so i thought that last night was my favorite night, but now it's a fact that TONIGHT was my favorite night. why are taiwanese people so much nicer than american people?! we went to twiice with Rea & An -i know she is reading this (我爱你) hehe but rea is a baller and knew the owner (who was undoubtably hitting on her) so we got in fo free with an open bar and had a table for literally $10 each...glad we had the table because it would have been miserable to stand for the 5 hours we were there for. but we had SO much fun! rea's cousin, boyfriend & other friend (who has liked her since 3rd grade...balllerrr) were there tonight too, all incredibly welcoming. honestly i love An! i want to take her to america and show her EVERYTHING and we made a deal that if she comes to America then she has to let me take her everywhere. we shook on it, pinky promised, & kissed it, so it's kind of a big deal. the music was weird so we went outside for a little and listened to tiesto (one of An's favorites) dada life (chris's fave) & kaskade (of course that was my doing..). went back inside to the lovely sounds (NOT) of britney spears & pitbull ...don't know why pitbull is so big here, we have heard it at all three places we went...but An doesn't like him either :)
An is soooooooo cuteeee i can't get over it! she wants to ride in the car when chris and i go to the airport and gave us the biggest compliment ever: that we are not like how she thought americans were. i think she was expecting us to be rude and she was kinda nervous she said, but really i was nervous when i was meeting her because she was so kind and i didn't want to offend her at all. Rea too. they are both just genuinely nice people, the type of nice that you see upon first meeting them. nice isn't even the right word, because it's so generic. they are both warm, generous, welcoming, more so than i could have ever expected. today when we were in the cab ride home An referred to us as her family (家庭), something truly touching. not just because of the words, but because i feel as though she has genuinely treated us as family. everyone told me i would experience some culture shock, be thrown off by the food etc etc. but what has really been the most culturally shocking is how much nicer people are here. they aren't nice to gain status, or to make friends. they are nice because they actually want to make us feel at home. which is exactly how i feel. honestly, i don't want to leave on tuesday and being the emotional person i am, i know i am going to cry if An takes us to the airport (which she already scheduled in her iphone). dont make me go back to the land of the greedy & the home of the rude...i don't think i am ready for that again :(((
Friday, August 12, 2011
on a good day
so we are reverting back to our old ways; going to bed when the sun comes up and waking up mid-afternoon. i really should stop this before i have to enter into the real world. but taiwan is known for its nightlife, and we are known for our commitment to sleep, so it makes sense we are waking up so late. yesterday was one of the best days we have had since we got here. partly because the weather was so beautiful, partly because of the food we ate, partly because of the places we went, but most importantly, because of the company we were in.
we started our day off kind of late, getting out of the house at around 4pm (pretty impressive since we had gone to bed at 6)...it was a perfect time to leave: the sun was shining and it wasn't as hot as it has been. we all agreed that it was the best weather thus far (well, chris just kinda repeated what we had already established 5 minutes later...UC). we had read about this really good italian place on hungrygirl's blog, so were in search of Primo Trattoria...we had the address and a map, but everything on the map was in chinese. thank god mel speaks mandarin, but still it was almost impossible to find. just when we had given up on finding it & decided to just eat wherever looked good, we saw it!!! our excitement quickly died down when we were told that they had a 60 person party coming in & we had to sit outside. we tried, but couldn't imagine eating a whole meal in that heat...so the search continued...
Here are some pics of our walk to get dinner.
GUSTO: SPANISH TAPAS & COFFE BAR
we walked around a little more & came across a Spanish (NOT Mexican...) place called "Gusto"...we were sold with the pictures (i love when restaurants show pictures of their food)!! this place seemed pretty authentic & i loved the decor.
it's a tapas place, but being the fatties we are, we didn't want to risk it by getting a small dish, so we all ordered paella. when i first had paella in Barcelona, i fell in love with it. i love seafood, i love rice, and i love sausage...it quickly became one of my favorite foods. when i tried it in the states, i was thoroughly disappointed with its bland flavors and the skimpy servings of seafood. i guess there's a reason spain is so famous for it & not america. i still wanted to see how taiwan measured up, so i ordered the seafood paella (mel got clam&meat paella and chris also got the seafood paella)
the paella was pretty good...i was disappointed mine had no sausage though (i thought it came with it, but i guess i was wrong & this is only in mixed and Valencian paella) but it tasted pretty good. the seafood was really fresh (benefits of being on an island) and it was significantly better than the one i had in america. mel was telling me that when taiwanese restaurants are influenced by other types of food, they make a big effort to remain authentic. this seemed like the case & the flavor was pretty spanish. we all agreed that it could have been spicy, but then again, i don't think paella is supposed to be spicy. it is supposed to have a layer of the hardened rice at the bottom (my favorite part) which this rendition didn't have. it also used bell papers and i am not a huge fan of that. i'm definitely not complaining though, this meal was really satisfying & pretty cheap (300NT, $10). Chris also got this meat combo, which looked pretty cool when they lit it on fire (i swear the taiwanese are pyromaniacs), but wasn't very good. the meat was over-seasoned & under-cooked. if we were to go back, we would not get this again, and maybe try one of the tapas. but we were all happy with this meal :)
CHIN CHIN CAFE
we had some time to kill before meeting up with rea & an, so sat down at a cafe called Chin Chin Cafe. we were pretty stuffed, so just came for some coffee, but the desserts here looked incredible. honey toast and waffles are big here...for honey toast its bread with ice cream and toppings in it and waffles can be served plain or stuffed with ice cream. the best twist on breakfast food i've ever seen!!
they had such a unique selection of coffees & teas. taffy candy latte, tiramisu latte, strawberry flavor hot cocoa, mexican milk scented tea, vienna mixed fruit green tea to name a few. i was deciding between the lavandar latte & rose cappuccino and went for the rose.
THE TOP: HILLSIDE RESTAURANT & BAR
rea made a reservation at 11pm for this lounge on top of a mountain called The Top. i was expecting something beautiful, but was completely blown away by the scenery & atmosphere at this place...we all loved it! it's all outdoors with these private "huts"...with couch type benches and silk curtains.
there are island-inspired roofs on both the huts and used as umbrellas on the outside tables (thank god the rain stopped & the sky cleared up in time for us to enjoy the night!!)
the walkways are all surrounded by water tinted blue by the lighting. along the walk there are stone designs of thai gods (i have no idea what they are actually, they just look thai...)
there are torches and lamps making the lighting subtle and really romantic-we saw one of the guys we met at luxy the night before there with his gf & beagle :)
so im guessing it's thai inspired based on the music & designs around the place:
we started our day off kind of late, getting out of the house at around 4pm (pretty impressive since we had gone to bed at 6)...it was a perfect time to leave: the sun was shining and it wasn't as hot as it has been. we all agreed that it was the best weather thus far (well, chris just kinda repeated what we had already established 5 minutes later...UC). we had read about this really good italian place on hungrygirl's blog, so were in search of Primo Trattoria...we had the address and a map, but everything on the map was in chinese. thank god mel speaks mandarin, but still it was almost impossible to find. just when we had given up on finding it & decided to just eat wherever looked good, we saw it!!! our excitement quickly died down when we were told that they had a 60 person party coming in & we had to sit outside. we tried, but couldn't imagine eating a whole meal in that heat...so the search continued...
Here are some pics of our walk to get dinner.
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| sunshine |
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| getting lost :) |
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| primo trattoria-probably gonna go back if we have a craving |
we walked around a little more & came across a Spanish (NOT Mexican...) place called "Gusto"...we were sold with the pictures (i love when restaurants show pictures of their food)!! this place seemed pretty authentic & i loved the decor.
it's a tapas place, but being the fatties we are, we didn't want to risk it by getting a small dish, so we all ordered paella. when i first had paella in Barcelona, i fell in love with it. i love seafood, i love rice, and i love sausage...it quickly became one of my favorite foods. when i tried it in the states, i was thoroughly disappointed with its bland flavors and the skimpy servings of seafood. i guess there's a reason spain is so famous for it & not america. i still wanted to see how taiwan measured up, so i ordered the seafood paella (mel got clam&meat paella and chris also got the seafood paella)
 |
| clam & mixed meat paella |
 |
| seafood paella |
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| meat combo |
CHIN CHIN CAFE
we had some time to kill before meeting up with rea & an, so sat down at a cafe called Chin Chin Cafe. we were pretty stuffed, so just came for some coffee, but the desserts here looked incredible. honey toast and waffles are big here...for honey toast its bread with ice cream and toppings in it and waffles can be served plain or stuffed with ice cream. the best twist on breakfast food i've ever seen!!
 |
| mmm NEED to go back to get the chocolate&banana toast |
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| i told you i love pictures of food |
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| so many choices |
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| mel's coffe |
they had such a unique selection of coffees & teas. taffy candy latte, tiramisu latte, strawberry flavor hot cocoa, mexican milk scented tea, vienna mixed fruit green tea to name a few. i was deciding between the lavandar latte & rose cappuccino and went for the rose.
 |
| rose cappuccino |
there are island-inspired roofs on both the huts and used as umbrellas on the outside tables (thank god the rain stopped & the sky cleared up in time for us to enjoy the night!!)
the walkways are all surrounded by water tinted blue by the lighting. along the walk there are stone designs of thai gods (i have no idea what they are actually, they just look thai...)
there are torches and lamps making the lighting subtle and really romantic-we saw one of the guys we met at luxy the night before there with his gf & beagle :)
so im guessing it's thai inspired based on the music & designs around the place:
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| enjoying the view |
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| bathroom sink-glad the cockroach wasn't there when i went in ;) |
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| looks thai, right? |
the food wasn't thai however, it was hotpot. it's funny because most Americans don't really know what hotpot is or that you can cook your own food. the first time i had hotpot was with mel & chris at this place in san diego called Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot. you get all the vegetables & meat & tofu raw and then you cook them yourself. it's a lot more fun than just getting your food served to you and it's a lot more social. we ended up staying there for 4 hours, enjoying the view, getting drinks, eating & our time together :)
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| top two: noodle balls & corn |
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| hotpot! |
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| drink #1-sex on the beach |
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| mai thai & food in our private booth :) |
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| drink #2: mojito |
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| group pic |
one of the chillest nights we have had...being on top of a mountain looking at all the lights of taiwan really makes you think about the important things in life. if u know me, you know that sometimes i just get really quiet and its not because i'm bored or sad or anything like that...i just get caught in my own head sometimes, which is what happened here. it was just a beautiful atmosphere to relax in & a beautiful night.
i'm so thankful that i am here with mel and that her friends have been SO helpful and kind in showing us all the best spots around the city. they have had plans for us every day since we met up with them, and that combined with the warmness of mel's family, i feel like i am getting the royal treatment here. excited to go to Patisserie La Douceur to get macaroons!! an is so cute & called them to make sure they had the macaroons! i wish i could speak chinese so that i could talk to her more, but you don't always need language to communicate :)
hopefully i don't come back too drunk...all you can drink @ twiice :/
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
luxy: it's kinda like...
______ fill in the blank.
so its 5 am now & we just got back from Luxy...well to be honest, i probably spent less than an hour in the club itself, but had a pretty successful night. i know i need to censor this & i'm a little bit drunk, so if this post doesn't make sense, just use your imagination.
we started out the night by meeting up with rea (i've been spelling this wrong the whole time...its REA not RAE** gahh i suck at spelling) & an and walked over to Luxy. music selection while waiting in line: Jenny from the block, J.Lo, Flo Rida, & Mariah Carey. I was slightly worried, but more so entertained. also funny was the list of rules outside the door, one of which read:
Dress well. Do not test fate by wearing shorts & sandals.
we got upstairs and first thing out of the elevator was this green lazer scheme creating sort of an illusion of a wall or mirror or something. if you've ever seen Entrapment, it looked just like the security system that Catherine Zeta Jones trains to get passed to complete the robbery. we went into the first of three rooms only to hear pitbull. pass. we went to the "electro room" and found out that it was canceled and replaced with a bar-tending competition. first guy up sucked...yah, he cud juggle, but he dropped shit every minute. i was nervous for him, bad entertainment. we left to buy cheaper alcohol so we didn't have to pay for drinks there. Red wine for 175 NT ($7) was pretty good and after 3 bottles we were sufficiently drunk enough to deal with pitbull. but we didn't want to. Mel & I stayed outside with our newfound friend (name still unknown) while chris, rea, & an went back upstairs. mel & i made occasional trips upstairs to use the bathroom however. one of which some lady was taking pictures of me from afar (now i know how all those asian babies feel when i try to play paparazzi)...she ended up asking to take a picture and apparently the girls next to us in the bathroom were talking shit (haters gona hate).
so mel & i went back down to the street to chill with our friend (let's call him mel's taiwanese soulmate). some of the stuff that came out of his mouth was hilarious (despite the language barrier).
"you're from california? ohhh you guys have a lot of...shrooms"
"i went there once when i was a kid to this place called, i think it was called costco?...i don't remember the name but it was a market...and they had a lot of samples..."
"you know borat? i like you, you like me?" --in a borat voice
he made multiple trips to get milk tea (it makes sense though) & was very generous with his "tea"... apparently it's from india (powdery not leafy). and it's kinda like...
while chris, rea & an had fun in Luxy, we had our fun on the streets. oh and we all decided how cute an is :) can't wait to see them both tomorrow and hopefully get some sleep. can see the sun coming up, wish i could blame this on jetlag but 1) we are just nocturnal, and 2) silence of the lambs is on tv, all time favorite movie.
so its 5 am now & we just got back from Luxy...well to be honest, i probably spent less than an hour in the club itself, but had a pretty successful night. i know i need to censor this & i'm a little bit drunk, so if this post doesn't make sense, just use your imagination.
we started out the night by meeting up with rea (i've been spelling this wrong the whole time...its REA not RAE** gahh i suck at spelling) & an and walked over to Luxy. music selection while waiting in line: Jenny from the block, J.Lo, Flo Rida, & Mariah Carey. I was slightly worried, but more so entertained. also funny was the list of rules outside the door, one of which read:
Dress well. Do not test fate by wearing shorts & sandals.
we got upstairs and first thing out of the elevator was this green lazer scheme creating sort of an illusion of a wall or mirror or something. if you've ever seen Entrapment, it looked just like the security system that Catherine Zeta Jones trains to get passed to complete the robbery. we went into the first of three rooms only to hear pitbull. pass. we went to the "electro room" and found out that it was canceled and replaced with a bar-tending competition. first guy up sucked...yah, he cud juggle, but he dropped shit every minute. i was nervous for him, bad entertainment. we left to buy cheaper alcohol so we didn't have to pay for drinks there. Red wine for 175 NT ($7) was pretty good and after 3 bottles we were sufficiently drunk enough to deal with pitbull. but we didn't want to. Mel & I stayed outside with our newfound friend (name still unknown) while chris, rea, & an went back upstairs. mel & i made occasional trips upstairs to use the bathroom however. one of which some lady was taking pictures of me from afar (now i know how all those asian babies feel when i try to play paparazzi)...she ended up asking to take a picture and apparently the girls next to us in the bathroom were talking shit (haters gona hate).
so mel & i went back down to the street to chill with our friend (let's call him mel's taiwanese soulmate). some of the stuff that came out of his mouth was hilarious (despite the language barrier).
"you're from california? ohhh you guys have a lot of...shrooms"
"i went there once when i was a kid to this place called, i think it was called costco?...i don't remember the name but it was a market...and they had a lot of samples..."
"you know borat? i like you, you like me?" --in a borat voice
he made multiple trips to get milk tea (it makes sense though) & was very generous with his "tea"... apparently it's from india (powdery not leafy). and it's kinda like...
while chris, rea & an had fun in Luxy, we had our fun on the streets. oh and we all decided how cute an is :) can't wait to see them both tomorrow and hopefully get some sleep. can see the sun coming up, wish i could blame this on jetlag but 1) we are just nocturnal, and 2) silence of the lambs is on tv, all time favorite movie.
danshui: a day of tourism
today mel's friends rae & an (both natives of Taiwan) took us to Danshui, which is a little city along the Danshui River in Northern Taiwan. it had the same feel as a boardwalk, with little arcades, food stands, & souvenir shops along the water. of course, the food was very different than cotton candy and candied apples and the souvenirs were mostly hello kitty, little buddhas, & jewelry (completely tailored towards tourism).
most of the food was seafood, but we tried some interesting foods
apparently Danshui is famous for one dish (even though rae & an warned us it wasn't that good)...we still got it & yeahhh...not very good. it's those clear noodles inside a tofu cake in this broth that i didn't like. glad i tried it though.
i can see why it's a touristy spot-such pretty scenery!!
fishing is big here, so there is a ritual where fishers buy this "money" (not real money, but fake money for the sole purpose of burning) to call upon the ancestors to help them catch fish...sounds like something right outta mulan :p
taiwanese sex shop (obviously thought of you gianna...)
we then went to the hello kitty cafe, but i don't have time to write about that yet!! we are already late for Luxy (link to their fb page), one of the more popular clubs...not sure what to expect. tonight is electro night, big fan, but don't know if that means there is a dj or what. ferry corsten was there last month and paul van dyk is spinning in september, but don't think tonight is anything special. it is, however, lady's night so we get in fo free! it's times like this that make me thankful that i live in san diego (got to see both ferry corsten & paul van dyk @ fluxx)...ill write about it laterr!!! ill probably have a birds eye view, wearing heals n all hehe :)
most of the food was seafood, but we tried some interesting foods
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| some kind of seafood |
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| more seafood (squid?) |
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| fruit>cotton candy |
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| bird eggs: i think quail bc i used to eat this as a kid whenever i was in London & it tastes really similar |
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| hardened eggs |
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| rae bought a carton |
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| stewed 7 times, actually really good :) |
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| of course mel got a corndog |
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| baby yan-yan-so cute! |
apparently Danshui is famous for one dish (even though rae & an warned us it wasn't that good)...we still got it & yeahhh...not very good. it's those clear noodles inside a tofu cake in this broth that i didn't like. glad i tried it though.
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| don't know the name of the shop, but here it is |
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| bleh, even looks weird |
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| on&off rain |
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| love the clouds |
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| creepin |
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| dunno if he knew i was taking a pic of him, but i think he's posing |
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| stray dog :((( |
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| an, mel, rae, & chris |
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| even the bathrooms are cute! |
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| praying for more fishies |
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| burning of this "money" |
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| grass for an ashtray |
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| clearly didn't see the "no photo" sign |
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| just two kids, playing on the playground... |
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| cutieeee |
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| chubbay cheeksss |
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| variety of flavors & colors |
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| i guess this is a really famous pineapple cake box, filled with condoms |
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| ice cube tray |
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| thought this was cute :) |
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| first time using a squatting bathroom :/ |
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