Taiwan Monies

Unsure as to which sides were recto and verso, I photographed them this way.

The unit is the NT, or the New Taiwan Dollar. The current exchange rate is roughly 31 or 32 NT to 1 US$.

Street(M)eats

One of the fabulous things about Taiwan is the street food vendors. They're all along various and sundry streets. It's like the county fair is going on all the time!

This particular area of streetmeats was in Lugang, a city somewhat southwest of Taichung, with multiple historic buildings.

A variety of still-in-the-shell deep-fried sea creatures.

Buns, waiting to be steamed.

I think these were some sort of insect. Either way, they are categorized according to their degree of spicy. Which includes the classifications "Little Spicy" and"Big Spicy".

Grumpy lady making a sweet pastry treat.

Eating Things with Faces

My first day in Taiwan we went to a fabulous seafood restaurant. The fish (or various parts of the fish) were all in red plastic ice-filled tubs. The larger fish were cut into chunks, which were put into individual ice-tubs. The tubs were then grouped together in kind of a fish-annex, a room semi-connected to the main part of the restaurant. Diners could stroll into the fish-annex and select whatever they wanted. It smelled a little fishy, but nothing bad.

Liang's dad picks out what's for lunch.

The dining options all had faces, so if you happen to be one of those people who can't eat things with faces, you'd be in a bit of a bind. Really though, if you have a problem eating things with faces, its probably best if you don't go to Taiwan at all.

This is only a portion of all the food that was ordered: clams, calamari, shrimp... Liang and Lena (Liang's sister) said that their dad has a bit of a problem when it comes to restaurants. He always orders way too much food!

Clearly I have no problems with faced-foods.

Welcome to Taiwan (Touch Your Heart)

Being back in Philadelphia, jet-lagging, and no longer surrounded by the tasty foods of Taiwan, the time to share pictures and whatnot has arrived.

My flight was astoundingly long - something like eight hours to Anchorage, Alaska and then ten to Taipei, Taiwan. Prior to that I had hopped a shuttle bus in Philly Chinatown to JFK outside of New York, so add another three (the shuttle had diversions, plus traffic) hours to the trip. In a happy twist of fate my cat-anxiety had kept me awake the night before leaving, so as soon as I hit the air-conditioned, mechanical hum of the airplane insides, I was asleep.

I flew China Airlines, which served the strangest Eastern/Western hybrid airplane food and showed the most awful movies imaginable. There were no individualized movies screens, so everyone was subjected to the awfulness of that Jennifer Aniston/Gerard Butler picture, the one where she has to go to jail, and he arrests her, but they're in love! (Blah.) One of the Free Willy movies. Some recent Meg Ryan flick, where she had duct taped her husband (?) to a toilet and then proceeded to scream at him and act the lunatic. At least this is what I saw when I groggily opened my eyes, peering around, hoping for some water and permission to stretch out along the aisles of the plane.

On the plus side I had the window seat and thusly got to watch nighttime New York, two massive night-time glowing cities somewhere in northeast Asia, and two sunrises: one outside Anchorage and the other someplace over the Pacific. Also - breakfast before we landed in Taipei was a Gigantic Hot Pocket.

Taiwan. Formerly known as Formosa. Thanks for the swell photo, NASA.

I moved right through Customs, where my answer to the question "where are you staying while in Taiwan?" was the extremely vague "w/ a friend." Multiple red and blue stamps later, I was crouched exhausted onto the floor next to the luggage conveyor belt, waiting for my suitcase to arrive. I didn't even have the heart to photograph the large comical sign welcoming visitors to Taiwan: four heavily made-up young men, of the boy-band variety, along with what Liang informs me is the current Taiwanese tourism slogan. Taiwan. Touch Your Heart.

Then I saw this:

Quarantine beagles! Always on duty! Nobly pictured on the sign!

It was then that I fully realized how awesome of a time it was going to be, there in Taiwan (touch your heart).

My suitcase arrived and I trundled out of the secure zone, where Liang and family were waiting! For me, but also for Liang's misdirected suitcase, which instead of arriving the morning before with Liang, arrived with me.

From there were headed south to Liang's hometown of Taichung, a city located along the western half of Taiwan, pretty much in the middle of the island.

OMG we stopped at a rest stop and it was amazing! Clean! Friendly! Full of tasty-looking streetmeat food vendors! And a fab convenience store!

Where they sold cubes of cubic pastry!

Out of Town

Right now, I'm in Taiwan! Visiting (college roommate) Liang and her family. The time difference is roughly 12 hours. Pictures and whatnot to follow upon my return to Philly.

(Don't worry about Cordie, Coworker Katie is watching over her this week.)

In Which I Use the Word "Anxious" Ten Thousand Times

Cordelia Cat is generally adjusting really well. I feel like we're at that stage of roommate-ness, where you're still figuring out each other's schedules and quirky habits.

Since her arrival in Philadelphia a little over a week ago, she has convinced me to purchase another chair (so she won't have to sit on the floor if I sit in a chair) and a lint roller. I go home from work at lunch time every day because 1) I can! and 2) to check on Cordie. I am an anxious cat owner. And she is a special needs cat, health-wise, and my awareness of her delicacy makes me more anxious. She is adapting really well, but she is stressed. She talks to me if I leave the room she is in, and she sounds anxious. She has also pulled out all the hair on one of her little knees. So she has a 0.5 cm or so bald spot on her leg. Mum feels that this is anxiety-related. I gave Cordie a gentle talking-to about it, but I'm not sure it had any effect on her.

I also a just above finished recovering from a massive summertime head cold, which hit me so hard I actually took a sick day off of work last Friday. I spent the day sleeping, then in the later afternoon ventured out for Nyquil and orange juice.

The new chair is Cordie-approved. See why I have a lint roller now?

My cat anxiety-levels are high, but under control at the moment - I am leaving for a week, and Coworker Katie and Emily of Bret&Em will drop by to keep an eye on Cordie for me. Coworker Katie visited this evening, and I think she and Cordie will get along nicely. Which is a huge relief for this anxious person!

Introducing Cordelia

A subset of my plan regarding moving and staying in Philly for another year involved adopting a cat, and I've been talking about it with the cat-owners at work and with Liang, who has adopted two cats. Ideally, this adoption would take place in mid-August.

However, things didn't really go according to plan. Meet Cordelia.

"Great, now I'm gonna be stuck with serious thoughts all day."

Cordie was one of the cats up for adoption at the Elk County Fairgrounds. She's quite the talker. She's itty-bitty too.

She's named after Cordelia Chase, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame - the one in red. She's pretty, but kind of slow on the uptake. Which is a pretty good summary of Cordie the Cat.