Well I'm in Taipei, Taiwan on busness and committed the cardinal sin of international traveling: no camera! Perhaps I will buy one while I'm here, but until then, you're left with your own imagination.
Let me see if I can help you picture the streets of Taiwan. Close your eyes and think of a lot of scooters. Got it? Well, whatever you're imagining, it's not enough. Multiply the number of scooters in your head by 10. Nope, still not enough. Get the point? They line the streets. Parked on the sidewalks nearly touching each other. Looking outside my window right now, I could easily count over 1,000 scooters if I took the time. Everyone drives them: business men, grandmas, waitresses, girls in short skirts and heels, everyone!
Yesterday I took a day trip to Danshui, an area by the beach. At Danshui there are so many people you can't walk without touching people. There are food vendors lining the road along the beach. You can get everything from chinese food to chinese food. My friends ordered "ah-gay" for me. They said it was similar to an american hamburger. Well, here is an american description of "ah-gay": Think of a ravioli the size of your fist. Instead of pasta to form the ravioli, it's fried tofu. It's filled with rice noodles and fish, and is FLOATING in a bowl of pink broth with a spicy-sweet flavor.
A popular drink here is made by taking the seeds from inside flowers and soaking them in water so the flavor of the flower affects the liquid. Sometimes they also add a kiwi or grape flavor, but I ordered "original" so I could taste the flower unaffected. The seeds come through the straw and are about the size of a small pea. If you were to soak a normal mouthful through the straw, there would probably be about 25 seeds in your mouth. They are very slimy...so slimy, you can't chew them because they escape your teeth. Despite the freaky texture, it was a nice, sweet treat.
While in Danshui, we took a boat to an area of the island they call the "Fisherman's Harbor". We walked around and stopped for tea. I ordered kiwi juice instead because it's my favorite thing here so far. Kiwi tastes fabulous over here, and a freshly squeezed kiwi served with a cherry and an orchid on top has become a twice-per-day luxury for me. I would move here for that alone.
After Danshui we took the MRT (subway system - extremely clean and effecient) back to the city to go to the night market. OH boy...where do I begin!?
The night market is 3-4 blocks of tiny, tiny shops that sell everthing from clothing, shoes, purses, jewelry, statues, and lots and lots of food! There are even more people here than in Danshui, if you can picture it. There is loud american music coming from every shop and people yelling, negotiating prices all around you. In the middle of the streets, illegal vendors lay clothing and jewelry down in the streets, until they hear the police coming...then they pack up as fast as possible and run! The night market is a good place to buy fake LV, Gucci, etc. And some of them are very convincing! I didn't buy any because by the time I got to that section, I was so exhausted. I left with 2 embroidered cell phone cases and a full belly.
When I got to my hotel room and was able to smell the fresh air, my clothes suddenly smelled like "stinky tofu" to me so I had to seal them in a bag to keep them from affecting my other clothes. Taiwanese people LOVE stinky tofu! If there is a stinky tofu vendor within 100 feet of you, you will know. It smells like a human armpit that hasn't been washed in years, plus an outhouse, only stronger. My friends, Grace and Daniel, swear that despite the smell, the taste is wonderful. I didn't take their word for it. I refuse to taste it.
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