day 3: ain't no sunshine when xi gong (ok, i know, bad joke)

and yeah, we didn't go anywhere called xi gong, if a place named that even exists. our third day in taipei started well. we slept in a little, skipped on a breakfast and headed out to lunch. oddly enough, we went to a sushi restaurant, the kind where the little dishes go around the disney people mover conveyor belt. totally different than sushi anywhere else. they had sushi filled with chinese ingredients, like the dried shredded pork (ro son) and pickles (not takuwan). pretty good. we almost went to a japanese restaurant for dinner too, but i had to remind my uncle that we were going to tokyo, and i think we should stick to the chinese food while here.

anyway, after lunch, we headed out to the chiang kai shek memorial hall. amazing building, near two other amazing buildings, the National Theatre and the National Concert Hall. We came out of the metro looking at the National Theatre, and were stunned. Then we turned a corner, and were doubly stunned by the size of the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. it was ENORMOUS. quite a tribute to a great and interesting man.

we watched the changing of the guards there for a little bit, then headed under the hall to the museum, which had some cool memorabilia and photos. two of the craziest things were these small ivory blocks that had carvings in them of chinese writing. but the writing is so small, they almost look like dots, until you get very VERY close, or look through a magnifying glass. intense how small the craftsmen can get the carvings.

from there, we decided to check out the Taipei MOCA. they had some pretty cool stuff, almost all video installations. we were also just glad to be inside cause as we entered the building it started to pour. inside, we could hear the thunder. it was shaking the whole building, i could feel vibrations when i was leaning against the walls while i watched some of the videos.

when we left, it was still pouring. we made a mad dash for the metro, and got drenched. headed back to the apartment, jason decided to see if he could find this one store he saw at some point somewhere. after 3 minutes of attempting to get there in the downpour, we gave up. we were totally soaked. headed back home, dried off, and cleaned up.

we went to dinner with my aunt and uncle to a nice restaurant where we had shrimp, a steamed egg dish, a fried dish with duck with mashed taro root, lo mien, sweet and sour pork, and veggies with tiny little fish. we ate tons. way too full. headed back up, cleaned up again, the rain finally stopped. we decide to check out the Taipei Pop Music Festival, an apparently huge event that we just happened coincide with our trip. bands that are apparently huge here such as se7en, 5566, K Five, and others that i've never heard of but thousands of young taipei girls have were showcased. apparently the caesers played too (their single "Jerk It Out") but we didn't see them, and i have no idea what they look like.

we only watched about 2 songs of the concert before we realized it was WAY too nickelodeon choice awards and headed to find some clubs. jason grabbed a coffee at a starbucks at New York, New York (a mall) and then we scouted the entrance to Mint, a club at the base of the 101 building. everyone seemed a bit too old for our tastes (we like em fressshhhh (ew)) and we decided to check somewhere else out. headed to luxy, an enormous club on the fifth floor of a building. it cost NT$800 to get in (about US$25). had some coronas at NT$150 (US$5). tried to talk to some people, but it was EXTREMELY difficult. i really need to get better at speaking chinese. although mastering english would probably be a good thing too. met a few nice people, hung out in the two story club, huge rooms, three dance floors. great fun loud place. headed home finally around 3:30am, stopped at a 7-11, bought some tasty american taco doritos (tacos are american?) and crashed in bed. another full day down. I'll post a few pics for this day later...

day 2, part 2

after the break, we headed back out to snake alley. jason pussied out and didn't want snake soup (heh heh). i personally thought it looked great, apparently he thought that watching snake guts hung up weren't appealing. oh well. i've had em before already last time i visited (snake blood, turtle blood, and snake soup). we caroused the alley for awhile, eventually coming upon a food stand i remembered from before. these bread baos filled with ground beef and filled with green onions baked in a kiln. delicious and hot. we snacked on those while we kept walking through another night market. i also got some green onion pancake, nice and fresh. (geez, now I'm starting to freak out how much i talk about food).

after finishing our little snacks, we headed to longshan temple. according to the lunar calendar, it is now the middle of july, and time of worshiping our ancestors' spirits. there was much praying, bowing, and incense at the temple. pretty extravagent temple, huge roof decorations, very beautiful. we got pretty lucky to hit it at the right time.

after that, we decided to try and search for a local bar or pub or club. we walked around for at least an hour, and came up totally empty. and kinda lost, but we managed to find our way back quickly to the metro station and head back home. we walked to one club near our place, but it's pretty expensive to get in, and we were pretty beat anyway, so we just hit up a jazz bar right underneath our own place called Capone's. It's owned by some ex-pat, and he got up and drunkenly made some toast to a dear friend's departed father. bizarre. and how can you forget the asian jazz band singing classics like "dancing queen" and "it's so easy to fall in love." (videos of that on the way).

after a nice big bottle of Taipei Gold and Jason's usual Glen Livet, we headed back up home and crashed. another day down, only about 28 more to go...

here are some photos from that night...

the intricate entrance to the snake alley night market


while getting lost, we happened upon professor xavier's school for mutants. cooooool...(yeah, we're dorks)


this is the blurry image of two snakes that have been gutted and hung for our viewing pleasure. it's blurry cause we weren't allowed to take photos, so i had to do it pretty fast. this is what grossed out jason. eh, meat is meat, i say...

some pics...

here are a few pics from the past few days. i am starting to realize alot of these will be of jason. so the bastard better put alot of pics of me up on his blog (wink wink nudge nudge if you're reading this jason).

me on the totally empty bus from the taipei airport to the city. huge bus, with just jason, another man, and me in it.



this was the only other guy on the bus with jason and me. he discussed the beegees with us. unfortunately, his finger is blocking his well groomed nostril hair. bummer.



71 imbuing his control over the mindless crowds at the 101 Building Mall



total shock and awe over the destruction and decimation the renovation is having on the National Palace Museum



enormous bolts of lightning do not scar 71 as he walks around with an umbrella in wide open space at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Park

day two: more food, more heat, more walking...

I woke up around 8am, and we headed out to this 24 hour restuarant just at the bottom of the apartment. i went there last time i was here and loved these burrito-like rolls that are made out of rice and filled with dried pork and pickles. also got lou bo gao (fried rice cake) and this bread thing with egg in it. good breakfast. jason and i then head out to see if we could find him a shaver with a guard so he could trim his beard. we headed in one direction to no avail, then headed in another to the giant shopping mall, SOGO. apparently, to our surprise, nothing really opens till 11am on a friday. so we pretty much just walked around and looked at closed stores. we headed back through the underground shopping mall that connects 3 metro stations. it was nice to just get out of the heat.

we headed back to the apartment and my aunt and uncle walked us to get some lunch. spicy noodles, spicy bamboo, spicy jiao tsi, spicy everything. from there, jumped on the metro and then took a cab to the National Palace Museum. Some pretty amazing stuff to see there, although I think we saw a limited amount due to renovations. Oh well. Some of the bronze pieces are incredibly intricate, dating all the way back to 200 BC and beyond. The wood and ivory carvings are mind blowing, if that's possible. Some pieces look like someone spent years to finish just one piece.

Head back to the Shilin Metro station by taxi, and decided to walk around there since it was still early. Jason had been wanting to also get a haircut, so he did so after we found what seemed to be the right district for it. There were about 7 salons all on one block. started pouring again once we left the salon, and we jumped back on the train to SOGO now that it was open. even purveying all 12 floors of that mall, we could not find jason's shaver. pity.

we're back at the apartment, taking a rest before heading out to snake alley and hopefully a bar or club. i'll let you know how that goes tomorrow...

hitting the hay in taipei

We took off after having a light lunch at the apartment (some jiao tsi, chinese spinach, bamboo). We decided to head out in the pouring rain armed with umbrellas and stopped at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park and Museum. Walked around there for awhile, jumped at the huge cracks of thunder and enormous bolts of lightning. We then walked over to the 101 Building, currently the tallest building in the world (there are others currently being built to beat it, but they're not completed yet). We walked around the enormous 5 story mall at the base of the building. Headed back after walking around forever and purchasing a new mouse (i forgot my at home, dammit).

Got back, showered, and headed out with my aunt and uncle to get xiao long bao, these amazing dumplings that are filled with meat and this soup/juice. The trick is picking them up without popping the noodle skin and letting the juices leak out. If done properly, the rewards are extremely satisfying. SO GOOD. Great meal, had tea, a beer, about 4 different variations of the dumpling, and 2 different beef soups/noodles. Tasty tasty. We walked back from there to the apartment, did another prep, and jumped on the metro to head to Shilin Night Market. We weren't sure where it was exactly, but we eventually found it. Vendor after vendor, just tons of stores and people walking around, tons of food in another square nearby too. Got some really fresh grapefruit juice. Walked around for about 2 hours, but didn't really see anything worth buying. Jumped back on the metro to home, and now about to pass out at 10pm Taiwan time. Until tomorrow...

By the way, food is pretty damn important to me, so I'll probably be writing about nearly everything I eat here. Deal. With it.

just arrived in Taipei...

hey everybody. jason and i just got to taipei after a long flight. it flew by (unintentional pun) cause we both passed out for awhile. it's hot, humid, muggy and just started pouring like crazy here. yummy. more to come soon...