ramentravel

[ramentravel]

20231026

it's been a long time coming

i didn't think it would happen but i'm finally going back to asia!!

my last post was from 2017 (and I don't even remember what happened to my posts after that lol) and so much has happened since then. i changed careers and began in dentistry, and since then i did my prerequisites for hygiene school, got in (after being mistakenly rejected), graduated amidst the pandemic, and have now been a hygienist at my current office for over a year...

i can't believe how much time has passed and finally i get to go back!!

this time is probably the last long trip i'll be able to take in a while, so we're making the most of it. we're going to korea for 15 days and taiwan for three weeks 😭

i haven't been able to gather the energy to be excited. I've spent hours upon hours doing research for this trip but I still can't wrap my head around the fact that it's finally here. even yesterday when I was working on my patient I felt so confused that I didn't have a normal weekend coming up lol

anyways, enough reminiscing... it's finally vacation time after working for a year straight with barely and breaks, and we sprung the money for business class!! I am writing this from ana lounge!

saw this cute sign on the way to our gate since we had to take the train there

took a pic of this mini office thing which honestly looks horrible to work in

and pics of the lounge! I got a mango smoothie which tastes super sour at first but it started to grow on me. we arrived right at 10:45 so we got the tail end of breakfast and then grabbed a little lunch. they had a few options but not really any plates so i didn't get to try the lobster bisque soup.... but that's ok cause I wanna eat the ippudo ramen on the plane!!

then we looked at the duty free and I was amused by this one-nutella-a-day package lolol

[ramentravel]

20170502

shibuya is a place we went to

we started out day off at 4:30 am to get ready to go to tsukiji fish market!

we got a bit lost but finally made our way to the restaurant area. we went to a place called 大和. unfortunately i was not feeling well and so i could barely eat :( this predicament led to a lot of disappointment and animosity and depression throughout the day but i don’t wanna get too much into it. i tried my best to eat what i could and what i COULD stomach was DELICIOUS :’( 

why did i have to feel sick FML

we left and saw a big tuna lol. mom for scale

after that we decided to go back to the bnb so i could nap. i napped for like two hours and felt a little better so we went to shibuya!

first thing we did was find the hachiko statue and take pics!

then we went on the shibuya scramble! though at the time we went it wasn’t really a scramble. more like just a handful of people crossing the road lol

we spent some time in shibuya 109 which was actually less impressive than i thought

did see some cool merch though!

idk the inside was kind of like a yeshi and not so much like a department store? i was underwhelmed. didn’t get anything there!

afterwards we ended up in some mall, idk which one but all of the food courts here are so impressive. especially the bakeries ugh kill me now

we stopped by to get some... chelunbing-esque thing but it wasn’t really. it was soft and mochi-like on the outside and filled with red bean and cream. but it was good! it was hard for me to eat until dinner so i couldn’t fully appreciate it but it was pretty good

we also saw premium fruits. 50 dollars for that melon that’s smaller than my head uguu

once we left that mall we stopped by the police station to look at the map and i saw this???

so morbid.. i guess i’m glad no one died of traffic accidents yesterday...

after walking around more malls we got some salad (i needed to eat something so i got something light)

it was pretty good! and i don’t even like salad!

i also saw these cute shirts at the store across from our restaurant! i didn’t get any of them cause they were like 25 or 30 dollars or something like that and i was like “no thanks”

we walked around more and saw wendy’s!

also saw coco’s and there was a MASSIVE line for it lol

and xiao feiyang!

after that we popped into muji where i spent like an entire hour on one floor alone lmao those stickers really got me, what can i say. i love shiba inu

their drink packaging was also really cute so i got a peach soda drink!

sadly it tasted bad? not like peach at all but like... asian pear and dates mixed together. was not good and was only lightly carbonated, like it turned flat. we still drank it all though lol. luckily the jasmine tea drink mom and dad got was DELICIOUS though the color was like concentrated pee

after that we went to DISNEY STORE OMG IT WAS MAGICAL

cannot capture the magic of that store but it was so cute. everything was so cute and everyone was buying plushies and cute stuff left and right. i left without getting anything but mom went back to get an umbrella for her coworker!

after that we decided to go to shinjuku! on the way guess what i saw

:’( I LOVE THEM SO MUCH GANBATTE!!!!!!!

then we took the train to shinjuku and i saw these floor stickers on the gates/doors to the train

at first i was like “why would they do tha” but then i was like “--oh... yeah.. okay.” mixed feelings on that but i guess i’m glad there is a safe space even if it has to be utilized in this fashion

we went to more malls after getting to shinjuku station.... i think this was in isetan?

THESE MEAT PICS MAKE ME #EMOTIONAL NOT GONNA LIE

this is fucked

my friend would be jealous of this fish display lmao

while at the fish display we also saw tons of shrimp and lobster packaged in styrofoam and plastic wrap... but inside they were all still alive... it was kinda freaky...

but then we went to the bakery section!

more cake! and finally we caved and went to a moderate-looking bakery called anderson...

and got melon pan!

IT WAS SO GOOD

we shopped around more in isetan (SHIT IS SO EXPENSIVE) and saw some kimono! didn’t take a pic i think cause tons of people were watching me lmao so i was too shy. also it’s awkward when they shuffle to get out of frame

after that we went back to get more bread (that melon pan is so good) and went to eat dinner since it was already 5pm!

we went to torikizoku since we saw it the other day in asakusa and i really wanted to go!

we didn’t get much since i didn’t know what to get and dad suggested we go downstairs to ichiran ramen afterwards, so we just got a few items. they came out sloooow so i only got single pics!

as promised we went downstairs and shared 2 bowls of ramen at ichiran! it was pretty good (y) not my style of noodle though!

after that we came back and just got ready to go to bed! probably going to call it an early night cause i was not feeling well today. feeling better now but today definitely was an emotional and physical rollercoaster lol

KEEP YOUR HEALTH UP EVERYONE!!

alright good night!

[ramentravel]

20170501

welcome to suteeki japan!

we started our day off very early so we could go to the airport to catch our 8:45 flight to tokyo!

we took the jieyun to the airport... it was so hard to say goodbye :’(

check-in went smoothly! i took a few pics of the airport; the hello kitty self-serve kiosk is still there after many years. i took slightly better pictures this time lol

we got there early so we just walked around and looked at some stuff. i saw this super luxurious gaoliang jiu

flight also went smoothly. listened to bts on this 90′s hardware lmao look how ridiculous it looks. it actually looked worse in person; my phone camera made it look nice hahaha

also the food was pretty good but not much appetite in the air :(

once we got to the airport we took a train to oshiage after we got lost for a lil bit lmao

at the train station i saw family mart vending machines!!!!!!!!!! i saw a guy using it later and a tray went up to the row that you purchased from and it dropped onto that tray so that your items don’t fall like 3 feet and they are safely delivered to you!!

train ride was pleasant and we saw all of japan was wet and i was like “oh weird, but it’s not raining here” then it started to thunder and pour rain really hard. i’ve never seen that much lightning so clearly and so much in a row. but man it was cool!!!!!

didn’t stop me from falling asleep on the train tho lol

once we got off at oshiage we transferred to sumida to get to our bnb!

i was amused at how long the japanese was and how short and to-the-point the english was lol

finally we got off at honjo azumabashi and had difficulty finding our bnb... after some searching and a bit of skill and maybe breaking the law, we found it and got into our bnb!

it’s so cute but kinda old and not well-maintained so i didn’t take any pics. it has a tatami room and futon and!!! those square ceiling lights with the circular light bulbs!!! so japon

after that it was already like 4:30 so we went out to get dinner! at pepper lunch lmao

we’re so close to skytree!

it was pretty good! i got a super deluxe thing of 300g of wild angus beef and added an egg and cheese... and salad... and corn soup. it was like 18 dollars and SO MUCH MEAT dad and i also had to eat mom’s hamburger meat and it was just so much omg. 

but i was very satisfied by the end!!!

after that we walked to sensoji temple in asakusa, just one subway stop away! 

we only stopped by the temple briefly since tons of shops were closing and we can visit later!

we also got some agemanju which had red bean in it for 100 yen! wasn’t bad tbh

after that we just stopped by lawson to buy breakfast and water but we bought lots of desserts as well lol

we ate that waffle on tonight and it was pretty good!!!! haven’t had the one on the right. that was mom’s choice; it looks sketchy to me lol

and now i am typing this up at around 8pm and i need to go to sleep since we’re going to tsukiji fish market tomorrow dark and early in the morning! not even bright. it’s gonna be dark and cold probably

it’s actually kinda chilly here lol

alright see y’all tomorrow!!!!! GOOD NIGHT!!!!!

[ok so yeah i’m uploading this two months late in july but whatever]

[ramentravel]

20170430

Wulai is LIT how come I aint ever been here before!!!

We started the day off by going to bitan!

Couldn’t find my old socks so I wore my new ones.

THESE ARE SO CUTE I LOVE.

I actually went to bitan four years ago with jobo and steven and damn did we have an adventure. I’ll honestly never forget that day lmao

mrt was empty on the way over so i snapped a pic!

This time my parents and I took it easy by just walking around and crossing the bridge!

It was bright and sunny in the morning so I was actually pretty hot. This time I put on sunscreen and used my umbrella at almost all times though lol

Since it was hot we stopped by 7 eleven and got some ice cream! Since I got one of the ice creams I always used to get, this time I decided to get the other.

It was so good omg, better than I remembered tbh. No wonder I used to get it so often

After that I was like “where are we going dad” and he was like “wulai” and I’m like “the fuck is that? I’ve never heard of this place, must be boring” but anyways we got on the grueling bus ride in which we stood for like 40 minutes on a swervy mountain road with rickety handholds and it was just. A mess. We got there in the end but I was in extreme mental and physical pain by the end of it lmao

BUT it was worth it cause wulai is totally gorgeous!

By the time we got to the marketplace it was already lunchtime but we popped into the aboriginal museum to check out the stuff there first!

It was very cool and had free admission! it was super informative and I’m glad we went. The facial tattoos that the Atayal people use is also really pretty!

After the museum we got lunch at some random restaurant that I didn’t take a pic of. BUT the food was actually surprisingly really good!

We got bamboo rice, purple rice, some fish thing, and two vegetable dishes. I thought it’d be too much for 3 people but turns out it was perfect since we finished it all and didn’t feel uncomfortably full! it was a little expensive but I can appreciate that they didn’t rip us off with bad tourist trap food. Like japan did lmao I SEE U JAPAN AND I CAN READ (SOME) JAPANESE OK

Anyways more scenery of wulai.

After lunch we were like… ok are we done or do we hike 50 minutes up to the mountains (keep in mind I am Weak and my mom’s knees aren’t doing so well)??? In the end we took a taxi up which was AMAZING and totally worth it. Saved my life. Saved all of our lives

At the top (I think?) we decided to take a cable car to the hotel at the top of wulai! It used to be a hotel called yunxian and it was constructed when mom and dad were just babies. It was a luxury hotel for $$$rich$$$ people and had amusement parks and gardens attached. I knew none of this so damn was I IN FOR THE TIME OF MY LIFE

So here’s pics from the cable car

Once at the top it was just… *100 emoji* weather was SO nice and it was just beautiful all around. Amazing foliage and wildlife and it was just… gorgeous. We spent some time just sitting there by the cable car and taking in the nice weather and everything. We’ve really been blessed on this trip with good weather; it’s going to get hot again tomorrow and then with the month of may comes humidity, mosquitos, and summer, BUT we won’t be here so we dodged it right in time!

But anyways. Back to wulai

this plant is so cute!!!!!!!!

Afterwards we began the stairs up to the hotel. There were a few cute landmarks along the way!

The small Buddhist temple seemed well-visited! I’m glad it’s not neglected.

We even saw little statues on the cliffside! This pic was taken on a steep rock; idk how anyone got them up there!

After a few hundred steps (probably over 200 but idk for sure tbh) we made it!!

Saw a dragonfly by the bathroom. It was huuuge

We spent some time with our feet in the water but actually it was FREEZING COLD though I got used to it after a while. My feet turned bright pink lmao

Honestly I can’t remember all of the sections of the hotel/resort so I’ll just picdump nau

Lovers’ swing except im single :(

This was a very unstable looking bridge that we crossed anyways. The handrails had rusted and broken off and the concrete foundation was crumbling a little bit, but to my surprise my parents just walked on it like it wasn’t a big deal. It was pretty high up and did not look safe… but whatever. It was very fun! And it led to a beautiful train-track kind of forest… thing. Very Ghibli

#aesthetix (i’m actually looking at a very large ant on the post)

The amusement park part was probably my favorite! The resort is (probably) not used anymore and all of the equipment is old and unattended so it has a post-apocalyptic feeling to it. Y’all know I’m all bout that. BUT the best part is, IT’S ACTUALLY STILL IN USE like you can pop in some money and go on these rides for real!!! I didn’t do that tho I just took some pics

There are some old stages in use too! Accompanied by fish and black swans. Only time I’ve seen black swans was when we were visiting that chiang kai shek garden with black army swans I think. Nts maybe I can find that blog post in helloformosa? Edit: FOUND IT!

I had a BLAST at the archery “field” which apparently I didn’t take a pic of (took plenty of videos though!) dad and I both tried and we were pretty consistently good! It made me wanna do archery again L it’s so fun and the weight that I got was so light I was like “damn I can do this” lol

Three games of archery or paintball was 180! so we went for two rounds of archery and one round of paintball

On second thought maybe paintball isn’t the best word to describe this but whatever. This was fun too! More of dad’s thing I think lol

last few pics of wulai!

After that we went back down the cable car and took a taxi all the way back to xindian (where bitan is and where we started our day)!

Taxi driver was super funny; she is an aboriginal herself and talked a lot about her job and family and customs… she talked NON-STOP. I fell asleep for most of it but she said that her family still goes hunting (but not often) and she used to accompany her father to hunting sessions! And she and her family still speak the aboriginal language. They also eat the traditional foods, like the bamboo rice we had but she said that traditionally it’s just white rice, not the sticky rice we ate with meat and other condiments! It was very interesting and she had a very cute and easy-to-understand accent :)

Once we got to xindian we took the jieyun back to Taipei so we could go explore Taibei dixijie!

Aka

Otaku hell

Or heaven depending on how u wanna look at it

All these brief pics of figurine storefronts don’t even capture the true scale of all the figurines. There are SO MANY of these shops. I didn’t go into any as 1. I don’t collect figurines, 2. I am done getting my friends gifts (FINALLY), 3. I’m with my parents and if they go in and see these titty nee-chans with their plastic panties out for the world to see then they will smite and disown me so no thanks

It was fun though and we did buy a few things! Mostly hygiene stuff (got some brush thing for cleaning and some nail stuff) and some more earrings… they’re so nice here I can’t help myself lol

ALSO GUESS WHAT I SAW!!!!!

Is this familiar? EDIT: turns out today i went to bitan and taipei dixiajie. and when i went with steven and jobo, i went to bitan and taipei dixiajie in one day too lol

We didn’t go in. again

This time we decided to eat a little bit before heading to a night market so we went to some random 鍋類 place which was actually surprisingly delicious. And it was only 119 kuai so like 4 dollars? I didn’t even finish my rice and it also came with unlimited milk tea or lemon black tea. It was so good fml

After semi-filling our tummies we started to make our way to the night market!

On our way we saw this beautiful temple… honestly it was stunning; seems like it’s not popular though L it has stone-carved walls like longshanshi does!

And then we made it to our destination: ningxia yeshi!

these shrimp were HUUUGE

the line for this rice-stuffed squid was so long!

it’s literally in front of an elementary school wtf

Today I was feeling much better and had an appetite so I got lots of food! Takoyaki, huasheng quan bingqilin, and jidangao!

Everything was so good fml I love it :’( why did I have to get my appetite back on the NIGHT I leave Taiwan???

It also occurred to me I haven’t gotten bubble tea on this entire trip cause of my stupid indigestion problem and I thought it was too hot to get a milk drink so I always got that grapefruit drink instead. FML I REGRET IT I HOPE THERE WILL BE ONE MORE CHANCE SOMEHOW

EDIT: actually i got bubble tea at sharetea once in jinshan!

We stopped by the mitsukoshi and shops by zhongshan jieyun zhan and I got some skincare from too cool for school! Which is apparently an American brand wtf

We also got bread for breakfast tomorrow!

And I also stopped by banila co to get some clean it zero, too UGUU SO MUCH MONEY SPENT IN SO LITTLE TIME

After that we came back to our bnb and this is the last night we’re spending in Taiwan! Ok now that I think about it more, it just gets more and more depressing lol

I love this place so much :’( I didn’t cry like I thought I might when we landed but I sincerely love it here. Tbh at first I felt extremely out of place but I’ve gotten more comfortable since (maybe after I got my hair cut? Lol) and now I feel sad to leave. But I know japan will be super fun and I’m looking forward to eating all the good food and seeing the CUTE SHIT there!!!! THE TRUE MOTHERLAND OF GUDETAMA AND

SAUCE.K!

DON’T WORRY I DIDN’T FORGET ABOUT HIM!

I will update tomorrow hopefully! Fingers crossed japan goes well!!!!!!

GOOD NIGHT!

[ramentravel]

20170529

ayo waddup I can’t connect to my wifi so here I am typing this entry on microsoft word

today we went to 288 peace park!

it was nice there and the sun came out so i used my umbrella but i was not doing so great since I was really really tired for whatever reason. Like falling asleep and no energy lol it was nice to walk around the park though!

sloppy pic of the “white house” as i was crossing the street lol ;

there were an activity/event going on today advocating taiwan’s universal healthcare and they were promoting some PSAs about health insurance and healthcare in general. It was interesting seeing so many people (mostly young tbh!) involved!

walking around... it was kinda hot!

after that we were passing by chiang kai shek memorial hall so we were like… eh let’s just go look around even though we’ve all been here several times.

feat. my umbrella lol

resting underneath the shade...

It’s still totally beautiful and awe-inspiring, though! Worth going again though we just passed by and didn’t get a super close look.

I think this was my first time going during the weekend, too? There were tons of young people practicing their dances!! I wish I were that enthusiastic at that age over anything, ever,

after that we went to get breakfast at the yonghe doujiang place right outside which was a godsend cause I really was not feeling well. I got mantou jia dan (mantou with egg)!

Had to take my stomach medicine afterwards though; I think it was too much of a shock for my poor body lol

We stopped by a close cai shichang but there was nothing remarkable. Took a pic though!

Then it was close to noon and we had to check out of our hotel and check INTO our bnb so we headed back to our Taipei diary and got our luggage and moved to our bnb which is right above jingzhan! Well, 15 floors above but still.

We decided to just eat lunch at jingzhan and get some bread for breakfast since it’ll be early when we wake up and things will likely not be open!

Pasta was good but pretty damn rich; not sure how I wasn’t having major indigestion after eating that entire plate

We also went to jason’s market to buy milk to accompany our breakfast tomorrow J I usually get all the flavors of pocky I can find but honestly… there are too many here… I simply cannot try them all since I’m kind of past snacking on these foods and they’re expensive and take up space and just.. yeah. So I took pics instead.

SO DAMN EXPENSIVE

Also saw this lmao BLAH

We popped on over to Taipei 101 after we dropped off our breakfast upstairs!

It tol

I was surprised this many people were crowding for din tai fung???? It’s good I guess but ?

I took some pics of the mall!

Kanahei is so cute ;;;; I never liked him THIS much before. Same with gudetama, I have a newfound love for both of these cartoon characters… Taiwan is infecting me with their love

I was still super tired too so I got some coffee! AND DAMN WAS IT GOOD; I HOPE I NEVER NEED IT AGAIN OR I WILL GET HOOKED AGAIN LIKE I DID IN 2014

IT WAS SO GOOD i felt myself teleported back to 2014

My one true enemy… we meet again 

There honestly wasn’t much to see in 101 cause we poor so we just left lmao and went to WUFENPU!

Idk what it is with wufenpu or songshan (jieyun station where it’s located) but I was suddenly plunged into enstars hell and it was simultaneously amazing and terrifying

Also getting to wufenpu was SUCH a pain? We had to transfer twice and get on three different lines to get there. Turns out songshan is a new stop (no wonder I hadn’t heard it before) so we had to change lines a lot but man… that was annoying…

BUT WE DID GET THERE!!!

Wufenpu was pretty much the same as always

BUT I changed! And I didn’t get as much cheap clothing. Actually I planned on getting nothing but then I saw a cool shirt and almost passed on it until my mom said (totally independently of me looking at it) “wow this shirt is unique, looks like they’d sell it at Nordstrom for like 100 dollars” and I’m like *pained look* mother why did u have to say that, I like it even more when u like it too lol

So I got two in grey and pink O R Z my luggage is already so full and the special gift I got my friend is fucking annoying to pack lmao, if they don’t appreciate it I’ll be pissed as fuck

Anyways after wufenpu we went to raohe jie yeshi! Which was MAD crowded, I guess cause it’s Saturday!

got that huge cong cake thingy first though

We got in line for the famous hujiao bing! It was very good and juicy and pACKED full of meat, it broke while we were eating it lmao. This is the one they throw on the brick oven! We saw them adding charcoal to the bottom of the oven and it was super cool to see the process of them making it.

We saw a few other cool things, too!

蔥海...

I’ve never seen such perfect tornado potato outside of Taiwan…

Also we got lurou fan and mugua niunai! The dude who was chopping the mugua (papaya) was just chopping nonstop… he gave me and mom a sample too!!! It was much appreciated :)

We ended up getting some pork sausage too, GOD these things are good. They just explode and are so juicy :’( makes me emotional tbh

Upon leaving we saw these dogs, also.

he look mad lmao

the whole time I was looking for jidangao and finally we found it so we got it……….

They weren’t that good though sadly. The best ones I’ve had so far were at danshui laojie!

Then we took the huoche back to Taipei main station!

Saw horizon zero dawn. Other side is ffxv!

Then we came back to the bnb and got ready for bed and now I am typing this up! Also I somehow got sunburn today fml I was showering and wondering why the back of my neck was painful and when I looked in the mirror it was bright red… fml I used an umbrella every time I was in the sun… I think… ugh

Anyways time to go, I dread editing this later and adding pics lol

GOOD NIGHT!!

[ramentravel]

20170428

LOTS of adventures in taipei today!

buckle up ladies and gents cause this is bout to be a WILD RIDE

we started with me taking pills that say STD on them

they’re my stomachache pills that mom got for me! i never updated on how those work so here’s my update: they work. i’m so glad lol cause i’m frequently plagued by these stomachaches while travelling. but this really helped!! i took them after we had (a mediocre) breakfast, then we headed to yongle shichang, the birthplace of old taipei :)

for some reason i didn’t take any pics except for this one, cause a bunch of japanese people on a guided tour were taking pictures. it occurred to me that this might be an odd sight to them lol

and this is the old temple that was kind of the foundation of taipei city!

you pray to the wife of the city god (i think) for a peaceful and long marriage!

the ceiling, feat. my pixel’s lens flare

after that we walked past the many dried foods stores and we bought some dried roses for my friend :) they were selling so many different things, and in really large quantities too!

bamboo leaves

garlic

dad said that traditionally, people come here to buy dried herbs and fruits/etc in the few weeks/days leading up to chinese new year! 

old buildings in the area! look at that blue sky... weather was PERFECT today, the exact perfect temperature with a great breeze!!

our walk led us to dadaocheng matou! a very influential port for taipei many years ago!

i took pics with mom and dad too but idk if they wanna be on the internet so i just didn’t upload lol

after we spent some time enjoying the breeze in the shade (under the sun is kinda hot lol) and eating the rest of our bread from yesterday, we started to walk to ximending!

we stopped by some cosmetics place to use the bathroom, forgot what it’s called. but saw exo lotion lol

AND THEN WE REACHED XIMENDING! not from the jieyun zhan but whatever. it was like 11:30 when we got there so nothing was open orz

ok story time

i knew uniqlo would be open early so i was like “hey let’s go to uniqlo until stores open at 12!” then i got there and saw a line of people and i’m like ? what is this for???? but got in line anyways

turns out it’s uniqlo’s kaws x peanuts collab which i don’t care much for but i was already there so i got in line but the hype was even more than i could bear. after that you had to get in line again, and then you had to go to the top floor (THERE ARE 7 FLOORS AT THIS UNIQLO AND EACH ARE VERY LARGE) and then you had to wait in line AGAIN to get into the small corner of kaws x peanut merch and they have to count how many people are in the space at any given time and it was so stressful and i was so overwhelmed, i just wanted to go to uniqlo and maybe buy some boyfriend jeans cause i really like the ones i have, but i couldn’t find any i liked... i just came to have a good time and i was feeling so attacked...

in the end i got some loose pants and called it a day. honestly i emerged from that uniqlo as a Changed Person

then we ate coco curry after some (painful) deliberation lmao. i got pork katsu with asparagus and tomato, and added cheese! it was pretty damn good but i had zero appetite so i couldn’t fully appreciate it :( didn’t finish it either...

saw a caliburger at ximending too!

let’s take a random break for Very Good Englishes I Saw Today

WHEN IDEAS FAIL, WORDS COME IN VEHY HAMOY

i love taiwanese chinglish

then we got ice cream. it was ok and heavy!!!! but overpriced for 70 kuai

after we walked out of ximending we saw some people filming for a tv show!!! mom actually recognized these people which was shocking to me cause the camera equipment was tiny and honestly they looked like a ragtag team of producers but whatever lol

then as we were walking away from ximen to go to monga/laojie we saw this shichang was on fire wtf. i didn’t see flames but literally 9 emergency vehicles (fire trucks, ambulances, electricity companies, etc) came to the scene. after watching for like 10 minutes we did smell a burning smell (smelled like bbq to me honestly) and saw smoke but it seemed like no one got hurt and the fire was long put out!!! these cai shichang can be dangerous :(

more trucks came later; i took a video but tumblr is not about the video life

after we walked a bit more we were like “nevermind” to monga and went to longshan temple instead!!!!!

it was very beautiful and almost surreal? when we walked into the temple you heard people chanting the sutra but i didn’t know what speakers it was coming from. after we walked a bit we saw people with their books open CHANTING ALONG it was so???? surreal with everyone’s voices coming together and echoing off the carved stone walls. almost made ME religious lmao

then we got another charm for me cause i lost the last one i got! on the beginning of a trip, too, which was a big panic button to me but actually it ended up fine. this time mom helped me pray and waved the charm in the incense smoke. i will cherish this charm forever and i hope i never ever lose it :’) i’m not religious but it means a lot to me!!

mom also told me to pray to the god that does matchmaking and i was hesitant but she said i don’t have to clap my hand and pray, i can just talk to him in my head. so i did! we shall see what the future holds!

after that we went to the most nostalgic place in taiwan for me:

DAN

SHUI

!! for laojie!!!

i was so hype i asked if we could walk to the opposite direction so i could take pics of the sushi and break places i used to go to during my ocac days :’)

in fact they might be tagged in helloformosa lol

bus i used to take back to tamkang uni!

then we walked to laojie which is basically right next to the stop!

my parents walking but more dramatic thanks to lens flare and my case’s reflective qualities lmao

it was pretty dead today but still a fair amount of people!

THIS IS THE CHELUNBING I AM TALKING ABOUT <3

then we watched the sunset at laojie!

walking to the jieyun zhan so we can go to SHILIN YESHI!

we quickly ate here before we went, though! i swear i went here before but when i went this time it wasn’t nearly as good as i remember and damn overpriced... i would definitely NOT recommend...

we got mussels with basil, and bamboo shoots!

then we got to SHILINNNN

first thing we see when we get there is ASIANPRIDE lol

van gogh who? this is the only art i need

we got this osaka yaki (whatever that is) it was really good!!! like okonomiyaki (maybe that’s what they meant)

we saw this washington bulldogs (bellevue college?) tshirt before we left shilin yeshi! 

today was a fun and jam-packed day! we shall see what we do tomorrow!!

[ramentravel]

20170427

*zao an taibei song, endlessly*

i’m in taipei!

we started the day off by going to the cai shichang, again. no idea what it’s called but we went a few days ago. we checked the weather and saw it’d be cold in taipei so i wore pants WHICH WAS A HUGE MISTAKE I WAS DYING IT WAS SO BAD, CAUSE IT WAS STILL HOT IN TAINAN AND I WAS LIKE FML

on the way:

a tree on the way over; it’s super duper old since mom and dad said it looked the same when they were kids!

radish shaobing for breakfast at the market

got digua shaobing afterwards

since i was dying in my pants we went to watsons to cool down for a bit and i saw this there!

i had to take a pic lol

afterwards we came outside of watsons and got some jidangao, my favorite dessert... it’s SOOOO good fml

we also got some lianwu for the trip on the train!

after that we walked back; i thought this cafe was cute so i took a few pics :)

right next door to my aunt’s house is this! last line says seattle university of washington research (probably contributed to the clinic, but idk how)

after we packed all of our stuff, we went to go to agong’s house to eat lunch with him! on the way i saw this and i’m like

oh, EAST? i thought you said

we ate at a japanese place! agong’s birthday is today and he’s 87!!!!!!!! may he live a long and healthy life :)

afterwards my dad’s sister (a’go? ago?) dropped us off at the bus stop to get to the gaotie so we can go to taipei! we stopped by saint paul bakery across the street first though :P

we bought black sugar mochi and some other bolo thing. 

bus ride to gaotie was peaceful and i took pics with sauce.k; i forgot about his existence until last night? or this morning? lmao he’s all yellow from being in my yellow backpack

buying tickets

lianwu from earlier!

the core is cottony but not like... dry... idk how to describe it but it’s almost all edible! you eat it from the bottom and it’s really crunchy and good!

bag of chips we got from costco

it was raining all throughout taiwan... these shots were taken in taizhong

WE GOT TO TAIPEI!

this dude was going SO hard on the taiko drums 

we had to eat since it was like 5pm so we walked around the dixiajie after checking into our hotel (taipei diary again) and saw this CONVEYER BELT HOT POT WHAAAT

lmao at this guy doing the mini hateu

i got the 300 kuai meal but honestly... it wasn’t that good... it was edible but not delicious. worth the novelty of the revolving hot pot ingredients but everything was extremely subpar so would not recommend.

it was called haoke 好客!

later we were walking around and ate a bunch of desserts. we got this:

which was kind of a funny story since we walked up and i was like “OH WHAT IS THIS? MOCHI?” and my parents responded in english and so the workers thought we didn’t speak chinese... they just gestured to things and didn’t say a word, it was funny that people thought mom and dad don’t speak chinese lmao

anyways the dessert place was HUGE!

we ended up getting beard papas, 55 kuai here! fml why is america so expensive

also more fml i bought more socks... but how could i NOT when you see these fmlfmlfmlf

after that it was like 9pm but we decided to call it an early night and headed back to the hotel! and i spent what felt like an eternity in the most grueling hell writing this post :^)

writing it wasn’t that bad but wifi is horrendous and typing while the photos are uploading made me want to die so i had to add pics, wait for them to upload, save, edit the post i just saved, add more pics, wait for those to upload, rinse and repeat for ALL OF THE PICTURES IN THIS POST. also they upload out of order so i have to rearrange :^^^) then i had to type the actual text but that’s not nearly as bad. 

holy shit though, i am not looking forward to tomorrow... i might purposely take less pics if i know it’s gonna be like this lol :^))))))

ok we’ll see though i’ll try to stop being bitter. i consider myself a patient person but wow this really ground my gears

ALRIGHT GOOD NIGHT!!! 

[ramentravel]

20170426

swimming?

didn’t feel very well last night (slight food poisoning? idk) and so i woke up feeling really weak... we had plans to go to the cai shichang again and shop around but since i wasn’t feeling well so we just went to laya burger again instead

well before that we went to try to exchange currency for taipei but the rate is horrendous. took the opportunity to take a pic of the cute mailboxes though

i got bacon egg sandwich this time!

after that we literally came home and i napped for like 2 hours 

dad came back with udon from the same place as yesterday so i ate that for lunch!

it was ok, not amazing tbh but i think that’s cause kimchi isn’t really my thing

now i’m working through that brain haze you get when you nap during the day and you probably shouldn’t have. mom went to get a massage and now i’m typing this post... after she comes back we are gonna go swim at the pool nearby! probably won’t get many pics of that.

will update!

so we went swimming! it was so fun and lots of spa activities and massages. the water pressure was no joke, it actually hurt at times. there were jets to spray and massage your back, butt, feet, upper and lower torso, armpits, inner thighs, entire back body, etc... and swimming was fun too!!

on the way to the pool

every time we walk down this steet i see this and i’m like BoA Kwon who??? i only know Breakfast of America

afterwards we came back to my aunt’s house and we went to meng shidai together!

a heron outside of meng shidai

HELLO KITTY CAKES AND PASTRIES!!

they had savory dinner foods too!!

we went to eat japanese food (again) for dinner!

plastic display

more plastic displays

this one is real food! appetizers

mom’s vegetable udon and tempura

what i got! pork katsu with egg and onion, with furikake rice and soup!

set meal so it came with a dessert. i choose matcha red bean parfait

we saw a 85c across the street so we stopped by really quick to get some food! actually at this point my stomach was/is acting up again so i had zero hunger and kinda wanted to vomit but whatever lmao

cafe outside

so many cute cakes for sale...

gude...tama!!!

after that since i needed to buy some puffs for toner and some yangleduo cause of my stupid stomachache, we went to quanlian!

so much snack variety...

i used to go to quanlian all the time when i was in danshui but this one was pretty small and apparently the CEO said some pretty problematic things but... whatever.. gimme that yangleduo boii

after that we came home and we’re cleaning up our stuff and packing since we’re going to taipei!!! tomorrow!!! will write lots of stuff for that, do not worry!

mom is out getting my medicine so hopefully that will help with my stomachache. will update! good night :)

[ramentravel]

20170425

cai shichang and more mitsukoshi!!

today we woke up a little late (like 8am) and walked to the cai shichang kind of nearby. and i gotta say the hot weather is coming back and i was slaughtered by it today (and i’m writing this at noon so the worst is yet to come)

but the cai shichang was fun! after i ate and drank some liquids i felt much better.

liangmian saved my life

looking into cai shichang from the entrance. it got a lot more crowded by the time we left

peeking into the covered areas of the shichang; lots of meat, fish, and vegetables being sold

after eating we went shopping and i bought a denim skirt, shorts (YES NOW I HAVE THREE SHORT BOTTOMS ON THIS TRIP!!!), and some long baggy pants. i LOVE that aesthetic boiii

and we just walked around and kept looking around!

buying some sweet potato! it was super good but a lil too soft for my tastes

a whole butt of a pig and pig heads just sitting in a huge basket to the right... it was kind of shocking... everything here is fresh though so there’s absolutely no smell

afterwards we made the walk back and the sun was out in earnest and it was SO hot (actually better than the cloudy morning; maybe i wasn’t feeling too well earlier) but mom and dad knew i was Suffering so we stopped by 7 to get some ice cream!

the assortment. look at the gudetama ice cream! i used to get the pudding in top right and the bottom left caramel waffle thing ALL THE TIME when i was in danshui

ended up getting the caramel!

on the way back... fancy houses along the way

and we stopped by the taiwan tea house right across from my aunt’s house (taiwan tea house) for that amazing grapefruit thing again cause i was in desperate need of liquids lol

and now we are back at her place! it’s 12:10 so we’re going to head out soon to get lunch, pick up stuff from william from costco yesterday, and then go to mitsukoshi for more department store shopping fun!!

will update!

short update: we ate lunch at the paocai place right across the street. it was pretty good! but so hot after we started eating, even though we were sitting outside under the shade (in the restaurant it was SUPER hot; they cook with no vents)

storefront, to the left is taiwan tea house <3

we got 海鮮意麵, 海鮮烏冬麵, 三鮮炒飯 and 泡菜 since it’s this store’s specialty! the paocai was too spicy but the rest was pretty good. apparently the chaofan is yunpei and yuanjun’s fave!!

i spoke too soon... turns out oishii plate is ubiquitous in the experience of mankind

alright will update AGAIN later!!

we went to mitsukoshi! check out these random pics i took

why is haagen dazs so amazing here

this outfit is my life

look at this FANCY workout equipment!!

after shopping and buying a lot of stuff (YAY for new underwear and makeup, i spent an ETERNITY in etude house) we met up with my aunt to eat dinner downstairs!

i took this pic cause it reminded me of u-don at uw but turns out we ended up eating there

tonkotsu udon

niku udon

croquette was so good and stuffed full of potato!

MISTER DONUT

PISKE! also sakura and red bean dango, and strawberry chocolate donut

pi..s..ke...

we stopped by the glasses place really quick to pick up our new glasses! they’re pretty spiffy though i’m not used to wearing glasses with like, it actually being centered on my pupils so it was weird to get used to.

after we were done eating and doing that we were SUPER full but i wanted to go back to dadong yeshi to check on the hat i missed last time lol. so we did!

i feel like the pic i took last time of the wood burning fire wasn’t good so i took another. it’s still not that good, huh...

the most american food i ever did see 

interesting selection of egg tareuteu

look at these modern art socks

at the night market i spent more money orz i got socks for friends and me, and a dress and a shirt. IT’S SO CUTE AND PRETTY REASONABLY PRICED (ESP THE SOCKS). i have way too many socks now and i am looking at the fucking dab socks and wishing i got them, fuck my life so intensely, why do i want the dab socks so bad

anyways after that we came back to aunt’s place and now i’m writing this entry. time to sort through and clean up all of the stuff i bought... lol...

GOOD NIGHT!

[ramentravel]

20170424

eyeglasses and costco, what a day

we had a late start today cause mom woke up feeling very unwell so we didn’t do anything until 10am :(

since it was an off day we decided we might as well take this slow time to get some stuff done! so decided to go get our eyes checked and get glasses, since it’s way cheaper here than in america (mom and dad paid 800 dollars usd per person last year WITH insurance... so we want to avoid not having insurance since it’ll be cheaper here)

so william (cousin) picked us up and we went to COSTCO to get our eyes checked and look at the frames there!

eye tests here are weird. the one we did at costco you put your head against and it checks one eye at a time. it shows a picture of a fence leading to a house in the distance, and it starts off clear but then gets blurry. then again. then again and then you switch eyes. all you do is stare at the house be clear and then turn blurry, then suddenly be clear again. then a receipt comes out telling you what your prescription is. idk how that works but ? whatever

so we did that and my prescription was -2.75 on my right eye and -2.50 on my left and i was like “uhhhh” cause i wear -2.75 on both sides and i’m always that in america... but we were like whatever

frames there were just ok and william suggested we go somewhere else for frames as they’re cheaper elsewhere so we were like ya ok

BUT not before we encountered what i’d like to call Wonderful Adventures in Costco Overseas (WACO for short).

even i am not ready for the pics that are to come. it was Heaven.

this was a massive resealable bag and DAMN do those ridges look Deep

im sorry is there a good reason we don’t have this in america??? no??? yeah, ok wtf

chicken bakes and rice burgers... kill me now

look at these ice creams. really. take a good look

this pic doesn’t even accurately represent how huge these watermelons were

horrid picture but it’s singaporean food on the left, and a ready-to-cook hotpot kit on the right

the pieces of salmon and tuna in those maki were literally an inch in diameter

bulgogi. actual bulgogi i hate this place

other stuff like seafood pizza? beijing duck pizza? bulgogi wrap???? why am i alive and not living here

so yeah that was fun and definitely an Experience. we bought quite a lot of stuff too!! we got those amazing japanese foot things that you stick onto your feet and legs it’s just.. great... though we left it in william’s car so cannot try tonight :’(

after that we went to get yangchunmian!!!

this yangchun mian has special significance to everyone in the family cause it’s right around the corner from ama’s old house. so my aunt and mom went there all the time growing up and i remember going there when we visited ama and agong when i was young!! the storeowners remembered mom too and even asked dad where steven was. it was so sweet. and the food was great!!!

though i think i prefer my mom’s yangchun mian more :)

since we were so close we went to go look at ama’s house since the new owner is putting it up for sale... not sure what happened but i took a picture. this is one of the four buildings that our family used to own when the paper-making business was doing very well

so we just took a look and thought about the house and everything. we left after a bit to go to 7 eleven to get some drinks!

the pudding i used to get like every day when i was in ocac

i saw a bomb commercial of this tea so i bought it. also i’ve never seen this flavor of coca cola in america before!

it was alright, not amazing

this was so funny, i can’t believe they sell twist shots at 7 eleven. “7-Eleven high bar” lmfao

on the way back to william’s car we passed by my dad’s ama’s place. apparently abeh (dad’s older brother) bought it and it’s vacant now

top floors are occupied though. mom told me azo (idk how to romanize) was super duper nice and everyone was very sad when she left :( but she seemed like a great woman and was always nice to mom and dad!!

we also passed by the breakfast place we used to ALWAYS go to when i was a kid! the sandwiches there were so damn good

i’m glad i can read chinese now lmao

after that we spent a LOT of time looking around some road with a bunch of eyeglasses shops. we visited like 3 or 4 and i tried on a BUNCH of glasses and we were starting to regret not just doing it at costco but then i found one i liked!! two actually but one of them was in gold only and it was Too Much and they didn’t have a silver one. so i got the other one i liked. pretty sure it’s for men and it kinda makes me look like a watchmaker (esp with the newly cut hair) but i dig that aesthetic

at this point it was like 3pm so we stopped by mitsukoshi before mom’s massage appt at 4:30. and i got a PRIME gift for a friend i can’t even talk bout it too much cause im so excited about it lmao omg i don’t think i’ll ever top this unless i get a boyfriend and we go on a trip together or something. or maybe a honeymoon

anyways we went to mom’s appt but dad and i didn’t have appointments so my aunt suggested we go shop for cosmetics on the next block over and mom gave me money. we said ok sure but then we parked right next to a fitness park (they have weird... fitness equipment idk how to describe it but it’s fun). when i saw that i was like “hold on” so we did that first and after we were done we started walking to the cosmetic shop and we saw 台南市東寧運動公園 and at this point i’m like “fuck makeup let’s get crunk” so we went there and walked around and “worked out” and it was so fun!!!!

they have lots of equipment and it’s kind of like an outdoor gym. but it’s not that intense with weights or anything, since it’s all about body strength, stretching, and flexibility. we twisted our waists on that waist-twisty thing, stretched our arms, stretched our legs and calves, tried to do pushups and pullups... it was SO SO SO difficult and i saw people like three times my age (ok maybe a lil less) doing like ADVANCED versions of these exercises. it was insane. i saw one dude on that calf stretch thing (essentially a wedge of wood/metal and you stand on it and hold onto a bar to maintain your balance) AND IT WAS ALMOST LIKE PERPENDICULAR TO THE POLE LIKE IT WAS NEARLY MAKING A 90 DEGREE ANGLE WITH THE GROUND IT WAS OBSCENE i do not think ankles should bend like that but what do i know

at this point i was sweating like hell and actually so tired LOL even though i barely did anything ??? but whatever, we had dinner plans so we went to meet up with my mom’s younger brother, xiao jiujiu! we also met up with yunpei and yuanjun, my cousins and I CAn”T BELIEVE HOW BIG THEY ARE NOW OMG and they have their own personalities and everything :’) yunpei is Sassy and yuanjun is so cute and quiet lol he has a good jiejie though!!!

i didn’t get many pics of the food since i wanted to keep my camera out of everyone’s meals but i did take pics of the desserts cause they were just too interesting to NOT take pics of

yogurt with nuts for mom and xiao jiujiu, vegetarians!

this was juicy max

mochi with red bean inside!

i was SO FULL idk if i can list all of the foods... we had 9 people and ate salad, black chicken (WITH BLACK MEAT AND BONES it was kind of not as good as i thought it’d be but maybe cause too much ginseng in the soup), lamb chops, pasta, risotto, fried pork cutlet with ham and cheese, gao li cai, sigua, sea bass, fried mochi with taro, and the desserts above. i don’t think that was everything but that’s all i can remember now. pretty much everything was really good and it didn’t really taste that chinese which was interesting! esp the lamb, it was basically coated with eastern herbs like rosemary and thyme and didn’t taste chinese in the slightest.

after that we went to the FIRST department store in taiwan (or tainan?) EVER! i took this pic earlier today when passing by:

when we went it was already night but still very pretty!

turns out this elevator isn’t that special and didn’t even attempt to imitate the original but whatever lol i already took the pic

an exhibit inside. every store inside was so cute and fancy! and had an artisan feel :)

night views from the 5th floor. this used to be the highest building in taiwan!

a japanese shrine on the top floor of the department store!! it was built after the department store, not at the same time.

torii, shrine, and mom gesturing me to 過來

the shrine and lens flare. thank u google pixel

in the store i FINALLY found something for one of my friends! now i’m just missing one more friend’s gift. then i need to get stuff for my coworkers fml

after that it was like 9pm already so we rushed home and i took a shower and now i am typing this blog entry at nearly 11pm so i need to go now. GOOD NIGHT!!! hope this post doesn’t have too many typos!!

tomorrow might go to kaohsiung... we shall see!!

[ramentravel]

20170423

tainan adventures

so far not much has happened! woke up early and walked a ways to get breakfast. mom and dad got 燒餅油條 and i got 蛋餅油條. it wasn’t really my type of food since the youtiao was soooo oily but it was worth a try!

then we came back and now we’re waiting at my aunt’s place. will update later

after that we went to visit ama, agong, and da jiujiu’s urns and mom prayed and we spent some time with them. it was very nice but this time i got emotional cause it WAS a tearful event unlike yesterday when i visited ama. which is fine but i was like :’( i felt bad i didn’t get to visit earlier. but i’m glad i got to see them today!!

after visiting family’s urns we went to the 菜市場 called 永樂市場 which is called 水仙宮 by locals. it was LIIIIIITTTTTTT today was colder than yesterday so i wore pants but it was so 熱鬧 in there i was sweating lmao there were so many people!! also it was interesting seeing the fish and clothes and raw meat all being sold right next together. i didn’t take many pics but here are some

we ate a BUNCH of food today, like qingchun, some ricecake thing, some fish noodle thing, some qingcao cha (i think that’s what it’s caled. it was great, actually) and some special donggua cha that was admittedly good but not as good as the hype makes it out to be.

DANZAI MIAN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN EVER IN TAINAN!!! it was definitely good!!!

turtles at a historical temple we stopped by to go to the bathroom lol

after that we went to go but my hair. not gonna say much about that ;) i’ll post pics later maybe. all u need to know is that it was a fun affair, the girl who cut my hair was so nice and it took like 4 hours and was only 2500 dollars??? also the feeling right after i cut my hair? 

爽

it was at the hair salon right downstairs from my aunt’s place. the name is zebra. check out the place; i took a (bad) pic of her namecard!!

after that we went to 夢時代 which is a big department store mall and it was an actual... dream... it was amazing. i don’t really know how to describe it other than imagine all the fancy-ish asian restaurants you ever wanted and it was there. teppanyaki? there. sizzling plate? there there there. coco curry? there. ramen? there. hong kong food? there. sichuanese food? there. huge almost comical pieces of chicken thigh? THEY ARE THERE I AM TELLING YOU IT’S FUCKING INSANE AND EVERY STORE AND STALL IS WELL-STAFFED AND THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS GREAT i’m telling you. i couldn’t have even imagined this place if i wanted to; it was beyond my wildest imagination. i’m not even creative enough to create this 天堂 that they casually call a “food court”.... idk... everything i saw... just... 感動

anyways we got udon there and it was so good, and we got this whole 2 person meal set of pidan tofu and two small dishes (edamame and kimchi) and calimari and two big drinks and our two udon bowls for 799 kuai CAN U SAY WORTH!!!

somehow i forgot to take pics of the actual noodles?? lmao

it was sooo good i loved it and my stomach was gonna explode by the time we were done. it was that uncomfortable amount of fullness when you’re like “uhh don’t even feed me a single grain of rice or i’m gonna have to sit down and contemplate death for at least half an hour”. but still not throw-up level lmao

we went to cosmed and i bought some cosmetics... bought a pony memebox eyeshadow, pretty stoked for that. and also some concealer! ALSO STOKED FOR THAT!!!

after that we bought some bras which is always so difficult, i almost gave up on like 4 different occasions but after like an hour or maybe an hour and a half of hard searching i finally ended up with two bras... lmao... at least they fit..

after THAT it was like 9pm so we came back to my aunt’s place and now i am speedtyping this entry cause it’s now 11 and i need to go to sleep.

tomorrow i think we’re going to mitsukoshi to do more shopping (more bras possibly? idk though cause it’s such an Arduous Task) and... idk what else but we’ll see tomorrow.

GOOD NIGHT!!!!!

[ramentravel]

20170422

goooood morning tainan! it is actually cool today!

woke up around 8am and 拖時間 until we got up and decided to go get breakfast!

walked outside and waited for elevator; when it opened, mom and dad were there lol

so we went together to get some food!

we ate some american (?) style food

only took one pic:

it was called laguardia or laya burger

on the way back to aunt’s place:

after that we went to 7 eleven and i bought some STRAIGHT TEA (can’t relate lmao!!) and headed back to her house.

i slaved over these fucking blog posts for a few hours before we went to go eat some food!!

we ate some niuroumian and mine was like 255 kuai but it was. delicious. angus beef, dude... it tasted like steak.....

i also forgot to take pics of this...

after we ate we stopped by the farmer’s market 假日農夫市場 and looked around! it’s at the exact same place as the yeshi from last night

succulent heaven...

after that we came back and did laundry. on the way back we got some drinks!

it’s so delicious omg and has grapefruit pieces inside

after that we just chilled and then dad and i went to go see agong and also meet with family!!

not much to talk about, we just met up with agong and talked and met up with my cousin and aunt and watched some movies... then we went to visit ama’s grave

i didn’t take any pictures but it was my first time visiting her since.. 2010? i haven’t seen in her so long and back then my chinese was abhorrent... i don’t think i could’ve communicated with her at all. but this time i was glad i got to visit her, and agong cleaned up her grave a little bit and we spent some time with her. i was afraid it’d be a sad and tearful event but it was very nice visiting family with family!

then we met up with MORE family when we went to dad’s uncle’s house. i couldn’t keep track of everyone lmao and everyone was like “他會講台語嗎? 那台語呢???" everyone is impressed when i say 聽無 lmao

after that we met up with more fam and then went to a restaurant called 老婆的菜 it was pretty good! we just sat around and talked about travels, american education, etcetc it was fun to talk to them!

then we just walked home and rested at home and now i am writing this entry. i think after this i’m just going to go to sleep so i’ll be ending this entry here!!

good night!!

[ramentravel]

20170421 tainan

byebye costa cruises!

we ate our last breakfast on the cruise and it was so crowded!

the cruise was fun but since it was their second time trying out the Taiwanese audience, it was chaotic at times. food was kind of meh and they didn't really do the whole five course thing with the waiters changing your cutlery and pushing your chair in, but they also didn't do the Chinese 家常菜 thing either. it was a weird in-between that led to confusion and dissatisfaction for a lot of people I think, myself included. it was also suuuuper creaky and had a lot of rocking (cause it's smaller) I have never gotten seasick on a cruise ship before but I almost did this time. I also got a little landsick (not sick per se but I felt like we were still rocking back and forth)

anyways we are off now and the first thing I noticed when we got back to the Motherland is that it's so hot I am DYING please give me the sweet embrace of death. it's 9am in a port city and I'm sweating so bad. I think I will Perish in Tainan but we'll see how things end up

byebye keelung!

we went to the train station and now are en route to Tainan via a transfer in nangang 南港!

fingers crossed I can get the 台鐵便當 I think my life will be fulfilled if I have that opportunity omg 

update: no biandang and also we got on the wrong train. but it's OK we just got off at zuoying and will take the train one (1) stop over to tainan!

not sure what we'll do when we get there but I think my aunt is coming to pick us up. it's currently around noon so we'll probably go eat somewhere yummy!!

JK Y'ALL WE GOT THE BIANDANG and it was surprisingly good!! and only 100 kuai for a huge portion I couldn't even finish, it was so much rice and food :o WE ALSO we got off the right train stop! now we are bound for my aunt's house (we're meeting her there at her house) and then we're gonna go do my parents’ paperwork stuff (aka the whole reason we're even on this trip)

so we got to my aunt's house and we took a few minutes to cool off cause we were dripping in sweat after carrying around our luggage to her place. even mom was sweating and she never sweats so u know it was Hot!

we just spent a bunch of time doing their immigration stuff for insurance and travel in September

after that we went to take pics and etc etc until we went to eat dinner at a Japanese place by 阿媽s house which I went to as a kid 😭 it was even better than I remembered, everything is so fresh. bamboo shoots were ace and the udon was so good (though after I liked it so much here, mom started to make it at home and she has since surpassed this place)

ichiban plate is to taiwan as oishii plate is to america

after that we went to the night market 大東夜市 nearby and checked out the festivities. there was a bunch of cool food like steak cooked on wood fire… tornado potato… perfectly piped cookies… teppanyaki...etc but we had just ate so we didn't get anything (except 芭樂 cause mom loves it so much)

we got to the shopping part though and I bought a hat that says “how do you think?” and two face masks!!! for so cheap too, the cap was 200 and the facemasks were 30 and 40. that's a few things checked off my list but I also saw a cap that said “BIG BROTHER IS STILL WATCHING" and the back strap said “1894 IS NOW” it was so Edgy and I loved it but I didn't get it cause I've never read that book and the stitching was messed up so I didn't ask the 老闆 if there was a new one he had… I regret it… hopefully we see it again cause I wish I got it fml

we just got some drinks at a store nearby called 樂茶棧 

and then came back and watched tv and showered and slept. yep!!!!

a fun day in Tainan!!

[ramentravel]

20170420 😏

wow what a dank day amirite!!!!!!

started the day off with breakfast at the buffet!

this is our last full day since we're leaving the ship tomorrow morning. and it's our last day to use the spa and sauna rooms 😭

after eating we laid on the hot stone beds for like two hours and mom and I just talked a bunch. it was great to sit down and relax with her!

but we rushed out to watch a pizza and tiramisu demonstration by Italian chefs in the grand central bar. seeing the chef spin the pizza in the air was cool and they finish making a pizza in like thirty seconds it's kinda crazy??

the tiramisu demonstration was normal and littered with bad translations but in general was enjoyable.

now we are at lunch and afterwards we plan to go fill out a crew comment card cause our server yesterday was great. after that we will probably kill time until afternoon tea at 3:30. I hope they have sandwiches and pastries!!!

will update later !!

nothing happened much, we went to lay down on the stone thing and went to afternoon tea which wasn't bad! better than I thought actually, but we were both full so we just ate a little bit and dad went to go to a presentation thing so we know what's going on tomorrow.

after that we relaxed and ate our last dinner here… I got lamb which was too gamey after a while but luckily I also got spaghetti which was great !!! wish I had gotten it more this cruise

we made full use of the spa and saunas before heading upstairs and going to sleep.

turns out i took zero (0) pics today so. tomorrow will make up for it!

train rides and Tainan tomorrow!

[ramentravel]

20170419

HELLO WELCOME TO HELL I ALREADY WROTE THIS BLOG POST BUT IT GOT DELETED SOMEHOW SO NOW I HAVE TO WRITE IT AGAIN !!!

well here we go :^)

today we went to Kagoshima!

we walked off the boat waaaayyyy onto the main land and struggled to find the bus stop to take us to senganen. it took us a while with an old lady and a very helpful man showing us the way (well, one possible way) but we finally made it!

walking to the train stop

the helpful man basically led the way and later we saw him escorting a bunch more Taiwanese people. then he got off the same stop as us and walked us to the bus stop!!! turns out that the way he told us took like 30 minutes more than the original way we were gonna go but it's the thought that counts, I guess

waiting for the bus... it was a 30 minute wait

after that we spent a lot of time in senganen. the entire day in fact! it was so nice and the weather was perfect! (actually it was a bit hot at times cause I wore black pants like a Total Fool and my legs were burning)

prepare for pic dump

Jommy Boo: Hara Kiri? Chef James: ahhh Chef James: the nippon steeeel Jommy Boo: Thousand fold bamboo d-munny: uwu time2jisatsu 

we stopped by seven eleven and picked up some goodies!

idk what this is but it looked interesting so i took a bad pic of it

after getting back to the ship i realized i should’ve bought some for punk’n spice latte lmao

after that we took a scenic taxi ride back and reboarded the ship!

we just rested a bit and watched the people at the port unanchor? the ship. then we ate dinner! they had pork, lamb, and lobster for entrees today so we tried them all! but only the lamb was good lol

after that we just watched some performances around the ship, I laid on the hot stone thing at the spa, and we went back to the room to sleep!!

tomorrow we will be at sea. hopefully we will have stuff to do!

[ramentravel]

20170418

we are in Nagasaki!!

so far it's been mostly uneventful since we haven't gotten off the ship but i figured I'd get the post started now!

wonderful nippon

now we are waiting for the ship to dock since we ate breakfast already.

I will bring sauce.k and we will eat castella. will report back

omg, disembarkation was a complete mess.

after an hour of standing in overcrowded hallways and queueing to customs hell, we finally arrived!

first thing we did was take the streetcar to the peace park. on the way dad took the only empty seat next to an old woman who promptly started to talk to him in Japanese lmao he had no idea what to say but dug up his Japanese classes from many years ago to parse together broken responses

she was so cute though and complimented moms rosy complexion lolol

we stopped by family Mart before heading to the park and bought some tea! it's so yummy and the people working there are so nice. the people working everywhere, actually.

peace park was very nice and the weather today was pretty much perfect!! 

sakura, cranes, and sauce.k all hoping for peace

the view on the way up

after peace park we went to the Nagasaki atomic bomb museum. the museum was chilling from the very start but it was very fascinating. had a lot of impacted items from the bomb and was definitely worth the 200 yen admission fee. I also got to fold a crane to add to their collection!

after that we took the streetcar to nishihamachou? 西浜町 and we ate some udon and got promptly ripped off!!! they gave us an English menu and after we ordered we checked the Japanese menu (which listed prices in Japanese, also) and saw that they ripped us off omg!! it wasn't that much, just like 70 cents each or something but it was fine lmao

have some pics of japon.

we went to the mall across the street and saw a mister donut!!!!! but we stayed away. for now…

we killed some time in meganebashi and bought a bunch of castella. we bought it from a place called 和泉屋. the samples were damn huge, like they cut one piece of castella into four slices or something. we bought a few boxes for family and obviously for ourselves ;)

I also bought an adorable rilakkuma pencil pouch to replace my cheap blue one from taobao lmao

the mall was huuuuge but I felt a bit bad for overrunning it. Taiwanese people were everywhere!!!

sauce.k with colonel sanders himself

after meganebashi we went to mister donut where we bought two (2) green tea donuts! we don't know Japanese currency so we struggled to pay but the employee there was very nice and helped us use the smallest change lol

afterwards we took the streetcar again to Glover park which is walking distance from our port. we passed by a few places like tale of Peter rabbit, and the urakami cathedral, and more castella stores, and finally made it to the park. it was a long uphill trek and we realized we didn't have much time left (we weren't really sure what time we needed to come back to the ship…) so we rushed through it. it was very cool with a lot of old buildings and a great uphill view of Nagasaki! very pretty :) more expensive at like 620 or something a person though. 

then we rushed back to a castella store where we bought four boxes (much bigger than the other store where we bought two for like 260 yen or something) for 2000 yen! and ofc we enjoyed more samples. these samples were huge too, I guess Japan is generous with their advertisement lol. it definitely worked!!

we rushed back onto the ship after a day of fun (my feet were aching bad, my dudes) and got on. luckily that was not nearly as bad as getting off. I kind of dread how that process will go tomorrow

we of course went to the spa to relax in the saunas and water jet thing and I fell asleep on the heated stone bed… usually I stay awake but I totally passed out it was bizarre honestly

it is now 11am and we need to get off the ship at like 8am so I am signing off for the night! will write more tomorrow.

bye-bye!!!

[ramentravel]

20170417 cruise: @sea

we dem at sea boyz

gooood morning! I am in bed at 7am and cannot sleep for some reason even though I only slept for 7 hours wtf??? (I realize this is a hearty amount for some people but I can usually sleep 12 to 13 with no problems)

today we are at sea! not sure what activities we have planned today but it definitely includes the spa lol

we will check today's newsletter and figure it out. I will report back!

xx

hello, I am reporting back

after we ate breakfast we walked around a little bit and saw some activities going on. after that we went to the Japanese tea room that's included in our spa package and drank some tea, relaxed, and talked. and we spent more time on the hot stone thing, it's sooo nice

now we are at lunch! we ordered quesadillas, rainbow trout, fish soup, tomato soup, fruit, etc.

lunch was pretty alright, it was slow but luckily we have nothing to do today so it was alright

went back to the spa to lay down and relax! dad fell asleep, mom rested, I drew! I almost fell asleep too tho lol

then we went to eat dinner! special foods today were glazed duck leg and veal, the veal was pretty good omg

went to rest again on the hot stone thing (third time today lmao) and took a shower and am now going to head to sleep!

sorry this post is boring!! hopefully the quality will improve with tomorrow's post in Nagasaki!

good night !!

note: somehow i took zero (0) pictures today which is a miracle atm cause these posts are taking me forever. tomorrow’s post will be hell though so buckle up ladies and gents