Taiwan: The Land of Non-stop Eating (Part I)

So I'm back from my 4-day trip to Taiwan! Boo. At least we had midterm tests this week so I didn't do much at school. Anyway, I had an awesome time in Taiwan! Taiwan really ROCKS and it's totally under-rated in my opinion. I have soo much to write so I'll just let you know what we did each day. First, let me just say a few things about this wonderful little country and its people:

Taipei reminds me of Hong Kong, except more spread out and less distinguishable. We went all over the city yet we still couldn't get a clear feel for Taipei as a city. It sorta reminds me of Bangkok mixed with Hong Kong mixed with Seoul. Hmm. Same goes for the Taiwanese people. I spent 4 days there yet I still can't tell you how a Taiwanese person looks like! They look a bit Chinese with a little SE Asian-ness in them...with really nice skin! Haha.

It seems like whereas Seoul was mainly comprised of young people, families saturated Taipei. Taipei has its share of young people too, but I definitely noticed a lot of families out together, something you don't see in Seoul or Tokyo. It was really nice and sweet actually. Oh yeah, the Taiwanese are very good at both English and Japanese as well! I was surprised at just much Japanese is used! It's probably b/c of the many many Japanese tourists that go there for vacation. I was pretty impressed by their command of English as well. Random service workers were able to speak English very well. The best thing was that people weren't afraid to use their English with us; it was more like they were amused! It was so nice to be in a country where people are not afraid to use English, ie) Japan *cough*. Also, the Taiwanese are very laid back people, yet still very helpful and efficient.

I knew before going to Taiwan that Chinese people love to eat, but HANDS DOWN, the Taiwanese REALLY LOVE FOOD and they eat NON-STOP. I mean, they LOVE to eat. They have night markets selling food well beyond midnight and the customers keep on lining up for more food. It's really insane at just how much food is consumed. If Jeff and I can't even keep up, you KNOW it's hard core. Maybe that's part of the reason why Taiwan is AWESOME.

Maybe I should to retract the statement that Japan is the land of conbinis because Taiwan seriously has more conbinis than Seattle does coffee shops. We had a 7-Eleven right next to our hotel, then another right across the street and a few shops over! They LOVE conbinis there. Oh yeah, and banks too! There were seriously a million banks on every block!

"Taiwan has the highest concentration of convenience stores in the world. Few people in Taiwan can make it through the day without entering either a 7-11, OK or Family Mart and hearing the customary 'Welcome!'"

OK, the above is true except for the "Welcome!" part. Instead, we heard "Good Morning!" everywhere we went, no matter what time of day. We would pass by a vendor at 10pm and hear, "Good Morning!" Hmm. Yeah, strange indeed.

Wow, I've rambled on and on and I haven't even started telling you about where we went yet! OK, that'll be in the next post I guess!