It is the first day of the Chinese New Year--the year of the Snake! Emily and I spent yesterday doing laundry, cooking, and getting settled into our apartment (and napping off some jet lag), since our student guides were home celebrating the eve of the new year with their families. We watched city-wide fireworks from our windows, including some enormous ones going off near the Taipei 101 tower. We were told it is Chinese tradition to wear red on the first day (we all missed the memo), and for adults to give the children in their families red envelopes filled with money (and for adult children to give their elderly relatives the same). Alice gave us all our very own red envelopes! She told us to place them under our pillows (I'm not sure why, though).
Don't worry, NT$ 100 (New Taiwan Dollar) = $3.40 US, Alice didn't waste too much on us!
L-R: Sweta, Christine, Nellie, Emily in front of the Longshan Temple gate
We went to the famous Longshan Temple in downtown Taipei where most of the city seemed to be! The place was flooded with people, the smell of burning incense, tons of flowers and food offered in prayer, and many monks praying and chanting. We walked the colorful and intricately carved temple, filled with several shrines for a variety of gods.
The beautiful flowers for sale to leave as offerings in the temple
Outside of the temple, this guy was selling live birds. Christine said they were for pets.
We grabbed a snack from one of the many vendors outside of the temple--this guy was selling rice wraps filled with peanut brittle shavings (that he made with a wood planer!) and three kinds of (soy?) ice cream. It tasted like a snickers ice cream bar wrapped in a tortilla. NT$20/US$0.67
This woman was selling noodles--I just couldn't get over how big the vat was!
We then walked down this beautiful alley...
To this other beautiful old alley, where (according to Christine and Vanessa) the government was kicking out the residents to build something new. It happens a lot, they said. :(
Here is the infamous Snake Alley night market (the only "concerning" area on the ISOS website for travelers--pick pockets are a problem, they say). It was not so scary during the day.
Some actual snakes in Snake Alley
Soon to be food--eels and soft-shelled turtles for making soup in Snake Alley
We walked to another market--this is where we ate lunch
All of this for US$10! (spare ribs, pork knuckle, radish soup--for luck in the new year--bamboo silk, chicken rice, pork ball soup, burn greens, fried tofu, pork rice)--all of it was delicious!
The perch soup display to entice the customers
Jim found a snack he likes--it's black shelled tuber that tastes like a nut/potato, and looks like the long horn!
We went to the Chaing Kai Shek Memorial next. It was HUGE and so peaceful after the hustle and bustle of the markets and temple---I think I might be getting motion sickness from the visual movement of the crowds. Or maybe it's just the jet lag. I hope it's that.
The view from the base of the Memorial--the arch and the concert halls on either side
Christine and Vanessa, our guides for the day!
I just can't get over the amazing view from campus! On the left are the mountains, the large tower is the Taipei 101 tower, and then all of that is Taipei!
We then went to dinner at the German restaurant on campus, where Christine works. It's not so very German, as they only seem to have pretzels, snitzel, and sauerkraut, as well as pizza, and Chinese dumplings. The beer is alright, but it's nothing fancier than Grainbelt. :) It's got a great view, though, and the atmosphere is nice!
View at night.
Now, I'm in bed, post shower, enjoying my favorite roasted seaweed snack!
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