Day 1: 士林夜市

To close out the first day, uncontained consumption commenced at the Shilin Night Market...

Stinky tofu! duck blood!! and another tofu!!!


Green onions wrapped in pork!!! and chicken on a stick!


Who needs goldfish when you can have a pet prawn?!


CHEESY POTATOES!


Fighting crowds...


We did not get drinks here, but now I wish we did.


My cousins razzed me since I was too full to split a whole fried chicken. I just want to note that items consumed (but not shown) include 凉面, sweet and savor 饼's wrapped in 饼's, and some 包子... but I'll work on capacity capabilities before my next trip.

Day 1: 九份

Apologies to those who have been waiting for these shots!!!

Due to timing of a business trip, I was able to visit Taiwan for the first time since Middle School. I forgot how much I enjoyed Taiwan. Despite the debilitating heat and humidity, it was the best trip of the year so far.

A HUGE THANKS goes out to my relatives!!! I got in on a Tuesday afternoon, and we hit the ground running on Wednesday morning. First order of business, Jiufen.

8AM wake-up calls and 油條


Jiufen is an old mining town in the mountains near Taipei. These days, it's filled with markets and tea shops:
















Further down the mountain is the town of 金瓜石 (Jinguashi). This mining area lost most of its population when operations stopped in the 1980s.


The remains of Shuinandong Smelter, a 13-story copper refinery and its chimneys:


陰陽海 (Yinyang Sea):


Afterwards, we went to the National Palace Museum and a night market. This is how I felt at the end of the day:

WD940

What's that rolling down the runway?!


Why it's PT-MUE!!!






PEACE OUT!!!


For those airplane nerds, click here for delivery flight stats!

Nomadic Hospitality

We spent an evening with the Goo-Goo's, a nomadic family. Upon welcoming us into their Ger, we were served milk tea, yogurt, and fried dough.




After the snack, it was time for to milk the cows.


The Goo-Goo's raise cows and sell dairy products.


They also train horses for the annual Naadam festival.


Later on, the rest of the family returned to the camp.




...and the horses were taken for laps around the field.