So fun in Jo Fun

Hey all. Today was a big day - I went to Jiufen, the old winding street that supposedly inspired several scenes in Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away. 

I know, the 7-11 sign adds a "je ne sais quoi". Omg, autocorrect almost killed me with that. 

So the street is very narrow and lined with tons of gift shops, food stalls, and tea houses. 

I arrived around 11:30am and the street was already packed with tourists and students. 

However, I found a nice quiet place to sit - an empty tea house. 

I actually wanted to get a cup of tea - and I was directed down to this floor where I sat, looked around, said "nihao" a few times, and eventually gave up on getting anything. 

But boy, isn't this place gorgeous? 

Close by was a ceramic art gallery, also completely abandoned. But I felt very free to take pictures. 

Like of this super cool pumpkin teapot. It was over a foot in diameter! It was huge!!

And these owl-kitties. 

And outside, a real kitty was hanging out. 

Did I mention that everything there is steep?

I did find a nice tea house to grab some lunch and tea and a nice relaxing view. 

Okay, I guess my head and the sky pretty much monopolized this picture. Oh well. 

How great is this view?

I like tea, but I never thought I would have the most amazing and refreshing cup of iced tea outside of South Carolina. 

But here it is. No free refills :(

So I ordered what I thought was vegetarian fried rice and I got this. I believe the rice was fried and the cabbage and beans were super tasty. But I wasn't super wild about the mushroom / tofu sauce. That and it didn't remotely resemble the vegetarian fried rice I have always had. So once again, set up for disappointment due to my lack of knowing the native language.  

Anyway. I found this owlie in a 100nt/150nt$ store. But why did you take a picture of this?

I know it sounds crazy, but my mom has the exact or a very very similar pendant that I remember her wearing all the time when I was young. I think owls were hot in the early 80s. 

Okay, I need to prepare you guys. You're about to see something weird and potentially grotesque. 

This wall was covered in strange and weird masks - I think I picked a couple of the weirdest ones that were adjacent. Yes, those are cigarette butts in that one guys face. I'll let you ponder that yourself. 

Up the stairs and around the corner from the weird masks was this temple. 

Which had a dry fountain with this dragon dude.

Sorry, took a lot of pictures of this temple. It had a lot of things happening around it - so I spent a lot of time looking at it. I kinda wished I spent as much time taking pictures of the weird masks. 

It was pretty humid and I spent a lot of time going up and down stairs, so I treated myself to an nice lemon sorbet. 

Yes, you are right, it was awesome!

...and I'm tired. Hence silly face. 

Arguments in Mandarin sound vicious!

I'm on the train to Taipei from Keelung and there was a serious shouting match between two passengers. It was intense. A train conductor or whatever had to get involved. I video-ed it a bit, but didn't do too much because I thought the grumpy old man would kick my ass. Everyone on the train was clearly uncomfortable and at least they knew what they were arguing about. Also, pardon my french, but this train car smells terrible - like a gross hybrid of pee, sweat, fish, and poop. 

Goodbye Keelung!! 6 hours was enough!!!

Update: dude. The argument from the old dude is continuing. Or he's just talking to himself. Very loudly.  Okay, loud sentences are punctuated with laughs. And a word that was just spit out. 

Oh boy. 

Ximen and other stuff.

Tuesday, I decided to head out and see the Longshan Temple and surrounding area. In the area surrounding the MRT, there's a ton of shopping - grocers stands as well as cheap clothing and miscellaneous items. 

This guy saw me taking a picture as was super cheerful - Ni hao!!!

So I saw this kid and his hat on the MRT and thought it was ironic. 

How old is this kid?  I should be the one with that hat!! In retrospect, I think he was referring to his personal future, where I was referring to his and his contemporaries' futures. 

In the Longshan Temple station exit, there are shopping stalls, massage stations, food stalls, and these guys.  

Can't you tell from the confusion on my face that I can't tell if this is a Horse Prince or just a Noble Steed. 

I know. I should have gotten this cute cat!! But that's almost $10USD for the cutest cat statue I've seen. But I didn't think it was $10usd cute. 

Outside Longshan Temple. Oh yeah. Disembodied heads for everyone!!!

Panoramic from the temple fountain area. 

Outside the temple area, there are numerous street vendors selling their stuff - this dude was making donuts or the Taiwanese equivalent from his cart. 

Very cool. Next door was a peanut vendor. I don't know why, but I'm always uncomfortable taking a picture of working people. They are always so intense in their work and I feel like a voyeur. Well, I guess I should double check the definition of that word - and nope, I'm not a pervy donut spy-er. :-/ uhm, I think my French class sanitized that word in my brain.  

Close to the donut maker was this market entrance. 

At least I think it's a market entrance. 

I had bought some veggie dumplings from a nearby Loving Hut whom were making tons of then. 

It was about this time that I ate 1 of my 2 dumplings. So good!! I got bamboo shoots and mushrooms. If you know me well, or have at least eaten with me a few times, you know that I generally dislike bamboo shoots. But in these dumplings, they kind of shredded the vegetables so you didn't get that "I'm eating a stick"-texture. 

 

You get to see a lot of dogs around Taipei, which is the total opposite of Japan. This one dog was begging for his picture to be taken. 

Okay, so it was more like he was begging or just waiting patiently for his part of the meal. GOOD DOG!!!

Another temple just inside a market entrance. 

This business name reminded me that I needed to do laundry...

As well as, hahahahahahahaha. Okay, I like Mandarinized English words. 

And onto to more weirdness. 

Uhm yeah. These ladies creeped me out when I first passed them - if you look closely, they actually made the tongue stick out of the second mannequin. 

(I'm on a bus to Jiufen today and the seats are kind of slippy. I'm having trouble not sliding into the elderly gentleman I just tried Google Translate on -"I only speak English". Evidently, Google Translate only helps if the person with whom you're trying to communicate can see or hear well. Oopsie. )

A panoramic shot of a corner in Ximen. 

It was actually earlier in the afternoon, so the streets did not crowded until a few hours later.  It seems that everyone is out and about from 5pm to 10pm. It's kinda crazy how working hours are very shifted here. If you have an office job and like to party and/or adventure about, life would be terribly exciting and then exhausting. 

Actually, I prefer The Cure. :-/

A street market, unusually cleared out. 

After wandering in the general direction of the National Museum, I made it to the Peace Park, which is a planned park and filled with interesting buildings, water features, and sculptures. 

I'm not sure who exactly this guy is, but just off camera was a homeless dude who was asleep with an upright umbrella. How do I know he was homeless? Okay, I don't really, but he looked rough and his clothes were a shade of brown that only persistent sweat and elements can bring. I haven't seen too many people who were on the outs on this trip, so I still find it shocking. There are PSAs on Taiwanese television showing the relevancy of family and your elders - one in particular I've seen multiple times, since I've been able to watch more of the boobtube, shows a young boy hug his grandfather, then that same boy as an adult caring for his grandpa. Pretty touching, although it was all in Mandarin. 

Anyway, back to the Peace Park. 

This is one particular structure was the Cui Heng Chamber. 

I read that name off of a map, I cross referenced it via google and Wikipedia, but sorry dudes the internet was broken. No info for you. or me. 

What is it about stone bridges over ponds? I likes them. I probably could have framed this shot better. We can analyze my photographs later. 

It was at this time that I had to pee so badly, that it was urgent. So urgent. Urgent, emergency. 

But I only could find the No. 2 toilet :-(. Bah-dum-duhhhhh. Ching. 

I ended up using the No. 2 toilet, and let me in on a few secrets of traveling:

1) bring an umbrella

2) bring toilet paper on walkabouts

3) take every opportunity. If you need to do laundry, do laundry. If you feel icky, take a shower. if you feel tired, take a nap. If you are hungry, eat something. Everyone will thank you afterwards, because you will smell better, feel better, and be more ready for the rest of your adventure. 

Back to the show!

The architecture of the park was very interesting and filled with cool sculptures and benches to appreciate them from. I found the No. 1 bathroom which was close to this free stone path. The point of this path to help you alleviate your ails by walking on this mother. Something about foot pressure points. 

And it looked good, too. 

And then, on the way to Lianoung St Night Market, I got lost- that will be a separate but distinguished entry all to itself. Later gators!!!

The perils of walking around Taipei sans umbrella

Before

During

After

Welcome to Sun Moon Lake!

Sun Moon Lake is a very popular vacation destination for Taiwanese, so we were totally not alone here. 

Rads picked an awesome hotel 

With a gorgeous view!

Yes, that was the view from our balcony!

Dinner was great, mostly because of the companionship! We laughed the entire evening

 

Maybe because of the French Fries Ball. 

But probably more likely because of the Taiwanese beer we shared. 

In the elevator the next morning, we ran into an English speaking couple who called us "the Happy Girls," because we were laughing so much. I think that's just how we roll. 

Who can turn down a photo op with an aboriginal tribesman cut out?

Not Rads!

Not me!

So with our hotel suite, we also got bikes! After a great Taiwanese buffet breakfast (hello spring onion pancakes!!!! And 5 cups of espresso), we ventured outside to check out the bike paths along the lake. 

I picked a bike with a vacant kid's seatpost, but the kid's handlebars are still there, because I thought it was going to be a sweeter ride.  But turns out, the gear ratio may be the same, but the rotational radius was severely stunted. This, I figured out later, was because the missing child would have been kneed repeatedly if it was a normal bike. 

I did eventually figure out that I could bike easier since it had gears- but only after standing up to pump up a small incline. But man, I really use 100% of my hamstrings (or maybe I use quadriceps?) when I bike. Oi. 

A professional photographer was doing a shoot with these two ladies. I am totally not bold, so if I was alone, I would have taken a stealth photo of the ladies. But Rads goes right up to the camera guy and asks him to take a photo of us all together. Definitely makes a more memorable shot and way less stalker-ish. 

Look we are so happy! But without giant bows in our hair!

The bike ride around half the lake was very nice and relatively easy (but it would have been easier on a standard bike, she complained again), so I was able to take a couple of videos while riding. In the midst of one of these videos, Rads pulls over suddenly when she saw these guys!!

I like turtles! 

Evidently, Rads gave me the heads up she was pulling over, but you know how difficult it is to talk to someone on a bike when theyre behind you. Our conversations were similar to this: 

Rads: <turns her head and says something>

Me: I can't understand you!

<end of conversation>

Back to the turtles. 

The turtles were hanging out in a log under this bridge. What a cool bridge!! Makes me think about my Statics course. But just for a moment. And then I return to my thoughts about turtles. 

Around the lake, there were several information centers. This center had the most wonderful architecture, complete with a reflection pool. 

How nice is this? Not sure this will work at home. 

At this same center, they had a couple of photo opportunities with cutesy statues. 

The lady with Rads had already had her picture taken in 10 different poses. When she saw us waiting for her to finish, she took the opportunity to direct Rads through 7 different poses. Later, we saw her friend and her in a field outside and she was still having her friend to take a bazillion pictures of her. Rads said she asked us to come take pictures with her, but we kept on biking, otherwise we would have been there forever.  How interesting can those pictures be?

My bike and me!  We did eventually sort it out and become friends. 

Photo ops in a sun moon themed rest area. 

Yes! Rads is super cute!

And I'm uncomfortable with too many pictures of me. 

In Taichung, there was a vending machine that had these sticky hand or foot thingies. I saw them and was like:

I. Want. Gar. 

My Childhood. All that was missing was a Gremlins lunch box or Buttercup from My Little Ponies. 

I spent almost 10 minutes trying to get the hand to be in the bird position. There was much resistance. The jelly hand won. :-(. Sadness. 

No post about a natural setting is complete without a picture of the local flora. 

I almost didn't take a picture of this sign, because I was in "haha, look at that!" Mode, not "haha, I should document that!" Mode. But Rads was like "haha! You need to take a picture of that!" Ergo picture. 

No overnight engaging of activities whatsoever on houseboats.  

Get your minds out of the gutter people!

Back to the show!

So, I made a new friend who was really great at communication. (What's not pictured is that this chubby fellow has a phone in his belly.) Bah dum duhhhhh. Ching. 

Because it was such a nice day and we wanted to see more of the area, we bought a round trip across Sun  Moon Lake to two different docks. 

Our boat!

No engaging of activities on the horseboat!

Stop 2: small <add name> temple with tons of people. 

It was just after this picture that the skies opened up and the rain started to drizzle, then pour down. 

We escaped the rain to find shelter and ended up having the bejeez scared out of Rads when she didn't notice that this guy was not a statue. 

This is how I warned her. 

Me: that's a dude. 

Rads: yeah. <thinking : of course it's a dude, it's not a girl statue obviously. >

We had a small umbrella to share between us. It was not cutting it, so on the way to the cable cars, we bought two huge umbrellas, (They are now our best friends!! ) and stopped into a small cafe to get something to drink, where we met two new expats from the US. They actually offered us a ride to Taichung, but since we already had a bus ticket, we continued to the gondola. This interchange kind of begs the question "Are Americans friendlier outside of America?"  I don't think I'm unfriendly, just reserved, until I know you. Then I'm like "wham! This is what you get!!  Baaaahhhhhhhhh!! Haaahaaaa!!"  

And finally, the gondola ride to the Formosan Aboriginal Center, where we took a bus back to Taichung, then the HSR back to Taipei. Whew. 

I leave you with a picture of my dollar socks I bought because I ran out of clean socks. They cost 25 NT$, which is equivalent to about 1 USD.