Tuesday, November 2, 2010

台湾 - Taiwan

Sorry again for taking so long to get back with the post. The next day on our vacation was Saturday. We woke up early and went straight to TaiPei 101. It is the second largest building in the world. We took an elevator to the top which goes 100 m/m making it the world's fastest elevator in the world. At the top, you have a nice 360 degree view of the entire city of Taiwan. I took pictures with all of their mascots called the Damper Babies. They get their name from the damper that holds the entire building in place. We then climbed to the very top of the building up two floors to the 91st floor. The view wasn't as good because all of the metal bars in our way; however, I can safely say I have gone pee on the top of the second tallest building in the world.

After that, we went to a temple that was pretty much the same as all the others except it was packed with people. After the temple, we went to one of the biggest squares there. They had a giant gate and a Taiwanese version of the Lincoln Memorial. We watched the sunset then the moonrise, and I got a green tea latte which is one of the best things ever.

The next morning Diana, Charlie, and I went to a park to get a different view of Taipei. We only had a little bit of time before we had to leave and go to the hot springs. The hot springs were really fun. They had three different pools: the first was from 35-38C, the second from 38-41, and the third from 41-44. Apparently after you get out of every pool you transfer to one of the cold pools before moving up to the next heat. The first two were bearable. I decided to move to the top one. After getting into it, I immediately wanted to get out as soon as possible, but I was afraid that the older Chinese people might judge me and think I couldn't handle it. I stayed in for about another minute until the bottom half of me was a nice medium rare. We met an old man there who had lived in France for his entire schooling after high school and who spoke pretty good English. After he found out that I spoke Chinese we switched languages. He then told me the best way to learn Chinese is not to study every day, but the best way is to find a pretty Chinese girl. We went back to the hostel then took a bus to the airport and that was the end of our Taiwan trip.

The weather is finally cooling down here, and without a doubt, this is the happiest I have ever been for fall/winter. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ