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Published: November 18th 2007
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Hi everyone,
This blog is about our latest trip, a week-long visa-run to Taipei, Taiwan. Usually for new work visa's, foreigners in Korea usually just go to Japan - since it is the closest country to us. But, since Larry and I had already lived there for nearly a year and wanted to try somewhere new, we chose to go to Taipei - also close, being only about a 2.5 hour plane ride away.
Our hotel was really nice, right in the middle of a really trendy and happening shopping area known as Ximending. It's name was the WonStar Hotel, and even though it wasn't as cheap as all of our hotels in Vietnam, it was a very nice hotel. We got an 'Executive Suite,' (obviously our company paid for part of this trip for us) and it was quite luxurious - Especially the shower, which was a nice break from our now Korean-style shower where the entire bathroom gets soaked.
Our first full day in Taipei, we decided we needed to go find the Korean Embassy first and foremost to take care of business. But since that only took about a half an hour, we had the
rest of the day (and the trip) to check out the city and see the sights. The first place we went to was Taipei 101 - currently the tallest tower in the world. The Freedom Towers, that will be built where the World Trade Center used to stand in NYC, will be taller than this building when it is finished. In addition, Dubai is currently building a tower that will be taller than both of these! We had a lot of fun sending postcards to our families from the top of this tower, and also, visiting the outdoor observatory! It was so windy up there, we thought we were gonna take flight!
The rest of that day was spent visiting a popular shopping/movie area called "New York, New York" (complete with a Statue of Liberty AND Cold Stone Creamery), and also, taking in some history at the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. It was here that we learned about Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, one of the founding fathers of Taiwan. Not only did he play an important role in the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, but he then became the first provisional president of the Republic of China (ROC)
when it was founded a year later. We also learned that Taiwan was once ruled by Japan, about 70 years ago, which explains the heavy Japanese influence we found in this country's fashion and food.
The highlights of our next day included the Longshan Temple (a Buddhist temple that was actually having a religious ceremony take place while we visited) and Snake Alley (a shady alley with restaurants, snakes and massage parlors - oh my!) I know what you're all thinking - Yes, I did give the massages another shot! However, take note that these were only FOOT MASSAGES...the big chairs all in a line, along with the older women who worked there put my mind at ease. The best and worst part about this night though was a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that we had dinner at that night. This restaurant by the name of "My Homesteak," surprising recommended to us by the 'Taiwan Lonely Planet' book, was absolutely disgusting in many ways. Not only did the buffet look like it had sat out for the entire week prior to our dinner, but they put so much black pepper sauce on our steak AND FISH (all in one big
pile I might add), that we both left that place with the sauce all over our clothes. We quickly downed a coca-cola after that dinner to kill all the bacteria we imagined was forming in our stomachs!
The last couple of days we mostly just shopped, ate and relaxed. One night we went to Kiki's - a really cool, 3-story restaurant that served super spicy Chinese food. In all honesty, this wasn't our 1st choice though. We had actually picked out 2 other places first in the Lonely Planet, only to find that they no longer existed! Well, after driving past this place twice in a taxi in the rain...we eventually felt that it was our destiny to go there (or just plain stupid for us to not go!) Fortunately, we were very pleasantly surprised with this restaurant, as well as the "western" place we went afterwards for drinks known as "The Brass Monkey." This place was so much fun...I still have a scar from the blister I got playing foosball!!
Finally, our last day was filled with more shopping and sightseeing. For dinner we went to another western gem called "Grandma Nitti's," where Larry ordered meatloaf and
I ordered chicken quesadillas (hey, this is exciting stuff when you live in Asia!) Afterwards, we checked out the Shida Night Market - which we had low expectations for, since all the other night markets had pretty much sucked. This one, however, was lots of fun! Trendy streets with good shopping, restaurants, and even ice cream/crepe shops! All in all, a great night - and a great trip!
Thanks for reading....
Have a great Thanksgiving!
Love,
Larry & Melanie
Taiwanese (Mandarin) for the Day: Yunxu ertong ma? - "Are children allowed?"
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