Free day!

Yesterday was the one and only day during the BACT program that we had entirely free from scheduled classes or activities.  Did this mean that is was a lazy and relaxing day... of course not!  While I did get started a little bit later than usual (9:30am instead of 8am), it was packed full of activity.

Rebecca from NTU was in charge of planning the itinerary for me, Corinne, and Stephanie.  The four of us began by taking the MRT to Longshan temple.  Since it was Sunday, the temple was crowded with people bearing offerings of food, flowers, and incense.  The temple itself was ornately carved, painted, and foiled with gold.

After visiting the temple, we took a look around at the traditional market that was across the street.  Rebecca bought a bunch of lychees at the market for us to try.  The texture was similar to a grape, but they had a red skin that peeled off quite easily, and a smooth dark pit in the center.  I thought they tasted really good, but they did get my fingers sticky :)  The box on the right in the center is the lychees.

Following our trip to the market, we got back on the MRT and rode to Din Tai Fung.  Din Tai Fung is a world famous, extremely popular dumpling restaurant.  It was the only Asian restaurant that made the New York Times top ten restaurants list in 1993.  It was hands-down the best food I have eaten since I've been in Taiwan (and one of the best things I have eaten ever.)  When you order, the food is served course by course and is shared family style (like the traditional Chinese round table). The following is a photo documentary of the meal.

Original dumplings (pork filling)

Ginger with soy sauce and vinegar for dipping the dumplings

Tomato, egg and tofu soup

Vegetable dumplings

Shrimp fried rice

Red bean dumplings

I thought everything was incredible, but I will give a few comments.  Of the dumplings, I think the original was my favorite (they were all good).  I was surprised by the soup because I was thinking tomato based soup like we have in the states, but this was delicious.  I loved everything about it, but it was especially noteworthy because this was the first tofu that I actually thought tasted good (and still is the only tofu that I have really enjoyed).  Red bean is interesting.  It is like refried beans with sugar added.  It is commonly used in deserts in Taiwan, but this was the first time I had it.  It was different, but I thought it was pretty good.

Once we were too stuffed to eat any more, we left to make our way to Taipei 101 to meet up with another one of our BACT friends named Ivy.  We decided to walk even thought it was probably ten city blocks.  On the way we passed through Daan Park, which is the largest green space in Taipei.  We also passed a large flower market that is held under on of the overpasses.  We were walking through the Xinyi district, which is the wealthiest part of Taipei.  Storefronts were made of granite and high end shopping and dining predominated the strip.  As I mentioned before, our destination was Taipei 101.  This is the second tallest building in the world (it was first for about four years before the building in Dubai topped it) and it has the fastest elevator in the world.  It's top speed is 1010 m/s, and it only takes 37 seconds to get from the 5th floor to the 89th floor.  The cabin is pressurized, but it still made my ears pop when we went up.  The majority of the building is office space, but the 88th, 89th, and 91st floors are used for public observation.  In addition to a fantastic view, the 89th floor houses a gift shop, concessions, and changing exhibitions.  The current display is about the Olympic Games.  The 88th floor is where guests may view the giant damper ball that serves as a shock absorber for the building in the event of an earthquake.  In addition to the ball, there was a museum exhibit of carved gemstone corral on this floor.  The 91st floor was the outdoor observation deck.  We spent about two hours up at the top, and I took a ridiculous number of pictures.

 After we finished at Taipei 101, we took an hour long trip on the MRT to the costal town of Danshui to see the sunset.  There is a bridge that offers a great view as the sun sets over the ocean, so naturally a lot of people gathered there to take a ton of pictures.

We also met up with almost everyone in BACT.  When the sky show was over, we took a ferry over to the Old Street side of Danshui.  When I say ferry, I'm sure most people's mental image is of a pretty flat, not very vast vessel, but in Taiwan that's not the case.  This ferry was more like a yacht, and it really moved! The "ferry" ride was actually my favorite part of Danshui. Old Street is like a lot of the local attractions in Taiwan...carny food central.  I tried a couple of the local offerings, including starfruit juice and green bean noodle tofu.  Those two were both just so-so in my book.  We also went through a traditional Chinese pastry shop that had a line of samples.  Everything I tried there was delicious.  After grazing on the street, we went to a seafood restaurant and shared a number of dishes.  The muscles with basil and fried shrimp were really good.  One of the funniest things was that they served the shrimp drizzled with mayonnaise and sprinkles.  I'd also like to note that I am amazed by how much the Chinese and Taiwanese students can eat.  By the time all four of us American girls are full, they are just getting warmed up!  It is incredible!

When we finished eating, we walked the street a bit more and then got back on the MRT.  By the time we took the hour long trip back to NTU it was 11pm.  It was a long and tiring day, but I had a ton of fun.