九份 and Yilan

Well apparently I have become one of those people who takes fancy, exotic trips every weekend, and then does little of note during the week.  (At least, this week.)  I have been meaning to do a big photo update, so that's on the way, too.

Last Friday after Chinese class I spent the day with Fannie, one of the vaguely CIEE-affiliated graduate tutors.  We met before the Dajia/Mazu trip and talked for a long time about different things to do around Taiwan and Taipei.  So, last week, we decided to put some of those plans into action!  She suggested we spend the day at 九份 (Jiufen), a "must-see" for all tourists.  The weather looked like it was going to give us some problems, but we decided to go ahead anyway, and luckily, by the time we got there it had stopped raining and was quite a nice (though cloudy) day.  Also, because we went on a Friday instead of a weekend, the whole place was apparently much less crowded/noisy/scary than usual, which was nice.  It's about an hour and a half bus ride from Taipei.  It was easy to tell when we were getting close - the bus started climbing the side of a mountain and the views were phenomenal!  I tried desperately to take photos from the moving vehicle, but they are all pretty crummy compared to the ones I got later.

The main attraction in 九份 is this long, windy, old street of touristy shops and snacks.  I am a huge sucker for that stuff, so it was great.  We looked at tons of trinkets and keychains and T-shirts, as well as adorable leather coin purses that looked like fat pigs, quilted owls sitting on branches, bobble heads with your face here, and so many more.  Also, the food - almost everyone was giving out free samples (which was devine).  I had another weird food milestone here - snails!  Well, one snail, to be exact.  I am not sure if this is exactly what people are talking about when they describe escargot, because I'm pretty sure it's a sea snail... but given the shape of the shell, I'm going to count it.  It was fine... the sauce was good.

Pikachu (and others) candy

Adorable mirror slipcovers

I participated in this special holiday/ceremony thing by pouring water over this guy's shoulder.  And then the storekeepers gave us free trinkets!  So nice!

Hot off the grill!

After meandering through the old street, we came out on a balcony and took photos of the stunning view - mountains, water, islands, green, blue, everything.  The most remarkable part was that the rain that we avoided earlier left a mysterious mist in the mountains far away (* full disclosure: I'm not a meteorologist and I have no idea if the rain caused the mist or not).  In any case, it was beautiful:

... and now here is the same view again, but this time, enhanced - by cats!

One thing that has struck me about being in Taiwan is that wherever I go, that place is always, without fail, known for one particular food item that they make extra special.  And there will always doubtless be one particular shop that is the most famous place to get whatever that special food item is.  Is it just me, or is this not true in the US??  I know there are regional dishes, like Philly cheesesteak, etc, but this is like every small town has its one or two celebrated dishes.  Anyway, for 九份, they are apparently very famous for their taro balls!  So Fannie and I indulged in a cold taro... thing.  This is one of those desserts that is very common here but pretty unheard of in the US.

Damn, check out that iPhone camera!

Anyway, we had a really nice time and I got to exercise a lot of self-control in not buying things, giving in only once or twice.

The next day we embarked on a CIEE-organized trip to Yilan!  Again, we took the bus, which was an hour and a half or so.  There was an adorable little boy sitting near me who thankfully managed to hold in his vomit until we were about 10 minutes from our destination.  (The poor thing was still cute!  His mother's quick plastic bag responses helped, too.) Yilan is another beautiful spot with farms and mountains everywhere.  On the first day, we dropped our stuff off at our fabulous ...hostel? hotel? condo? ... lodgings for the night and then grabbed a quick lunch before heading to this art and cultural center.  How did we get there, you ask?  By boat, of course!  I like boats.  So that was nice.  We spent a few hours at the center, strolling and looking at shops, buying food (local specialties, of course!) and trinkets as well as some actual art and culture.

The gang - Avalon, me, Wendy*, Rebecca, Jude*, Jessie*, Una*, Phuab, Alice*, Ashley, and Afore* (stars marking ambassadors)

Poseidon, look at me!

We took a bus to the night market with an extremely friendly bus driver, who made jokes the whole time through the PA system.  I didn't understand them, of course, but judging by the uproarious laughter of those around me, she was a real clown.  The night market was great - but you've heard the night market story before.  I did manage to replace my crumbling wallet, which desperately needed to be done.  I made a list of foods I ate that day, from breakfast through my night market feast: tea egg, gelatinous fruit, pork noodle soup, ice/dou hua thing (a local specailty, of course: scoops of ice in sweet soup with sweet tofu, condensed milk, honey, and steaming hot tapioca balls that you pour in), honey cookie thing, candied pears, spring roll, "Dragon Pheonix leg" (no one knows what this really was, but tasty), coconut butter pancake, stinky tofu, green onion bun (local specialty... of course).  Overall, an alimentarily pleasing day!  That night we all stayed up in our swanky ...lodgings... and played summer-camp style card games and personality tests.  I think I did better at the card game than the personality test, though...

The gang!  Home sweet home.

The itinerary for the next day started with breakfast at 9 am followed by a brisk hike.  Plans changed a little when people were still just waking up after 10:30, so the hike was cancelled and we headed straight to the next item on our agenda... the hot springs!

Now, my most loyal readers may be thinking, "haven't they already done the hot springs?"  And yes, we did.  Sort of.  But this time was way different, and WAY better.  Instead of being like a public swimming pool, or the beach, or a natural oasis, the place we went to this time was like going to the spa!  It cost $220 NT - now, I've never been to a spa in the US, but I am pretty sure what we got would have cost definitely over $100US, and we payed just eight!  This place had all types of hot springs, with different things added in and different colorings.  One of my favorites was the lavender, scented and colored.  So relaxing!  There was also a green one I went in that had some plant or herb, a blue one that was supposedly coal "flavored", a white churning one that had some traditional Chinese medicine... I didn't go in all of these.  There was even an extra hot hot spring, right next to a cold spring, and it's supposedly healthy to switch back and fourth between them every 10 minutes or so.  There was a hot spring water slide!  There were chairs with jets built in!  There was one part that had water falling from high up and you are supposed to lie down on your front and let it massage you!  I think my very favorite offering at this place, though, was in the sauna section... they had a lavender sauna, a mint sauna, and "the oven" - a .. dry sauna?  My favorite was the mint sauna.  It was cool and hot and made all my skin and eyes and lungs feel like they were opening up.  And I had never done a sauna before!  So this was very exciting.  I am now considering becoming a regular spa-goer.

The weirdest thing they had (which I had read about in a, "look how strange Asia is" news article years ago) was a pool for your feet that is full of little fish that eat all your dead skin!  I think I need to master a somewhat higher level of inner tranquility before I can play it cool in this place.  I was squirming and kicking the fish away for a while, and even when I relaxed enough to let them come to me, I was squeezing the hands of the people next to me and would spontaneously burst out laughing from the tickling.  Man, it felt weird!  You really could feel every bite.  It didn't exactly hurt, but it was more than a tickle.  To me, it sometimes felt like little mini electric shocks all over (I know, Madeleine, you must be loving this).  The fish definitely played favorites - Rebecca was a serious crowd pleaser, and at times she had as many as 30 or 40 fish on her feet!  Once I relaxed a little, I did get some visitors, but nowhere near as many as she did.  I guess I can console myself knowing how popular I am with mosquitoes.  Anyway, this was definitely a new experience, and one I won't soon forget!

Rebecca being eaten alive

Rebecca, Ashley and me in the lavender hot spring

After the hot spring we went to a famous bakery to try some of the local specialty cakes (see what I mean??), where I grabbed fistfuls of free samples and then escaped before buying anything.  Then we got back on the bus home, where I had a lovely chat with Una and we marveled at the mountains, flowers, blue sky, and eventual sunset.  One of the best parts of this nice weekend was that the budget was originally quoted as something like $2400NT (about $80US) but ended up being (including all the unnecessary snacks I bought at the night market) only about half the price, if that.  Nice surprise!

This weekend (of course!) I am headed to another adventure, this time in 台南 (Tainan).  Excited!  I've heard lots about the delicious food there, and we're going to performance/festival at a temple, which sounds pretty neat.  Plus, April is organizing it, so she is sure to have great activities plans, and I get to reunite with her amazing family!  Stay tuned for the recap next week.

These past two weeks have strangely been full of (of all things!) school work!  I had two presentations last week, two assignments and a presentation this week, midterm next week, plus the usual trying to learn Chinese thing (I also am trying to teach myself bopomofo, the Taiwanese phonetic system, in my spare time... why??).  So don't let the glossy photos fool you!!  It's not all fun and games here on ol'Formosa!  I also had a rigorous tutor session with Afore, where we started watching a Taiwanese cop drama while eating shaved ice.

I think I am going to save some of my mini-stories and observations for a separate entry (maybe tomorrow?), but before I forget, I have been meaning to post this for ages... Afore made a video for a class project... starring me!  Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h5YGIB1t4lY  I think Afore may have a serious career in film making ahead of her :)

Stay tuned!