love, life, & lists: July 2015

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Taiwan: Jiufen and Keelong Mountain

Day 3 was a wonderful, but rough one for us. Jet lag was setting in. Aaron and I both woke up around 2am (after going to sleep around 930pm) and could not fall back asleep. Around 3am, we decided to get up. Around 4am, we decided it would be a good idea to make instant noodles. Good thing, because we didn't eat breakfast, and we had a late lunch that day.

Today, we drove to Jiufen with my uncle, and hiked Keelong Mountain. The hike was unplanned, so we did not have on hiking clothes, but I guess it didn't matter. Sweat is sweat!

We started out the day visiting "Old Street" in Jiufen. Jiufen a city that is up in the mountains. The"Old Street" is hilly and has a lot of staircases. It contained shops and restaurants, and is packed with people. Everywhere you look, there were people and dogs. We went on a Monday, and we heard that you should not visit on a weekend, because the foot and car traffic is just over the top. After exploring Old Street and having 2 separate meals, we set out to climb Keelong Mountain.

Does this look familiar to anyone? Hayao Miyazaki (a Japanese film maker) used the city of Jiufen as inspiration when creating Spirited Away.

Lots of steps.

Everywhere we went, Aaron got a squished penny souvenir.

Here are pictures from our hike:

Our food for the day:

I was so glad our hike was cloudy. I would have otherwise gotten an interesting tan line.

Our dinner. Noodles in Taiwan are the best.

By the end of the day, we were exhausted. After waking up at 2am on about 4 hours of sleep, not taking a nap, and doing a lot of walking--we were more than ready to rest for the evening.

Next up: Our day in Taipei!

Monday, July 20, 2015

Taiwan: A Family Day & A Haircut

On our second full day in Taiwan, we had a wonderful family day to the outskirts of Miaoli. We visited an old bridge and train track that was damaged by an earthquake in 1935. It is called the Long Sheng Bridge.

This is Aaron's "It's VERY hot" face.

"But we are on vacation, so it's all good."

We had lunch at a neat restaurant in the woods. It was a vegetarian hot pot meal with many unique dishes.

If you look closely, I really felt like I was eating succulents right here. Whatever they were, they were very cool and refreshing.

Rice field

My cousin has a polaroid camera. Those are so fun!

My uncle at lunch. Does this look familiar, Yung? ;)

We finished the day by bringing Aaron to get his hair cut. We walked into the salon, and you have to go to this automated computer screen to select what you want. The only options were haircut and hair cut/color. Then you pay and get a ticket to wait in line until they call your number. The haircut took about 7 minutes, and cost US$3. They used a vacuum to clean the hair from his neck and shoulders. It was very efficient, and of course, very affordable.