Taipei Days 1 & 2

Whoops, it looks like half a month has gone by without a blog entry. What can I say other than this weekend was the first one in almost a month that we have been back in Shanghai. Where have we been? Well, if you haven’t already guessed by the title of this entry we went to Taipei. For those of you whose geography is as good as mine (which isn’t very good) it is a small island just south of mainland China. We went there on 10/31/2008 through 11/05/2008. We didn’t see much other than airports and airplanes on 10/31/2008 though. Our trip started with a 2 ½ hour flight to Hong Kong with a 3 hour lay over. Due to cancellations of a couple flights to Hong Kong we were only in the Hong Kong airport for about 1 ½ hours. Then we took a 2 ½ hour flight to Taipei. Long story short we left our apartment for the airport in Shanghai at 2pm and arrived in Taipei at 11:45pm. Direct flights to Taipei from Shanghai don’t exist as of yet, but it is speculated that it would take 1 ½ hours.

Day 2 in Taipei was a little more eventful. It started with checking into the hotel and going to bed. In the morning we went to pay respects to Anne’s grandparents and then to see some of Anne’s family (there are a couple that live in Taipei). We ate at a mom and pop restaurant literally 10 feet from their home. Their signature dish was basically a pigs feet roast (kind of like a deep fried pot roast). It was amazing. After lunch we took the subway to The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. As it turns out Franklin Graham (the famous Evangelist Billy Graham’s son) was holding a large event at the Memorial Hall. The National Theater and National Concert Hall which are on both ends of the Memorial Hall were both under renovation. Our next stop was the Shilin Night Market. I am sorry to disappoint you, but we didn’t eat any deep fried bugs there. Here is a list of what we did eat though:
1 Taro bubble milk tea shake
1 Taro bubble milk tea
6 Fish balls
1 Duck blood on a stick
3 Meat buns
2 Taro calls in a blanket (like pigs in a blanket)
1 Frog eggs drink
1 skewer of quail eggs on a stick
1 Deep fried corn cob
2 Plates of stinky tofu
1 Plate of tempura
2 Oyster omelets
1 Squid soup