When my coteacher told me last week that I had off May 23-May 28th last week, I was so excited. I jumped on my trusted flight search site, looked for the cheapest flights, and found ones for Taipei, Taiwan were super cheap. Done! After booking my hostel and finding out where swing dancing was in the city, I didn't really bother with more. It wasn't until Tuesday night that I finally sat down and made a list of things I wanted to see and do. Completely different from how I normally do things! Rather thrilling and exciting honestly!
After I landed, I got directions for which bus to take and was on my way to Taipei! I felt incredibly awesome to be honest, as buses terrify me, and I can't read or speak a lick of Chinese. Yeah, strange, I know. The bus driver was incredibly nice and came to get me when we reached the stop I needed though. I was able to find the MTR, which is the local subway system, and reach my hostel around 10pm. (The entrance to the hostel is literally just a door between two stores. It was deceptively hard to find at first!) I immediately learned that the woman working the desk had chosen Rita as her English name! How crazy is that! I also learned tonight that her favorite dog is the corgi!!! (for those of you who don't know, that's mine too!) I spent the evening talking with some of the other guests, and it felt really awesome. Last night I meet, two Taiwanese women working at the hostel who can both speak English, an American, a Korean who speak a tiny bit of English and fair amount of Chinese, a Japanese who speak Chinese and English, and a Chinese who speaks English. Wow! Man, I am slacking! I gotta get my learning on and pick up at least one language!!! (I think that will be my intellectual goal for the remainder of the year.) I knew this place was really going to be awesome though when, after dropping my things off and settling in on the couch, Rita 1 (the hostel Rita. I am Rita 2.) walked in saying, "Girl time!" while carrying two different nail polishes. xD Oh yeah, I love this place! After hanging out for a little while and speaking with one of the women on places to visit, I crawled into bed and gratefully drifted off to sleep.
Today I headed out to explore the city. Starting with Longshan Temple across the city, I slowly began to explore the lower corner of Taipei. The temple was beautiful, intricately detailed and heavily populated with believers coming to worship. Though not very big, definitely a must-see of the city! I decided I wanted to try and see the river, so being the crazy foreigner that I am, I began to walk towards the water front! Keep in mind, I'm one of maybe 5 white Europeans I've seen all day, and a female, walking alone in a part of Taipei I bet no foreigners ever go to. It was around this time that I began to notice the stares that wouldn't end until I returned to my hostel this evening. Sadly I couldn't figure out how to reach the river, and I was beginning to feel nervous being so far out honestly after a while. So, I found a little place on the side of the street for lunch, got this strange, yet deliciously warm, sandwich thing (I was craving street food, what can I say!) before meandering back to the subway. I explored Chian Kia Sheck Memorial Hall and sat in the shade of a small park nearby sketching one of the pretty trees. (By the way, London isn't the only city with soldiers who stand still! There were two soldiers at the entrance to the main building. They were so still, I couldn't even tell if they were real at first- dead serious! Even their eyes didn't move from what I could tell! As I was leaving, I saw a man walk over, remove the rope blocking one of the soldiers off, and pull his uniform straight for him. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.)
Seeing as how it was crazy hot, I went back to the hostel for a break. I was invited by Kang to join her and Akira for dinner and shopping at 6pm. What the hey, why not?! Since there was still 2 hours, I hopped on a bus and explored an old soldier village near Taipei Building 101. It was delightfully pretty there. Surrounding the area are modern buildings, with the 101 building looming just a block away, creating this really neat contrast between city and country. The area wasn't very big, you could walk through and around the whole place in less then 10 minutes probably. It's replicated to look like an old soldiers village, just scaled down I think. There were buildings, most of them empty though and only for appearance. There was wonderfully grassy areas, big looming trees, and really pretty flowers surrounding the buildings, each with its own brightly colored door. :) I even saw not one, but three Taiwanese woman all dressed up in gowns getting professional photo shoots done too. It was kinda cool. I've now seen wedding or engagement photo shoots in Angkor Wat, Cambodia; Hoi An, Vietnam; and Taipei, Taiwan! xD Something rather awesome about that! I tried to check out the 101 building, but the wait was 40 minutes, and I wanted to get back and take a shower before dinner. So I have left that for another day instead.
On my way back to the hostel, I found a butterfly on the sidewalk. I thought it might be dead at first, but it turned out to be alive and merely needed a little help. I took it to the side, where it could be protected from the wind a little, and passerby's shoes. It struggled for a few, crawled around on my hand before gaining enough strength to fly away. I don't now what it is about butterflies, but they seem to like me. ^.^
A mini self photo shoot, bus, and shower later, I joined Kang (a Korean woman visiting Taipei) and Akira (a Japanese guy studying Chinese here) for dinner at the local night market. (Though I didn't know we were going there at first. I didn't know what we were doing or where we going at all I must admit) It was really funny watching them speak to each other. They communicated through Chinese, seemed to argue every 5 minutes, and would occasionally remember I was there. I didn't mind, and just enjoyed the company. We idly walked the small night market nearby. I stood as they argued for about 3 minutes over whether to eat at one open aired buffet style restaurant. Something about traveling reduces my irritation level to near 0, so I found it entirely amusing. We finally decided to eat there, and it was good. On our walk back, I got some fresh squeezed orange juice (literally, I watched them grab oranges, cut them in half, squeeze the orange juice out and pour the juice in a cup!) and Kang got some fresh fruit. We all shared the fruit, so it was a yummy way to end the evening!
Tomorrow, I think I'll go to the Taipai 101 building and then explore the fisherman's wharf. In the evening, swing dancing! :D
Fantastico! Me gusta bailar!
(Some Chinese girl just walked behind me and showed me on skype to her Mom. Weird . . . and slightly funny . . . I think she's only late teens, wayyyyy early 20's at best.)
Alright, I'm out. After walking for nearly 10 hours today, I need some rest!
Peace, Love, and Traveling,
Rita
Seoul, South Korea
No comments:
Post a Comment