Food, Parties and Singing. Last post from Taiwan.

I ended up back in Taipei, after a short train trip. I had a few things that I had missed last time I was here and I wanted to see. Also the friends I had made had a few parties lined up and I was keen to join them.

The first day back in Taipei, I revisited Longshan temple. I had previously seen the temple but didn’t spend much time in the surrounding area. I had since heard a rumor that you could eat snake and there was strange night markets there. So I had to see…

I found the snake shop but it was far to early, and it was extremely expensive. I walked past it 3 times then thought I would get a massage… I had pulled my shoulder out when I left Tainan earlier that day.  I found a place and asked for a shoulder only, I left 30 min later more sore than when I went in, I had boiling hot towls and the ball of the masseuse’s elbow. I talked to people at the hostel later that evening and its not uncommon for you to have problems seeing or walking after one. They are very rough.  Anyways I forgot about my shoulder, so I guessed it worked (sort of).

Yummy snake... tastes like chicken.

I walked passed the snake shop another 2 times before I finally said what the hell… and ordered Snake soup, Snake Wine, Snake Venom, Snake Bile, and Snake oil tables to finish it off… 

In order: Soup,
Oil, Wine, Venom, Bile
 (all snake)

All up cost about $5 sooo expensive. The snake itself tasted like chicken no word of a lie, the shots were each different. The wine was weak and almost tasteless, the “venom” had a hint of vodka or spirit in it, and the bile was very sweat which is strange. I’m sure they mixed things into it to make it taste nicer…

Oh, I forgot to mention the snake shop also raises there own snake and featured a few nice massive pythons out the front, as well as a range of other snakes.

Following my feast (literally there was no meat on the snake so was nothing), I headed up the markets that were considered “special” as well. For good reason, the first shop sold dissected frogs, and fish on the same cart, others had crabs with what looked like eyes on the back and other items I have no clue of.  Having had my strange items to eat for the day, I got a few dumplings and called it a night.

The following day, I booked my items to Vietnam (Flights and Accommodation). It was raining very hard outside and I had no intention on getting my shoes or gear wet so close to my next jump.

Happy Birthday Ladies.

That night we had a party at the hostel, it was a surprise party for 2 of the hostel staff (Mimi and Gina), and was masked by a party organized for one of the guest that had stayed there for weeks (Eric) who was leaving that day (till he missed his flight).

Afterwards we headed off to KTV (Karaoke), normally its something that I would never normally partake in… but “when in Rome”.

It was $450 (NTD) ($14 AU) to get in and that was all you could eat and free soft drinks with 4 hours odd worth of songs. The beer was also the cheapest I have seen in Taiwan. Even cheaper than 7-11 which was hard to believe.

We sang and laughed for 4 hours and had a great time. When the machine stopped the one artist that was missing the whole night was Bon Jovi… I had it on my phone and the mic’s still worked so I played it the mic and we rocked out for another song or 2. The night was a lot of fun and I would really do it again if it came up.

How could you miss this...?

The next morning I was up early again and headed to a place in the city called “Elephant Mountain”. It really wasn’t much of a mountain its more of a hill but it has some of the best views over the city. I had all the instructions and map on my phones internet page… only problem was when it came time to use it the phone had dropped the cache and the pages were blank. So I went off my keen sense of direction and memory… and got lost. I ended up walking towards a hill, which I thought was it, and came up to Taipei City Psychiatric Centre Hospital. I’m sure it was gods way of telling me I’m NUTS!.

I was in luck though the road climbed up another 30 meters and there was a trail at the end with a large sign with a elephant on it.. I had found one of the tail entrances.

The hill really wasn’t hard and took all of 10 min to conquer but the view was amazing even on a over cast day.

That night I went with people from the hostel and friends to see the K.G.B. ok well its not the former soviet unions spy agency but a burger shop. It stands for Kiwi Gourmet Burgers. The burgers where nothing on the Bogen burgers in Melbourne but it was nice for a change of pace from Chinese food, and it was nice to be in good company.

Oh and sorry about the photos, I didn’t take my camera to the parties as I didn’t know that to expect. I am waiting for photos from others all the images provided are off phones and Facebook.

Im now preparing to leave Taipei and Taiwan. 
I head to ‘Nam tomorrow and looking forward to a change of culture again, but will miss Taiwan. 
Its been fun here, the culture is great, the sights and the people I've met here are so cool. I will miss it for sure.

Till next time, HAVE FUN or whats the point!?

Steffen.