More on Taiwan

Some of the food we ate while we were at Ali-san: apparently the cabbage grown on the mountain is quite famous, and it really is delicous! They also served us these bamboo sticks. At first when they came, me and my sister didn't know what they were for--

They're called zhu-tong fan, it's rice stuffed into a bamboo stick, and steamed to eat! Here is my mom demonstrating:

They have a lot of bamboo forests there, and the main kind of bamboo that grows on that mountain is called "Meng-zhong zhu" or Bamboo from a dream. Because there was a legend that there was a son whose mother really liked eating bamboo shoots, and one night he dreamed that she was very sick. And he found that his mother really was sick she wanted to eat bamboo shoots. But it was winter time, so none were growing. So the son cried and then the bamboo grew! This type of bamboo is known for growing bamboo shoots in the winter time. (also the same type that make up the forest in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

And one of the stops we made along our trails was to find a special type of bamboo called "Shi-fang zhu" or Four-sided bamboo; you might be able to read the sign at the bottom of the picture. You can't really tell from far away, but the bamboo is really four sided!! we felt it with our own hands!

Here's an upclose picture of a cross section:

Some other cool sights-
Here are some tree roots. What do you think it looks like? reminds me of Princess Mononoke...

This is a vegetable called "Fu-sou gua" or Holding-hands melon.

Another picture from sunset--

Yay Taiwan!! (me and Tiff)

I'm still in Taiwan!

Some more pictures!
At the High Speed Rail Station (it's super fast!! goes 200+ miles per hour, and Taipei to Taichung in exactly 1 hour!) Here is a sign that was at the station, where cars pick up passengers:

Here is my dad, mom and uncle at a local Tainan restaurant-

After visiting my uncle in Tainan, we went to Ali-san, the most famous mountain in Taiwan! Here's a picture I took on the bus on the way up the mountain:

One of the famous points of Ali-san is the little train that was built to transport lumber from the top of the mountain. We took it to the top of the mountain! Here's a picture of the train:

There was a landslide along the mountain, and this is what it looks like now, does the shape resemble anything familiar?

Me hugging a tree that is 1000+ years old!

They had monkeys there!! hehehe, they were so cute. There were a bunch of them along the road~

Sunset at Ali-san. It's famous for being above the clouds, and when they're thick, it forms a cloud sea.

Merry Christmas from Taiwan!

Hi from Taiwan!
Here are some pictures!

Of course at the market! I thought this was a good representation. SOO much food!


This is from walking downtown:

On the subway, so convienent!!


Now some pictures of food:
At a coffeeshop that we went to - this was Tiffany's cake:
A good day is expeched to begin!

We went to a pretty fancy Japanese restaurant with one of my dad's college friends.
This is fish with pumpkin sauce and pumpkin seeds, and that black thing was a cookie.

This is the biggest piece of shrimp i've ever seenn (and eaten!)


And lastly, just want to wish everyone a merry christmas! They don't really celebrate christmas here, but at every subway station they have these christmas themed blow up dolls, so I kept having Tiffany take a picture with them:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I'm in Taiwan!

I will try to take some pictures and up load them when i can!
of delicious food (and other stuff too!)