 |
| Xpark Aquarium |
On Saturday, my Taiwanese friend's boyfriend drove us to Hsinchu, a city down the west coast an hour or so from Taipei. My Taiwanese friend is a makeup artist, aspiring dancer, and absolute hoot to hang out with. She made the trip tons of fun, even though Hsinchu is not the type of destination a foreign tourist to Taiwan would ever visit. The highlight of our trip was a lovely glassblowing museum. However, Hsinchu is certainly the type of destination to which a Taipei local would go on the weekend. We visited an outlet mall that reeked of consumerist extravagance--essentially the exact American experience that Taiwanese people gobble up. I had been plucked out of Hsinchu and dropped into Los Angeles: new buildings, American and luxury brands only, signs in English rather than Chinese. We bought expensive tickets for a modern aquarium called Xpark, featuring just as many photo-ops as educational exhibits. My other American bestie and I had to talk our Taiwanese friends out of eating TGI Friday's for dinner. Instead, we drove to a restaurant locally renowned for 麻辣臭豆腐, stinky tofu in mouth-numbing spice soup. As it was 大暑, the lunar calendar day known to be the single hottest of the year, we also had 剉冰, the uber popular Taiwanese shaved ice dessert.
 |
| Mulberry and condensed milk, the specialty flavor at this shaved ice shop |
 |
| My friend getting into it with a kid at a popular Taiwanese street market game. You pay 300 NTD for a huge bucket of rings, and you get to keep whatever prize onto which you can toss a ring. The nice bottles of alcohol are way in the back. |
  |
| Sleeping 3 hours the night before did not dampen her enthusiasm nor volume levels |
While we didn't make it to Hsinchu's indoor ski slope, I have other friends who learned how to snowboard on the single bunny hill there. Hsinchu is an area with great income disparity, home to poorer indigenous communities, as well as large electronics companies, like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
On Sunday, I went to 福隆沙灘 Fulong Beach with friends. A magnificent swim day for only an hour-long train ride from Taipei.
No comments:
Post a Comment