Taipei Part XII: Driving and Shopping
The drive back to Taipei was, predictably, gorgeous. We had been unable to take a shortcut through the mountains to A-gong's grave in the morning due to road restrictions, but these were lifted in the afternoon. I was thrilled, because this meant that we got to see both the coast (in the morning) and the mountains and hot springs (in the afternoon) that make the north of Taiwan so famous.
We snapped pictures of the scenery outside the windows...
...and the attractions inside the windows as well.
I learned the Chinese for "volcano" and "dormant" and "hot springs" on the drive, and spent a good portion of the time almost pasted to my window, craning my neck to drink in the scenery from every possible angle. We saw mountains and gorges, waterfalls and hiking paths, steams and hot springs and all different kinds of trees. It was lovely.
Before I knew it, we were back in town. Coincidentally, our friends Jennifer and Marina (both of whom just graduated from Boston College) were also visiting Taipei on this weekend, so we managed to meet up with them and our Mandarin teacher Sandy for some shopping in Ximending.
Ximending is, according to Wikipedia, commonly referred to as the “Harajuku” of Taipei -- synonymous with everything popular and cutting edge in Asian youth consumer culture, particularly Japanese. In addition to a number of individual vendors on the streets, we visited some stores in larger buildings. I even helped translate for a Taiwanese vendor and an Australian tourist who had no idea what the other one was saying. (To be fair, I could hardly understand what the Australian dude was saying -- he had a pretty thick accent).
After a bunch of shopping, Kevin and I parted ways with the girls to meet more of the Jwo clan for dinner at a giant vegetarian buffet restaurant. The place was amazing. I tried all kinds of new, neat vegetarian Chinese food, and left the restaurant so stuffed I could hardly move. Still, the night was young, so I summoned up my energy as Kevin and I headed out for more adventures in another young hotspot of Taipei: the Shilin night market.
Shilin, you might recall from previous posts, is the name of the neighborhood where A-ma and Kevin's other relatives live, so it is an easy walk or bus ride from A-ma's. Kevin and I had a good time at the night market, although we didn't buy anything and didn't stay out too late, tired after our very busy day. However, the coolest thing about the trip was that we completely coincidentally ran into two other classmates at the night market -- without having any idea at all they were going to be there!
Christian and Sarah, both from the University of North Carolina, were also visiting Taipei, although they had left for the city much earlier and were staying at a hostel in a different part of the city both from me and Kevin and also from Jennifer and Marina. We chatted for a little while as the fumes of stinky tofu wafted gently over us and several vendors asked us politely to stop blocking their wares if we weren't going to buy anything. Eventually we parted ways, although the odd serendipity of the visit to Taipei was only just beginning....
posted by Kelly @ 3:37 PM
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