Day 13: Taiwan + Reunion

First things first … I changed all the titles to the Hong Kong post. Just fyi if you were wondering or whatever.

We got to the airport super early. 5:30 AM early. EMPTY. It looks exactly like the Chinese Soaps I  watch when they go to the airport and whatnot. LOVE when that happens.

We sat around for a long while, then went into the departure tunnels where we ate breakfast at Everybody Lok. Congee noodles and whatnot.

Then we sat around some more. Gorgeous … no? I love those dang clouds. I don’t see much in Texas and when I do, it mostly means it might rain.

Then we got on the plane and flew. So pretty! And the clouds look like fluffy pillows.

Apparently we get food on this flight … beef with rice and cabbage, tong sui, water, and tea! LOVE my tea!

I left most of the rice though because I was still a bit full from the breakfast. I tried to tong sui as well and it’s not as great as I’d have hoped.

Hello, Taiwan!

Got off the plane and had a reunion with my oldest guy cousin, Wilson! I haven’t seen him in almost 20 years. We rode on a bus for a long while. Then walked to the subway and rode that. That’ll be my EasyCard. Similar to my Octopus Card in Hong Kong. For rides and to use as a debit card depending on how much you put in.

Pretty view while riding the subway. They are filled with greenery here!

We went into a Shopping Center where his wife later came. They call her Mei Mei so I will to for identification sake.

After a super long wait. We had 3 bamboo steamers that were filled with dumplings with soup. I love this stuff! It’s like crack! I also had a few spoons of hot and sour soup. SO good. So spicy!

Afterward, we rode a taxi to a museum. Yep. We were there for a good 4-5 + hours. What were we looking at you ask?

A lot of stuff from the past. Like what they wore, what they owned, how they made stuff. You would think it would be short but they had a three story building plus another one story building. Ridiculous. But some what interesting to see … I do a quick glance over and whatnot though.

Then we rode another taxi to eat. YUM! I was starving by then. We had Japanese BBQ/hotpot

This might look like a lot of food … but it was actually more than this. I just stopped taking pictures of the same stuff we ordered.

I tried my first every ox tongue. Yes. You read that right. I was hesitant but I’ll try anything once and surprisingly it was delicious! It does have a weird stanky smell but the texture was very … I don’t even know how to describe it. It has a weird bite to it.

And the intestine and fatty beef was the best I’ve ever had.

Mmmm … so far, Taiwan, you’ve treated me well.

After dinner, we walked to Wilson’s new hotel. He’s the Chinese Sous Chef there. SO cool! and I took a picture of the nightlife in Taiwan.

Oh and some dogs. They are not leashed here. A lot of dogs here are abandoned and walk around freely. While there’s some that are taken care of really well. The ones at the shops just sits there and lets people touch them and they don’t run away. If they jump off for people to touch, and the person then leaves, they go back to their spot. SO WELL TRAINED!! SO cute!

We then went on the subway and rode to his new house. He bought his own flat!! And remodeled it. It’s so spacious and very new and bright inside. I loved it! No pictures though. His place so I don’t feel comfortable doing so.

After snapping some group pictures for my family back in the States to see, Mum and I headed to the hotel.

We rode our taxi and when we got nearby, the taxi driver said he couldn’t find it. After circling around for what seemed like minutes on end, he finally drops us off at our hotel.

To where my mum and I lug our stuff up the 10th floor where the concierge tells us he doesn’t have our reservations.

To where he calls his headquarters and tells us where we were was the wrong hotel. That they had three in that area.

To where we were told our travel agent wrote down the wrong one.

To where we walked for a good few minutes to the next one. Luckily the concierge took us there or else mum and I would be walking for a good hour or so looking for it.

To where that concierge said the internet isn’t that great so it might suck.

Internet has become my life. I know I need to unplug but uh … I need my internet. So I was a little angry.

So many bad things toward the end made me feel people here are playing a joke on us.

Taiwan was on my BLEUGH list.

But that all changed …