Taipei

For Singapore's National Day, we decided to go to Taipei to visit Jimmy's sister, Tiffany.  Two days before we left, we were worried our flight would be canceled because the strongest Typhoon of the year was going to be hitting Taipei at the same time as our flight.  We ended up having a 6 hour delay but we still made it to Taipei.  Our landing was a little bumpy but not too bad.  As we drove to the hotel, we could see a lot of damage.  There were trees that had fallen over onto cars, street signs blown over and flooding.  We ate room service at the hotel when we got there because most restaurants were closed due to the weather.  We were still able to meet Tiffany and her friends for dinner that night which was nice.  The dinner was family style Chinese and I actually tried stinky tofu and intestines.  It wasn't terrible but it's not something I feel the need to eat again.  I really liked all of the other dishes.

Jimmy and I were going to walk around for a little bit after dinner but it was so windy that we decided to go back - we didn't want to take a chance of getting hit by any debris.

On Sunday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast of dumplings and went to a Temple.  We were surprised to see how much debris they had already cleared by Sunday morning.  Tiffany picked us up from our hotel and we went to lunch.  All of the food was delicious.  When we went to the parking lot after lunch, I saw that it wasn't a typical parking lot - there was actually an elevator system for the cars.  I know I won't do a good job of describing it but it definitely wasn't something I've seen in the US before.  After lunch we stopped to get dessert at Ice Monster where I got the Mango Milk Ice - so yummy!  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Tiffany's apartment.  

Later that night, Tiffany dropped us off at a night market so Jimmy could get a few of the dishes he was craving.  I got my scallion pancake so I was happy!

Since we had been to Taipei a few years ago, we hadn't planned on doing any sight seeing which was good since we wouldn't have been able to do much with the weather.  It was great being able to spend time with Tiffany and Jimmy was happy to get some of his favorite foods.

On Monday before we left, we were in a 7/11 and a woman came up to me and said "You are from Germany.  Go back to your country.  F*** you."  I was so shocked all I could think to say was "I'm not German" and then Jimmy and I proceeded to walk out of the store but she kept yelling at me.  I was so startled it had happened - after we left the store I kept checking over my shoulder to make sure she wasn't following us.  During our time in Asia, I've never had anyone say anything derogatory or mean spirited to me so it was quite a surprise.  I asked Jimmy why someone in Taiwan would have something against Germans and he had no idea.  Fortunately this is a rare case and most of the people we've encountered on our travels have been very friendly.