thursday, 4/3/2008:
today was a laid back day, after my escape from dehydration in hualien. i took my time to get ready in the morning. my shower actually hurt quite a bit, as i was definitely developing a severe sunburn. the most unfortunate thing was...i did not apply sunscreen very evenly on my face (or arms either, but that didn't matter as much), so there were definitely patches of my face that were burned more, such as the top of my forehead. in fact, the top of my forehead did not peel thin layers of skin like a normal sunburn, rather, whole and thick pieces of skin were coming off my face. about the dehydration, i have learned my lesson, and am now entering a phase of my trip in which i am constantly drinking water. my dehydration stems from a fear of mine that, when i have to go to the bathroom, there will be no bathroom. i have learned a few things since the beginning of my trip: 1) there are a surprisingly abundant opportunities to use the toilet. 2) when you sweat a lot, you don't have to pee a lot 3) but you really should drink a lot.
on my way to the mrt stop in shilin, i passed this random store that had these two mini chickens just hanging out in front (picture). they weren't tied up or penned up or anything, they just never ran away. and they just hung out like they were pets, like poodles or something. people walking along the busy sidewalk in front of them didn't seem to phase them at all. my uncle and i agreed to meet at the gong guan mrt stop on the green line at 12:30pm. this is the area right outside of tai da. first we picked a restaurant for lunch (there were about a million to choose from). we settled on korean food, but the restaurant turned out to be not that good. then we shopped our way to the taipower building mrt stop (the next stop on the green line). all i can say is, tai da students must be the happiest students in the world! the shopping in that area is so good! there is definitely good di tan (street vendor) shopping and bad di tan shopping...and this was definitely GOOD di tan shopping. i ended up buying a lot of earrings. in that area i could find more quality, unique, tasteful earrings that were, of course, more expensive than your average earrings on the street, but not over priced either.
after arriving at the taipower building mrt stop, we took the mrt to the shi da night market. it hadn't really gotten busy yet, but we just walked the one street. then we took a cab to the tong hua jie area. a quick walk through and then we went to an all you can eat hot put buffet, where you still order what you want, but you can order as much as you want, but there is a time limit for how long you can eat, 2 hours. my favorite thing about the restaurant was the tables, which had tissue dispensers built into the side for every seat.
other than discovering a great new shopping spot, the day was pretty uneventful. after hotpot i head back to shilin. even though shilin is home of one of taiwan's most famous night markets and is known for its xiao chi (taiwanese street vendor food), i never have stomach space left by the time i'm coming home and so haven't yet ate at the shilin night market!
WORTH SHOPPING: gong guan area outside of tai da
WORTH EATING: hotpot
full set of pictures at picasa!
2 comments:
thats where my parent's went to school! yours also?
no, my parent's didn't go to taida.
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