Day Eight/Last Day

Today is our last day in Taiwan. We spent the morning getting vegetarian food with my father's friend helping us out. In the afternoon, we went to the Taipei Main Station area so my brother could buy a shirt and a new duffel bag. We also stopped at Zhongxiao Fuxing to go to Sogo to get Grandma something for her feet. Other than that, we have spent the day finishing up our packing. Now, we are waiting for a service that we hired to take us and our stuff to the Taoyuan Airport (formerly the Chiang Kai-Shek Airport). From there, we will take a flight on a 747 (Eva Air BR 28) that will take between 10-11 hours, landing at San Francisco Airport sometime on the afternoon of the 31st of December (it is almost 6 PM on the 31st here). Hopefully this flight will be better than the trip here (I'm on the verge of throwing up at the mere memory of it).

Day Seven

Today is my last full day in Taiwan. The day overall was not very busy, as we did not really do much until the afternoon. My morning consisted of doing a Shian Gohng, starting to pack for our return, and burning paper money for my great grandmother.
In the afternoon, we went back to the 101 area and went to the Eslite Bookstore and a high class European mall. I could have stayed at Eslite for the majority of the day, but we had to go meet my father's friend who was my mother's teaching assistant in college. At Eslite, I bought two Top Gear magazines and some funny stickers for my friend. After leaving the 101 area, we went to the Sogo Department Store. No one of us (my family) bought anything, but we looked around at various stores. We came back after going to Sogo, and until now I had been reading Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, which is a really good book.
I think I am going back to the Main Station tomorrow and getting some last things before we leave.
I am leaving Taiwan tomorrow, after a very fun week of sights and experiences. Hopefully I can come back next year.

Day Six

Today was a much slower day in comparison to the last few, but was definitely full of events. After having breakfast, I went with my family to a nearby Carrefour (the equivalent of Costco in Taiwan). I got some chips, drinks, and a copy of Forza Motorsport 3 at a discounted price (a little more than $40 USD). The game usually goes for $60 in the US.
For lunch, we met with my parents' acquaintances from our religion and ate at an all-you-can-eat buffet that I have been to before. Lunch took until around 2 PM, and we moved onto our next location, Taipei 101.
101 is the tallest building in the world (or was?) and has the fastest elevators in the world, going up to 1010 meters per minutes. We were able to get up to the 89th floor (the highest the public can go) and took a bunch of photos, even though it was pretty cloudy. We got some souvenirs and went back to the lower 5 levels to keep shopping. However, most of the stores were extremely high class and out of our price range. The main highlight of the lower levels was an exhibit of Maseratis and Ferraris. My brother and I went absolutely nuts, snapping photos of the cars from all angles. From what I saw, the Ferraris there were a 612, a 599, and a California. I only recognized two Maseratis, those being the Quattroporte and the Gran Turismo.
After leaving 101, my father wanted to look for new shoes, so we went to a nearby Nike store. After finding a pair, we took the bus back home.
We did not manage to get to all the places we wanted to go to in the 101 area, so we are going to go again, along with going to the Taipei Main Station one more time. If we still have time, we are going to try to go to Zhongxiao Fuxing and visit Sogo like old times. We are also going to go pay our respects to my great grandmother, who passed away many years ago on the same day.

Day Five

I am now back in Taipei, after a day full of riding cars and trains. I woke up around 6:30 AM at the hotel, and had breakfast on the main floor. At 8:30, we took a guided tour van to Taiping Shan (one of the highest points in Taiwan). It was pretty cold at times while we were there, and the cloud cover was so thick we couldn't get good pictures from the top looking towards the bottom. We rode a train for 20 minutes to get to a place full of trees and other plants, so we took a bunch of photos there.
After finishing our lunch near the train station on the mountain, we went to a hot spring. I wanted to take an indoor room, but I was pushed into going into an outdoor bath with my father. The water was really hot, but the experience overall was very relaxing. My brother was reluctant to go into a hot spring, so he cooked eggs in another part of the hot springs using the natural hot water.
We then took the van back to Yi Lan, first stopping by at a store full of food before going back to the hotel. We went to a nearby all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet before setting off for Taipei. We got back about 2 hours ago, and we have been resting from a busy weekend of movies, a wedding banquet, going to Yi Lan, visiting the traditional arts center, going to Taiping Shan, etc.
I'm not really sure what I'm doing from now until I leave Taiwan, but I am going to go to the Taipei 101 area sometime soon.

P.S.: The van driver drives pretty aggressively...and knows how to take the inside line and hit the apex of corners...even if it means going onto the other side of the road...

Day Four

I have internet! Yay!
Today was a day of traveling and shopping. Our aunt took us by car to the Traditional Arts Center south of Taipei. The trip was very long, going through mountain after mountain. When we got to the art center, we watched performances that I didn't really understand. We left early to go shopping for gifts and our own stuff (some of which we had already planned before we had arrived). At the end of the day, I had gotten a bead bracelet carved out of a special kind of wood, a charcoal figure, a set of figurines on a small wooden model of Taiwan, among other things.
The rest of our time was spent walking around and taking pictures. My feet got sore pretty quickly. After that, we traveled by car to the town of Yi Lan (where I am now) and checked into our hotel, the Grand Boss Hotel. The hotel is very nice, with a pool table in the lower level and rooms with bathrooms that have a shower and a bathtub separate from one another.
After checking in, we went out to the night market right outside the hotel. We mainly walked around window shopping at clothes and various food stands. We ate a lot (probably too much =P), but it was all good because everything was good.
Tomorrow we are going to a mountain where there was snow a few weeks ago, and then we are probably going to return to Taipei.

Day Three

Everyday seems to get longer and longer. I woke up at 5 AM but didn't get out of bed until around 6:30. We went to the same roadside restaurant for breakfast for the third day in a row. We then went to go pay our respects to a Dien Chuan Shr who had passed away. My mother and grandmother knew her very well. Only through the conversation we had with the Dien Chuan Shr's daughter did I find out that this Dien Chuan Shr was the very one who initiated me into E-Guan Dao 17 years ago.
Following this we came back to the house to get changed for a wedding banquet for an uncle of mine. The lunch was held at the Hyatt Hotel in Taipei, and was completely top of the line. We were treated to various dishes (10 or 11 courses). By the end, I was completely full and ready to burst. However, we had no time to rest, as we had to immediately head over to our next destination.
My uncle and cousin had invited my family to watch a new movie, Bodyguards and Assassins. The movie started at 3:30 PM but we had to arrive 10 minutes early (we barely made it). The movie was about Sun Yat Sen's visit to Hong Kong in 1906 to discuss a rebellion throughout China. Sun Yat Sen's supporters had to protect him from assassins sent by the leaders. There was a lot of kung fu fighting involved, and the movie was very good overall (even though just about everyone who fought to protect Sun Yat Sen died).
After that, we went to have dinner at a vegetarian restaurant near Taipei 101. When we finished, we went shopping in the area, especially at a store called New York New York. Kevin bought a belt for 980 NT (over $30). We spent most of the rest of the time just looking around until we came back. I got to see my aunt for the first time in 3 years.
I think I am leaving Taipei for the next day or two, and I don't know if I will have internet (hopefully I will).

Day Two

Today seemed to drag on forever. I woke up at 4:30 AM and was unable to fall back asleep, so I have been awake for the last 16 and a half hours. We first went to get breakfast at the same place as we went yesterday. We then took public transportation to a famous temple in the city. Right outside the temple, there was an underground passage that went under the main road.
Along the underground passage were rows of fortune-telling booths. I was told by one fortune teller that I'm going to get fat and have health complications from being fat. She also said I should be an architect, financial adviser, or do anything related to metal. I was told to do business in Taiwan and not in America. At this point, I began to stop listening because I knew the fortune teller was giving me a load of bs and scamming me out of 500 NT. I also heard that I would get married around the age of 30.
My brother Kevin got his future read by another fortune teller, who did a better job of describing my brother's traits, but still got some things (probably) wrong. My brother is supposed to get super rich from ages 30 to 48, but has to be careful when he is 41 and 49. He is also supposed to have problems with girls and not settle down seriously until he is 30 (like me).
My father got his fortune read by yet another fortune teller, but he had already had his fortune read before, and knew the fortune teller he had this time was a fake because she was taking too much time trying to read his future and had messed up the process, thus giving my father wrong predictions.
We then went to lunch and a department store near Taipei Main Station. At this point, I started getting really tired, so we went to Cold Stone Creamery and had some ice cream, replenishing some of my energy.
Following this, we went to visit another of my great aunts, this time my father's mother's sister (the second oldest). We stayed for a good 3 hours (where I almost fell asleep multiple times) before leaving.
The ride home took over an hour due to large numbers of people taking public transportation at the time. We eventually got back and I saw my grandmother and my youngest uncle for the first time in 3 years, which was good.
I'm extremely tired now. Jetlag has taken its toll on me, so I might go to bed pretty early tonight because we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

First Day

Today has been a long day. Woke up at 7, went out for breakfast, and then we went to go see my great-aunt and great-uncle. The visit seemed to take forever... Afterwards, we went to get a haircut (Taiwan haircuts are the best =D). I got my hair cut with a nice hair wash thrown in for less than $10 USD ($270 NT). By this time, most areas serving lunch were closed (it was around 3 PM), so we went to the Taipei Main Station, where the entire second floor is full of restaurants and eateries.
We first had some noodles, which weren't bad; then, we got some pearl milk tea that was really good. The store we got our PMT from claims to be the first store to sell PMT in all of Taiwan. Finally, we went to Baskin Robbins 31 to get ice cream, while my parents got some 豆花.
After this, we went to the Underground Mall near the Main Station to look for a present for a friend. We wandered all over the place, trying to find the right store to get his present. We eventually found it and found something to get him, so we went back home afterwards. We got some Subway along the way for dinner (which wasn't all that good...). Before we started eating, our uncle dropped by. While he was here, he showed us our uncle's massive collection of books and papers he had collected. The majority of the room was covered with piles and piles of books on psychoanalysis and art.
Since then, I have been resting and watching the first episode of Kara no Kyokai. It has had a fairly good start, so right now it is a 9 out of 10. Jetlag is starting to get to me, so I'm going to call it a day.

P.S.: The TRTS is the best. =)

On the Plane

I am typing this while on the plane. Man have I forgotten just how bad plane rides are. I feel absolutely terrible. We have about another hour and a half before landing in Taipei now, but the last 13 hours have been plain torture. Bleh.

At the Airport

At the airport lounge right now, using some wireless network here. The flight is at 3:55 PM. I have already taken photos along the way, with many more to come while at Taiwan. More to come (hopefully) later.