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Published: March 31st 2006
Squid on a Stick
First taste of Taiwan street food - MmmmWe left India on Thursday after a full day of sightseeing in very hot Indian weather (it was about 35 Cel) and arrived in Taiwan on Friday night. It took two connections and three airlines - Silk Air, Singapore Airlines, and DragonAir - to arrive in Taiwan on Friday night; Singapore is our new favorite airlines. Of course, since we had showered Thursday morning, we were extremely dirty; our feet were looking exceptionally tanned (a little help from India dirt and dust).
Our Taiwan host Jon (a friend from Binghamton) picked us from the airport. We had almost forgotten about Western lifestyle but are happy to be back in the modern world. Jon has provided us a mattress on the floor of the living room which has been perfect (our sleeps have been exceptional here). Also, sharing the living room is Mitch (another friend from University) who is in between apartments. He has since found a new place 15 minutes away from Jon's. Nonetheless, while the four of us were in the apartment, it was extremely cozy; but fun - like a sleepover, except that we are all pushing 30 years.
Jon has been in Taipei for 2.5 years
At Jon
Jon, Mitch and Joanne (behind the hair). That's our bed against the wall. teaching English to Taiwanese children. Mitch is involved in a business which places foreign English speaking teachers in schools abroad (such as Taiwan). For anyone interested, you can obtain further information on http://www.reachtoteachrecruiting.com.
Our second day, Jill and I accompanied Jon to school one morning and we are currently trying to obtain substitute teaching positions to have some fun teaching and make some money in the process. We have posted a few messages on teachers forums and Jon has informed his network of English teachers but nothing has come through so far. If it works out we might extend our stay. We had only planned to stay until Thursday but we extended for a weekend road-trip to the south and will extend further if we get some teaching hours.
On that day on which we accompanied Jon to his school, I borrowed Mitch's scooter and Jon took Jill as his passenger. My first ride on a scooter in 7 years, in morning rush hour traffic no less. No damage except for a scratched big toe (I was wearing flip-flops, in retrospect, not a good idea).
Jon and Mitch have been great hosts. Our first night, we had
Taipei Market
Don't remember which market, but note the 7 Eleven, they are everywhere (at least one on every block) a midnight dinner at a Spicy Hot Pot (aka Shabu Shabu). Since then, they haven't taken us to a couple of night markets and treated us to tasty street foods. Mitch was surprised at our lack of hesitation at eating the food; we reminded him that we had just come from India. And that, said it all. Also during Week 1, Jon organized a great night of KTV (otherwise known as Karaoke) on Tuesday. The highlights of the night was "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Straight Up (now tell me....do you really want to love me Forever...ooh, ooh, ooh...or am I caught in hit or run)" and any song that Mitch sang in Mandarin. Nothing like a western male singing a song in Chinese. And I did participate in the aforementioned songs; no, it wasn't pretty but it was damn fun.
We also took a weekend road trip to the south which we started mid-day on Thursday. We stopped at Alishan (mountain) and crashed in a hotel; the next morning we woke at 4:45am to catch the sunrise on top of the mountain. Then we continued to the southern tip of the island - Kending - where we
Street Stand
Everything you could possibly imagine. On a stick. stayed at a beach resort type of town. We hit up the beach, ate and partied at the local Pubs. There was a nice group during our last night on Saturday as a few other English teachers made the trip south for the night - this was also where Jill got molested by a male dancer during a local show. I don't know how to describe it - a Taiwanese burlesque show maybe. Hope I have pictures but not sure.
Due to connectivity issues, I will upload the remaining pictures from Taiwan (and any comments, of course), in Part II but as I've been way behind, I'll post this, right now.
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gail schor
non-member comment
thanks
You guys look great and so happy- thanks for making my day- miss you- can't wait for my hugs