since my return, i’ve been thinking about how to give lip (text?) service to my incredible travels in taiwan without resorting to my usual laborious and long-winded approach of breaking things down day by day. it’s just boring for all parties involved.

so maybe an okay strategy is to craft a lazy travelogue based on themes…

that said, here are photos of fun, big things. i know, what a specific, categorical assignment, huh?

definitely a highlight of the trip is popping my mister donut cherry. peg has enthusiastically championed this japanese chain since her japan trip a few years ago. there are a whole bunch in taiwan, and i wonder when it’ll land in the states. think krispy kreme but with a strong, stylish, clever brand and donuts that are a million times better and perfect (i apologize for the obvious analogy)

here i am with wasabi. it’s quite fitting. can you imagine if it was real?! we were in alishan national forest, in a region known for its wasabi and tea, amongst other natural resource goodies. it was a magical place, almost like something out of spirited away

this is the national museum of marine biology and aquarium. i really loved it. well done, classy, organized, with at least one cool restaurant. this is where i saw the whale shark (YES YES YES) and beluga. here’s a cool fountain that kids could play in. the huge whales reminded me a bit of pinocchio

the kiddie playground had these awesome sculptures of some of my fave animals, so of course i forced my sister to snap away!

you’ll probably never see me revealing this much ghostly pallored skin ever in person, but i’m a sloppy lazy tourist when it comes to dressing like i care (comfort comes first and taiwan is humid!)

at taroko gorge (home of endless marble and granite), large bronze sculptures of mecha-like insects? yes! i must…

(the more i look at these pix the more i realize how mortified i am with my bad travel outfits. oh well)

this is somewhere on the way to taitung. all along the road were stalls and shops selling this one fruit — the sugar apple — apparently a point of pride and specialty in the area. we stopped at one place, and it was cute how everyone was marveling at the bushels of sugar apples. if you’re wondering, it tastes like all the great things about great fruits, with a creamy texture. very good. if you’ve had cherimoya/custard apples (which are available here), they’re similar

did you know skeletor has a timeshare in taiwan? who knew?! this was in a beach resort-ish area, facing the ocean

that’s it for now. thanks for reading!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 2:52 pm and is filed under asia, bizarre, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.