Tianmu Trail Mix

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssdddddddddddddffffffffffff

I haven't written here for a loooong time. I can't say I was too busy, because all of the new Taiwan experiences happen on weekends, when we have lots of fun, but come home before 4pm.

Yesterday we went to IKEA and that was fun, but today we went hiking.

It was around morning when we got out of our house, and I was already hot (my hat's stuffy) we walked out of our apartment, bowed to the security guy, and left out the door. Then we went to 7-11, which like I said before, is on every block. We bought a Pocari Sweat bottle, a bottle of water, and my dad bought some type of yellowish green tea. Then he said to pick out ice cream. I didn't really feel like ice cream, but bought it anyway, and when I took two, because my dad told me to get it (while Yeji already got one) and an old man looked at me. He said "Uhee shi" or something like that, and I nodded my head and walked away. I don't know much Chinese..

We walked all the way to the beginning of Tianmu Trail, and there were long stairs. It took a long time, and I don't remember much of it, so I'll just tell you it was 1000m till we got to the end of them. After that, we went to a more level ground and hiked there. There was a sign that showed a monkey, and another one saying "Beware, monkeys may steal items". At the end, we stamped some plastic, which was like a certificate saying you walked up there. We walked down, which was tiring, and went to a dumpling/noodle house (which I think I've said we went there before)
After that, we went home.

Shin Kong (something that started with an m) Department Store

As you can tell from the title, today..... I went to................ the bathroom.

Just kidding, even though I did. Time travel time!!! Most of you are like sleeping now, but it's afternoon here. It's future for you, but past for me. Today's Thursday, July 15. Now I'll tell you about the Shin Kong Something Place.

Skipskipskipskipskip. 10 am.

Well, anyway, today they're repairing some water thing, and we can't use the water for a few, actually, a lot of hours. I had to go to the bathroom, and as most people know, if you don't got water, it ain't going down. And I obviously wasn't going to pour drinking water into the toilet.

We walked around and saw this big store, and you probably know what it said in BIG LETTERS. Something in Chinese. But under that was English, and you probably don't know what it said. Well, it said Shin Kong Something Department Store.

Inside was white. It was a perfume/jewelery/makeup shop, and almost every single one is like.. white and bright. After going to the bathroom, awkward pause: (ah... that felt good.), we went underground to the supermarket. I won't bore holes it your head with details, but it was booooring.

After that, we came home, but the stupid door wouldn't open. We had to get the man in the 1st floor to come, but we finally managed. After that, I stood in front of the fan, and felt good. Now I'm sitting here writing in my blog. The end. For now.

Speed test...

[URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/878884107.png[/IMG][/URL]

Taipei Troubles... or Tianmu Troubles 2!

Note: If you don't like to read, forget about reading this. It's pretty long.

It's 9:22 PM right now, and we did a lot today. (Still 7/11) After cooling off in our nice apartment, we got into our car and rode up to Yang Ming Shan or from my rough translation, sunlight bright mountain. The temperature is amazingly different from Tianmu.

Here is the temp difference.

Tianmu around afternoon and evening: 30 degrees Celsius

Yang Ming Shan at the same time: 22 degrees Celsius

Every 100 meters the temperature goes down 1/2 degrees Celsius. Do the math and figure out how high Yang Ming Shan is compared to Tianmu. Yang Ming Shan, or in Korean, Yang Myung Sahn (양명산)

The really weird thing about this mountain is all the freaky noise. You know cicadas? Well, the cicadas here are like, the sound you here in a horror movie when something strange happens. It's pretty scary at first, but then you get used to it. The mountain was actually a volcano (DUH, it was inactive), and there were a few sulfa-springs. Aka: springs that shoot out a metal that smells like rotten egg. Yuck.

We saw pretty a bunch of signs up there. Signs. Signs are pretty boring sometimes, but they're different from the ones you always see, so I'll tell you about them.

First, there was a sign that said: Do not feed the monkeys, and, they may steal something, which my dad translated. We didn't see ANY monkeys, but whatever. The sign after that was read in English, "Beware of stray dogs" And boy, were there stray dogs! It was FULL of dogs. Different sizes, health, and types. My dad (who was like our info guide O.o) told us that this mountain is where people trash their dogs. Poor dogs. I saw a woman carrying a poodle there.

Well, after that there was a sign that said, "Beware of poisonous snakes and wasps" That was pretty freaky, but we went on the trail. I didn't want to go, because I really don't like wasps (or I'm afraid of them). But my little sister didn't want to go because of the eerie, loud, and annoying cicada noises. We went to watch the sulfa spring again, but went back home after watching for what, 5 minutes?

Anyhow, it was getting dark, so we headed towards our next destination. The Tianmu Mall. It wasn't called that, it was something in Chinese, but you know, I can't read, so leave it to me to make up a name. The place was like a Costco. It wasn't really a mall, but a place to buy everything with elevators and stuff. We bought some food, and an electric fan. Pretty boring, right? Well, shopping there made me realize something depressing.

We were listening to a woman advertising milk, (of course it was in Mandarin), and we bought it anyway, because my mom felt like it. We didn't get to know how good it was for you or anything, we just bought it. We can't communicate together in this place, so what good are we being here? We can't speak ANY Mandarin. I might know how to say Hi and Bye, but it's no use if you're out in a restaurant. That's just a thought.

We went back home, then we went out again and ate pizza, and came back. We is my family, excluding my older sister, who is at Korea. Taiwan is fun, but I wish I could understand what people are saying, because some people think I'm ignoring them when I don't reply.

Well, still, being here is good enough, so I think I'll stop writing.

Taipei Troubles...

or Tianmu Troubles

Read this if you're bored, and if you're 'too lazy' and this is 'too long', how do you read chapter books? I'm telling you, if you like Harry Potter or Mysterious Benedict Society, this is a tiny fraction of that.

Yeah, I know I wrote Taipei Troubles, but that was just a seemingly catchy title. After 2 weeks spent in Korea we came back to TIANMU! WOO! Everybody clap! Taipei feels more homey every day. Korea... Well, that place feels like a visiting/vacationing country. No more business in Jeju do.

Well, I have to say, Taiwan will not touch your heart, as they say on Taxi cabs and posters. Maybe it'll touch your head with your gallon of sweat, or your mouth with the dehydration, but not your heart. Yeah, pretty random, like the title of this blog.

We got home around the afternoon, and I was pretty surprised by sunshine. Usually it rains during the afternoon, but I guess this place has space to change. We got home, and it's hot. Yep, this place is 33 degrees Celsius! But I still managed to sweat it out. We went to a Dumpling and Noodle restaurant and had kimchi dumplings. Yes, for some people it's disgusting, but I think that you aren't a Korean if you don't like kimchi. That's going out to my sisters, and Daniel, and Adriel!

Guess what? TODAY IS 7/11! FREE SLUSHIE DAY IN THE USA! But not in Taiwan. 7-11 in Taipei is pretty major. You can't live there without seeing one. Actually, you can't walk a block without seeing one. We went to 7-11 after the dumpling restaurant (I don't advise the noodles. They're green (green tea noodles), and they taste weird with the soup.) And we were thirsty. After looking around at Sprite bottles and Coca-cola, I went to go find some popsicle because I was used to that from Korea. :) Korea is a very nice place for ice cream. Like 7-11, you can't go to a store without seeing ice cream, popsicles, or flavored ice in a bottle.

I looked around the freezer, and all I could see were Chinese popsicles and ice cream. I noticed there was Coldstone Creamery ice cream, but I was really thirsty, and ice cream does not cure that. Finally, something too familiar caught my eye (it didn't take long because the freezer was tiny). It was Melona. As most Korean people know, it's a green bar, that's pretty sweet.

Melona. Well, I don't like it that much, but if the shoe fits, wear it, or put it on. Melona isn't a very popular popsicle in Korea. On a scale of 100, 1 being the best, Melona is around 60. No offense if you like Melona a lot. It just isn't that good. There's better popsicles than Melona. Even my mom says so. And she rarely eats popsicles. Well, I'll stop ranting about popsicles and continue O.o

Congrats. You got this far, or you skimmed through it and got here. You don't get a prize.. Yet.

As I stepped outside, my Melona started melting. First things that come to mind when a popsicle melts: "NOOOOO!!! MY MELONA!!" and "I really need to wash my hands." Stuff here melts really fast. I'm serious it started melting as I stepped outside. Once, I chucked a small ice cube outside, and we live on the 11th floor. I didn't hear anything, and I think it melted before it got to the bottom. Nah, I'm just messing with you. But it really did start melting.

There's a list of stuff that you should never get caught out in Taipei.

THE NEVERS.

1. Don't get caught in the middle of a Tianmu rain. (Boom! Boom! THUNDER!)

2. Don't forget to bring money when you go to a restaurant.

3. DO NOT WEAR FLIP FLOPS WHEN IT'S RAINING HARD

4. Don't kill a cockroach with your hand. Please save US.

5. Don't talk to strangers. Chances are, they'll start speaking Chinese you don't understand to you. Try to talk to kid strangers, not parent strangers. Kids are more understanding at that.

6. Don't carry an ice cream outside. Save your clean fingers!

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Well, that's the end for now. I'm safe at home, and it looks like it's going to rain.