I just had to get this shot before we left, the world's highest Starbucks and the world's highest 7-11 side by side. Capitalism knows no limits! Actually I expect this place is in the process of turning into a real theme-park type place due to all the construction going on here, it's a real victim of it's own success. 
With this picture we left Dream Forest Villa and Ching Jing farm Monday morning, made our way down the mountains and went to PuLi. PuLi was actually the center of the Earthquake in 99 that destroyed the school where I worked in Nantou, which is quite nearby. We went to the PuLi Wine Museum, where I tried many delicacies made from wine, the best being Wine Popiscles which were quite tastey. After that, we snaked our way across the land to Miao Li to drop off Ryan (who had an appointment that evening), and went to a beach to watch the sunset. (I curse my low batteries, it was quite beautiful and I wish I'd gotten pictures of all this!) After the beach, we had dinner at a small Hakka restaurant, and then headed back to Taipei. It was quite a day, and a wonderful end to a great vacation. I had a wonderful time with all of Connie's friends and co-workers, and thank them all for giving me this chance to travel into Taiwan's heartland again and getting some fresh mountain air! Thanks guys!
So, a few weeks ago Connie and I decided to spend a Sunday afternoon wandering around Taipei's famous XiMen-Ding shopping area. Ximen-Ding is near Taipei Main Station, and in the past was a major market area, but has since become a very trendy place for young people to hang out, buy clothes and check out other young people. Think of it as Taipei's trendiest mall, and you'll have the right idea. If you want to find youth culture in Taipei, it's the place to be.
You can't see it here, but as we walked into the maze that is XiMen-Ding we found a long lineup of mostly teenage girls clinging desperately to CDs and posters that stretched nearly a whole block. Now, what caught my attention about these pack of autograph hounds was that a number of them had used tape or other means to give themselves pointed ears! It was like finding a bunch of kids waiting to get Mr. Spock's autograph! Did I pass through a time-warp back to the 60's?
When we got closer, we saw the reason for all the ears. A local pop-boy band who apparently have an elf-motif going on. I'd call them Vulcans, but they're way too cute and fluffy for that, so Elves it is! The giggly schoolgirls were anxiously skittering up onto the stage in groups to get their CDs and posters signed by their favorite Elf. If you look at the picture closely you can see the ears on this one as he signs autographs.
XiMen-Ding on a Sunday afternoon from the window of Starbucks at it's center. Connie and I spent a few hours here reading and watching the crowds. It was also interesting to watch the food-cart sellers plying their illegal trade of fruit, sausages and other snacks. One moment they'd fill this area, then they'd get word the cops were coming, and they'd all vanish like mice when you turn on a light in a dark room. A few minutes later, they'd be back again, and the game went on.
Since coming to Taiwan I have definitely picked up the Taiwanese love of good food. Part of that has been making a point of trying new restaurants whenever I can, partly to have a new experience and partly to avoid going to the same places too much. This past weekend Connie and I set off to the Salt and Bread Russian restaurant/cafe/bakery located on DunHua South Road. I'd never really had much Russian food, so I thought this might be a cool new taste to try. As it turns out, I actually had had many of the things on the menu at various times, it had just never registered that I was eating Russian food when I had it.
For dessert, Connie and I decided to order one of the house specialities. Shortly after that a chef pushed a cart up to our table with a bowl covered in the silver bell you can see in the background of this picture. He removed the bell to reveal this chocolate bubble, and I really wasn't sure what was going to happen next so I quickly whipped out my camera and snapped a picture. (I didn't feel too bad, the tourists at the next table were taking pictures every 15 seconds, I think the guy had bought a new camera!)
The chef pours alcohol (Vodka, I believe) onto the chocolate bubble and lights it on fire!
The Chocolate liquifies under the heat from the burning alcohol and collapses onto what turns out to be three scoops of ice cream hidden under the chocolate, instantly coating the hard ice cream with it's hot chocolate goodness.
Add a few walnuts and voila! A hard-chocolate sundae, with scoops of rum-raisin, chocolate fudge and coffee ice cream. I couldn't wait to dig in!
Connie: "I can tell you're really full, so don't worry about eating this. Just leave it to me, dear. I'll take care of it and you don't have to worry about it being wasted."
I was walking by the local movie theatre and saw this poster for an upcoming film that looks to be a time-travel story involving tanks, apache gunship helicopters and samurai. How can you go wrong with that combination, I ask you? Having never quite seen anything like it before, I took a picture, and who knows, I might even see the movie someday! (On DVD, if it has English subtitles...)
(back row, the guys) David, William, Michael, Sean, Rob and Andy
Last Wednesday was Tomb Sweeping Day, an official holiday when Taiwanese people are supposed to gather together with family members and head out to the family gravesites and tombs to remember their ancestors. Since I have no family here, and Connie's relatives were taking care of the family duties, Connie and I decided to head out to one of the local tourist attractions for the day: DanShui! One of the sites of the earliest foreign settlements in Taiwan, DanShui (also called TamSui) is a collection of narrow streets filled with a mix of buildings of local and foreign style. The River Boardwalk is perhaps it's most interesting attraction, and that's where Connie and I spent our afternoon.
DanShui is still an active fishing port, and the people here still go out each morning to fish for the local catch. You can see here the fishing boats lying just off the boardwalk and waiting to go out the next morning.
Just past the train station there is a stand that sells Strawberry Sausages, which Connie tells me are quite good. I would never have thought of combining pork (?) with strawberries in sausage form, but from the people buying them they seemed to be popular enough.
Along the boardwalk, jammed between the food stands, shops and arcades, you will find small places like this serving the needs of the chronologically challenged. Pretty much the same rides and amusements you can find in any shopping mall in the world.
McDonalds is everywhere, even on the boardwalk. The place under it is a "print club" center where you can get your picture taken by a machine that will make little colourful stamps with images of yourself and your friends on them. You can even get laminated trading cards with your image on them, and young people here often trade these cards and stamps with their friends. Every one an exclusive card with a limited run!
This fellow paints out calligraphic versions of what I assume are poems and other famous literary works. He was quite elegant as he slowly drew his brush across the page and copied out the Chinese characters from underneath it. I find it interesting that Asians consider calligraphy to be a fine art and commonly grace their homes with it, while Western peoples tend to prefer more concrete images of life as their idea of art.
