In early September, the weather had still been too hot to be outside during the day. The first thing I noticed was that Taiwanese people are not into the concept of hot weather wear. Despite the raging heat, people were still dressed in pants and long shirts. Even summer gear was restrained to t-shirts and longish shorts. I was basically in beach gear, armed with tank tops and and new (short) denim shorts — my friend said knees were now in. Incredibly, Frank wore jeans our entire trip, and I couldn’t figure out why he wanted to sweat it out so much. Then again, growing up, he was always in jeans and a windbreaker, even as we played football.
Now, in mid-October, the weather was perfect and it was actually comfortable to be outdoors during the day. Daisy and I went to Gongguan, an area apparently populated by 80% sneaker and shoe stores. There was quite a bit of food around too, and at an open faced noodle shop, Daisy introduced me to Waygo, the iPhone App that reads menus. Instantaneously. (Like, why am I even trying to learn Chinese when technology will outpace me?) The app reads Japanese, Chinese, Korean, as well as many others, and while it’s far from perfect, its fast character recognization and coolness outweight an errors. The other app I was told to use was Pleco, a Chinese dictionary app.
After lunch, we wandered around Gongguan, eventually heading into a nearby water park. From what we could tell, it was just a (potentially) super fun water park. It was mostly abandoned but featured huge water slides, pools large enough to fit small Shamus, and a plant area to show off irrigation and mysteriously, giant wire sculptures of pegasus, dinosaurs, and the like. During the summer the water park apparently gets very crowded, but we were there and saw maybe ten people total, most of them older people about to use the smaller exercise pool. The water park was created by the Taipei Water Department, to educate the public on proper water usage.
We parted ways afterwards and I prepared for a traditional night out on the town, led by Veronica, whom I met last trip out. On the schedule was a visit to the Love Temple and then a nearby night market. First up, the love temple! Called Xia Hai City God Temple (霞海城隍廟), it's located near the old streets of Taipei where merchants hawk textiles and Chinese herbs. The temple isn't all that big but it apparently gets very busy at the right times. When we went, it was mostly empty, and we got plenty of individual attention, probably because we really had no idea what we were doing.
First thing you gotta do is buy some fake money, three sticks of incense, and then go from station to station, stating your desires and bowing to each god. "Stating your desires" can run the gamut from "get me a boy/girlfriend" to getting very specific stuff. You are told to start by stating your name, where you are from, and what you would like. All this happens in your head. When you're done, you bai-bai three times and stick the incense into the big tub, filled with sand/rice.
I asked for deliverance from being a horrible boyfriend, of course.
Afterwards, we took a short walk toward a night market, which turned out to be Ningxia, the same one Frank and I had first visited. Back then, Frank had been hesitant to try some of the foods, either out of unfamiliarity or a general wariness of the food quality. Since my body is my outhouse, I jumped right in and ordered whatever looked good. I didn’t know what was actually good or bad though, and this time out, I was with a local and basically told Veronica that I would eat whatever she ordered. So, after a rousing game of Taiwanese pinball (彈珠台) — the tickets that came out were stamped with Hello Kitty, so basically I wanted to just keep the tickets instead of exchange them for prizes — we walked around and ate. A short list of consumed items: traditional oyster vermicelli (蚵仔麵線), stinky tofu, sausage wrapped in intestines, winter melon tea, liver soup, and pig’s blood.
The thing about eating this stuff was that it was always a mix of new and nostalgia. I had no idea what most anything was, much less the names of things, and constantly asked “what is this called, what is in it?” This is basically what happens at every meal. Just confusion, followed by some clarity, and then a struggle to remember. Some of the foods had immediate callbacks to childhood, some of the items were totally foreign.
We wrapped up the night by jumping on Ubikes, the bikeshare of Taipei. Even though traffic was everywhere, we took a lap around the busy streets of the Red Light District, cruising in a straight line as cars and mopeds sped on by. It wasn’t until later that I realized we could ride on the sidewalks. The night was the perfect opening to Taipei: exploration, eating, biking!
Now, in mid-October, the weather was perfect and it was actually comfortable to be outdoors during the day. Daisy and I went to Gongguan, an area apparently populated by 80% sneaker and shoe stores. There was quite a bit of food around too, and at an open faced noodle shop, Daisy introduced me to Waygo, the iPhone App that reads menus. Instantaneously. (Like, why am I even trying to learn Chinese when technology will outpace me?) The app reads Japanese, Chinese, Korean, as well as many others, and while it’s far from perfect, its fast character recognization and coolness outweight an errors. The other app I was told to use was Pleco, a Chinese dictionary app.
After lunch, we wandered around Gongguan, eventually heading into a nearby water park. From what we could tell, it was just a (potentially) super fun water park. It was mostly abandoned but featured huge water slides, pools large enough to fit small Shamus, and a plant area to show off irrigation and mysteriously, giant wire sculptures of pegasus, dinosaurs, and the like. During the summer the water park apparently gets very crowded, but we were there and saw maybe ten people total, most of them older people about to use the smaller exercise pool. The water park was created by the Taipei Water Department, to educate the public on proper water usage.
We parted ways afterwards and I prepared for a traditional night out on the town, led by Veronica, whom I met last trip out. On the schedule was a visit to the Love Temple and then a nearby night market. First up, the love temple! Called Xia Hai City God Temple (霞海城隍廟), it's located near the old streets of Taipei where merchants hawk textiles and Chinese herbs. The temple isn't all that big but it apparently gets very busy at the right times. When we went, it was mostly empty, and we got plenty of individual attention, probably because we really had no idea what we were doing.
First thing you gotta do is buy some fake money, three sticks of incense, and then go from station to station, stating your desires and bowing to each god. "Stating your desires" can run the gamut from "get me a boy/girlfriend" to getting very specific stuff. You are told to start by stating your name, where you are from, and what you would like. All this happens in your head. When you're done, you bai-bai three times and stick the incense into the big tub, filled with sand/rice.
I asked for deliverance from being a horrible boyfriend, of course.
Afterwards, we took a short walk toward a night market, which turned out to be Ningxia, the same one Frank and I had first visited. Back then, Frank had been hesitant to try some of the foods, either out of unfamiliarity or a general wariness of the food quality. Since my body is my outhouse, I jumped right in and ordered whatever looked good. I didn’t know what was actually good or bad though, and this time out, I was with a local and basically told Veronica that I would eat whatever she ordered. So, after a rousing game of Taiwanese pinball (彈珠台) — the tickets that came out were stamped with Hello Kitty, so basically I wanted to just keep the tickets instead of exchange them for prizes — we walked around and ate. A short list of consumed items: traditional oyster vermicelli (蚵仔麵線), stinky tofu, sausage wrapped in intestines, winter melon tea, liver soup, and pig’s blood.
The thing about eating this stuff was that it was always a mix of new and nostalgia. I had no idea what most anything was, much less the names of things, and constantly asked “what is this called, what is in it?” This is basically what happens at every meal. Just confusion, followed by some clarity, and then a struggle to remember. Some of the foods had immediate callbacks to childhood, some of the items were totally foreign.
We wrapped up the night by jumping on Ubikes, the bikeshare of Taipei. Even though traffic was everywhere, we took a lap around the busy streets of the Red Light District, cruising in a straight line as cars and mopeds sped on by. It wasn’t until later that I realized we could ride on the sidewalks. The night was the perfect opening to Taipei: exploration, eating, biking!