So Long, Seoul / Taipei on the twenty-third!

We hitched ourselves to Taiwan for the 2nd week of our trip. Our homebase was at the Hero House in Taipei, a building formerly used to host military veterans but is now open to Taiwanese residents &/or "youth" guests (thank you for making us young again, Taiwan!). We would then take day trips out of the city for the next several days. The Hero House was pretty centrally located next to a main subway station in the Ximending district. This is usually described as a hoppin' place for younger people, the "Harajuku of Taiwan", filled with shops, clubs, bars, etc. We thought it would be our scene... until we got there, and saw that Ximending is filled with KIDS!!! Frickin TEENAGERS!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM TAIPEI:

• Seeing "Betel Nut Beauties" at roadside towns on the way from the airport to the main city.
• Wandering Tammy's old neighborhood, where we saw the market, streets, and apartment homes of her childhood (awwww so cute!)
• Got glasses for cheap.
• Visited the immense Taipei Zoo & saw actual panda bears.
• Had tea & snacks up the mountainside & saw the sunset.
• Went up to the Taipei 101 observation deck (and was able to stand outside in the blasting wind!)
• Dinner at Modern Toilet Restaurant (where I had the worst spaghetti and meatballs ever, but hey, we're not there for the food, right?)
• Saw ridiculous & unintentionally funny late-night informercials for Chinese viagra, starring potbellied balding guys (and special-effects "boners") & young ladies. And then there was that one channel which was nothing but pole-dancing girls in a un-sexy badly-lit 70s-era-disco-looking studio.
• Toured the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.
• Visited the National Palace Museum and saw the famed carvings of cabbage and pork (not kidding, it was actually pretty cool).
• Awestruck by the beauty of the Confucious Temple at dusk.
• Street food and shopping at the Shilin Night Market (and endured a Chinese foot massage afterwards).

Pictures can be found HERE.

Up at Taipei 101: