Monday, February 16, 2015

Taiwan!

Hello everyone!

I'm updating you from our hotel in Taipei! Rhett and I agree, this is one of our favorite cities. In fact, we can't wait until the day that we can explore the whole island.

We arrived super late on Valentine's Day and took a bus into the city and then a cab to our hotel (which is by some GREAT shopping... a constant distraction for me). Next day we visited Longshan Temple, Taipei 101, and Elephant Mountain. We had an amazing view of the city as the lights came on - magical! Today we took a hop-on/hop-off tour bus along the entire northern coast of Taiwan. The full trip without stops is just under two hours and the highlights were the coastal beach cities and Yehliu Geopark (rock formations from sea erosion).

But... the granddaddy of Taipei that we have completely become addicted to? Night Markets. You can read all about them before you get here but there's really nothing that compares. Vendors upon vendors selling all types of food, goodies, and games. Everything is ordered chaos, another facet of Taipei we have come to admire! Everyone is so kind, smart, law-abiding, and patient. Refreshing! As for the night markets, we have decided to walk the entirety of the market (picking up food to eat as we walk) then decide on one game to play per night.

First stop was Shilin Night Market off Jiantan Station on the Red Line. We walked around for nearly two hours and tried their famous fried chicken, shaved ice, and bean bag game. Tonight we went two markets! First was Tamsui Old Street (off Tamsui station) where we bought some funky socks and ridiculously huge ice cream cones. Last, we went to Ningxia Night Market (Zhongshan station). This market specializes in food and our samplings included a noodle/omelette pork roll covered in eel sauce (my favorite), deep fried cheesy prawn, spicy grilled corn, and boba! But to be honest, we had the most fun playing a ping-pong ball game and we won an adorable little ram after the 2015 chinese new year of the ram coming up. His name is Rammie and he's awesome. We've started a new trend of taking pictures of "Rammie's firsts" (first metro ride, mcdonalds, etc). Look for more pics to come!

love,
kpk


1. The cone of all cones
2. The most famous rock: Queen's Head
3. Today's goodies!
4. Famous fried chicken that was actually bigger than my head
5. First street food in taipei!
6. Taipei by day
7. Taipei by night!
8. Shaved ice - like tasting a cloud covered in sweets
9. Longshan temple - the decorations here are much more colorful and ornate

10. The Geopark
11. Festival decorations being set up for New Years!
12. Rammie!
13. The noodle egg thing.... Delicious!



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