I have been extremely busy the last two days finishing this last part of the trip very strong so I have not had a chance to update the blog until now. I am writing this post while I have a 4 hour layover at the Incheon airport. I can’t believe how much food I have eaten in the past 48 hours – I even had trouble keeping up taking photos of the dishes and remembering what they were…
Thursday morning began with a trip to a nearby temple. It’s pretty surreal as this temple is built in an ancient style but was only built in the 1950s and it is set right in middle of the buzz of Taipei. Because Taiwan’s weather is so rainy and tropical the structure did seem to be older than it actually is.
Of course, after the temple we had ourselves a meal. Again, I am having trouble recalling what it was but hopefully some of the photos above will give you an idea of what I ate (those are uploaded in no particular order but I assure you this meal was in there somewhere).
The latter part of Thursday was spent taking care of family stuff. I met people who haven’t seen me since I was a baby and I learned a lot about my family’s history through their conversations. This was set amongst the backdrop of a lush northern Taiwanese coast. There are a lot of abandoned or run-down never-to-be resorts in the area. With the added eerieness of the stormy weather, it added a lot of drama for great photography.
Afterwards, we headed into Keelung night market. The Taiwanese night market scene is infamous and infamous for good reason. If you are a newby, it could easily overwhelm your senses. There are a multitude of vendors with a mass of tourists and locals alike sampling all the wild colorful, stinky, fragrant, ugly, beautiful, etc. foods in front of every step they take.
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Friday morning.
At last, my long awaited surf session in my motherland was happening today.
What an experience. My sister’s friend drove us an hour outside of Taipei to Yilan to surf. The water was a perfect 70 degrees, there were only a handful of other surfers out on a long stretch of beach. Mellow 2-3 foot waves rolled in as I sat and took in the scenery. Small surf-shops along the coast (unopened in the off-season) set in front of huge lush green mountains. Behind me in the water, a tiny off-coast island and flying fishes occasionally popping out of the water. Worth it.
Then, more food.
We went to this restaurant inside a Marriott called Moonlight. Holy moly, this was an amazing lunch. It was set lunch and the dishes kept coming – with stuff like truffle dumplings and other fancy takes on classic Taiwanese dishes.
After the lunch I was already approaching the brink of my eating limit but we already had to head to our dinner plans.
Our family friend took us to a restaurant that their family in law owns, QingQing. Man, to end my trip here was ending it with an exclamation point! Lobster sashimi, uni that looked like mochi, a stew with pork bones stewed so long you could chew on the bones, and on and on. By the third or fourth dish I could barely stomach another bite. Paired with Taiwan beer and some white wine, I couldn’t have thought of a better way to end the trip.
I’ll need a while to process all the experiences (and all the food) I have had on this amazing trip. Look forward to my photography and videos as well as a recap post in the future. Time to endure another 11+ hour flight.