Yang Mi Shan (Zhen De!) and Other Exploits.

The rain finally let up on Saturday. I woke up and immediately decided I wanted to climb Yang Mi Shan. Yang Mi Shan is the mountain me and the guys went to on Man Day but failed to climb because we got there too late. It's also where we met that random old dude at that random old temple. Remember?

So Romin, Ayumi, Tony, Nancy, Jenn and I made our way up to Yang Mi Shan. I had learned from the mistakes made on Man Day so we did not get lost this time. If you want to climb Yang Mi Shan, you simply take the 109(?) bus from Gong Guan all the way to the last stop, which is Yang Mi Shan. It's about a 45 minute bus ride but it takes you straight to the base of the long, long stairs up to the tallest peak in Yang Mi Shan park, which is Mt. Cising. Yang Mi Shan is the name of the surrounding park, not the mountain itself, and Mt. Cising is the tallest mountain in Taipei county.

The climb was long and very, very tiring. I think it took us about 2 hours to the top, but we took several breaks because though the first half is pretty straight forward, the second half is steep, narrow and twisty. Definitely wear shoes; if you wear sandals for this climb, you'll deeply regret it. And prepare to be sore for at least a few days. Still, the view up there is TOTALLY WORTH IT, and absolutely amazing. Just be warned that it tends to be very cloudy, and cold, up there, so bring a jacket because you'll be sweaty when you get to the top, and it'll be very cold and windy up there.

Up the steps we go. There are a lot of them.

You are rewarded with this view. Pretty freakin' spectacular.

Yang Mi Shan is next to Xinbeitou, which is famous for their hot springs. So we decided after our arduous and tiring climb up to the top of the mountain, we should go hot springing to relax! The 619 or Xiao 9 bus from Yang Mi Shan takes you straight to the Xinbeitou MRT station, and about 5 minutes away from the MRT station is a public hot spring. Public = you don't have to be naked. It's kind of gross sharing hot springs with literally a hundred other old people but a hot spring is a hot spring and it was still ridiculously comfortable.

I would have snapped a picture of how the hot springs look inside but who wants to see a bunch of half naked old people lounging around?

This hot spring had four levels of hotness. Yours truly only made it to the second hottest hot spring. I tried going into the hottest one; when I stepped in, it was so hot it actually felt cold for the first few seconds. I went in up to my thigh, at which point I really couldn't stand it, and then I jumped out. My legs were red and burning up to my thigh for an entire day. I've been in hot springs in Taiwan, China and Japan, but this is the hottest one I have ever experienced. Only old veteran hot springers were in there, and they all came out red as beets, no joke.

We got back just in time to get ready for Tiff's birthday clubbing outing. I know what you're thinking: climbing a mountain, not the smartest thing to do before clubbing, right? Fortunately, legs dont' really get sore from climbing a mountain until the day after, so clubbing was ok. Plus, clubbing was free! Luxy was better this time around but that probably has something to do with the fact that my stomach wasn't acting up this time around too.

Sunday, Nancy, Casey, Jenn and I went back up to Jiufen (the first mountain we climbed, and the place with ridiculously good food vendors) for the sole purpose of eating food. Unfortunately when we got up there, it was raining. Casey has never been to Jiufen so Nancy took him around, while Jenn and I made a beeline for the tea place. Jiufen was PACKED, it was seriously like sardines in that alleyway! You couldn't move at all, it felt like the mosh pit of a rock concert or something. Fortunately we got to the tea place in due time, and it was SO NICE! The atmosphere was awesome; the seats were those high booths with mats you sit on. Inside the tea place there was a stream with fish in it, and bridges going over the stream. It was a sweet place and unfortunately I didn't bring my camera on that rainy day, but we will be going again.

Our time there was short because we had to make it back to Taipei for Tiffany's birthday dinner. The line for the bus back to Taipei stretched around street corner, so we lined up, but we saw a Taipei bus pass by with no people. We realized that the line was for not only the Taipei bus, but ALL the buses, and that Taiwanese people were simply too nice to cut in front of people not using the bus that arrived. However, we are not Taiwanese people, so we cut in front of the line and waved goodbye to Jiufen.

Tiff's dinner was at the Taipei film museum, which is a Euro-style house renovated and turned into a museum. Everything in there is modern and cool looking, and quirky. The restaurant has cool seats and a movie playing in the background. The pathway to the bathroom features a ceiling that gets progressively lower and lower; you can't walk through it straight without hitting your head. The atmosphere was awesome, and the place was beautiful, but the food was meh, and the service was definitely pretty bad (which is to say, it was about American restaurant quality). Still, made for some nice pictures:

Everyone outside the front entrance of the house. It's been a while since we got so many people out together, the unfortunate side effect of clique-ing.

I was decidedly sick after coming back from Tiff's birthday dinner: it was cold at the top of the mountain, and it was cold after clubbing. Winter has definitely come in Taipei, and my only bringing summer clothes to Taiwan is really kicking me in the balls right about now. Monday, I decided I definitely, definitely needed some winter clothes. Buying clothes in Taiwan isn't as cheap as I remember it being, which is why I haven't bought anything clothes here yet. I was expecting to come back with a new suitcase full of clothes but stuff here is America priced, so why shop here when I can go to H&M? However, yesterday for some odd, inspired reason, EVERYTHING was on sale. Every store I walked into had some sort of crazy 40-50% sale. I spent 100$ US on Monday, but that bought me a new pair of pants, a button up shirt, an argyle sweater, and a SWEET jacket. The jacket was especially made of win: it was originally 70 dollars with a 40% discount, but the people took 60% off on accident so I ended up paying 30 bucks for it. Win!

Sales here come with a catch, which is that all the stores are oddly reminiscent of Black Friday. Especially the Sogo's in Taiwan, which are like American malls on crack. People mulling about EVERYWHERE, pushing and making their way to sales. The food court where we had dinner was nuts; people fighting over chairs and stuff. Intense.

Today was chill day. I'm still sick and my 3rd class teacher made me go home because apparently I looked it. I stayed in and watched TV shows under my blanket. Me, Nancy and Brian went to this American diner place (called The Diner) which is the closest to home food as I have had in a while. It made me realize how much I miss home. Nancy had french toast, Brian had pancakes, I had an egg benedict, realized I still had a hankering for American food, and ordered another breakfast burrito. And they were actually really good; better than Denny's! If ever you're in Taiwan and you have a hankering for a good ol' American breakfast, or good ol' American food in general (this place also sells hamburgers and PASTRAMI!!!), then The Diner is the place to go.

I'll be dreaming about this french toast tonight, it was so freaking good.

Time to study! Until next time, zai jian!

-Justin