Well, I'm finally in Taiwan!
Some of the mandarin I studied is starting to kick in, proportionally to my jetlag wearing off, which is a good sign. Sean and Nicole are both being very patient with me as I ask them "what's that character? I recognize it?" or "what's the word for soup again?" (it's Tang first tone btw).
The buildings her are such an interesting jumble, I may have found yet another city that I actually LIKE! ( I have to wait a little more time to be sure). There are the busy shmancy parts of town where there everything is shiny and colorful, flashing signs everywhere. Somehow they manage to feel like they're cheering rather than yelling at you. Little rotating columns in stripes of neon color show you where the barbers are, and neon fans of color are betelnut shops (which is a kind of cool concept). Some of the big buildings have alternating lights that change depending on what day of the week it is. like I said, very colorful!
Then there are the older buildings (more like where we live, but not the really old ones) where cage windowboxes burst with plants, drying clothes, and vines try to invade from the places they've rooted in nooks of the building. There are little vendors selling streetfood all around our building, and they really start to pick up around night. Taiwanese tend to whisper at a shout, so combining the smells that sit heavy in the air - letting you catch a nose curling waft of stinky tofu minutes after theyve finished cooking, or some mouthwatering shaolunbao - with the cheerful clamor of people talking, calling out to passery it ends up feeling, how to explain it, kind of like an enormous hugs for your senses from a very large breasted woman: enveloping, sweaty, but kind of nice. Anyways, I'll work on the analogy.
A far as food goes here I am in heaven. For the kid that went around every chinese place in Davis searching for the perfect potstickers, a place that has whole stores that sell nothing but various kinds of potstickers, Taiwan is a dream. On top of that you have the perfect blend of weird things like "phoenix claw" which is fried chicken legs and things with crazy texture like the tapioca balls in brown sugar goo with tofu, another similar dish with sweet potato jellies instead of tofu. There are just so many variations and textures and tastes that just going out to eat is an adventure!
okay, I need to sleep now, and we leave for the south of Taiwan on a bullet train tomorrow, to celebrate chinese new year. I'm looking forward to seeing how going on a train that gets across taiwan in an hour feels.
more to come :)
