It only took about 2 hours to get to Taipei airport. I took an hour bus to Taipei and tried to find my hostel. It proved to be much more difficult than I had expected. It was hot, so it wasn't very ideal for being lost! After getting help from a local, I found my hostel within 30 minutes. I met my first travel buddy, Jason, and we set out to get some lunch while and got to know each other we waited for our other companions, Colin and Daniel. It was my first trip with mostly people I didn't know, so I had been a bit nervous. My nerves were settled though when I realized how awesome everyone was!
The street/market near our hostel. Look how clean it is!
When the guys came, we hit the downtown to check out the night market and get some street food together. We tried some stinky tofu. For awhile, I tried to convince myself that it didn't taste that bad, but later I decided that yes, it does actually taste and smell like sewage. Sometimes (even now!) when I walk through the streets of Korea, I balk because it reminds me of the smell!
The downtown area in Taipei.
There were so many places to get street food.
Our first encounter with stinky tofu.
Posing with my yummy honey walnut shrimp. They put rainbow sprinkles on the top!
We went to bed early so we could go to Jiufen and Jinguashi the next day with one of the hostel workers. These are small villages that are in the mountains. One of which are famous for inspiring the village stalls in the animation "Spirited Away". We first stopped to grab a traditional Taiwanese breakfast that included the best soy milk we all had ever had.
This breakfast was full of hope and wonder!
Where will I ever find soy milk this good?? T.T
We were joined by one of the workers from the hostel who spoke Chinese very well. First stop was Jinguashi, a famous copper and gold mining town. It was pretty cloudy and grey, but the view was still beautiful (plus the mines were fun to go through). Colin tried out playing a saw, which we learned is much harder than it looks. He got a big crowd of people that were eager to see the white guy play around though. We checked out a cool temple, then took the bus to Jiufen (Spirited Away town). It was a very compact city with a super crowded small side road that everyone crowded into. Along the street, they had a bunch of food shops and other small stores. After trying a bunch of food, we head back to Taipei to the Raohe St. night market. I promptly got lost while I was looking for some shorts and everyone spent the next hour looking for me. Luckily, we found each other in the end. Sorry guys!
All aboard!
The beautiful temple in Jiufen.
A romantic picture at a swing set cafe in Jinguashi.
The temple in front of the Raohe St. night market (where I got lost).
Our hostel friend had to go back to the hostel, so Daniel, Colin, Jason, and I decided to have a Sunday night party story. It was harder than expected to find a bar. In our trek to find one, we wandered through a sketch alley full of natives that stopped all their partying to stare at us. Eventually we found a restaurant that was open -this place had beer mugs the size of our heads! We spent our night playing King's Cup, which included ridiculous eyebrow-raising dances, shittily done accents, and lots of laughs. Afterwards, we got neck and shoulder massages at a cheap place near our hostel. It was going to be tough to wake up for the train the next day!
The largest beers ever! Who says you can't have fun on a Sunday night?
Needless to say, our silliness attracted some stares.
