day 6: fly rice, my bund-ions are killing me, and "Ohhh, Donna"

today we left for shanghai. woke up super early (for me at least) and had a quick small breakfast before we headed for the train and bus. took a long bus ride to the airport. nice and relaxing, i think i passed out for most of it. i'm sure jason got another pic of me totally zoned out, head tilted back, mouth wide open. apparently i'm very hideous and hilarious looking when i'm passed out.

had no trouble getting through the trials and tribulations of the airport. took cathay pacific to hong kong, and connected to our flight through dragon air to shanghai. the food is never ending. i think we had a meal on each flight, even though they were only an hour or two long.

we landed in shanghai, and went through a headache of line for customs. jason got stuck way behind me as he was in the line right next to me. some guy was having some issues at the desk. sucka. i headed to baggage claim, eventually jason caught up. went to rent a cellphone. jason tried to get a SIM card, but it didn't work in the cellphone he lugged here. bummer. we decide to take the maglev train, the bullet train that travels up to 260mph. most people recommend you take a cab, as it's still not that expensive to do so. but we opted not to. pretty wild ride, so fast, the speed is amazing, to see things zipping by so close to the ground. when the passing maglev train flew by, it was in our view for a split second.

we arrived at the maglev train, which is a subway station fairly southeast of the city center. most people probably would've just taken a cab from there even, but oh no, not us. we decide to take the subway. first problem, we didn't have money in change to buy the tickets. so we bought some drinks to get some change. still only got paper money back, so we went to the change machine to break the bills. then we had to fight the maddening crowds that were trying to buy tickets and get on the train. once we got on the train, it slowly became apparent that we may not be able to disembark it, as we began to get crowded into one corner, with no spare room to manuever our huge bags through the crowd. at least, not without smashing a poor little girl or ramming into a business man. we had hit rush hour big time. oops.

we missed our stop, even though jason did do a farily good attempt at pushing his way through to the door. i think one of those little girls pushed him back in as she was trying to board the train. many people found our predicament very amusing. eh, weren't exactly stoked about it all. but the next stop after ours was a big station where most everyone got off, so we made it out finally. jumped back on the train back to the stop we missed, and got out.

NOW we decide to take a taxi. and, of course, there are none to be found. we see plenty driving by, but all are taken. rush hour is heinous here. we decide to walk to areas where we can hopefully find more taxis. i recognize some landmarks, and know the direction to my other uncle and aunt's place. we head thataway with our luggage in tow (well, with mine flung over more extremely sore shoulders at least). we arrive at an area called the bund after walking for about 10 minutes. a place with tons of traffic, plenty of cars. finding a taxi should be no problem at all. ha ha ha! nothing comes for quite awhile, and several other tourists AND locals are fighting to even find one. we walk on, further and further. i almost start to doubt my sense of direction, but some things begin to look more familiar. it must have been at least 2 hours of walking, god knows how many miles, but we eventually found my uncle's place, right on the Huangpu River. trust me, we were still looking for taxis the entire walk there, and not a single one was available. after one last mind-numbing scramble to find which building in the several complexes they were in, we finally took our sweat soaked shoes off in their entryway and sat down to a huge home cooked meal. never EVER will i make the mistake not just taking a taxi from the airport. but hey, we made it, right? and the maglev was worth the trip.

we end up getting the biggest room in my uncles place, the one usually reserved for my grandparents, who obviously aren't staying with them right now. big screen flat panel tv, an amazing view of the river and the Bund, and a nice rest area to boot. oh, and did i mention the tempurpedic massaging adjustable beds? cush (as in cushy (as in cushion)).

we thought our day would end there, but we ended up washing up and then heading down to get some massages. after that walk, lord knows we needed it. we go to this hole in the wall place. i get this girl who knows no english what so ever. i get a little wary though when they end up taking into the back, through some random alley, and into this tiny bedroom. soooooo creepy. don't worry mom, nothing bad happened. they just don't have a lot of room in their tiny place in the front. still, creepy. my "masseuse" is a 20 year old girl named Don Yong Yong. we try to have a conversation, she trying to learn some english, me trying to learn some chinese. it was pleasant, and we then went to the front room to meet up with everyone else. turns out some cops came for a visit. guess i missed the excitement. we finish the back massage i had with a foot massage, along with my uncle and jason. we end up giving Don Yong Yong an english name, Donna. she seems to like it. afterwards, head home and crash in our form-fitting beds. ahhhhh. another long as frickin' day down...

day 5: slow poke in china (ew, not like that)

oops. i haven't been updating lately, and i couldn't tell you why. well, i have been busy, but you may have noticed that jason 71 updates alot. damn him and his fastidiousness. he's some how able to survive on 4 hours of sleep but i can't seem to get up unless i smell food or someone slaps me.

well, day 5 of the trip in taipei was nice and easy. i woke up kinda late, in time for an early lunch at the apartment. tasty as always, some more jiao tsi among other vegetables and such. first plan of the day was to head out to the Living Core mall, another enormous shopping center. this one was special though cause it has a giant sphere that resembles the death star jammed right into the middle of it. quite fantastic looking, but the inside of the mall is fairly delapidated. it was dead inside (ooh, get it, death star) and i'm sure it was because of the time of day. but after visiting that mall, we headed back to the ever attractive Taipei 101 building, and it was jam packed. certainly, being the tallest building in the world helps fill it's mall. our visit this time was to travel to the top of the building. we jumped in their elevators, the fastest in the world at 600km/h. my ears were popping the whole way up, and you can't even really tell that we're moving besides the change in pressure in your head. the view was pretty nice, a little foggy, but great to see the city from way up and get some bearings.

we chilled out afterwards in the bottom floor's enormous food court, but instead of perusing some intriguing fare, we just opted for McDonald's (yeah, even in Taipei I eat that junk). BUT i did try one of their strange Asian concoctions, some sort of fried chicken sandwich with rice cake patties instead of bread and a strange sauce. yeah, i didn't finish it. blech.

headed home in, of course, the rain. donned our lovely ponchos that my uncle gave us. i think i still get really wet cause the damn things don't breath at all, and i sweat like crazy in it. gross. oh well, my backpack didn't get wet at least. we headed out for one last dinner with my aunt and uncle. they've been so gracious the whole time. my family is GREAT! so kind. delicious and filling as always.

head back home, and decide to try and check out some bars in shin da (i think?). we got pretty lost trying to find this one street. we walked for about an hour till we finally found what we had been looking for, this one college/music bar called Underworld. totally empty except for the DJ and his girlfriend and the bartender. i think two people came in later, but they just sat at the bar and read their books. we finished our drinks after some conversation and found another bar called Oldie Goodie. i think it was trying to be a pub, and this place was a little more hopping. well, at least there were other people in there. they had two guys playing live music, singing classic songs on their guitars. at random points, people in the crowd of about 12 would go up and sing with them. pretty funny to hear the main guitar player sing "You'll never know how much I rearry love you! You'll never know how much i rearry caaaaare!" hilarious good times. we leave and jump in taxi back to the apartment at intense speeds and make it home alive. another day down...

day 4: raindrops keep falling on my head... dammit

got a late start today. funny though cause i think the rest of the city still started early. it was very busy, everyone is out, families and friends. everyone works hard here, and really take advantage of the weekend, i think.

we grabbed another lunch with my aunt and uncle. we went to a cantonese place i believe. had two types stir fry noodles and soup soup too. also some mango and pudding for dessert. we went back to the house to prep for a trip to Danshui, the city on the coast of Northern Taipei. it was once a great fishing city, but not anymore. it took about 40 minutes on the metro to get there, a nice ride through the county of taipei. once we got there, we walked along the beachfront, or, really, mudfront with another market. seems that everything here is all about shopping and/or eating. it was a nice day with a nice breeze till we hit the end of the walk, when strong gusts start nailing us. people started running like crazy, so we joined in. then the rain started of course. it seems we can't get away from it. tons and tons of water came pouring down. we got soaked to the bone with our crappy little US$3 umbrellas trying to save us. it wasn't until we got to the cover of the metro station that i realized my uncle had given me 2 ponchos to wear. oh well. we decided enough was enough and jumped back on the metro to home. it took MUCH longer to get back then to get there for some reason. i'm not sure if it was a psychological thing because we were so drenched and a bit miserable or what. oh well.

got back home, dried off. watched some crazy taiwan tv, and passed out for a bit. late night we headed out to find some food, hit up the Warner Village, another huge mall, and grabbed some food at a food court. had a crepe for dessert. worst thing ever, tasted like cardboard. i highly don't recommend it. afterwards, we walked all over our neck of the woods for a bar. we mostly found token bars, where you pay to sit with a girl. didn't go to any of those, we just wanted a frickin' drink for pete's sake! finally found a weird 24 hour place that served alcohol, grabbed one drink, and then headed home. g'night gracie.

the crowds of people making mad dashes to get out of the rain in danshui. everyone was running for cover



the oki 71 hairdryer contraption we "designed" to dry off our waterlogged shoes. genius.

day 3: more pictures galore

Here are a few pics from day three. Enjoy...


jason taking pics of the national theatre



walking towards the chiang kai shek memorial. enormous, yes? the temple, not jason. never mind, i don't want to know...



this photo was in the museum under the memorial hall. it is of chiang kai shek's son who was elected president after him. i almost cried when i read what the story was behind the girl. the president visited an orphanage and met this girl who was abandoned because she was born with no arms. because the president met her, and encouraged her, and wrote to her, she studied hard and even learned how to write with her feet. it touched me for some reason, and i kind teared up. i think it's the look he's giving him, this silly yet compassionate old man. yeah yeah, i'm a sensitive guy sometimes. don't tell anyone...



71 and I taking a break. we rule.

at luxy, the huge club we hit up. we tried to talk to people but it was pretty tricky. luckily one of these girls spoke english pretty well and translated to the rest of them. yeah, i'm pimping pretty hard here... ok, not really.

day 3/addendum: ache in the arch

oh yeah, i forgot to mention the foot massage. i wanted to go because i knew it was supposed to hurt like the dickens. i wanted to see just how much it hurt. well, i found out. it hurt. alot. i think i was wincing the whole time. and the guy probably was only using 50% of his full pow-wah. yeesh. the whole thing felt more like torture than relaxation. there's even a point where starts bashing your legs up to your knees. i swore i was gonna wake up with bruises, but somehow i didn't. here's a pic of my aunt, jason and me getting the massages. my smile is a bit weird cause i'm also in quite a bit of pain at the same time. and jason rarely winced at all, but i think this pic caught him holding one back.