Taiwan Day 3 was action packed! Highlights: Yeliou Mountain & The Queen’s Head, BBQ squid, night market, hot springs! Guy has more detailed posts, so I’ll just give you the highlights.
We spent the day with my cousin Ting Shuen and her husband Andy, and their two Taiwanese/Australian friends, Carl and Sandy. We started out in Taipei, and then journeyed outside of town.
Let me tell you how you know you’ve left the city: there are squat toilets.
I’m sorry to be indelicate, but I’m just telling you how it is. I don’t understand the squat toilet, I don’t want to use the squat toilet, and in general I prefer to pretend it doesn’t exist. Often the squat toilets don’t have any bog roll (as Guy would call it) and so you just hope that you have some tissues with you. Or, like me, you wait until you get somewhere that has a “Western style toilet.”
Also, have you ever had barbecued squid? Let me tell you how it’s done. You take a squid, and cut it down the center with a pair of scissors. Slap it on the grill. After a few minutes, turn, and baste with sauce. Cut into pieces, skewer and chew. It’s just as chewy as you think it would be.
In the evening, we went to the Shilin night market, which is one of the most famous and popular in Taipei. It’s extremely crowded with shoppers, vendors selling everything you can imagine. Jewelry, shoes, accessories, clothes, underwear, bags - and all at pretty great prices.
There are also a ton of food vendors selling all kinds of Chinese snacks. We had lots of tasty things, but the highlight of the evening’s eating was when Carl said to Guy, “try this, you’ll like it.” Guy gamely took a bite of something on a skewer and asked what it was. ”Oh! It’s duck’s tongue!”
After the night market, we went to Taiwanese hot springs. The hot springs are not all actually hot. There were five baths all told, plus a wet and a dry sauna. One is scalding hot, which is were all the experienced bathers seemed to be hanging out. There was also a warm one, which Sandy and I preferred, and two freezing cold baths, which no one seemed to have any interest in whatsoever. Let me tell you what - nothing compares to the feeling of soaking in warm water with a cool night breeze on your face.
After our action packed day, zzzzzz.
you look like you’re having a fabulous time, so i won’t tell you to come home. instead, i’ll go play mama at tennis and whoop her.
so, see you next week : ) POTLUCK THURSDAY will be puppy-free for two weeks; he’s staying in baltimore until easter.
