Feelin' Groovy

Friday, me and my cousin traveled by bus to Elan, which is on the East Coast of Taiwan. There is a center there celebrating Taiwan's rich cultural background. There are several small museums, a traditional Taiwanese house, and a scenic walking trail through a park. There is shopping too. Lots and lots of shopping. I think that by now, you guys know what sparked the most interest in my cold, little consumer's heart. 

This is the shopping area. All of the buildings are so beautiful. Each one of those buildings have a shop inside of it. We spent a couple of hours looking in every one of the shops. There was so much to see.

They have these lanterns out for Chinese New Year. (By the way, the last day of Chinese New Year is today. It is the 15th day, and so tonight there will be a lantern festival. If I go, I will take pictures and upload them for you all here).

The stores sold all sorts of things: homemade soaps, cypress wood furniture, calligraphy brushes, traditional Taiwanese toys, puppets, clothes, candy, incense. 

Here is homemade incense that is drying outside of one of the stores. 

Here is one of the candy shops.

There were a few different kinds of candy. There were these pulled sugar sticks, and candy coated fruit on a stick, cotton candy, and this thing on a stick that was basically two giant Ritz crackers sandwiching some melted sugar. Anything that can be eaten on a stick here is very popular, because most people like to eat while they walk around and browse the shops. BUT... When people are looking for a sit down meal, they can come to the "food court" for a large selection of ridiculously cheap, and delicious food. For instance, when most people think "food court" food, they think of burgers, pizza, hot dogs, that kind of thing. Here, however, the food court serves full meals. Mine had a bowl of rice with some ground pork on top, a plate of sauteed cabbage, a plate of tofu, and a bowl of soup. All of this was only $130NT, (that's $4 U.S.). You could not find that in the states. You just can't.

One of the coolest things about this place was the abundance of architectural details.

Yes, those are pots. Inside of a wall.

The points on the temple

Why, yes. These are 3D designs on the facade of the building. 

This park in this area had a pristine river flowing through it, so there was an abundance of bridges elegantly arcing over the water.

This is a traditional Taiwanese-style house. It is an original building, that has been renovated, and now acts as a museum of sorts.

The building consits of three corridors and a wall that surround a courtyard. All of the rooms face inside towards the courtyard. This design hearkens back to a time when inter-family feuds tended toward violence, (think the Capulets and the Montques). The structure acted like a fortress to keep their enemies out.

I wish I knew why it was painted in such psychedelic colors. The paint job was so bright, that I thought the doors and windows were lined in neon lights.

The room that is front and center when you walk in the gate is the family temple. Look at how ornate the architectural details get here.

This is the inside of the temple

Back outside, there were more bridges. 

This building is the museum's main building 

This picture, (below), was taken on the outskirts of the park. It is of a forked river that has been completely covered by some kind of plant. Thousands of small green leaves covered the water like a green shag carpet.

This shot was taken of the river-front walkway that runs behind the shops.

There was also a small theatrical show that played every few hours. I was able to record parts of it.

Longtime Gone (Part 2)

As promised, I am back once more to finish up my account of the past week.
Anna teaches music at an aboriginal school on this beautiful mountain, so on Wednesday, I accompanied her. The school is surrounded by this breathtaking view:

All of the roads are narrow and wind around the mountains in a dizzying way. 

 This is a tunnel that was carved out of the mountain:

It is so incredible!

 While we were there, we also went to a hot spring. Taiwan, being a volcanic island, is full of hot springs. Because of the abundance of these springs, the various locations are very inexpensive, unlike in the U.S. We only paid $10 for both of us. Many people go to these hot springs to soak in the naturally warm water for the health benefits. This particular hot spring is a mineral spring, so it doesn't smell, unlike the sulfuric springs. 

 It is a lot like a ritzy hotel pool, or spa. Everything is landscaped beautifully, and everyone looks so relaxed. And the view! It is surrounded by mountains, so you can sit in one of the pools and just take in nature's majesty. It is a very peaceful experience.

There are several different pools, all varying temperatures. We alternated between hot water and cool water, spending a few minutes in each. This is good for circulation. I felt so good afterwards, I can easily see why it is so popular here.

Later in the week, I had this popular "late-night snack." The restaurant was full of college students from a nearby university, and they were all eating this. I suppose that this is the Taiwanese equivalent of Waffle House.

For the purposes of this blog, I will dub this the "bread sandwich." It is a sesame seed flat bread that is cut in half and stuffed with a light, crunchy, fried dough. It sounds...odd. But it tastes good. It was served as a complement to this:

 This is a soup-ish dish, that is made from soft tofu, green onions, and broth. It is delicious, especially with a little bit of spicy sauce on top.

Now, you can't visit Taiwan without having beef noodles. You just can't. I had some the other day, and it was so worth it. The beef broth is flavorful. The noodles are homemade, (need I say more?), and the beef is so tender that it practically disintegrates in your mouth. In a word, it is wonderful. If you ever go to Taiwan, run, don't walk, to the nearest beef noodle restaurant. You will not regret it.

So, now you are caught up. I will see you for the next installment in adventure!

Longtime Gone

So, I know that you have all been waiting with bated breath for the next installment of my blog. I apologize for the delay, but I do have an excuse. I am claiming more adventure this week than hours in the day, and poor internet connection. "But wait!" some of you are surely saying, "Didn't you have these problems before, and still post fairly consistently?" Yes. This is true as well. I said that I had an excuse, I did not specify that it was a good one, which is why I am apologizing in the first place. This past week has been a little bit crazy, and so this post will explain all of that.

Last Sunday, I moved from my uncle's house to one of his friend's houses. His friend is a lady, named Anna, who offered to take me around and show me other parts of Taipei, and even an area where a group of Aboriginal Taiwanese people live. This way, I could experience more of Taiwanese culture before I leave.
Sunday, Anna and I went to a night market in the South of Taipei, that is famous for being held in really old and beautiful buildings.

Here is the name of this building, it means "under the big tree"

here is the big tree or Da Shu

 For supper, we had this delicious vegetable and noodle soup.

pickled cucumbers

(Clockwise from 1:00) Tofu, pickled white carrot, boiled egg, seaweed

With the sheer abundance of tofu and other soy products here, it must be incredibly easy to be a vegetarian here. However, I do not think that anyone observing a Kosher diet would have the same luck. There is just so much pork here. In fact, there is a famous Taiwanese dish, called pig's blood cake. I know, it sounds disgusting. but it actually isn't. It is made with sticky rice and pig's blood. It really doesn't have much of a taste. It just tastes like chewy sticky rice. But, I can now say that I have tried it.
                                          

 My tastes have changed a lot since coming here. The other week I bought a Twix bar from a 7 eleven, just to have something "American" that I hadn't had in a while, and it was way too sweet. I didn't like it. Taiwanese desserts have a subtly sweet taste, or they have a combination of sweet and savory flavors that creates the perfect flavor profile. I have become so used to this kind of flavor that I found myself thinking about how the Twix bar should have something salty in it, instead of being made of all sweet things. Also, I have finally acquired a tasted for tofu! When I first came here, eating tofu was hit and miss for me. I just couldn't get past the texture, but now, I find that I'm used to it, and I even enjoy it. I got to try this snack while I was in the night market: It is made with barbecued tofu that is brushed with teryaki sauce...

 ...Liberally stuffed with pickled white carrot and cilantro...

 ...then sprinkled with crushed peanuts and spicy red powder, (I don't know what the spice was)...

It was delightfully unusual tasting. It was so different from anything that I have ever had before, but it was all the more delicious for it. 

Now, I mentioned above, that it must be hard to maintain a Kosher diet in Taiwan. I also have the utmost sympathy for people with peanut allergies. If you have a serious peanut allergy, (I'm talking about people who can't be in the same room with a peanut), you should NOT come to Taiwan. Everything is made with peanuts. EVERYTHING. Crushed peanuts, boiled peanuts, stewed peanuts, peanut oil, caramelized peanuts. You name it, it probably got up close and comfortable with a peanut at one point or another.

 The next day, we went to Jingmei Night market.

I tried this traditional Taiwanese dish, it is a kind of dumpling made out of sticky rice dough and served with this red sauce. It was interesting. It is not my favorite kind of dumpling, because it is really gummy, but it was still good.

Here is Anna

 And here I am in this restaurant. The restaurant is tucked into a corner of the night market, and the seating is creative. Look how narrow this space is.

The red is pork with a crunchy rice puff coating.
There are also cucumbers and fried tofu.

These noodles are made out of rice. 

All of this food is so delicious. I really don't know what I am going to do when I get back to the states.

We had this crazy dessert. It is like a sweet bean soup, with some jelly, topped with shaved ice. It is pretty wild, and it is incredibly amazing. The textures are all so different, and yet, strangely, complementary. It is a very refreshing dish.


The next day, I went to the zoo. To get there, you can take a gondola up into the mountains. There is a special car that you can take, called the "Eyes of Maokong Gondola." It has a glass bottom, and the website said that it feels like you are flying. Naturally, I had to take that one, and it was worth it. The view was beautiful.

Here is the bottom of the gondola.

 Here are some of the pictures from the zoo:

lizards

Giant turtle. It was like 3 feet long. 

boa constrictor

King penguins 

hippo

African Elephants

I forgot what this thing is called...

Panda

More pandas

Later on, we went to a Shabu Shabu restaurant. It is a Japanese style food that you cook your self. 

 Each table has a burner in the center.

 You are given a large pot of broth, (see, it is divided into two compartments so that each person can add their own stuff), and a plate of vegetables.

Then, you order the kind of meat the you want, and you basically throw everything into the pot and let it cook, then you eat it with rice. It is very good, and it is fun to eat. 

 Wow, this is taking longer than I had expected. I'm going to break off the post here, because I am only halfway through the week's events. The next post will continue the saga. See you all tomorrow, enjoy this cute video of the panda until we meet again: