Day 4

Today I became a man...why you may ask.....I Conquered Taipei and found my way home alone...OK I had someone write my address on a piece of paper in Chinese and showed it to the bus driver but finding my way home when I continuously find myself in random chaos gives one a over exaggerated feeling of pride and accomplishment, and I will take that over tears and defeat any day!

As Ice cube once said 'today was a good day' and I feel it appropriate to play that song while writing this blog so give me a moment while I load it on youtube........alright now where to start?

Well I started the day trying to figure out why my damn phone will not work in Taipei I know this is a unresolved issue from yesterday and well I gave up and my friends brought me an old phone of there's so it is all good. They took me to Dan Shui which as mentioned is the town that I lived in many many years ago(19 to be exact) And that was super cool. We stopped and had some lunch at the harbour before catching the ferry across the river. I must say I was not much of a fan of the food except for the Tofu and the fish ball soup(go ahead insert joke there I know I have extremely mature friends lol). From here we cought this small dodgy ferry to the other side where we joined hundreds of others I suppose were celebrating Taiwans national holiday. There was of course vendors and food and games and people and this old turkish guy dancing a dance that mimicked mid 20 year old Turkish hip swaying beauties that I have seen on TV and the funny thing is this was his ploy to sell ice cream, of course I went next door for the bubble tea although there was no bubble pearls in it :(

My friends and I tried soo hard to find our old apartment and of course the 5 story McDonalds as it was a huge memory for me(don't judge I was 10!) after walking for about 45 mins and giving up we headed back to the MRT where they were to ditch me off on friends I have never met from couchsurfing.com. I highly recommend this site for anyone that travels it is great for networking! so we head to the station I turned around and voila a 5 story McDonalds, we did not go in but it was cool to see again and all I could remember was the constant Michael Jackson songs they would play over and over. I am pretty sure back in the day that is the only album that Dan shui was aloud to play. My friend showed up and turned out to be super nice thank goodness and had a crazy polish friend with her, people say I am a tad loopy at times as well so we all got along great. From there we walked up to the University which was a crazy walk as we took a street under construction and apparently they don't close them down here they just tell you hurry hurry go fast as they started pouring ashfalt from a conveyor above my head WTF!!! After ziging and zaging the streets we walked up stairs from hell and alas the University! now one may think 'wow how fun lets go visit the campus' but you must understand the beauty, landscape, and memories that I have of this place. It was truly awesome you can check my pictures to get a better understanding.

I am really bad at paragraphs and formatting as you can tell but felt it was time to start with a new paragraph. On our way back we got lost of course and ended up walking the back streets of this town which was really cool cus there was no one really anywhere and you really got a feel for what it was like to live here. We came across a bubble tea shop in the middle of nowhere and I had my first real bubble tea out here. It was pretty good but just black tea with milk and tapioca pearls. we finally made our way to the MRT and by this point it felt as if I had known these 2 for years!! We hopped on the Train and went to the shi ling night market where I was blown away, this place was MASSIVE vendors and people and food for blocks and blocks in all directions. The funniest thing I saw was when the police showed up, you could be in the middle of buying something and all the sudden the vendors in the street pack up and run within seconds, you see all these vendors and old ladies running into little alley ways between stores with hundreds of people walking around everywhere. You really need to see this to understand, I just stood there in total shock and amazement it was hilarious. I guess it is illegal to sell things not in stores but there's hundreds of vendors so when the police show up everyone hides in alleys and stairwells until they leave and than set up shop again. Of course being that I was with two girls I had to do a little shopping but it was fun. At the market I tried these things hmm there was red bean and white bean and tarot root and melon inside what was like a big bubble tea pearl, it was interesting I think I like it but would not bet on that statement.

After all this excitement of course now that I know how cheap beer is can you imagine what I suggested next? yup beer and food so we headed down to try to find where I ate yesterday and of course ended up not finding it nor coming any where near it but we did find another lil place. These cheap restaurant things are everwhere its AWESOME! Upon entering there was a table of thuggish guys and a really hot girl sitting there I did not realize they spoke perfect English and looked at my friends and said 'do you think this place will be good' to which the girl at the table so nicely spoke up 'this place is the shit you best order some food here' and the guys added 'ya man and make sure you get yourself some drinks'! well who am I to argue with a table of big guys so beer and food it was! We had salt and pepper shrimp, a beef dish I have everywhere, salt and pepper squid feet (ha ha I love when they use direct translation) and chicken hot pot. Of course I had a giant Heineken again how could I not when it is only 100 dollars (3 Canadian). we ate and drank and were merry than decided to continue on after I said good bye to my new friends who greeted us when we arrived. I think my friends were slightly thrown off that I was talking to them but they seemed nice.

Well after 6 hours of walking yesterday and almost 10 hours of walking today it was time to go home I think. I no longer have 2 feet I have 1 left foot and 1 right blister. I think tomorrow I may just use the time to relax and write but we shall see, I don't like making plans in advance. I managed to find my way to my station exit the MRT at the appropriate place (there are many exits) get on the right bus and make it home woooo this stuff ain't that hard (I cheated and had my friend write my address in Chinese for the bus driver but shhh let me have this moment). I think I want to play a game.......if any of you that are reading this have anything that you think I should try or see or eat or anything to that effect let me know I think I am up for that challenge. This could be fun or dangerous for me we shall see. I do have the write to refuse challenges if there totally bizarre like eating chicken feet with a pirates patch on while running naked down snake alley just as an example of things I won't do. So lets try to make this fun and not payback for something I may have done to you in the past ok? unfortunately I know you and have to make that disclaimer haha.

Well until next time I hope you have a great night, and please remember "he that goes barefoot must not plant thorns"

PS I still have my hand after those weird bites, its looking promising!