Day 16

Today was our second day in Taiwan. We wanted to sleep in, so we tried calling Logan to let him know that we were going to be late, but he didn't answer the phone. Turns out that I put his phone number in wrong: there was not only a "country code" but a "2" for Taipei--it's complicated. He seemed to take our laziness in stride though; we were a half hour late.

We began the day with a trip to Yehliu Geopark. Kerry wanted to stop at a 7-Eleven (they are EVERYWHERE in Taiwan along the way, so we could get some grub). It was a gorgeous place: beautiful mountain formations, gorgeous skies, lots of trees. We saw this one statue called the "Cute Princess" who actually wasn't cute at all. "She needs cosmetic surgery," Kerry commented. Apparently, she is the heir apparently to the main attraction at this park, The Queen's Head. We took quite a walk to get there, but we made it. It felt like being on the beach: lots of water around, ancient fossils in the sand, and even a few benches to rest on. One woman commented (in perfect English) that she liked our hats: Kerry was wearing his Conficius hat, and I was wearing my Taiwan hat. Kerry, of course, saw an orange tabby cat, who wouldn't pay him any attention. 

Next we went to the town of Jioufen, and I was starting to lose my patience a bit by this point because we had POURING rain. First we saw a small but beautiful, colorful temple but did not go inside. I believe it was a Daoist temple. After walking a bit, Logan pointed out the "Ghost Lore" area, which is apparently very famous in Jioufen; we didn't go in there, though. At this point, we were more hungry than anything else. So we first popped into an old theater (the ShengPing), made in the 1930s, Logan said. Wooden benches, old posters. Logan said it was still in use and they showed classic films. Cool! 

But next was mealtime. I had rice noodles (which I've come to love), popcorn chicken, fries, and an ice milk tea. Yummy stuff. Logan, unlike the other guides, sat and had lunch with us. We had an interesting conversation about politics in Taiwan vs. the USA and the role that the USA should get involved in helping Taiwan. He felt that the USA should not need to interfere with Taiwan too much, but I replied that those who care to defend democracy in the US will of course want to help Taiwan. I think he saw my point. 

Then we walked up MANY, MANY STEPS to go to a shopping district, where we mostly browsed around. We did buy one little trinket with all the New Years' animals on it! That was cute. Our last stop was the "Golden Waterfall". It was massive and impressive, but we could stay outside for only a minute because the rain was coming down in torrents. Part of it we just had to see from the car---and the dirt from under really did make the water look "golden" in appearance. There was an old factory near the waterfalls, too.

After one final picture with Logan, we went to dinner: McDonald's in a mall. Two extra value meals for the equivalent of $8.25. We would have paid TWICE as much in the United States. I found it very funny that one feature of this mall was "Helen Keller" brand sunglasses being sold---how strange! Then we headed back into Ximending for more shopping, but we didn't find much of anything tonight.

We decied to go meet our friend White at a bar, so we called an Uber. The Uber found us okay, but apparently I gave him the wrong directions, because the driver was very confused about where to go. Ultimately, we figured it out, and he was very polite: he didn't charge us for the ride. Unfortunately, Kerry left his really beautiful, colorful umbrella in the car. That thing was destined to be lost--he had left it behind twice already in the last two days: once at the Taipei 101, and once at a 7-Eleven in Jioufen. 

We had fun at the bar! It was called "Er Dingmu" in pinyin: "er" means "two"; "ding" means "vessels" or Cantonese for "men"; and "mu" means "eye." "There's no English name," White told us at first. (She mentioned that the name was inspired by the LGBTQ district in Tokyo.) Kerry had two drinks, and I had one; we also ate plenty of Bugles, which I haven't had since I was a kid. We did karaoke. Kerry chose "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse and I chose "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" by Elton John. Kerry was supposed to go first, but his microphone wasn't working right, so I went first. But he got his chance. We met White's friend Voco, who wanted us to do more songs, but by that point it was time for us to go. We also got to see one guy celebrate his birthday: they sang "Happy Birthday" to him in Chinese and he had a cake delivered to his table. I thought it was cool that they let people do their karaoke numbers at their tables instead of come up to a stage. When then walked home (which took awhile) and went to bed.