Lotsa stuff on Taiwan
Ok, so I said that I'd blog about Taiwan so I'll blog about Taiwan. I was too lazy to blog the last couple of days (plus I didn't have a readily accessible computer) but today was an interesting day so I thought I'd blog. However, to get to TODAY, I've got to get through everything before today too so, here we go... (sorry if this is really really long)
(Oh, and a note about the pictures. I have no camera still because I lost my camera in the fire at work in December so all the pictures I'll post in this post are courtesy of my cousin.)
I got into Taiwan (Taipei) on Sunday (evening). It was a long flight and I got a little restless towards the end but it was alright. Wasn't too devestating. =P
The movies they showed (because we were sitting coach and they didn't have personal tv screens in the back of the seats... sadness) were:
Night at the Museum (which was better than I thought it'd be. Ben Stiller is pretty good in it as somebody who's funny but not annoying. Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt was pretty inspired also),
Man of the Year (which wasn't as good as I thought it'd be. Also, I tuned out the middle part so I missed some of the crucial plot points especially with the girl and the whole election rigging thingie. I wasn't really looking forward to a whole "this is how politics should be" ad),
Dreamgirls (which was really really good, altho I think there were probably sex scenes or relationship scenes that were cut out because the beginning felt a little abrupt. Jennifer Hudson definitely deserved "Best Supporting Actress" and they were robbed when they didn't win "Best Song."
Mistress of Spices (click the link if you've never heard of this movie.) It's actually really really good, which doesn't really surprise me because it was set-up as a foreign indie darling film, even tho it costarred Dylan McDermott.
Happy Feet (which I didn't watch at all because by this time, I was overloaded on movies. It was well-animated, tho)
So, the first couple of days in Taiwan were fairly uneventful. We got in Sunday night so we pretty much just said hi to Grandma and then went to sleep in the hotel. Monday, we all went to a glasses store that our entire extended family here has been going to for years and got glasses. Apparently, my mom partially equates "going to Taiwan" to "opportunity to buy new glasses." Since I'm off my parents' healthcare plan in America, I'd have to pay a whole helluva lot of money to get glasses on my own so it's been 4 years since I bought new glasses and I needed new ones because I think my eyes are worse now than 4 years ago. ANYWAY, the point is: I bought new glasses. We're picking them up on Sunday.
After a couple of non-descript days of Taiwan fun, my Uncle (Mom's older brother who lives in America) came with his wife and his youngest son (my cousin, also named Chris, who's 2 years younger than me). He's an adventurous person and so is his family so they are intent on doing a buncha stuff and seeing a buncha stuff. Although this runs against my personal philosophy of doing nothing, I figured "What the Hell" and I'd go along with it. Because of that, I've been pretty much too tired to blog or do much online.
So far, we've been to Taipei 101, National Museum of Taiwan, and Chang Kai-Shiek Memorial Hall. Today, however, was the BIG trip day. We went, by way of High Speed Bullet Train, to Gaoxiong.
(Quick Formosa Geography Lesson: Taipei is in Northern Taiwan. It's not quite at the shore but it's fairly North. Gaoxiong [which I KNOW I'm misspelling but I'm tired] is in Southern Taiwan. It IS on the shore and is the second biggest city in Taiwan, making it the largest Port city in Taiwan.)
[ok, i just looked it up. it's spelled Kaohsiung. Gaoxiong was hanyu pinyin method of spelling it.]
So, we bought bullet train tickets for the first train in the morning and return tickets for the last train at night so it was a whole day trip. The train trip takes 2 hours. We had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to get to the train station and catch the first train. So butt-crack, in fact, that we didn't get a chance to eat breakfast of any sort so we ended up eating at the 7-11 at the train station. It was pretty good, especially since the equivalent to taquitos and hot dogs at 7-11 here are steamed buns with meat and vegetables.
At the train station, I saw, up until that point, the best sign "all time all my life":
Yes, that sign says: "Take refuge in the recess area and shout for help if you fall onto the track." I laughed my ass off after seeing that. Most places would say "DON'T FALL ONTO THE TRACK, DUMBASS" but here in the HSR station, THEY HAVE A PLAN!!
Anyway, despite being the second largest city in Taiwan, the bullet train stopped just short of Kaohsiung and we had to take a taxi into the actual Kaohsiung city. Immediately getting into the station, we were followed by a taxi driver who kept asking us where we were going and telling us it would be cheaper if he drove us and more convenient. When he discovered we had 6 ppl and needed to use 2 cabs, he immediately grabbed his cohort who also drove a taxi and together they both followed us.
The dude in the jeans and the red-ish shirt is the sketchy taxi driver. He's standing REALLY REALLY close to me and my parents trying to make a phone call. The dude in the white's his cohort. SKETCHY!!!
We decided on taking cabs and outta principle I wouldn't have taken these 2 guys's cabs but my parents and uncle were fine with it so, whatever. It turned out to be alright and we got in fine.
We were dropped off at the tourist-y harbor area where I immediately bought flip flops because 1.) it was hot and 2.) it was a harbor-beach town. These flip flops are the really cheap sort (cost me 5 bucks [U.S.]) but they're pretty comfy all things considered.
Anyway, we ate lunch and walked around the harbor area. Then we took another taxi to a boat called MV Doulos, which we were told was a floating book store. Apparently they sailed around the world and stopped in harbors and sold books. Sounded cool. We went there and paid NT$10 (which is about... 30 cents American) entrance fee to go aboard the ship and shop at their book fair. Turns out, it's a MISSIONARY ship. The first thing we see are section signs that say "Bibles" and "Christian Living" and "Cooking." I dunno about the cooking but if you have 2 separate sections on Bibles and Christian Living, you're a CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE. We were fooled!! It was still kind of a cool book and definitely a cool concept. I wish there was a secular version tho.
After the Christian book tour debacle, we went (via taxi again) to the British Consulate building. It was the old British Consulate in Taiwan that was built back in the 1800s. It was also the first building built in Taiwan in Western Architecture. Of course, we climbed the massive staircase and the first thing we see is a Buddhist temple and pagoda. After scratching our heads for a few minutes, we realize that they built a temple NEXT to the British Consulate. So, we walked over to the Consulate building and looked around. It looked cool and normal and stuff until me and my cousin saw a sign that said:
Reception ^
Dungeon >
Gift Shop >
We were like "... DUNGEON?!?! Like... A DUNGEON!?!?! WTF!?!?!" So this DEFINITELY warranted an investigation. We grabbed a map and on it was an area marked "The Maze of Jail." We said ".... nooo......" BUT! sure enough, on the basement floor of the building was this sign:
Like... BRITISH JAIL! The Dungeon Maze was a BRITISH JAIL!! We went into the Dungeon Maze and it was seriously the jail for midgets. The thing was like 3 feet tall. We couldn't even go all the way in. We just sat there taking pictures (I'll post more later). It was way crazy. In my opinion, all consulates and embassies should have a DUNGEON MAZE on the basement floor.
After the Dungeon Maze, we eventually went out to get dinner. (After a river tour on a boat. Which actually really sucked.) We walked around looking for a place to eat and after my uncle rejected Outback Steakhouse (much to our sadness), we settled on a beef noodle house. They served... beef noodles. It looked like a local dive and had locals in it eating so we felt like we were set on good food. Literally, the minute we walked in and sat down, there were 5 white people that came in and sat down in the table next to ours. We were like "...HUH!?!?!" Like all the tourists came in at the same time. Turns out they were here for a film festival. Still, we were questioning our food choice but thought whatever. We ordered and started eating when the MAYOR OF KAOHSIUNG came in and ate dinner. My parents and uncle were aghast at the unlikelihood of seeing the mayor. Me and my cousin were like "...??" at who this person was. Being the very polite and decent people we were, during her dinner, we asked the mayor if we could take a picture with her. She very politely agreed, despite our being ridiculously rude tourists.
This was taken by a camera that's not the camera they were posing for... that's why it looks kinda like they're all looking at different cameras.
Anyway, we finally finished everything up and headed home on the High Speed Rail back to Taipei. It's NOW 1:33 am and I'm spent. This was a fun day but some dude just walked into the cafeteria (it's the only room in the hotel that has guaranteed Internet access) and is smoking a cigarette. I'd better get going before I get a headache or something.
Tomorrow's Grandma's birthday bash. Hopefully there'll be some good pictures and I'll blog about it or something tomorrow. =) Until then: BYE!!
(Oh, and a note about the pictures. I have no camera still because I lost my camera in the fire at work in December so all the pictures I'll post in this post are courtesy of my cousin.)
I got into Taiwan (Taipei) on Sunday (evening). It was a long flight and I got a little restless towards the end but it was alright. Wasn't too devestating. =P
The movies they showed (because we were sitting coach and they didn't have personal tv screens in the back of the seats... sadness) were:
Night at the Museum (which was better than I thought it'd be. Ben Stiller is pretty good in it as somebody who's funny but not annoying. Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt was pretty inspired also),
Man of the Year (which wasn't as good as I thought it'd be. Also, I tuned out the middle part so I missed some of the crucial plot points especially with the girl and the whole election rigging thingie. I wasn't really looking forward to a whole "this is how politics should be" ad),
Dreamgirls (which was really really good, altho I think there were probably sex scenes or relationship scenes that were cut out because the beginning felt a little abrupt. Jennifer Hudson definitely deserved "Best Supporting Actress" and they were robbed when they didn't win "Best Song."
Mistress of Spices (click the link if you've never heard of this movie.) It's actually really really good, which doesn't really surprise me because it was set-up as a foreign indie darling film, even tho it costarred Dylan McDermott.
Happy Feet (which I didn't watch at all because by this time, I was overloaded on movies. It was well-animated, tho)
So, the first couple of days in Taiwan were fairly uneventful. We got in Sunday night so we pretty much just said hi to Grandma and then went to sleep in the hotel. Monday, we all went to a glasses store that our entire extended family here has been going to for years and got glasses. Apparently, my mom partially equates "going to Taiwan" to "opportunity to buy new glasses." Since I'm off my parents' healthcare plan in America, I'd have to pay a whole helluva lot of money to get glasses on my own so it's been 4 years since I bought new glasses and I needed new ones because I think my eyes are worse now than 4 years ago. ANYWAY, the point is: I bought new glasses. We're picking them up on Sunday.
After a couple of non-descript days of Taiwan fun, my Uncle (Mom's older brother who lives in America) came with his wife and his youngest son (my cousin, also named Chris, who's 2 years younger than me). He's an adventurous person and so is his family so they are intent on doing a buncha stuff and seeing a buncha stuff. Although this runs against my personal philosophy of doing nothing, I figured "What the Hell" and I'd go along with it. Because of that, I've been pretty much too tired to blog or do much online.
So far, we've been to Taipei 101, National Museum of Taiwan, and Chang Kai-Shiek Memorial Hall. Today, however, was the BIG trip day. We went, by way of High Speed Bullet Train, to Gaoxiong.
(Quick Formosa Geography Lesson: Taipei is in Northern Taiwan. It's not quite at the shore but it's fairly North. Gaoxiong [which I KNOW I'm misspelling but I'm tired] is in Southern Taiwan. It IS on the shore and is the second biggest city in Taiwan, making it the largest Port city in Taiwan.)
[ok, i just looked it up. it's spelled Kaohsiung. Gaoxiong was hanyu pinyin method of spelling it.]
So, we bought bullet train tickets for the first train in the morning and return tickets for the last train at night so it was a whole day trip. The train trip takes 2 hours. We had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to get to the train station and catch the first train. So butt-crack, in fact, that we didn't get a chance to eat breakfast of any sort so we ended up eating at the 7-11 at the train station. It was pretty good, especially since the equivalent to taquitos and hot dogs at 7-11 here are steamed buns with meat and vegetables.
At the train station, I saw, up until that point, the best sign "all time all my life":
Yes, that sign says: "Take refuge in the recess area and shout for help if you fall onto the track." I laughed my ass off after seeing that. Most places would say "DON'T FALL ONTO THE TRACK, DUMBASS" but here in the HSR station, THEY HAVE A PLAN!!
Anyway, despite being the second largest city in Taiwan, the bullet train stopped just short of Kaohsiung and we had to take a taxi into the actual Kaohsiung city. Immediately getting into the station, we were followed by a taxi driver who kept asking us where we were going and telling us it would be cheaper if he drove us and more convenient. When he discovered we had 6 ppl and needed to use 2 cabs, he immediately grabbed his cohort who also drove a taxi and together they both followed us.
The dude in the jeans and the red-ish shirt is the sketchy taxi driver. He's standing REALLY REALLY close to me and my parents trying to make a phone call. The dude in the white's his cohort. SKETCHY!!!
We decided on taking cabs and outta principle I wouldn't have taken these 2 guys's cabs but my parents and uncle were fine with it so, whatever. It turned out to be alright and we got in fine.
We were dropped off at the tourist-y harbor area where I immediately bought flip flops because 1.) it was hot and 2.) it was a harbor-beach town. These flip flops are the really cheap sort (cost me 5 bucks [U.S.]) but they're pretty comfy all things considered.
Anyway, we ate lunch and walked around the harbor area. Then we took another taxi to a boat called MV Doulos, which we were told was a floating book store. Apparently they sailed around the world and stopped in harbors and sold books. Sounded cool. We went there and paid NT$10 (which is about... 30 cents American) entrance fee to go aboard the ship and shop at their book fair. Turns out, it's a MISSIONARY ship. The first thing we see are section signs that say "Bibles" and "Christian Living" and "Cooking." I dunno about the cooking but if you have 2 separate sections on Bibles and Christian Living, you're a CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE. We were fooled!! It was still kind of a cool book and definitely a cool concept. I wish there was a secular version tho.
After the Christian book tour debacle, we went (via taxi again) to the British Consulate building. It was the old British Consulate in Taiwan that was built back in the 1800s. It was also the first building built in Taiwan in Western Architecture. Of course, we climbed the massive staircase and the first thing we see is a Buddhist temple and pagoda. After scratching our heads for a few minutes, we realize that they built a temple NEXT to the British Consulate. So, we walked over to the Consulate building and looked around. It looked cool and normal and stuff until me and my cousin saw a sign that said:
Reception ^
Dungeon >
Gift Shop >
We were like "... DUNGEON?!?! Like... A DUNGEON!?!?! WTF!?!?!" So this DEFINITELY warranted an investigation. We grabbed a map and on it was an area marked "The Maze of Jail." We said ".... nooo......" BUT! sure enough, on the basement floor of the building was this sign:
Like... BRITISH JAIL! The Dungeon Maze was a BRITISH JAIL!! We went into the Dungeon Maze and it was seriously the jail for midgets. The thing was like 3 feet tall. We couldn't even go all the way in. We just sat there taking pictures (I'll post more later). It was way crazy. In my opinion, all consulates and embassies should have a DUNGEON MAZE on the basement floor.
After the Dungeon Maze, we eventually went out to get dinner. (After a river tour on a boat. Which actually really sucked.) We walked around looking for a place to eat and after my uncle rejected Outback Steakhouse (much to our sadness), we settled on a beef noodle house. They served... beef noodles. It looked like a local dive and had locals in it eating so we felt like we were set on good food. Literally, the minute we walked in and sat down, there were 5 white people that came in and sat down in the table next to ours. We were like "...HUH!?!?!" Like all the tourists came in at the same time. Turns out they were here for a film festival. Still, we were questioning our food choice but thought whatever. We ordered and started eating when the MAYOR OF KAOHSIUNG came in and ate dinner. My parents and uncle were aghast at the unlikelihood of seeing the mayor. Me and my cousin were like "...??" at who this person was. Being the very polite and decent people we were, during her dinner, we asked the mayor if we could take a picture with her. She very politely agreed, despite our being ridiculously rude tourists.
This was taken by a camera that's not the camera they were posing for... that's why it looks kinda like they're all looking at different cameras.
Anyway, we finally finished everything up and headed home on the High Speed Rail back to Taipei. It's NOW 1:33 am and I'm spent. This was a fun day but some dude just walked into the cafeteria (it's the only room in the hotel that has guaranteed Internet access) and is smoking a cigarette. I'd better get going before I get a headache or something.
Tomorrow's Grandma's birthday bash. Hopefully there'll be some good pictures and I'll blog about it or something tomorrow. =) Until then: BYE!!
posted by Chris "Krang" Yang | 1:35 AM
1 Comments:
Dude, when I get my own place, I'm totally going to have a dungeon maze in my basement. Complete with midget prisoners.
Were the beef noodles good? Did you take any pictures of the beef noodles? I need to know.
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