For those remaining few that know nothing about Taiwan, fear not, I'm about to break you out of your cultural imprisonment. Join me on this 2 part, or 2 post if you will, journey about Taiwan. Post 1 will focus on my first trip to the capital city, Taipei.
Taipei is a delightfully modern city, with sights, sounds, and smells that make it uniquely it's own wondrous place. The most famous of those sights would have to be Taipei 101, currently the 2nd tallest building in the world.
It's not the best photo of the building, but you get the idea, it's tall. 101 stories tall to be precise, 5 of those being underground. That leaves 96 visible stories in this shot; go ahead and zoom in and count for yourself if you don't believe me.
96 right? That's what I thought, don't ever doubt me again. Some other sights in the city that aren't necessarily unique to Taipei, but still fun to see were these:
Clockwise from top left: 1. Taipei Eye 2. View from Taipei Eye 3. Love sign near 101 and 4. Scooters |
Another great place to visit was north of Taipei, located near the coast. A famous area for tea houses, it was one of my favorite spots of the trip because of the view. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
I'm not a big tea drinker, but enjoying some nice tea with that view was easily one of the best parts of the trip.
Another great thing about Taipei is the ability to easily get pampered. This included foot massages, which are open 24 hours and located conveniently throughout the city, and also a shampoo/scalp massage.
The shampoo/scalp massage was pretty inexpensive and quite enjoyable. The foot massage parlor was another story. The foot massage also included a foot bath, along with a neck and shoulder massage. I fully expected these shops to employ dainty women, and to thoroughly enjoy this experience. Upon entering I immediately found out these dainty women were in fact men, and not dainty at all. However, I was completely confident there would be no George Costanza type moment, nothing downstairs would be moving during this male given massage. After a confusingly delicate foot scrub, my confidence was very quickly confirmed. This male masseuse had very powerful thumbs, and knew how to use them. I found out the hard way that Asian men prefer deep tissue massages. During the early foot soaking portion he began working over my neck and shoulders. His thumbs expertly rolling and kneading my muscles as if it were dough. Though this felt more like the beginning of some sort of Asian torture technique, when asked if the pressure was ok, I grunted out a feeble yes. I immediately regretted paying for a full hour and gritted my teeth dreading the thought of him moving onto my feet. I may have blacked out for a portion of the neck/shoulder "massage" but when I came to he was on to my feet. While there he attacked pressure points that I never knew existed. By the time he was finished my body was so stiff I could barely stand. Lucky for him my neck was so sore I couldn't turn my head to tell him how I really felt about his massage.
Quickly moving on from that experience, I'd like to get to my absolute favorite part of the trip. The food! First up, a miner's lunch at an old gold mining site:
This included pork cutlet over rice, along with bubble tea and Taiwanese beer. I chose to ignore the treasure map printed on the place mat. I'm not Nicolas Cage, and our itinerary did not allow for that (thanks a lot Seongeun).
Also included in the delicious category was the world famous Din Tai Fung, which originated in Taiwan. We got the wildly popular dumpling and beef noodle dish. It did not disappoint.
Taiwan also has delicious desserts, and who was I to say no.
Desserts included ice cream over shaved peanuts, tucked nicely into a tortilla like wrap. This was far and away one of the best things I've ever tasted. I found it at one location outside of the city, and was unable to find another location anywhere else in Taiwan. That should be a crime, but sadly I don't think it is. The mango and ice cream over shaved ice was also very good, but might as well have been dog shit after eating that burrito of ice cream and peanut shavings. That's enough about the desserts. Damn it!
Outside of the comforts of restaurants, laid a treasure trove of delicious street food. Our personal favorite was the fried squid with some spicy powder sprinkled atop. Pair that with some low alcohol content fruit beer and the result was fantastic.
The food stall was also located near a unique temple where we ate on the steps. All around it was quite the sensory sensation.
However, all that glitters is not gold. I believe Bill Shakespeare said that. Either him or Bill Clinton. I'm not exactly sure, but both were great Bill's, so does it really matter?
I've included this one last because just maybe you've stopped reading and will never have to know the existence of this truly toilet bowl of a restaurant. You've heard of tourist traps right? I'm gonna continue assuming you have. This restaurant was truly a tourist trap at it's best (worst?). You sit on toilets (not functional) and eat on glass covered sinks. The food is served in little toilet or sink shaped dishes. I'm sorry I wasted the time shoving this horrid food into my mouth hole and wasting precious time digesting and breaking down the food into waste. Had I known how bad it would taste before hand I could have dumped it right into the toilet, saving both time and money. Besides this black eye on the otherwise delicious food, I was pleased with the bold flavors Taipei offered.
Taipei was a successful, enjoyable trip. That success led to another trip to Taiwan that would include some other locations. Post 2 will be coming soon.
Funny post! Good job Gavin
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to read your writing; it seems you are right here telling me these stories. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Seongeun and Bri. Had more time to sit and write this one.
ReplyDelete