and bubble tea. We spent the afternoon chatting at my Grandma’s before my aunt took me home with her to use the internet. I hung out with her, my cousin, Jack, and their dog Manto until it was time to go back to my Grandma’s so I could quickly change and we could go to teppenyaki!

This is Manto. He says "hello!"

Teppenyaki was easily the coolest part of the night. We went to this fancy-looking place where they have impeccable service and really delicious food. It was French-style teppenyaki. Here are the things we ate in order:

Amuse Bouche

Fish Soup

Nicoise Salad

Duck Breast!

Vegetables!

Sakura Fried Rice

Ice cream covered in a shell of chocolate

Milk Tea w/ Grass Jelly

It was a really satisfying and filling meal. Looking at the pictures makes me really hungry. I’d really love to eat some more of the Sakura fried rice. It was really amazing, but I couldn’t enjoy it that much because I was completely STUFFED.

Oh yeah, the chefs and waiters are all extremely attractive. Apparently it’s part of the way they choose employees. You have to fit a certain standard of good looks. I didn’t think our chefs were that good looking, but not bad.

Our Chefs

After dinner I got dropped back off at my grandma’s and my aunt took me and my mom to go see my aunt on my dad’s side. On the way there I learned that the uncle of the youngest aunt (my dad has 5 sisters) was (or still is!?) in the Taiwanese mafia… and apparently he’s on the lam after doing some jail time? Interesting…

Anyway, my aunts (the oldest and the 4th oldest) run a food stand on a small street. There they sell fried leek pancakes, oyster pancakes, noodles, fried leek, fried tofu, etc. I took a few shots while I was there.

Giant Fryer

Fried Foods

Later that night we headed of Fong-Chia Night Market. My cousin, Jack, his gf, Zhiyan, me and my cousin, Jessie just roamed around. Jack and Jessie ended up eating stinky tofu while Zhiyan and I walked around searching for accessories. In the end we ended up in this store with an absurd amount of stuffed animals. Here’s me with a giant pig.

Giant Pig!

Now I’m back in the states scheming about when I’ll go back to Taiwan next!!

Location | Taipei – Tony’s House

Day 2 in Taipei started with a 1-2 hour full body massage that Tony was banned from (ladies only). Phoebe and I went to this place in Zhongsan near the Shinkong Mitsukoshi there. The massage was the full shebang. It was pretty great for NT$999 (about $30US). After the massage I was wrapped up in this heating pad and left to cook for awhile. It was pretty amazing. I really should find a regular massage place in NYC.

Afterwards, Phoebe, Tony and I went to eat at a small Japanese tapas place. We ordered about 6-7 dishes. From sashimi to fried sea urchin to delicious puffer fish (but not the poisonous kind), it was really yummy.

Japanese Tapas!

Then we went to Shinkong to walk around, but didn’t find anything that I really liked. They took me to Guanghua Electronics Marketplace. It’s amazing now. So shiny and new. I didn’t get to do a lot of serious electronics shopping unfortunately. I wish I had more time to do so, but I didn’t want to drag Tony and Phoebe along with me. I could literally spend hours there.

I got myself a new 8GB SD Card and some new headphones for my iPod.

We hopped over to the Shinkong Mitsukoshi near 101 to buy some cosmetics. They were having an anniversary sale, so it was perfect timing. I got a whole bunch of stuff before we headed to Hot Mala to have Mala Hot Pot with my friend Phil. It was Phoebe, Tony, Tony’s friend and fellow Michigan alum Justin, Phil and myself. After eating ourselves into a fully almost pants-busting state, we went to a foot massage place and got ourselves a 40 minute foot massage.

Drinking tea at the foot massage parlour

The woman who massaged Tony’s feet was completely brutal but awesome. She was definitely torturing the crap out of Tony. Especially since he’s ticklish.

Oh yes, and today it was pouring rain.

Location | Taipei – Tony’s House

Woke up a little late, had some breakfast and then Zhiyan came to take me to Taipei. Got onto the High Speed Rail (which is awesome by the way) and it took only an hour to get to Taipei. I went to Yuansan to wait for Tony. We went back to his apartment where I dropped my stuff off and then we headed out to Taipei 101. We first went to Page One and I was incredibly sad to find out that they cut the store size in half. It is definitely NOT the largest bookstore in Asia anymore.

Taipei 101 from the ground

I’d never gone up to the top of Taipei 101, so Tony and I went to the top in the world’s fastest elevator. We took a lot of pictures and stared at Taipei from all angles. It’s been cloudy and crappy all day, but there were still some nice pictures. We also went outside, but since it was a very windy day, they wouldn’t let us on all sides of the building. We then went down to see their “Super Big Damper” and through all the souvenirs and back down to the bottom of 101.

View from Taipei 101

We then walked over to New York, New York where we strolled around Muji and some other stores before deciding that we’d like to try Mister Donut.

Almost everyone I know has said they like Mister Donut. So I was really excited to see how good it really was.

Tony and I got 6 donuts. We went outside to try them out.

Well…

The first one was green tea glazed. Um… gross.

Then a chocolate one… even worse…

Ok, the donuts were disgusting. We were hoping that it’d get better. Let me tell you, it doesn’t get better. We were trying to give away our Mister Donut’s Donuts by the end of the night.

Whyyyy did we buy you Mister Donut???

So we decided to walk back to the subway stop and Tony decided to point east… unfortunately the subway was west and I actually knew where we were. We went to the Sogo area to find Tony’s friend Phoebe. We found her really quickly and strolled around Sogo until she got off work. We met up with her and her cousin (Peggy) and went to a really cute tea shop. We got some sandwiches and tea/coffee. The latte was actually really good, but the tea was the cutest and best part.

Tony, me, Peggy and Phoebe at tea

Aftewards we met up with Tony’s friend Sophia and her friend, David. We went to eat Dou Hua (a type of sweet dessert made from soy beans). After eating that we went to Sophia’s to just hang out in her apartment. I really liked the set-up, as it was very loft-like.

Tony, David and I went to Shilin Night Market afterwards. We strolled through the market quite quickly because David wanted to get to this store to get A&F/AE/Hollister stuff that was incredibly cheap. We couldn’t figure out if the stuff was real or fake, but Tony and David spent about an hour to an hour and a half in the store just trying on different things.

Afterwards Tony and I took a cab to MOS Burger. For some reason we had both been craving MOS Burger. In the end I’m not sure why I was craving MOS burger…

MOS Burger

Location | Taichung

I did something completely out of character today. I got a tattoo. Four of them in fact. It’s not where you’d expect.

So, I got eyeliner tattooed on my eyes. Top and bottom. Only cost me $200. Ok, it really cost my aunt $200 (my poor Aunt is going to spend a small fortune on me this trip).  Sounds horrific right? Well it might have been the most horrific experience of my life. So I get there and it’s all nice and peachy. The cosmetologist’s office is gorgeous. I mean, marble floors, chandeliers, and pristine posh décor. I meet the nice lady (Ms. Wu) and proceed to let her line my eyes to show me what it’s going to look like. She lines one side with only top and one side with top and bottom. The bottom looked great too, so I decided to go with lining both (which was an extra $100). So I lay down and she begins by numbing the area around my eyelids… with a giant needle. Then, the most horrified part wasn’t the fact that she was using an actual tattoo pen to line my eyes, it was more the horrific sound of the tattoo pen. This horribly tinny mechanical whirring noise oddly reminiscent of a dental tool.

Whirr whirr whirr.

I can feel my eyes roll back into my head as I reminiscence that horrifying noise. So then the tattoo starts. It wasn’t very painful, more-so, it was just… tingly. The worst part was when she had to line my bottom eyelid. I had to have my eyes open as the pen was whirring toward my eyeball. I could feel my heart practically jumping out of my chest as I held my breath because I was so afraid that if I moved it’d be the last time I saw out of my eye.

The best part was all the tears I shed in the name of a) laziness (I got my eyeliner done because I was sick of lining my eyes everyday) and b) beauty (woo! My eyes look pretty freaking awesome now)

Anyway, after my eyes decided to turn puffy, red and really just kind of gross looking from the tattoo, I got to go upstairs for a facial. The facial went nice and smooth until the portion where they clean out ever pore. My God… That was incredibly painful. I thought I’d pass out from the pain. Almost as bad as the eye tattoo. I think I shed a few tears then as well.

After everything was set and done, I got a ride back to my Grandma’s where I ate some lunch then passed out for 3 hours. My aunt came to take me shopping. We went to Shinkong Mitsukoshi to stroll around, but unfortunately I didn’t get anything. Then Doris called, it was her last night in Taichung, and we both went bowling at Tiger Bowling Alley. We even played the Taiko Drum Master game and also shot some hoops.

Her boyfriend dropped me off around 11 and I went to deal with my puffy red eyes because I’m going to Taipei tomorrow!

Location | Taichung, Taiwan

So, I’m a little bit sick. I thought it was allergies, but nope, it’s a cold. Sore throat, runny nose, cough. Awesome.

Today I went to Lukang, a town in the outskirts of Taichung. There’s a big Matsu Temple there. We went for Matsu worship at the various little shrines. Matsu is the patron saint of travelers (especially those who are sea-faring). [If you are interested, I’ll wiki link it later]. We didn’t stay very long, but we also went to eat their specialty – everything oysters. We ordered oyster omelette (which sadly, sucked), fried oyster and leek pancake, oyster porridge, fried oysters and fried shrimp balls.

I wasn’t very hungry. Not much of an appetite since I’m sick.

Afterwards we walked through the historic district and bought a few random souvenir type items. Nothing really outrageous, some glass figurines anyway.

Then we headed back to Taichung where I took a 2 hour nap before going to Shinkong Mitsukoshi to do some shopping. We had Chun Shui Tang’s Kungfu Noodles (sounds awesome right?) and some bubble tea before walking around. I’ve never really liked shopping in department stores. I can never find anything I want…

So we left and I met up with Doris at a bowling alley where we bowled, played the claw games, played Taiko: Drum Master, basketball, and air hockey. I’ll definitely miss Doris, she’s pretty awesome.

Anyway, so now I’m back home and tomorrow I’m getting something special done. I’ll show pictures later. I hope the pictures aren’t weird. I just took an antihistamine so time to pass out.

Location | 4th Floor of Grandma’s Building – Taichung, Taiwan

So… I’ve been overeating. A lot. Partially because all the food is so damn good here and also because I’m completely deprived of good Taiwanese food in the states.

The morning started out at 8am. I woke up, did some work (yes, I did check work email) and then I went downstairs to find that no one was home… oh…

My grandma came back and immediately took me to get breakfast. We went and got pork buns, fried oyster and leek pancakes, wonton soup and iced black tea. When I got back, I proceeded to eat 2 pork buns, 1 fried oyster and leek pancake, the whole bowl of wonton soup, the large iced black tea and a wax apple. Time to loosen my belt.

Pork Bun Vendor

So I spent an hour listening to The Bowery Boys so I could digest. Then I went upstairs and decided to go through old photographs. I found a lot of my Grandfather’s side of the family. There were some great shots from the 1920’s up until the 1940’s. I’ll try to locate a scanner so that I can scan them all. They were mostly of my great Grandfather and various other people my grandmother wasn’t too sure about.

Drinking Friends

Then it was lunch time. My aunt brought over Peking duck, dumplings, vegetable buns, cold soy milk and bubble tea. My grandmother made steamed crab and shrimp. We also had some leftover pork buns and oyster and leek pancake. I can usually eat a whole Peking duck (I know, sick), but I could only eat 3 wraps. Hopefully I’ll save room next time.

Finishing up Lunch

My cousin also brought over his crazy dog. He was jumping around all over the place and licking everything. The poor thing got so excited we had to tie him to the staircase railing outside the apartment door. You could hear him crying from the dining table.

So we rested up after eating until 3:30ish when we went to my Aunt’s to switch cars and drive off to the mountains.

Mountains

My cousin made reservations at this really nice restaurant in the outskirts of Taichung. We went a little early to take photos. The place really was quite beautiful. Set up to look a little Japanese (even though the food isn’t Japanese), there’s a reflection pool, shiny wooden floors and tatami.

Reflection Pool

There’s an outdoor bathroom and the funny thing is, the back wall is clear glass. It’s facing the edge of the mountain, so no one should be able to get back there to see, but it was still a little unnerving to go to the bathroom…

Would you use this bathroom? (Heh I did!)

We took a lot of pictures outside.

Zhiyan is very tall compared to me...

We sat inside for a little bit before getting kicked out again because they had to set the tables.

Inside Looking Out

The meal was 7-courses. You pick what your main meat dish is and the menu is set by the chef. I’ll post each dish below in pictures.

Table Setting

First Course: Salad w/ melon wrapped in proscuitto

Second Course: Fresh Tofu

Third Course: Japanese Winter Gourd w/ Shrimp & Squid

Fourth Course: Lamb w/ zucchini, squash, potato and kiwi

Fifth Course: Chicken Soup

Sixth Course: Pasta w/ wild mushroom

Seventh Course: Sweet chestnut soup

Final: Tea

We were so full after the meal that we had to walk around before finishing the “final drink.” We took some really cute pictures outside (even if it was dark) and then we wandered back inside to take some more photos.

Outdoors Looking In

Zen

This tea is very bitter...

After finishing we drove back to the main part of Taichung. First stopping for some taro desserts and also at a clinic (to grab some cough medicine for my aunt).

What a crazy and awesome day. Can’t wait for this to continue!

Location | 4th Floor of Grandma’s Building, Taichung, Taiwan

I’m about to pass out. Since Thursday at 8am until now Saturday (in Taiwan PM, in the US AM) at 9pm… I have slept a total of… 4 hours on an airplane.

I should be out of my mind by now. I think the only thing holding me together is some coffee, then tea, then more tea. Today wasn’t too eventful. I’ll pick off where I left off in my last entry.

So at noon I met up with Doris, a friend I made from my internship at the National Palace Museum in 2005. We went to a branch of Chun Sui Tang ( 春水堂 ) located in a small department store. Yay for bubble tea and snacks. Afterwards we walked around and even went to a Jazz festival!

Myself and Doris at the Taichung Jazz Fest

Then it was back home (but not after meeting Doris’ boyfriend — awww so nice for dropping me off). They came and visited my ah-ma (grandma). Then we went to dinner at a Japanese resturant. 9-course meal for NT$350 or US $10.83. Crazy right? There was salad, fried tofu slice, chawanmushi, hand roll, fried rice, sashimi, miso soup, fruit, and taro jelly).

Sashimiiii!!!

Taiwan food is awesome! Tomorrow is crab + Peking duck + more Japanese!!!! Plus my uncle is taking me to a sashimi joint + all you can eat oysters. Freaking awesome. I love food people and my family is definitely a food family!

Location | Grandma’s House in Taichung

So far so good. People are impressed that I still speak understandable Chinese. They’re also fairly impressed that I can understand their Taiwanese (diabolical I know, I’m taking over the world one language at a time). Already ate 4 pieces of turn-up cake, 4 soup dumplings, cold soy milk and a wax apple. I’m on a roll already with the food. The fact that I can’t suck in my stomach anymore, now that’s an entirely different situation.

Today I’m meeting up with my friend, Doris from Russia. Sometimes we refer to her as Boris from Russia. Anyway, she happens to be in my hometown and will be meeting up with me later to go eat! I haven’t made any plans for the day, but I really should. I got in around 6am and it’s about 9:30am right now. I just have to make it through another 12 hours and I’ll be set with no jet lag. I hope. I HOPE! I need some coffee.

Will post pictures of food as soon as I get my sh*t together.

Location | New York City

About 4-5 years ago, I spent 2 summers in Taiwan. In 2004, I lived on a mountain near the Qizhang (七張) MRT stop (Mass Rapid Transit) station on the main green line going through Taipei. Everyday I would go outside and wait for a van that would take me down winding roads down near the subway station so I could go to class. Oh right, I forgot to mention that I had gone to Taiwan to spend 4 months studying Mandarin Chinese. I hate to admit it, but I really did not learn much… and I totally regret it.

In 2005, I got an internship with the Taiwan Tech Trek program. They sent me to work for 5 weeks at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. During the program I lived in Danshui, near the northwest coast of Taiwan. If you know the geography of Taipei, I essentially lived on opposite ends of the city.

Taipei is such a mishmash of things. In 2005 I wrote an “award-winning” essay [note: when I saw “award-winning” it means I won an award for it, but it’s nothing special, it was for my internship program] about the contrasts between old and new Taipei. You could find a beautiful modern bridge, but underneath the bridge you’d find a fisherman in an old rickety boat. These contrasts can be found all over Taipei (and the rest of Taiwan for that matter).

Taipei is a tricky city to describe because it’s so different depending on what parts of the city you visit. For instance, if you’re visiting Danshui (where I once lived), you’ll get a tourist’s paradise. Cute little shops selling trinkets, Taiwan foods, restaurant stalls, and a smelly fisherman’s wharf. In Shilin, you get the largest night market in the city, where you have vendors (illegally) selling items in the street, store after store with goods, and food everywhere. For first time visitors to Taipei, it’s good to note that Shilin Night Market isn’t actually located at the Shilin Station, it’s located at the Chientan Station.

We made friends with this guy, he's awesome!

Or if you go to the Taipei 101 area, you get a posh shopping area where it’s very clean and tidy. Or Hsimending, which is equivalent to Shibuya in Tokyo, an area crowded with young people and a lot of fun things to do. If you go to the Gongguan or Guting areas, you’re in the college districts, where National Taiwan University (aka Tai-Da) and the National Taiwan Normal University¹ (aka Shi-Da) reside.

In 2005, I was working at the National Palace Museum in the Shilin district of Taipei. To get there, you’d want to get off at Shilin station and then walk out the entrance to the end of the street under the subway overpass. There are several buses that will take you to the museum. The Museum completed remodeling in 2006 (boo, a year after I worked there).

Entrance to the National Palace Museum

Fact: The exhibits at the museum change 4 times a year, but the museum houses so much stuff in storage that even if you went back 4 times annually, it’d still take you 11 years to see everything they had in the museum.

If you really wanted to know, behind the building there’s a giant vault that leads into the mountain the museum is built on. The doors are about 20-30 feet high and the security there rivals that of the CIA. Very few people have access to the inside of the vault and visitors can’t see the vault door. In reality, you need a special key card to even get back there (heh, which I managed to get my hands on one). Not that anyone probably really cares, but if you look at the picture below, I marked where the vault entrance is… oh wait, that might be a matter of national security… but then again, it’s probably impossible to even get into a vault. Even if someone was crazy enough to attempt it, they’d probably find a way to get the schematics let alone look at a Google Maps image of an red x.

Red X marks the spot!

What other interesting things can I tell you? Oh, the man made famous by the image “Tank Man” aka the “Unknown Rebel” who faced off against a line of tanks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests has been rumoured to be working at the National Palace Museum as an advisor to ceramics. Funny thing is, if so, I probably met the guy, but no one would know his history as he has used a pen name in the past and hidden his identity.

The best thing about Taipei is the night markets. Although the MRT stop running at midnight, night life extends far beyond those hours. Night markets stay open until the early hours of morning, KTV (karaoke) places are open 24/7 and you’ll always find food no matter what time you feel hungry.

Taiwan has the largest collection of 7-11 convenience stores versus any other place in the world.  You’ll often find at least a 7-11 and maybe a Family Mart on every corner in Taipei. The best things to buy inside? Tea eggs, snacks and anything from their large assortment of juices.

There are other great things to do in Taipei, but I’ll wait until I get there to document correctly and show you.

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¹The word normal in the university’s name derives from a usage now archaic for most English speakers. A “normal” college trains teachers. In the first decades of the twentieth century the term was still commonly used in reference to teacher training institutions. The word recognizes the leading role such institutions play in establishing educational standards—norms—for their societies. (from Wikipedia.org)

Location | New York City

Bubble Tea, Boba Tea, Pearl Milk Tea (珍珠奶茶), whatever you may call it was invented in Taiwan sometime during the 1980’s. Very few people know that it was actually invented at one of my VERY FAVORITE tea shops in Taichung: Chun Shui Tang Teahouse (春水堂). Although there’s another tea house in Tainan (southern Taiwan) that also lays claim to inventing bubble tea, we all know that Taichung is superior (heh).

Chun Shui Tang originated bubble tea through experimenting with cold milk tea. If you ever have a chance to visit any of their locations in Taichung, please try their milk tea with small bubbles. You will get the frothiest milk tea imaginable, with perfectly cooked bubbles. Furthermore, their thick sliced toast with condensed milk or peanut butter is mouthwatering delicious for what it is.

Everyone should also try to cook the bubbles themselves! It’s really rewarding when you get the perfect consistency and realize that you can make your own instead of crossing your fingers you don’t get a bad batch every time you go to a tea shop in Chinatown and/or St. Marks.

Taichung is also known for their suncakes (太陽餅). They come in various sizes, but my favorite are the large suncakes. Flaky on the outside and soft, sweet and gooey in the center. Originated by a branch of the Lin Family (not directly related to me) there is a mile stretch of stores on the road into Taichung where you can find hundreds of variations of suncakes.

Suncakes

The oyster omelette is a food enjoyed all over Taiwan (and parts of SE Asia and China).  I bring it up here because my aunts (on my dad’s side) run a restaurant that specializes in oyster omelettes.  A mixture of egg, starch (to thicken) and small oysters then a nice sauce on top makes for a delicious snack! Top that with fried tofu or any other items and you have the perfect Taiwanese street food.

Another perennial favorite is stinky tofu. As awesome as it sounds (/sarcasm), it really does taste good. Because it is fermented tofu, you can literally smell it from a mile away. If you get your wits about you and suck it up, it’s worth a try. Really. Really, just plug your nose and eat it!

How does something so delicious looking smell so bad?

As I further my hunger… other favorites:

• Oily Rice (油飯) – rice baked with oils, pork, shitake mushrooms and dried shrimp
• Ba-Wan (肉圓) – a bowl with a translucent dough stuffed with meat, served with a sweet or spicy sauce and cilantro
• A-gei (阿給) – Danshui’s (north of Taipei on the coast and my home for the summer of 2005) specialty – fried tofu stuffed with clear noodles and fish paste
• Oyster Vermicelli (蚵仔麵線) – clear noodles thickened with oysters and in soup
• Ground Pork Rice (魯肉飯) – what NYC Cravings is pretending to make, but in reality it’s not a glop. Ground pork marinated in soy served over rice with pickled mustard greens
• Radish Cake (蘿蔔糕) – using white radishes that are mashed into a paste then steamed until it solidifies into a gelatinous “cake” shape. Pan fry, serve with soy sauce, AMAZING.

Radish Cake

I am so hungry as I read the Wikipedia article on Taiwanese cuisine (to remind myself of what else to write about). My goal is to eat my way to Taiwan. If I come back about… 20 lbs heavier, just be nice.