Jhong Li at Night

Testing out the new camera.  This is one of the main drags of Jhong Li with many places to eat and shop!  My picture with my old camera didn't do a very good job of capturing it so I thought I'd post another picture.

We stopped to pick up some bubble tea at one of the shops just across the road from this picture.  I had this Taiwanese Style Milk Tea with QQ, which I think meant it had 2 kinds of pearls (coconut jelly and regular pearls).  The pearls here are the best I think I've ever had (and I don't usually like them all that much).  At this place the pearls were not too large, and they were really soft and fresh.  Yum!  Most of the teas at the place were $1 unless you wanted a deluxe one (fancy fresh fruit stuff, which was $2).

Sushi Express Again

So I found out the place we go for sushi in Jhong Li is actually called "Sushi Express."  We went there again for the second time.  I tried to continue the tradition of having mostly dishes I've never had before.  Take a look!

don't miss your great opartunity!

lol.  There's this soap opera on daily from 20:00-22:00.  I'm not sure what it's called but we call it "Ciaociao" because one of the main characters is named that.  Anyways I just turned to see what was going on and one of the main characters was wearing a shirt that had this written on the front in big font: "don't miss your great opartunity!"  Love the engrish.

Cross Walk Animation

I've been wanting to capture this since I've been here :)  You have to check out the video on this link (the image above is just for show)
http://picasaweb.google.com/justinliebregts/Taiwan2010#5496681415230549794

Exploring the neighborhood

Ali took the backroads home from TaoYuan last weekend and he pointed out some nice back roads for biking so I thought I'd go check them out after my haircut on the way home.  Here's some of the pictures I took.

Long Overdue Haircut :)

As promised!  Hair is cut :D  At the local "Walmart" there's this little white haircut booth (CQ2 in the picture below).  You put $3 into a little machine and it spits out a ticket and you get a number.  When your number is called you go into the booth to get your hair cut.  simple!  I brought my ipod touch with me with a picture of me with short hair and showed it to the lady so that she knew what I wanted.  The best part of the haircut is at the end when they have these vacuum tubes (with a brush on the end, just like you would use to vacuum your molding in your house) and they just use it all over your head to suck up the loose hair.  It works surprisingly well although looking ridiculous :P

Lunch in Jhong Li

We needed to go and pay our Electricity/Internet bill today so we headed to Jhong Li.  Since it was lunch time we stopped in at our favorite yaki soba place (it's the place on the very right of the image with the white writing inside the blue squares against a red background)

Here it is in it's $1 glory!  I think this is probably my favorite dish I've had since coming here.  Both times I tried the regular flavour, but they have a spicy garlic I'm going to be trying next time :)

BBQ Eel Diner

Johan took me to this really small local restaurant about a 10 min bike away from the house.  There was a big menu on the wall and I saw they had BBQ eel and I haven't had it in a long time so I ordered it up :)  It was tasty!  And it also came with a bunch of other veggies and other stuff.  There was also some tempting milk tea that I went for to wash it all down.

Huge Lychee!

Hey mom this is for you again.  We were eating some of the lychee we bought the other day.  These things are huge!

Taro Milk Green Tea

In the main train station, Johan and Nikki took me to this bubble tea place called TenRen's Tea.  It's supposed to be one of the best in Taiwan.  I ordered a Taro Milk Green Tea.  It was delicous!  I wanted to document it because I know my mom already wants to go here ;)

Johan and Nikki taught me how to order the Taro Milk Green Tea in Mandarin but when I went up to actually order, I got stage fright and couldn't remember the words. lol :S

This isn't the same menu as what there was at the place we went to (I grabbed this from the net), but it's a sample of what they have:

Day Trip in Taipei

The main reason we went to Taipei was for my camera (and Johan wanted to go to the gym).  I thought I'd share some photos about the day trip :)

HSR pulling into the station.

Viet spring rolls for lunch

This is a package of nanoblocks that I found at this neat little shop at the train staiton.  It's super small lego.  I liked this one because of the trail that the deer left behind ;)  They had many other animals and buildings to choose from too.  There was even a 3200 piece temple.  :O

New Camera!

I bought a new camera!  This is the one.  I did a lot of research and it looks like it's the best deal for a great camera.  Nikki took me to this large Technology Super Mall.  It was basically a large 6 story building that was chock-a-block full of small little high-tech outlets.

Nikki and I went to about 4 different ones and finally found one that had a great deal (and a great sales girl).  She ended up giving me the camera + 2 batteries + 8GB SD card + large carrying case + small carrying case (because I asked if they had a smaller one she just threw it into the deal for free.  Turns out that was a case that she had sold to someone but they forgot to take it. lucky me!) + some miscellaneous stuff like lens cleaner, mini-tripod, usb key reader, wrist strap.  The price ended up being $400, which is around what you'd pay for the camera in canada, except that I got all the free stuff.  It was a little pricier than I was hoping, but I've been wanting a better camera for a long time and I thought I'd splurge in order to provide my faithful blog followers with better photographs ;)  So it's your guys' fault! :P

Fancy Instant Noodles

Johan recommended this instant noodle brand at the store.  It's a mildly spicy beef flavour.  The red packet actually comes with some beef inside!  It's pretty good but I think I still prefer the simplicity of Ichiban or the Nissin noodle-in-a-box-boy brand :D  You'll have to excuse the blurriness of the photos.  I may be going up to Taipei today to purchase a camera.  Hopefully they have what I'm looking for at the price I'm looking for :)

Night Stroll

Johan and I took a few minutes outside for a break.  This is what the front of his place looks like at night.

Wax Apples

Wow!  Those weird looking red things are delicious.  When I was at the grocery store last night with Ali and Nikki I was wandering around the produce aisles (we were looking for lychee), and I saw these things and asked what they're called.  Nikki told me they're called "Wax Apples" (or Syzygium samarangense for short) and she bought a bag of them. I've just been on the computer the whole day but she cut some up for Johan and I.  So good!  I'm trying to figure out how to explain it.  It tastes like an apple but with some pear flavour highlights when you first bite into it, but the texture is not as dense as a regular apple or pear.  It's sort of in between the density of a watermelon and an apple.  It's like a very juicy apple with watermelon density while still maintaining an apples crunchiness with a hint of pear flavour, and it's not messy like a watermelon.  I wish we had these in Canada.  I'll have to check the T&T when I get back :)

Taiwanese street food

Ali and Nikki took me to some small food stands for some "authentic" Taiwanese street cuisine.  Probably a majority of you will not enjoy this type of food :P  There were chicken hearts, chicken "asses", squid, fish balls, chicken pie, and chicken feet to name a few things.  The chicken pie and fish balls were probably my favorite things :D

Taiwanese Baseball

Once I arrived home Ali plopped me on his scooter and we raced off to the baseball stadium.  It was only a 5 minute scooter ride away.  The stadium looked brand new and Ali told me it was less than 6 months old.  The game was between the Bears (green) and the Lions (orange).  The game was fun to watch and I had a great time (though I could have stood for it being about an hour shorter than the nearly 4 hours).  Ali likened Taiwanese baseball more to a Carnival or Circus than a Western style baseball game.  There was tons of cheering nearly non-stop throughout the whole game.  Each side had a cheering "leader" who was on a microphone calling out chants and even making sounds with his voice (like a kazoo) or humming tunes out.  It was quite hilarious to listen to and I have a video posted on my web album.  There was even a guy during half time who proposed to his girlfriend!

Oh yes and I can't forget this big bug we saw sitting on the steps next to us.  It must have been 2" long by 1" wide.  Weird looking thing.  Some guy nudged it so it would get off the stairs, and then it started buzzing and flying around like crazy.  lol.  it freaked Ali and I out until it flew off.

"Every time you go away"

After the temple I wanted to have my hair cut so I biked to Metro Walk.  Once I arrived I went into the CarreFour (like Superstore) where they have this little clear booth that you put in 100NT coints (~$3), and then it spits out a ticket and you go cut your hair in the booth.  It was pretty busy so I decided to walk around the mall to kill some time.  There was a live 3 piece band playing some music so I went to check them out (keyboard, guitar, sax).  While I was listening Ali called me and reminded me we had a baseball game to go to, so I started to leave.  As I was leaving the band started playing "Every time you go away" by Paul Young, and it really started reminding me of Eliza.  I had one of those really cool transcendant moments listening to the band and standing in the crowded mall food court.  It gave me shivers and while I really missed everyone back home, I was in great spirits.

Local Shrine/Temple

There's a large looking temple close to our house that I've seen while biking past to the mall so I decided to check it out.  Pictures will describe this much better than words so I'll leave it to the pictures to do the talking :)  It was unfortunately closed, though I was still able to see inside because it's sort of "open air" concept.  There are many more pics on my Picasa Web Album if you're interested in seeing more.

Day out in Taoyuan

Ali was super nice and drove me to Taoyuan city for the afternoon (15 min away from our house).  We went to the Ikea to look for something to hang my clothes on and we found this $15 clothes rack thing.  Ikea was almost identical to the ones in Vancouver.  No surprise there though :)  I needed some coat hangers to go with the rack so we went around the block to A-Mart.  It's pretty much Asian K-Mart.  We found some inexpensive coat hangers and picked up some water, rice, and chilli bamboo shoots to go with the rice.  It was lunch time so Ali suggested we eat at the food court there.  Lots of restaurants to choose from and Ali wanted Ramen from this Japanese place called Sugakiyu.  We had the Ramen with the special pig bone broth.  It also came with an egg inside and some bamboo shoots.  On the side it had a plate of gyozas and an iced tea.  Great value for $3.50.  Thanks Ali!

Taipei and Jhong Li BBQ!

I was too tired when I got back last night to blog about the day so I'm going to catch up on yesterday's doings right now :)

Johan and I headed up to Taipei on the HSR in the afternoon.  It was my first time on the HSR and I was really impressed with how smooth the ride is.  It almost feels like you're flying because the accel/decel is so smooth and there's no feeling of train tracks underneath (I think it's using magnets or something).  The trip up to Taipei Main Train Station took about 20-25 minutes with only 1 stop in Banciao.  The ride is about $5 one way.

Once in Taipei Johan suggested I buy a metro card (called an EasyCard).  This card basically allows you to load it up with money so that you can use the whole subway system without having to go to the machine and purchase a ticket.  You simply swipe your wallet on this little pad and it registers your card and opens up the little gate for you to pass through.

Before I start throwing train terms around I should explain the train systems here.

HSR (High Speed Rail) - this is the bullet train that runs north to south along Taipei.  It only has a dozen or so stops and is fairly new ($5 per trip from Taoyuan to Taipei)

TRA (Taiwan Rail System) - this train system runs on different rails than the HRS.  It has many more stops and has a fairly extensive network of lines running all over Taiwan (~$2 from Taoyuan to Taipei)

MRT (Taiwan Metro) - this is the subway system underneath Taipei City.  Like the skytrain it has frequent stops and multiple lines (less than a $1 per trip.  this system is not like how the skytrain you have 2 hours of use.  Once you go into the MRT system and then exit, your money is taken and if you go back in you have to pay again).

Ok! Now that that's finished with we can get back t what I did during the day.  After purchasing the EasyCard Johan and I took the MRT to the Taipei City Hall district.  This is where Taipei 101 is located and a whole bunch of large malls and entertainment complexes.  We only came here to pre-purchase some movie tickets for Johan's date happening the next day, so we didn't spend too much time lingering.

After purchasing the tickets we headed back to the MRT and took the train down to Guting, which is where Johan's fitness club is.  Johan went in for about 40 minutes and that gave me plenty of time to explore the area.  Guting is a suburb of Taipei.  All I can say is I completely loved walking around the streets randomly exploring and coming upon new and interesting sites every turn of the corner.  I haven't had any time to myself since my arrival and I was in my exploratory element.

Near the start of my exploration I found this small park in the middle of the city, which had playground equipment for both children and adults.  The children were playing on the slides and monkeybars, and the adults were using the fitness equipment such an eliptical running thing, this arm... exercise thing, and this leg swinging.. thing.  I've never seen anything like them in the Western world so I really have no idea what they're called.

On the far side of the little park area was a shrine/temple and I wnt inside to see what it was all about.  I didn't have any coins on me, and I didn't really know what I was doing in there so I just observed the neat little ornaments and soaked up the lovely aroma of the burning incense and then left after a few minutes.  I was parched so I stopped into a Family Mart for a big jug of some sort of iced tea.  It wasn't sweet at all and really quenched my thirst!

I continued to walk randomly towards buildings and alleys that I thought looked interesting.  There is a neat mix of new buildings, old buildings, and super old traditional style buildings.  There was also suprisingly a lot of trees integrated into the city, which was really nice to see.  After wandering for 20 minutes I slowly made my way back to the fitness club.  After my whole adventure was done I'd made a big loop of the area.  Woah!  Okay this is pretty cool.  I was just able to plot out my walking route on google maps.  If you want to see it, check it out here:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=%E5%92%8C%E5%B9%B3%E8%A5%BF%E8%B7%AF%E4%B8%80%E6%AE%B5&daddr=%E5%92%8C%E5%B9%B3%E8%A5%BF%E8%B7%AF%E4%B8%80%E6%AE%B5+to:%E5%8D%97%E6%98%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%8C%E6%AE%B59%E5%B7%B7+to:25.028951,121.52095+to:%E7%BE%85%E6%96%AF%E7%A6%8F%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%8C%E6%AE%B5%2F%E5%8F%B09%E7%B7%9A+to:%E7%BE%85%E6%96%AF%E7%A6%8F%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%8C%E6%AE%B5%2F%E5%8F%B09%E7%B7%9A&hl=en&geocode=FSfhfQEdakY-Bw%3BFQ3gfQEdSD0-Bw%3BFdjnfQEdoj4-Bw%3B%3BFSzlfQEdO0Y-Bw%3BFZzifQEd_Ec-Bw&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=3&sz=18&via=1,2,3,4&dirflg=w&sll=25.02865,121.520103&sspn=0.003714,0.006968&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=25.02685,121.521751&panoid=LGCkCbcszY6IFtSUp59RWA&cbp=11,163.64,,0,3.61&ll=25.026851,121.521749&spn=0.001677,0.006968&z=18

The red building that you see when you load up the link is the gym.

ANYWAYS, after the gym we headed back to ChingPu on the HSR and Ali and Nikki picked us up and we headed to Jhong Li for diner.  Johan wanted to get his hair cut so he got his haircut before we had diner.  Wow what a long hair cut.  It was 1hour and 45 minutes long.  While we waited Ali and Nikki and I conversed about random stuff and they were thinking of cool places I could take my parents/eliza when they come to visit :)

After the haircut we went to this great all you can eat/drink BBQ place (~$11).  The food was excellent and I'm definitely taking my parents or eliza here when they visit (unless I find somewhere better).  For desert, the place cooks up moochi on the bbq and as it heats up, it inflates into these little pillows, which are then dipped in condensed milk and peanut crumbs.  yum!

After diner we traveled back home.  What a great (but long) day! :D