Thanksgiving Week, Taiwanese Style

Another interesting week here in Taiwan. It was a bit unfortunate to miss out on a favorite American holiday and knew we wouldn't be able to replicate a day spent watching football and gorging ourselves on roast turkey with all the fixin's. We're finding ourselves fairly busy during the work week preparing for the test, now set for December 10th. Our nights and weekends have been our own and we've even gotten a new companion, Rick, a PhD from Auckland, NZ to hit the town with.



We've continued to try various restaurants and markets to get dinner or a late night beer or two. Sometimes I just have to shake my head at what the local people will form lines for to eat. The photo below shows a display commonly sold by vendors in the Night Markets. I like to call it "mystery meats" and haven't found the courage yet to purchase a bag full.


I did at least learn that the mystery meats are different animal parts boiled in a soy water mix with onions and eggs and what not. "Parts?", you might ask. Chicken necks, duck tongues, chicken feet, various livers, hearts, kidney and other items found on any organ donor list. The Taiwanese will stop by the market on the way to the cinema for a bag full of duck tongue to snack on and enjoy during the newest Tom Cruise film. Huh, interesting. I think I'll stick to popcorn and Milk Duds but to each his own.

We completely lucked out when it came to Turkey Day this year. Kelly and I decided we'd find the most American restaurant in town and enjoy the comforts of steak and potatoes for our holiday dinner. I remembered walking by a place called Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill and figured to give it a shot. Rick, myself and Kelly dropped in Friday evening and were shocked to find a Thanksgiving Special on the menu including roast turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, yams, gravy, rolls, pumpkin soup, salad, and pumpkin pie for dessert. The servings were huge and we all managed to stuff ourselves enough to be complaining about how full we were afterwards. "I'm so full I can hardly drink my beer!" How American is that!?!





I'll admit that the congestion and air quality of a city like Taipei can wear on you if it's not what you're used to. There are areas where it's evident that the below ground sewer systems are faulty and days when the air is rich with the exhaust from combustion engines. Seattle is a city with incredible air quality because of location and the surrounding forests. It is something easily missed and makes the issues of environmental impact and air pollution more pressing when you experience the negative effects. But then again, these traits can be seen in parts of Los Angeles and New York City.

So to see more of the country side, Kelly and I hopped a train for the the northeast coast to the Fulong, Longdong (hehehehe), Bitou Cape area known for great beaches and rocky slopes dropping straight into the Pacific. During the summer months, the area is swarmed with beach goers, wind surfers, scuba divers, and surfers. This is the least touristy time of the year and was basically deserted. Perfect. Also, a tropical storm/typhoon was approaching and the surf was intense. We rented a couple of bikes from our camp grounds and rode the coast. Unfortunately, the rains and the winds on Sunday forced us to cancel a hike but just being there, watching this seaside town get battered by the storm, was a weekend well spent.












The typhoon is dumping buckets on Taipei now. I guess this will be a good week to get some work done. Hope everyone had a good, safe holiday.

Later on.

What a week!!

We've been here a week and getting more and more familiar with the city each day and more comfortable at restaurants with each meal. The weeks events included a trip to the Taiwanese Democracy Memorial Hall (previously known as the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall), a few days visiting with our UW Professor and friend Jeff Berman, a NCREE outting to the Yingko district of Taipei County known for its ceramics then to an amazing lunch followed by a trip to the natural hot springs, and then the weekend was packed with the annual Chiang Kai-shek Cup Rugby Tournament.

This is the shot of the entry arches to the Memorial pavilion. The place is huge and includes the National Theatre and the National Concert Hall. Large groups of highschool age Taiwanese come to the Halls to use the reflection from the front entry way to practice choreographed dances.




Later that night on a quest to find a pub we had read about in our book, we met a guy named Wei who was born in California and graduated from UC Santa Cruz and now owns a restaurant called California Grill. Turned out we were looking for a bar that had been closed for over a year. He did set us straight about where to get a good beer and which places were a bit seedy. At least now we've gotten that crucial item under control we can focus on keeping our bellies full and smiles on our faces. We've stumbled a bit at this and had a tough night on Wednesday while trying to order from an absolutely no-English speaking waiter by only pointing to the pretty pictures. I could tell we were in trouble when the waiter, who was sweating profusely, motioned to change our order. I still don't know what we ate and felt terrible about not being able to finish our plates (considered rude to be wasteful).

The next day our Professor Jeff Berman at UW arrived to give a presentation to NCREE regarding research topics (Buckling Restrained Braces and Eccentrically Braced Frames). Jeff is a great guy and was equally excited to be exploring Taipei as we've been. Here's a couple of shots of us emersed in the Shida Night Market near the National Taiwan Normal University (sweet name, right?).



Lucky for all of us, our timing of being here allowed us to be included in NCREE's annual employee outting. KC Tsai, the director of the facility, invited us to come along on friday for a day at the Ceramics Museum, a family style lunch, and to the Great Roots Hot Springs Resort. About 60 of us, staff and family, got there early to board the busses. These things were plush.



I can't say I would have seeked out a ceramics museum but this place turned out to be pretty cool. The real treat was that this part of town is known for its ceramics and has "Old Street" that is loaded with small shops selling an array of hand crafted pieces for prices that could only be described as comical. Here are some highlights...











Our lunch has been the best meal we've had since getting here. It was a family style meal where the center of the table spins and they bring out large serving trays of different courses that we all share. I think we had 8 or 9 courses that included sushi, lobster, crayfish, clams, shrimp, fish, chicken, crab, fruits, veggies, beer and juices. Every course they brought out, our table would "oooooo" and "aaaahhhh" and then we'd devour it. Incredible.




Okay. So they brought out this one dish. It doesn't look like something you'd normally find in the local QFC or Stop and Shop. We asked our friend Jay Lin, a PhD graduate from Illinois Champange-Urbana, what it was and he looked up the translation on his blackberry but laughed and said, "I'll tell you after you try it". We figured it was "chicken" so with a little pressure from the locals, Kelly and myself both tried one and Jeff willingly ate two. I'll let you all think about it for a minute or two and can see if you're right about what it is at the end.



We then headed into the hills outside the city to the Great Roots Hot Springs. I personally wasn't aware of this, but the Taiwanese are bringing back spandex bathing suits. Who would have thought?







Yeah, this friggin' thing was right off the hiking trails behind the resort. Bigger than your hand!! Yes. I did scream and run away like a little girl.


Before leaving Seattle my buddy Nigel with Valley RFC hooked me up with a contact of the Taipei Baboons RFC made up of ex-pats from all over the world (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, Japan and the US). I trained with these guys on Thursday night and lucky enough was offered a starting spot for the tournament. The teams we faced were from Taiwan Phys. Ed., a school dedicated to athletics. The local rugby players are aboriginal Taiwanese and are built more like Polynesians rather than the Chinese. A large number of them represent the national 7's and 15's side. We won the first day 19-17 but lost in the final on Sunday 26-0.

Ball at the back of a scrum



Tap down from a line out



Tempers ran high at times.




Kicking to secure the win (I'm second on the right of the kicker)



2nd Place



Kiwi Bernie was nice enough to invite Kelly and I over after Saturday's match where we got to hang with his kids Jet and Emilene.





We even found ourselves at a house party by the end of the night. It was an American's house party, but none the less.



The weather has turned a bit here and we've been getting light rain. We've got tentative plans to hit the east coast next weekend. Beaches are suppose to be gorgeous and there's a marble gorge that I've been told is incredible.

Oh yeah. Testicles. We ate a chicken testicle. I don't know how I feel about that but then I think how Jeff Berman ate two and it doesn't make me feel so bad. Haha!!

Compai! ("Cheers" in Mandarin...pronounced com-pay)

Jake