Over the course of the trip, I realized that I am definitely a huge geek. While I enjoyed the food, shopping, and touristy kind of things, I think I got the biggest kick out of staring at Chinese signs and trying to figure out what they meant. (Some of the characters in Japanese and Chinese are similar, so sometimes I could pick out characters I knew and piece their meanings together.) The weird thing was that although I could guess my way through a lot of the signs, I couldn't speak to anyone or understand any of the conversations going on around me. I guess maybe that's what it feels like to be deaf and mute...sort of half isolated from the rest of the world....hmmm.
Ok, now for pictures:
On my first night in Taipei, Kat took me to the night market, streets full of vendors selling cheap VCDs, DVDs, clothes, and food. Mmmm....
After a day and a half in Taipei, the biggest city in Taiwan, we set off for Hualien, a smaller town with very pretty scenery. Here's us at the gate to a national parkish sort of place...
...and inside the gigantic gorge.
I'm not sure if you can tell from these pictures, but the gorge really was gigantic....
with gigantic mountains all around.
This sign wasn't exactly too reassuring...
And so being properly forewarned of the falling rocks, I proceeded to pose for a picture right next to a gigantic pile of fallen rubble. Genius.
Me lingering inside a shrine in the mountain.
After the gorge, the tour guide took us to the beach. It was still too cold to swim, but the water was very pretty.
Later that night, we took a train back to Taipei where we found an excellent English sign,
the longest department store I have ever seen,
and more excellent food.
Oh yes, I also got to see Kat's dad's condo, which has a swimming pool, karaoke rooms, and this play area. I looove these plastic balls. Maybe I'll move to Taiwan :D
