The Rest

The rest of Taiwan was a bit of a blur. I do have a small confession to make, I wasn't exactly feeling myself for the first half of the trip. I think that I may have been sick. But the worst thing about being sick in Taiwan was that I couldn't tell anybody since everybody was paranoid about the current H1N1 epidemic. Anyone who is found in Taiwan with even the faintest symptoms of H1N1 are treated like a leper and cast into the shadows of society. Okay maybe not that bad, but surely nobody would believe me that I had gotten sick right before showing up in Taiwan and I didn't feel like explaining myself. But in my defense I tried to toughen up and by midweek through Taiwan, I was feeling right as rain again. And I took lots of pictures to make up for not "being all there" so hopefully that will suffice.

Playing Restaurant
On the night that the other group decided to go to the hot springs, the rest of us who decided we didn't want to go either because of the heat, the price or the fact that it was segregated guys/girls and was fully nude went out to a lounge for dinner/drinks. On Cindy's fantastic recommendations, we found our way into downtown Taipei to a hookah/middle eastern bar with Nicole, Marie, Lang, Kenny and Cindy. We somehow had coincidentally came on "foreigners night" and were entitled to buy one get one free drinks, lucky us! So after getting everyone loosened up a little and Nicole sufficiently buzzed, we played truth or truth. As promised, everything that we found out night will stay in that restaurant, but it was a very entertaining and enlightening night and I can honestly say I know everyone there better. As the evening neared the end, I decided to dare Lang to go talk to a couple of girls who were sitting at the table next to ours. He hesitated, took a step towards the table, hesitated again, and then went for it. He struck up a conversation and he never returned to our table. Good job Lang. A few minutes into his conversation, the two guys returned who were with the two ladies and we all were convinced Lang would either a) get into a fight or b) lose his nerve and come back to our table. We guessed wrong for both and he actually stayed talking to everyone. Lang left somewhat unwillingly but not without getting a covetted business card from one of the very pretty ladies.

Snake Alley / Long Shan Temple
Long Shan Temple was the first temple we visited at night. I have to say there isn't a phenomenal difference except that you couldn't see some things as well and that this tempe seemed to be very popular because there were a lot of people there praying even at night. At one point, we were all sitting on the steps on one side of the temple and Josh pointed out to me that Nicole was sitting on the far opposite side talking to an older looking Taiwanese man. We joked immaturely about the Nicole striking up a relationship and staying in Taiwan. The next thing we know, she comes over to us and tells us how this man randomly started speaking to her and asking her creepy questions like, "Do you have a boyfriend? Do you plan to stay in Taiwan for a long time? and the best one of the night, "I have two kids". We then established the rule that if she makes eye contact with us for more than 3 seconds, its our signal to cock block. For this occasion, we just saw her and smiled back as she tried to signal us to help her, woops. Sorry Nicole. Snake alley is a night market in Taipei famous for its selection of snake delicacies. Just nearby the Long Shan Temple NT subway Line, it is a few shady city blocks that has every part of the snake for sale. We passed by one shop with a man sitting outside with a headset and a speaker advertising delicious snake soup. He yelled as if he worked at the fair trying to vie for the attention of the passing crowd. He was unkempt and a little rude. He showed us the menu which was written on a large notecard and it had 4-5 items listed with a series of accompanying pictures. Whoever drew it was also very bad at estimating how much room to leave for the last drawings and the list of items grew smaller toward the end and skewed upwards as if the menu was drawn by a 5 year old. This did not make us feel more comfortable about the menu which was listed:

1) Snake Soup
2) Snake Penis Shot
3) Snake Venom
4) Snake Antidote
5) Special Taiwanese health potion

We did not eat it. The rest of snake alley was equally as ghetto and felt just as much like a strange sideshow carnival. We passed 3 porn/sex toy stalls, some small eateries, and a woman who tried to get us to pay to play with her bb guns. The night was cut short by a sudden downpour which soaked my shoes and kept them soggy for over a day.

Hot Pot
The last meal in Taiwan was an awesome hot pot dinner which included unlimited meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits, ice cream, asian coca-cola, and beer. Everyone got their fill of everything they wanted and it was a wonderful last dinner.

What I will miss most about Taiwan:
1) Milk Tea for less than dollar
2) Good times with good friends

What I won't miss:
1) The ubiquitous smell of scooter exhaust
2) The constant humidity that can make me sweat even though I'm doing absolutely nothing

Thank you to everyone who made our short trip to Taiwan possible, thank for the place to stay, the help and the tours. It was a great warmup for Japan and I appreciate everyone who made it happen.