Taiwan Part 2: Hualien

For the second half of our trip Aaron and I ventured south-east to a small coastal town named Hualien. An easy train ride dropped us off in the town's center and we maneuvered our exhausted way to our new hostel. I don't know how many of my readers have ever stayed in a hostel but generally you sleep in a dorm room with bunk beds holding as many as 20 strangers. This was not a typical hostel. Our room was huge! A massive wooden bed, wooden floors, wooden table, wooden walls, and pieces of wood gave me the impression we were staying in a log cabin. Needless to say that first night we had only two things on our agenda: food and sleep. After taking advice from the hostel worker, we walked two doors down and my world was shattered as I ate the best damn noodles of my life. Thick, homemade noodles swimming in a sweet, yet savory, broth were accompanied by thick cuts of beef (a luxury we don't experience often in Korea). Seriously, just wow (and I am not going to apologize for that awful phrase, that is the best I can do).

Biggest hostel room ever

 The next day, which was New Year's Eve, we had a lazy morning which led us downtown with food on our minds (as per usual). We were quickly drawn to a mass of people waiting in a line. I am going to interrupt myself here to explain that I believe Taiwanese people love to queue. We saw massive queues for cheesecake, cookies, bubble tea (awesome by the way), coffee, and whatever else looked good at the moment. Anyway, this line was at least 100 people long and a quick peek revealed the end prize: dumplings. While staying in Taipei we were given a tip that Hualien had the best dumplings in Taiwan and we knew that we had miraculously found them. While we were tempted for wait in the line at that moment, our hungry stomachs balked in protest so we settled for smoothies and some horrible fried food instead. The rest of the day was spent wandering around, thinking about those tempting dumplings and eventually we found ourselves right back where we started and jumped in line. The hour wait was more than worth it. The thick dough was soft and fell apart in your mouth and the meat inside was perfectly seasoned. I could have eaten myself to death and not minded one bit. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that once again, Aaron and I had a not-so-crazy New Year's Eve. Subway sandwiches, gin and tonics, and card games brought us into 2013 and I have to admit I have never been happier.

Waiting in line for dumplings with a mango smoothie.

The best dumplings in the world.

Yum.

 January 1, 2013 more than made up for us acting like senior citizens the night before. We tracked down a scooter rental shop willing to work with foreigners and derped our way to Taroko National Park. I forgot to mention in my previous post that Taiwan is scooter mania. Gangs of fierce scooter riding grandmas patrol the streets, knocking everyone out of their way. Aaron and I were ecstatic, to say the least, that we were finally a part of our very own scooter gang. As soon as I relaxed enough to breathe on the back of the death-mobile I really started to enjoy myself. It took us a very cold 45 minutes to reach the entrance to the gorge. We feasted on chow mein, egg drop soup, wild boar meat, and hot tea in preparation for the park. Words and pictures will never be able to adequately describe what we saw that day. The walls of the gorge rose up to unimaginable heights as a lazy river wound its way through the valley. We rode around in awe, whooping and hollering at each new impressive turn of the road. The light rain was hardly an issue as we were both dumb stuck with the power of nature around us. I would recommend a trip to Taiwan to anyone just to experience the inside of the Taroko Gorge.

Derp

Aaron had to drive, I was terrified.

Taroko National Park

Thus ended our romp through Taiwan. It was such a great trip that I won't forget. Aaron and I are back to work and now counting down the days to our next adventure. Twenty two days to go until Thailand, and Cambodia! Then we might even come home! xoxo

Taiwan Part 1: Taipei

Back to work means that I am back to my blog. I was lucky enough to have had two weeks off for winter vacation. The much needed break included many lazy days full of books, tea, and pomegranates, and even a trip to Taiwan. Aaron and I left a very sad pup in the care of two good friends, and we made the 4 hour bus ride, 2 1/2 hour plane ride, another 1 hour bus ride, and a 30 minute tromp through back alleys to find our hostel in Taipei. Our first night was spent marveling at myriad of eccentricities found in the night market next to our hostel. Night markets are an integral part of Taiwanese culture bursting with knock-off clothing, bags, shoes, and jewelry, they are a shopping paradise. The real draw to the markets, however, is the street food. Hawking vendors shout their ware of fried mysteries and random delights. I saw snails of every size, fully intact ducks that had been boiled, their heads hanging at grotesque angles, kebabs, fruit stands, and fried everything. The smells were overwhelming at first but became nearly unbearable as we passed a “stinky tofu” restaurant. Imagine a smell so foul you would rather suffocate than breathe it in. How people can consume that rancid smelling substance is beyond my comprehension. Since we had just arrived and were not feeling quite so adventurous just yet we stuck with a familiar, yet delicious, kebab. We called it a night and fell asleep in our jail-like hostel room.

The next day we looked to the skyline to find our destination:  The Taipei 101. This monstrous building was the tallest in the world until recently when Dubai’s Burj Khalifa building took the lead. After waiting in line with some creepy businessmen who kept taking not-so-sneaky pictures of me over their shoulders we stepped into a frightfully fast elevator. The fastest elevator in the world sounds a lot cooler than it feels. We stumbled out of the metal box of emotion, swooning slightly and unclogging our ears after ascending 80+ floors in a matter of seconds (it travels at 55.22 ft per second), and had our breaths taken away. The view was spectacular. Taipei sprawled over acres of land and crept slowly into the surrounding mountains. I had no idea that Taiwan was so green or so beautiful. We left the top of the world to drop into the basement where we feasted on a French-style baguette and pain au chocolat (real Taiwanese cuisine).

 Leaving the 101 behind, we wandered around town until we found the Longshan temple. I had never felt more out of place than I did while intruding on the prayers and meditations of the hundreds gathered. Red candles dripped globs of wax, tables were laden with sacrificial foods, and the plethora of prayers blended into one deafening drone. People carried bundles of incense, dropping them into communal holders at the end of each prayer. Aaron and I crept out after a few minutes, really feeling our white skin and cameras around our necks marking us as outsiders.

The two of us took a seat in an awesome, tile basin to figure out our next move. I could not understand why so many people were staring at us and chalked it up to our white skin (as usual). After deciding to embark on a new mission we stood up, walked out of the basin, and just barely missed being doused as the fountain we were camped in came roaring back to life. From the disappointed looks of our audience, I think they were expecting quite the show. Another night market completed our day. This time we feasted on kebabs of a different sort. Wooden sticks held together treats of every nature, chicken, beef, pork, fish, squid, mystery meat, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, everything you could want and more. We filled a basket with various goodies, passed it to the vendor who steamed it all, grilled the chicken, and spiced it up for us. We then snagged a papaya milkshake and sat on the steps of a temple, enjoying our meal.

Kebabs

The Shihlin night market

The Linjiang Night Market near our hostel.

The following day we went to the zoo which was pretty typical. The day became extraordinary when we took a gondola up into the mountains to enjoy a traditional cup of Chinese tea. The view was unlike anything I have experienced. Tea fields covered the mountain and there were tea houses of every shape and size. We chose one that had a spectacular viewpoint jutting out farther than any of the others. In the distance the ever present Taipei 101 glowed in the late afternoon night. A brightly colored temple was nestled so perfectly into the mountain it seemed to have grown with the trees. We sat down in this incredible setting and had an awkward tea time. The Chinese tea ritual is very intricate and with no one to guide us through it, I fear that Aaron and I properly shat on centuries of tradition. We added leaves to a mini pot, added boiling water, waited 30 seconds, poured the tea into another dish with a strainer, and then finally into our tiny tea cups. About 30 cups of tea later we both started to feel the effects of the caffeine and headed home.

The single picture I took in the zoo.



Behold tea.

The gondola

A list of the tea houses

 On the next day we stopped by the National Palace Museum; an impressive building full of even more impressive things. I have to admit that at this point, both Aaron and I were dead on our feet so the thousand pieces of carved jade no bigger than a quarter were not as impressive after 2 hours. There was some stunning calligraphy and furniture and all in all I am happy we were able to experience it. That afternoon we jumped on a train to head to our next destination: Hualien. Since this blog is already a novel, I will save that for another day.

National Palace Museum

Love Nests for Everyone

My apologies for slacking on the blogging. Ten months here has turned the extraordinary into the ordinary and I doubt anyone wants to read about my dog loving, spinach eating, Glee obsessed life. With that said, the last few months have passed without much incident. It got cold, really cold. Frodo, aka Mung Mung, spent some time in a cone looking like a confused baby seal. Aaron and I continue to thrive in our shoebox apartment, eating well, working out, and becoming true "adults". A crazy night for me these days consists of two glasses of moscato and a Glee sing-a-long.

Frodo aka Mung Mung

Our Hollywood Kids performed Cinderella for their parents and Aaron and I gushed over their perfectly executed lines and adorable costumes. Here are some pictures of the derps.

Luna, Sarah, Ruby

Ben, Jack, Dan, Colin

Chris

My favorite, Kate

Hollywood Kids

We were lucky enough to be invited to a Korean wedding this past weekend, and the experience still managed to wow me ten months into this kimchi eating life. My co-teacher, Sarah's, brother (whom we had never met prior to this) was the groom and Sarah thought it imperative that we observe a Korean style wedding. The first thing you must know is these weddings occur in special wedding halls located all over town. It is like a factory production, weddings move through the halls every hour with demanding guests pouring into the waiting room as the previous wedding is still in progress. Upon entering the hall, Aaron and I became an immediate spectacle (as usual): "behold the white people." We nervously twittered around searching the sea of similar faces for the one single person we knew. Finally Sarah appeared and ushered us into a sauna-like room with the bride as a centerpiece. Acres of lace and frills cascaded over a velvet bench as crystal chandeliers offered explosions of rainbows with each flash of the camera. Aaron and I awkwardly arranged ourselves around the beautiful bride (who had no clue who we were) and forced grimace like smiles with many curious eyes questioning our invitations.

After our impromptu photo shoot we were thankfully ushed into chairs in the wedding hall. A slate velvet runner covered a raised walkway leading to the pulpit. Garish fake white rose, sparkling in what I assume was meant to be a "winterwonderland touch" lined the marital path. The ceremony began unobtrusively with a large percent of the congregation still murmuring amongst themselves. This droning did not cease once during the ordeal. The mothers of the bride and groom lead the procession. Clad in hanbok (traditional Korean outfits) they passed under crossed swords (seriously) and each lit a candle to symbolize the joining of the families. The groom followed suite in a white tux complete with lace white gloves, an outfit spectacular enough to make Michael Jackson sigh with envy from his grave (too soon?). Next came the bride. Her mountainous dress came with its own personal assistant who skittered behind the bride, making adjustments to the river of cloth as necessary.

Bad lighting, cool experience.

THE SWORDS!

 

At this point I am afraid I don't have much to say as the next 30 minutes were conducted in Korean. I did notice the impersonal feel as friends and family, dressed in blue jeans and hoodies, continued to talk through it all. There were some prayers and some vows and a cake was wheeled onto the stage to be sliced with a sword (seriously, I don't get the swords). The best man entered dressed as Psy and danced to Party Rocker, further confusing me. I have to admit that I get choked up during all weddings (including the ones I watch on TV) and my moment came at the end of the ceremony when the newly married couple bowed to each set of parents respectively; they went first to their knees and then to kiss their parents' feet. My mom is getting ideas for my future.

Without much warning the bride and groom walked down the velvet runner and were showered in snakes of confetti and fake snow. The wedding guests for the 12:00 wedding were already pushing their way in through the doors and we followed the rush to the reception. Due to the mass production of weddings, the reception hall was a communal buffet complete with far too much good Korean food. Four plates of salmon, sushi, mandoo, noodles, fried pork, rice cakes, etc. later Aaron and I rolled ourselves home.

As for the rest of my life, it goes like this. Today is Christmas and I am sipping gingerbread tea, listening to City and Colour while my man is in the kitchen making chicken burritos for us. Last night was spent amongst best friends in a love nest known as Damyang. Katie, Danielle, Pete, Aaron, Frodo, and I snacked on falafel, pumpkin soup, hummus, salad, and chocolate until we couldn't move. We then piled ourselves into the love nest on the floor complete with heating pads and a plethora of blankets and pillows. A ridiculous photo shoot (hey, this is Korea after all) and Home Alone 2 followed. Maybe there was no ham or Christmas pudding, maybe it was my first Christmas away from my family, maybe it was blessedly random, but mostly it was a Christmas to remember.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas crackers

Love nest