Some Photos from Taiwan
Photobucket’s photo sizes are annoying, the difference between the large and the medium is like humongous, so, sorry if the pictures are a little too big (but medium seems too tiny). Anyway I realized I never posted any photos of Taiwan whenever I go back there and I have a lot of time on my hands now, so here they are.
1. The buildings opposite my uncle’s place.
2. The SOGO opposite my uncle’s place.
3. The little street down from my uncle’s place.
4. My uncle’s living room – with TVBS blaring on the television (One of Taiwan’s more professional news channels, though it isn’t really that professional. Once, they did a report on ducks swimming among the houses during a flood.) Their place hasn’t changed for the all years I’ve gone back, except maybe the television or something, love it!
My mom went back first to spend a longer time with her family, so my dad and I joined her on Friday night. My aunt cooked some noodles, beef, pork and rice balls for us, IT WAS AWESOME. Food in Taiwan is never bad, everything tastes like the best thing you’d ever eat. One of the other reasons why I love Taiwan – their beef noodles are the best. Plus, they don’t really tend to add chili to their food too, another plus point. Food-haters like me will have a hard time resisting their stuff.
1. Outside the train station.
2. Inside the train station.
3. Taiwan’s version of Roti Boy, in the train station. Smelled gooood.
4. and 5. Some paintings on the walls of the train station, Singapore should do this!
6. Outside the opposite end of the train station. The cab drivers there are incredibly friendly – they act like a mini tour guide and they chat about everything. Cab fares there are pretty expensive though.
Starbucks.
We went to an exhibition of Van Gogh’s paintings, totally amazing. Unfortunately they didn’t have his more famous paintings like The Potato Eaters, but the collection was still great. They didn’t allow photography inside though 
And the portable-radio-tour thingies only came in Mandarin, blah.
TGI Friday’s, the delicious soup, and the view from the restaurant. Argh loved the food, hopefully it’ll be as good in SG. I was too hungry, I didn’t take a picture of the rest of the food because I gobbled it up.
The hotel that my dad, mom and I stayed in, and the graffiti-ed building from my uncle’s place to the hotel. My uncle’s place was too crammed for all of us to fit in it.
Hotel beds are the best, the pillows and sheets totally dissolve me when I sleep in them, sigh.
The next day, we met up with one of my dad’s old friends from his university at a breakfast place.
As usual, FOOD WAS GOD-LIKE.
1. The German breakfast place, called Wendel’s. Half bakery half cafe.
2. The interior.
3. The outside.
4. The kick-ass breakfast platter. I need to learn how to make such eggs.
Afterward we went to the National Palace Museum, where photography wasn’t allowed again, then we went shopping at the train station. Taiwan’s train stations are like underground shopping centres, so you can like shop on the way back home, what a life man.
The hot chocolate in one of the cafes in the train station.
That night was my grandfather’s birthday celebration (he turned 93 years old). I don’t know how my grandparents, in their 80s (grandmother) and 90s (grandfather) still stay considerably healthy. They have perfect eyesight for instance, that’s already a one-up on me, they travel back and forth between Taiwan and America, they walk fine and their minds are still pretty sound. I hope this long-term healthiness is genetic man. Anyway, during the celebration, the hotel had a crazy-ass buffet, didn’t manage to take a picture because I was too busy eating. They had salmon sashimi, sweet corn, freshly sliced beef and a humongous dessert platter – my 4 favourite things to eat.
Anyway besides the food, we met up with all the relatives, though I don’t know how they’re connected, I just recognize their faces. I’m guessing that one of them is my grandmother’s brother or something, 2 of them are my cousins but they’re in their 50s, a pair of siblings are my niece & nephew though they’re in their 20s and so on, the family tree’s all over the place. That’s when they all spoke Mandarin and I struggled to make myself sound understandable. I don’t really mind hanging out with these relatives much, they’re quite friendly, just that I tend to be pretty blur when it comes to noticing things, so whenever one of them tried to talk to me, I ended up appearing as if I was ignoring them when I was just daydreaming or unaware. Oh wells.
At some point, one of the relatives scolded her daughter (who was about 5 or 6 years old) when she wanted more food (in Mandarin), “Again! Stop eating so much, don’t come crying to me when you grow fat and want to diet!” Ugh another crazy mom saying crazy things to her kids.
My cute grandparents (on the right) with some of the relatives. Crazy mom is the one in plaid, her “going-to-be-fat” daughter is the kid in pink. Unfortunately the kids look douche-y in the photo, they actually weren’t too annoying in real life. I think the crazy mom’s husband is my cousin or something.
Anyway, my grandfather didn’t look too happy during the celebration, felt a little sad for him. The night before, he suddenly lashed out at us a little in Fuchow dialect so I didn’t know what the heck was going on. Afterward my mom told me that he had said, “I don’t have a birthday, what are all of you talking about?!” I guess turning older isn’t much cause for a celebration.
Breakfast at a cafe the next day. The cafe had a self-collection system, so they had this cute little device which would start lighting up and vibrating when your food is done, so you don’t have to keep going downstairs to check whether your order’s ready.
1. Lunch at a Chinese restaurant across the street.
2. Tips on how to order, so cute.
3. Freaking good tofu skin with wine(?) vegetables (jiu cai).
4. Pork in buns.
That’s about it, I didn’t really take a lot of photos. There is a shop though, a block down from my uncle’s place, that sells THE BEST CUSTARD BISCUITS EVER. I don’t really know how to translate the name into English but it has a cooked flour coating with plenty of hot custard inside, it’s so delicious. Argh the food there is just too good, I can’t take it! If food was like that in SG, I’d be a foodie.
Recently I’ve been thinking about SG, on whether I really want to stay here for the rest of my life or not, the trip got me thinking. I don’t want to, the thought of it makes my life seem so small. But I know I’m not ready to leave yet, everyone seems bent on going overseas to do their university education. It seems so easy for everyone to be so willing to start a new life in an entirely new environment right now at this point in their lives and leave their friends and family behind, but I just can’t, there’s still a lot here that I don’t feel ready to leave just yet. In the future, I don’t know when, I think I’ll leave. Taiwan seems like a pretty good option, I really love it there, but I guess the Mandarin-speaking environment will be an obstacle. Maybe if there was an English version of Taiwan, I’d go there instead. Man the trip was good, I wish I stayed there a little longer.
4 Responses to “Some Photos from Taiwan”
Hihihi, yeah it’s really nice, like a much much better version of China! Hahaha yeah ‘cos the food always looks damn good right, saw your photos on FB, NY looks very fun!!
Hehehe. You see, I told you you never know you might just end up in Taiwan in future! DAMN. I need to go to Taiwan soon. Need good food.
ANYWAY HAPPY NEW YEAR. I’m going out for reunion dinner now.
Taiwan food FTW! Haha yeah who knows what might happen, HK is pretty fun to live in too right? Happy CNY too, though for us kids, visiting is always very boring haha.
HIIIIIIIIII
Taiwan seems nice, never got the chance to visit before. BTW when I travel I end up posting pictures of food a lot too!!