Wed Mar 30th

What to say? The weather has been good, if a bit muggy. Warm, but I think I'm used to it now.
On Saturday, Aaron and I and his two friends, Phoebe and Stacey, went to Cijin Island. I had rented a scooter on this day, so it was my first trip. The traffic on a scooter is as bad as I thought with little or no regard for the people around you. I curse....loudly, honk my horn and basically let people know that I'm not happy that they can't drive. Or, at least not drive the way that I want them to....
Cijin Island is an island in the harbour that has a real cool market and you can walk to the beach and run your toes in the sand. Very nice. Got to see all kinds of different things at the market, and the girls had me try many different things. I quite enjoyed it. We went by all these booths that were selling snacks. They called it beer food. Looked like tortilla chips to me.....until I tried it. Ugh. It was made out of fish and not crunchy.
But, once I figured out that EVERYTHING is made out of fish I was able to appreciate the different things a little more. They also dry some type of fish, grind it into a fine powder and use it for soups (I think) etc. Some of these had a very nice taste. I didn't buy anything. Oh wait. I found popcorn and bought that. Aaron bought peanuts.
We had a seafood dinner there that was fabulous. Here, in Taiwan, all types of seafood is very inexpensive and readily available. Fish is the game of the day, every day. I'm not hating this.
So, we got this fish and had it steamed. They serve it to you whole and it was delicious. I ate the eye. That's what they do, so I did it. It had no taste and was hard as a stone in the middle. At least I did it.
Later that day we went and bought my new camera. Stacey did some excellent haggling for me and got the price knocked down over $500NT. And, I got a bunch of free little things in there, too. I was happy with that.
The girls then came back to Aaron's and we cooked dinner for them. I made a ceasar salad and Aaron made some awesome chicken sandwiches. I think they were both happy to be eating "Western" food. Both the girls have lived outside of Taiwan, so are very familiar with our foods, etc.
On Sunday, Aaron and I went to the zoo. More importantly, we got to try out my new camera!
The zoo was pretty good. They had some animals that are indigenous to Taiwan and they were cool to see. The day was actually quite cool , only 15 degrees, so the animals seemed to be fairly animated. We killed the battery and took hundreds of photos.
This night, I made spaghetti for dinner. We couldn't find ground beef, so we used ground pork. Still tasted good. Blake, Aaron's roommate, had some with us and both the guys ate very large plates. Again, Aaron and I LOVE the food here, but it's nice to have something western for a change.
Yesterday I went up to Tainan City, which is the oldest city in Taiwan. My Lonely Planet guide had a walking tour of 12 temples, so I pretty much just followed that. Best of all, I only got lost once! Right at the end, too. I was dog tired and just wanted to get to the train. I turned right, when I should have turned left and ended up not at the train station.
Now that I have all these temples under my belt, I'm done with temples. I remember it was like that with the cathedrals and churches in Europe. Once you've seen some, you're done. They are beautiful, don't get me wrong, but because I don't truly know the significance of one god to the next, they don't really mean anything. 
I did find a street vendor that was selling dumplings, so I had that for dinner. Again, very much like dim sum. Kari, you would LOVE the food here! I like that the vendors are inexpensive and good and fresh. Aaron has told me that the turn over in food is so great you'll never get anything that has been sitting for a while and possibly going bad. This has been my experience to date. Funny, but I wouldn't eat food at a street vendor in Mexico, but here it is the way to go.
While I'm walking about, I am getting stared at. Naturally. Not only am I white with blonde hair, I'm also 6' tall. I think they're pretty used to the white, but the height is what gets them. Yesterday, I saw a couple staring at me so I said hello. And the man smiled and said "So tall!". I agreed and carried on my way. I am tall in Canadian standards, here I'm a freaking giant! Oh wait, in Canada I'm pretty much a freaking giant, too...lol.
When I see people staring, I always smile and say hello, in Chinese. They always smile back and say hello. I think that my best defence it to just grab the bull by the horns and "own" it. I have to thank my friend, Joni, for this. I was quite nervous about being so different here and she just told me to stand up and own it. So, I do and it's working well.
That's about it for now. This weekend, Aaron and I are hoping to to to Taipei. However, it is a national holiday this weekend, so travel may be out of the question as the trains may be booked already. I'll just havee to wait and see.
Aaron's birthday is tomorrow and he's having a dinner tomorrow night which I will be going to. Hopefully, I don't have to foot the bill! On the Friday night he has booked a private room, or something, at one of his hangouts for drinking and dancing and whatnot. I'm not invited to that soiree! Can you believe it? I can't decide if I should feel crushed, or what.....