After two days of classes we headed back out again, this time to the National Forest in the NW corner of the island, it's about 45 minutes outside Taipei -- a beautiful drive away which reminds me of the cascade mountains in Wash. and i mean it
really reminds me of washington when we pass a Starbucks nestled into the hillside national forest. I mean is nothing sacred anymore?
We walked the trails for about an hour and a half -- this area is a beautiful oasis right outside of the city that is used by all, especially the elderly. It's the perfect little getaway.
The rain has stopped so I wore my sleeveless shirt and a memo must have gone out the island. so much white skin to see now! women were coming up to me along the trail holding out their arms, wanting to compare. they really like the white skin! i swear, michael jackson would love it here.
on one of the paths we enjoyed a purple sweet potato -- just creamy purple goodness and a spoon. sometimes the best foods are the simple ones!
after that we headed over to this little fishing village. a local gave dr. sy a juice with some type of fermented seed in it, and nicky got one too. poom and i had the fresh passionfruit juice instead. the food vendors sold nicky and ann some snails, which they devoured. i ended up having
one... the trip has sort of turned into a "let's gross christine out" contest, but i try and play along and at least sample one of everything. sometimes it takes me awhile to work up to things -- like it took me 3 days to finally try the fish w/ head still attached. so i thought i would at least try one snail. they come in a plastic baggie with a big toothpick. you sort of stab one out of the bag, then pry the meaty part out of its shell home. there's a layer of yellow jelly along the bottom that you peel off and discard (although nicky eats it), and then you chew it up! dr. stolentberg choked on his, but i am glad to say mine went down ok ... followed by a chaser of passionfruit juice. as for the taste, it's nothing like chicken ... more like a clam's older, more muscular/firm brother.
i ended up buying some peanuts, which aren't salted but still taste good. they are smaller than those in US and have a white rather than red skin to peel off.
so we headed up the coastline to the fisherman's wharf area where there are pedestrian bridges and boardwalks. the foodstuffs strikingly similar to ours with fried fish, french fries, popcorn shrimp, corn dogs, ice cream, coffee, etc. i really want some fries but don't want to "sell out" ..... but there's nothing that really looks taiwanese here. the rest of the group takes a little boat to another part of the shore where they'll get some local food stuffs, but i can't stomach a boat ride on these choppy waters after spending all day winding around in a bus. the weather is overcast, but there's no rain. there is strong wind and humidity ... sort of like someone is simultaneously pointing their hairdryer and humidifyer on you on "medium."
i decide on the chicken nuggets and the woman behind the counter asks johnny if we have this type of food in america. johnny diplomatically replies that it's "not
exactly the same" and the woman seems pleased. for dessert i find these chips at 7-11 that are shaped like doughnuts! even the outside package features every kind of donut known to man. it kinda tastes like i'm eating cold cereal, but i don't mind.
