Spring Break in Taiwan: Day 9

Mercifully, today was a lazy morning, and the entire day was a good change of pace. The last couple of days (and week really) has been a crunch of language, culture, places, people, and traveling, all within a very short time window. It’s been amazing, but it was good to get a day off.

After slowly and begrudgingly getting up, we made our way to brunch/lunch. I say brunch/lunch because the meal started at brunch time and lasted well past lunchtime. Again, long meals and good conversations. After eating, our host buddies decided to take us canoeing in the city. It was exactly what it sounds like—a small pond in a small park in the big city. It was beautiful, much cooler on the water, and no one fell in despite several paddle fights (stealing and splashing).

Some of the Taiwanese buddies and Americans broke off for lunch or homework and the remaining group went to a very high end KTV. KTV in Taiwan is ultra karaoke, with a frankly dizzyingly selection of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and English songs. We had our own private room, ordered orange juice, and sang English songs picked by our buddies (a lot of Maroon 5) for over two hours. We then (at my suggestion and everyone’s approval) went to a Taiwanese stationery store. These are my favorite—they are where practical school supplies meet art and DIY, and then everything that comes in between (plus stuffed animals and books). We spent a hectic hour before closing time dashing around the store choosing pens, notebooks, and a probably unusable amount of stickers. As it was around after 10pm, for dinner we ended up having an awesome adventure tracking down a local 7, choosing the right balance of food (for me, rice balls, bread, drinks, and gummy worms), and walking to a local park to eat.

I haven’t really had the chance to think about the fact that the trip is almost over. I don’t really want to either, so I’ll say ‘goodnight and good morning’ and leave it there.

Spring Break in Taiwan: Day 8

Yesterday the Park Bruin Pack went on a whirlwind tour of the area around Taiwan’s famous Sun Moon Lake, a gorgeous, jewel colored, man made lake in the Nano area in central Taiwan. We stopped at a mix of small shopping districts (each looking like they were carved out of a major city and moved overnight) and century old Taoist and Buddhist temples.

The first stop was one such small shopping district, where I ate Taiwan famous number 18 black tea ice cream and a strawberry mochi-esk doughnut. I had to force myself not to buy more tea, and instead tortured myself by browsing a local pottery store (again, the itch to get back in the studio came back so strong, but this time it was more like a perpetual creative hunger). We then briefly visited the Sun Moon Lake visitor center, which I had also visited last summer with NSLI-Y. I was particularly excited because I had promised myself that I’d get the chance to buy the matcha ice cream, but as luck would have it, our stop only included time for about 2 pictures and a bathroom break. So unfortunately I’ll have to return to Taiwan specifically for this place’s matcha ice cream. Sorry.

We then visited a small Buddhist temple that I had also been to last summer. Again, our stops were quick, but the views are gorgeous and I had some wonderful introspective moments about creating new memories with different friends. Again, I’ll have to come back to Taiwan to really understand how those things stuck in my memory. We then went to the shopping town/district where the NSLI-Y cohort last summer spent our night. It was interesting to come back in the day to explore where I had really only been at night as almost every shop on Main Street was different. But again, it’s so wonderful mixing old happy memories with new happy moments. Next was another NSLI-Y visit, to one of the most large and gorgeous temples I have ever seen. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but I also bought a lovely pair of earrings.

And just like that, we were homeward bound. Each stop we took couldn’t have been more than 40 minutes, and I am so lucky that I had the opportunity to explore these places in more detail previously, because really I was having memory lane trips instead of trying to cram as much history and culture into my head as possible.

After the two hour drive back to Taichung, the excitement didn’t stop. Instead the entire group and our host buddies went to hotpot together. The food was excellent (and seemingly endless) and afterwards we hung out at one of the tables. The afterwards was brief because the meal itself took just under three hours, which was honestly perfect. Meals eaten out here are usually very, very long, but in my opinion there’s nothing better than food and long conversations, so mixing the two is divine.

Catch up writing is no fun, but these last few days of the trip have been amazing, and really have cemented the need for me to return to Taiwan. Goodnight and good morning.

Spring Break in Taiwan: Day 7

Our second day in Taipei dawned bright and early; and before I knew what was happening, I was in our hotel’s restaurant eating the garbled assortment of corn flakes, white rice, and toast. After scrambling to finish breakfast, we made our way down to the lobby and out to the bus, where we drove to the National Palace Museum. I visited this museum during our NSLI-Y trip to Taipei and had wished for more time to explore. Despite my wishes being granted today, I still wish I had more time to fully delve into this place.

First, it’s massive; and second, it’s incredibly difficult not to get caught up in the detail and sheer craftsmanship of every piece. This museum houses the treasures of the imperial Chinese families, passed down throughout literally centuries. When the Kuomintang fled China, they selected the most precious and most historically significant artifacts and hid them deep inside the mountains of Taiwan. Later they built this museum to share some of the artifacts with the public. Due to the sheer massive amounts of artifacts accumulated, only 1% at a given time are shown (of about 700,000 pieces). Like I said, it’s an amazing place, and the coolest part was that about half the museum was totally different then when I was there last. The newest exhibit was displaying the emperor’s personal porcelain workers experimentation with different methods of glazing–mixing domestic and foreign materials, underglazes, overglazes, different firing temperatures–to create unique looks for the imperial court. Again, seeing pottery gave me an itch to get back in the studio, even if my references are (just a little) unattainable, being century old crafted-to-perfection pottery. Unfortunately the famous jade cabbage is still on loan to a touring show, which is disappointing. Guess I’ll just have to come back again (oh no!).

Next up was Xi Men district, a section of street side shops cutting through downtown Taipei. This place was amazing, yet an odd mix of incredibly fancy high brand name international stores and mom and pop shops. Everything kind of stood in contrast with one another. But the food was good and there were still some affordable (yay!) shops on the strip. This is also where, surprisingly, Simone and I learned we would be changing host families. One of the host family’s kids has the flu, and rather than send us back and risk exposure, we switched out: I’m staying with Trixie and Simone with Nia. I was sad to end my time with our host family so quietly, packing up our things and saying a quick goodbye. Our wonderful host mom gave us snacks for the road and wished us well. I’ll definitely miss this family, they were so welcoming, excited, and utterly generous. After grabbing my things I went straight to my new host family’s house for dinner and an early night. This new family is also really, really lovely, and were super excited to hear that I’d studied in Kaohsiung. We ate meatloaf with cheese for dinner, and snacked on wax apples and matcha ice cream while playing rummy cube (which I was so, so excited to see and play, as my family regularly plays this after dinner. Felt just like home).

Tomorrow we are off for more adventures as we visit Sun Moon Lake. But right now I am too tired to think about any of it. Goodnight and good morning.