Hiromi’s Blog

So the part II was about the second day since I mainly traveled on the first day and hang out with Chad. We went to see Dao temple and the night market nearby the temple. There are so many night markets in Taiwan, and they seem to have everything, I mean everything. We even found an Indian curry restaurant. Of course, pirated DVD and CD. It is a collection of many small stores and foodstands. I believe that it is an everyday thing. There are several big ones, and I like the one in ??(shilin). I had a very delicious vegetable steamed bun with Ella and Selena. You know those steamed buns you see in Kung Fu movies. But this one was smaller and vegan! How nice! very vegetalian friendly.

On the 3rd day, I did a lot. I took subway from Gongquan to Shilin to to go the palace museum again. I had an onion pancake before I rode a bus from Shilin station. It was a nice snack, because you can eat it while walking. The museum was nice and a lot of stuff to see. I liked porcelains and glasswares, expecially the one looks like Nappa cabbage. After the museum, I went back to Shilin station area and somehow decided to have a haircut. But I just had a shampoo since I had a hard time communicating with my hair dresser. Don’t give me wrong, they were super nice and the receptionist girl spoke pretty good Japanese. They were all curious about me, I mean, a Japanese girl who is traveling here by myself. They gave me a nice blow dry on my hair, and I felt very clean.

I went to a tea house called ??? (the 1st character means bamboo, and the second one means home town, and the third is a house or building–in my Japanese way of understanding). I think I again had a high mountain tea. I didn’t write about the tea on my notebook, but the foods! I had a fried shiitake mushroom and tofu and seafood stew with a steamed rice in a bamboo container. Oh so delicious! I wanted to try shrimp with drangonwell tea leaves, but too much for myself. I didn’t have much time either, because I planned to meet up with Chad and Ella.

Ella speaks very good English and Japanese, and her friend, Selena speaks very good Japanese and English, so we had no problem to communicate whatsoever. They have never been to another country, but their language level was amazing! I spend so much time in the U.S., and I finally speak good enough English for people to understand me. It seems to take me a long time–those pronounciation classes! I still cannot get over “R” and “L” stuff. I just can’t hear it sometimes. My Japanese ears don’t catch them.

Ella and Selena took me and Chad to Danshui ????by the river. There was a nice view and many people. It looks a good date spot. We ate yummy stuffed tofu, sour plum juice, shrimp roll, and a wax apple and we headed back to Shilin. Chad left for his house party, and it became girl’s time! After we walked around Shilin night market, which is big and fun!, we went to have a cup of tea. It was an English style tea house, and I had a rose tea. It was very delicious and fun. We talked a lot in English and Japanese. I think Ella is better at English and Selena is better at Japanese, so our conversation was very cute! I was very lucky to hang out with them. Both of them were going to their parents’ house for the Chinese new year’s next day, so I could hang out with them only one day…sad… There was a crazy party at Chad’s apartment. So many Americans and Taiwanese. It was fun.

The next day was Saturday, so Chad and Chris hang out with me. Not me, but they were hang over, and I had a yummy cold noodle and a stinky tofu (that’s what it is called for real, and stinky like something rotten or boiled egg) by Chad’s house. There is a tea stand by his house, and I wanted to get a hot green tea and I couldn’t find it on the menu. I always pointed to the green tea one, but it is always cold. I wanted hot one, so I wrote ??? (warm-green-tea) on my memo pad, and they understood me! I love that Chinese characters break the language boundary. We went to a nice dimsum place in the central part of taipei, and we went to the East where a few big department stores and movie theathers are. There were no food stands, and the restaurants in those fancy buildings area and they were closed early, and we went to some bar. I had a whisky and a pasta and met a group of boys who love Japanese culture (that’s what they said to me). Earlier that day, we went to the modern museum and a nice park and played in a maze. That was fun. We cabbed a lot. One time, my Chinese character skill worked in a cab ride. We wanted to go to Warner Village, those department stores and movie theather area I mentioned earlier. The cab driver didn’t understand English, so I wrote ????, which I copied from my Japanese guide book with my beautiful handwriting (j/k), and the cab driver understood ! I took calligraphy lessons for 6 years when I was younger, so my handwriting is not so bad…Thank god my Kanji (Chinese character) exams. I used to hate them, but I really appreciated them in Taiwan. We went back to Taiwan University area where Chad and Chris live. I found the sign said Tofu-pudding, so I placed a to-go order and ate it at Chad’s while we watched Princess Mononoke. very very Asian….. so much food, but so healthy and so small, so you can eat many things…

I found a nice tea house by his house, and the name is …. I can’t find a chinese character under my Japanese key because I don’t know how to read it in Japanese. Oh I have a Chinese character dictionary. I should look it up. I found it! but my Japanese key pad seems not to have the character. I am sure the chinese version does it. Anyhow the place has an amazing looking. There are bamboos and other trees by the entrance and the inside is very nice too. You have to take your shoes off to get on the floor. It was very cozy and the tea was great. I had ????a kind of Taiwanese tea coming from a specific region. I don’t know how to write in alphabet). I didn’t write about it, but I belive it tastes like a white grape. very light. The tea leaves get huge when they were in the hot tea pot. It is like a rehydrated seaweed getting a big in hot soup. Wherever taiwanise tea house I go to, I get to have my own boiling water pot by the table, so that I can add hot water into my tea pot as often and as much as I want. I love this. I get to make my own tea and drink it in my own pace. Isn’t it so creative? I love that Taiwanese people enjoy this process and obsessed with the details of tea blewing. Oh, I had a candied pinenut with my tea. It was so simple yet so delicious.

My tea craziness becomes very intense in Taiwan. I am keep writing about it. To be continued..