Adventure One-Eighth-Time: Taiwan

欢迎光临！- Ancient Taiwanese Proverb

Not really. It just means welcome.

欢迎光临 to Noel's Blog!!! Missed me Missed me Missed me??? I am blogging LIVE from Taichung! Isn't that exciting? Isn't that fabulous???!!!! (Overuse of punctuation indicates lameness)

I promised to do a post here in Taiwan, and this is my Taiwan trip - so far.

Note: I haven't posted these photos anywhere besides some of my own photos on Instagram, so I can say this is EXCLUSIVE.

We started our trip on the 6th of March, it was a late morning flight. Unfortunately for us, the toilets were right behind our seats. And we had to endure consecutive bursts of putrid gasses from the other passengers. (What do people do in airplane toilets for goodness sake). I suppose the best part of the flight was the clouds and the blue sky. It was bliss knowing that I would be leaving hot, hazy Malaysia behind.

This is how hazy Malaysia looks from up above

And also, my parents ordered the kid's meal for me. I think they're trying to tell me something.

Well at least there is Ribena and chocolate.

Then when we landed, I was looking forward to setting foot on sunny but chilly Taiwan, but instead, a wet and cold Taiwan greeted me.

It was shocking. I was used to visiting Taiwan during Summer, where it wasn't that different from Malaysian weather, when shorts were an acceptable attire. What I did not expect was the wind. There was a cold spell up north and it traveled all the way to Taiwan, and was battering Taipei with gusto. So it was all wind and rain in Taipei. And the temperature was around 12°C - 18°C. Yes, you could see your breath when you breathed out.

So naturally we sought out the most reasonable thing ever: FOOD. There is this little 胡椒饼 (Hu Jiao Bing) stall near the hotel we're staying at. I swear, the buns sold there are from heaven. Spicy heaven. Imagine biting into one of these little babies with cold wind sweeping all around you. The juice from the meat spurts out and scalds your tongue but you don't mind at all because wherever the juice lands, flavours explode on your tastebuds. (Not joking ok, it really is good)

Note: Will update with proper name and address ok

Happy Mum with a not-so-happy Hu Jiao Bing

Hey sexy.

After that quick stop at the Hu Jiao Bing stall, we moved on to 西門 町 Xi Men Ting. Xi Men Ting is basically a classy Petaling Street. However, there is an extremely famous Mee Sua stall called  阿宗面线 (Ah Chung Floury) located at a corner of Xi Men Ting.

Basically this bowl of Mee Sua is more famous than me no joke

 GAZE UPON IT'S FABULOUSNESS. Honestly, I am not a big fan of this Mee Sua, but then it had it's own charm (meaning it had no tables or chairs you had to stand like an idiot to eat this).

Then after eating some street food here and there, we decided to go shopping at the Metro Mall as the rain got harder outside. It's underground, but it's all very bright and inviting (there is even a section of the underground mall where you can practice dancing - mirrors provided).

I spotted a tiny shop - it took about a third of a normal lot - with lots of artsy bags and puzzles hanging about. Intrigued, I brought my parents and co. into the shop. Turns out the artist design and hand-painted all of the items ranging from postcards to bags of different sizes. When we were contemplating what to buy from him because his designs were so whimsical, he kept taking out his own pencil box, wallet, bag to show how useful it was in real life. I found it really cool how actually  he uses his own designs. So in the end, I bought a face mask from him because of the haze back in Malaysia. He even inked my own name to the mask so it was one and only c:

Ya'll can check his facebook page out here: ORESAMA 創意倉庫

Inking my name onto the mask. Isn't his tiny shop just so artsy?

The next day started with some down-to-earth Taiwanese breakfast. It's a thing for them to purchase their food from breakfast shops.

水煎包 (Shui Jian Bao)

葱抓饼 (Chong Zhua Bing)

And of course, I had to instagram this photo because I am F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S.

Then we went sight seeing at the Northern Coast of Taiwan. BIG MISTAKE BECAUSE OF FREAKING WIND FROM UP NORTH. We were basically battered with freezing winds and rain throughout the day.

Dressed like this, I was still not warm.

 It was supposed to be gorgeous if it wasn't winter. But it's winter. So it's not gorgeous. Just sad and desolated.

But then we found a 粽子 (Ba-Zhang) shop which sold these warm and nice Ba-Zhangs. And we were okay for a bit.

But then we went to another  seaside. This time it was to see seaweed. But it wasn't the season (we were a month too early) so there were only a few tough seaweeds/moss still growing strong. And the most frustrating thing was that the lens of the camera kept fogging up here. I'm not very sure why. It pissed me off greatly because all the photos taken here made it seem like the camera was smoking weed - it was all smokey and the colour was off.

LOOK AT DAT WAVES AND DAT WIND OK NOT JOKING

I salute your toughness green organisms

Beach junk

 Then we stopped by a cave. It was nice there. The winds weren't as strong and the sand was different.

Mum and dad being irresponsible teenagers

I like photographing my feet eventho I don't have skinny legs ok

Look, I found this on the floor. I call it sea-flower just because.

Some artsy shots of rocks because it looks nice.

Some artsy shots of my feet because I think it looks super cool.

I don't know where this fish came from but it was just casually lying dead on the beach far far far from the shoreline.

One single foot because all the sand got into my shoe and it seemed like a good idea at the time

After the beach, we went to this temple. And I tried seeking my fortune. Basically you have to hold up all the sticks and let them go. The single stick sticking out from the lot holds a number. And using that number as reference, you have to open the drawer with that number and inside, is a paper that holds your fortune. Usually these are poems or songs from ancient times. I don't believe in fortune-telling but it was pretty fun to give it a shot.

And the thing is, this is the paper with my fortune: 

It's basic translation (Read from up to down, starting from left): Wielding a single sword to a meeting, kills six generals. Meets up with brother(s) in the ancient city.

As some of you may know, my brother is currently studying in the city of Tainan, Taiwan. It is a city with historical value. And now, after my SPM, I am all alone. Wielding only a puny weapon, I have to face some big challenges in my life (the six generals). Did you get goosebumps?

We  visited 邓丽君 (Teressa Teng's) grave. She is this amazing singer during the 60‘s. Thanks to my parents, I have been listening to her songs since young (I even performed on of it during primary school), so she was not a stranger to me. She passed away quite suddenly one day, and since then, she has been resting on top of a mountain that overlooks the sea. Her songs are being played all day at her grave. It gives the place a surreal, timeless feeling.

Fans still leave flowers and messages for her.

The whole graveyard was covered in mist. It gave me chills.

Then, we went downhill to a market for lunch. I honestly couldn't tell the time because everything was just so gloomy and gray. It has been raining non-stop since we arrived in Taiwan and it tired  us all out. 

Wet Market. Literally.

 The lunch was warm and that was all that mattered. Because we were about to face the boss. YehLiu Geo Park.

The winds blew our umbrellas inside out. Our faces were pelted with tiny daggers of rain. Salty seawater sprayed at us, taunting us. We braved the trail. We braved it all.

All for..................................... A piece of rock that looks like someone's banged up head and not even a head from another angle a graceful queen's head.

I BRAVED YEHLIU GEO PARK

 Then we went to another night market where it still rained. Bleh. But the food was good.

I guess they're okay with the wetness

I had tang yuan. It had sesame inside. It was warm. It made me feel nice okay.

鳗鱼羹 (Eel stew). Surprisingly nice. And warm.

Do you see the trend of the food in which I ordered. They are all of liquid things. And all warm. Because you can't chew well after being slaughtered by wind. And I wasn't joking about the wind. There were moments where I felt like I was going to be carried away. And I am not light.

Okay, I honestly think that even though it was not pleasant to be beaten up by rain and wind, it was actually a refreshing experience. Next time when I'm trapped with the Ice King I'll know what to do.

I guess I'll stop here because I should be asleep.

I hope it was entertaining. I didn't really say much either. I'm such a bad blogger because I don't really remember the name and the location of the places. But I suppose this is the most serious Adventure Time post you'll ever get from me. So ta.

I'll be going to a farm on top of a moutain in a few hours for my 6th day adventure so I need to like sleep so I'll look good in photos. That is the inconvenient truth.

Okay bye.

ADVENTURE TIME Angel