Lost in Translation: My trip to Taipei Day 1.

So Friday afternoon I took a taxi to Taichung's high speed rail station in the Wuri District. It was a half hour trip, and cost me less than 20 dollars. Once I arrived at the station, I was as thankful as ever to Taiwan's hospitality. All around were signs in English as well as Chinese. The ticket agent spoke English and was able to not only assist me with getting my ticket for the trip to Taipei but also one for the trip home and directed me to my platform. Once I got up there I was struck by the amazing view as the platform was a raised one showing off the nearby countryside.

View from the platform

The train arrived precisely on time and was quickly loaded and we were on our way. The train I found out on the way home hits speeds of about 277 kph (roughly 172mph for Americans). It's wicked fast and a very smooth ride. Actually you really don't feel like you're moving at all... well if it wasn't for the scenery speeding by.
I arrived in Taipei about an hour after I left Taichung, the trip took less than half the time it would have taken if I had taken the regular train or the bus. Of course it had decided to start raining while I was traveling, something which would set the tone for the rest of my trip. The taxi driver was nice and helpful... although he smelled terribly of betel nut (not something uncommon with taxi drivers). Betel nut is this nut that people (mainly men) chew, kind of like tobacco only smells better a little. Anyway after he got turned around I arrived at my hotel. My hotel was actually kind of difficult to find. It was the 3rd floor above a series of shops. So in order to get there, I first had to find the elevator which I then took to my hotel. The staff at King Plaza was very nice and most spoke some English. I was quickly given a key to my room and sent off to get settled in. My room to say the least was small but it was nice and I was not planning on hanging out in it much. In order to get the lights to work though I discovered I had to place the card attached to my key into a slot by the door. This let the room know someone was there and that I was allowed to have power. The room also came with a massage chair which I made of use of Saturday when I returned from my touring.

My bed... in true Taiwan fashion it was hard as a rock.

Oh great massage chair, how I love thee.


It had a tub!!!

After settling in I decided to explore the immediate vicinity as it had stopped raining. Therefore I grabbed my stuff and off I went. I managed to find one of my desired destinations without even trying. I found Dihua Street first. Dihua street is home to traditional shops filled with all sorts of goodies that I could not even begin to name. The smell was fascinating and the items within the shops were equally as interesting.

I also found DaDaodong warf. Something I didn't even know I wanted to see. It was a small pier with ferries and all sorts of ship like things. It wasn't too busy as it was still threatening to rain but there were a lot of people out taking pictures of the storm.
After the warf, I headed back to my hotel attempting to locate some food along the way. The issue was finding someplace with a picture menu that I could point to should they not know any English. Eventually I stumbled by accident on a Vietnamese place off a side road. It was delicious. I had something similar to a spring roll only deep fried with this awesome dipping sauce. It was fabulous. I returned to my hotel after planning on looking up things on my tablet to make sure I knew where I was going. That plan lasted all of a half an hour when I discovered that Ningxia Night market was extremely close to where I was staying. So I headed out again and found the market (it was only a block away). It was so different from the one I'd been to in Taichung. For starters it was smaller, it also had some fun carnival games at the front of it for kids and adults to play. For the first night, I walked the streets trying some chicken on a stick and getting myself some wax apples. I also stopped to play one of the carnival games. The goal was to catch shrimp on a hook. I stunk. I think I broke like 10 strings. But because I was having so much fun and drawing a bit of a crowd the guy let me keep going. Eventually I caught 3 shrimp. I was so proud. After catching the shrimp they were skewered and cooked. I was then given the shrimp heads and all to chow down on. It was interesting attempting to dehead them when they were so hot but I managed. I think they were the best shrimp I've ever eaten.