2 more days!

Sorry for the lack of blogging recently but I've been feeling slightly lazy as well as busy. 我最近也好像都沒有寫中文 - 的確變懶也忙. There's been something going on everyday and I've also gotten some exercise in as the weather has warmed up. The weekend was quite busy, meeting up with old friends (yes I have some) and catching up. They returned to Taiwan to study and I really admire them for that. 我最近跟幾位高中同學見面. 這些朋友回台灣讀書其實我蠻欣賞ㄉ. To be honest, one of my biggest fears is moving back to Taiwan (if that were to ever happen). I know everyone can get accustomed to a new place after a few months or maybe years, but if I were to come back, it would be challenging and add a lot of pressure on me. I don't think I'll grow and mature as much as I could if I were on my own elsewhere. I digress. My classmates are well adjusted to life here in Taipei and they seem to be loving getting in touch with their roots while getting a great education.

As always, it's been a food-ful few days too. I had wonderful meals with my friends, which consisted of Japanese lunch, a western brunch, and an all you can eat sukiyaki. On Monday, my sister treated me to Shintori, this high end Japanese restaurant. Man I did a lot of eating.

In other upcoming news and the title of this entry, I'm leaving for my 19 day trip to South East Asia! Everything is booked and I just have to apply for a visa and confirm a flight with one hotel. So here is my itinerary for those who are curious:

(I should've labeled the locations on the map but now I'm too lazy)

1. Singapore 新加坡
2. Bintan, Indonesia 印尼
3. Penang, Malaysia 馬來西亞
4. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
5. Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei 芠萊
6. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7. Hanoi, Vietnam 越南
8. Halong Bay, Vietnam
9. Siem Reap, Cambodia 柬埔寨

I've been busy preparing things and looking up things to do in these places. It's going to be a pretty long trip but I'm excited to see these places! I was deciding whether to go to Europe or South East Asia for my graduation trip but I think I made the right decision with SE Asia. It's unlikely that I'll be updating once I'm gone so I shall try to blog tomorrow before my trip!

une semaine!

This week has gone by so fast and I don't even know what I do most of the days...I just remember eating a lot. Today, had an early lunch at 鼎泰豐!! It was so delicious and the food I had kept me full until 7 pm!

 The fish dumplings. so good! 

 To be honest, I liked the fish dumplings better than the  小籠包 (xiao long bao)

noodles in a nice and light chicken soup :)

After lunch I had my hair appointment which took a long time as well. Many customers came and left during the time I was there. It was quite enjoyable though because my hairdresser, Jason, was very nice and we chatted for the four hours I was there. He was quite meticulous and taught the younger girls how to do things very patiently. The straightening turned out well and my hair is no longer poof (thank god). I'm going back in March to get it dyed (but also because I want to see Jason again haha).

Grainy...took it with my sister's shitty camera. 

Met up with the sister afterwards and had dinner with the parents! That's really my day, and not in a nutshell either. My mom is leaving to the south of Taiwan tomorrow a bit earlier before Chinese New Year so I'll be all alone!

This cute retriever who sits outside of a restaurant to draw customers (mostly girls)

The salad at dinner...there was more but I was too busy eating...

Day 3 - eat shop eat groove eat shop eat

Yes...today was a day of eating and fruitless shopping with my sister. Did some window shopping at Mitsukoshi department store, looking for a nice winter coat and a pair of riding boots. The clothes were just really untasteful and I couldn't find anything I really liked. Shoes - overwhelming. Too many styles all clustered in a small square footage. I'm going to have to take my time with the shoes.

After a lunch at...Ajisen ramen (blah did not come all this way to eat this), which was unbeknown to me until we sat down and I saw the logo on the menu, went  to the Taipei Cultural Center to attend a free jazz concert. The description called it "French gypsy jazz", which is somewhat vague. It wasn't until they started that I knew that it was django - named after the founder of the style - Django Reinhardt, who himself was a gypsy of sorts growing up. I really do enjoy this style and I remembered the amazing performance I saw at the Vancouver Jazz Festival by Van Django. There were a variety of people who showed up to the performance, although there were many seniors (I think the Cultural Center was more like a seniors community center). There was a very supportive and enthusiastic uncle in the audience who clapped the loudest and was yelling "Bravo!" and "Encore" after each song. Yes, he yelled encore after each song. I really did enjoy this performance because as the band pointed out, there is a lack of a django band presence in Taiwan that are Taiwanese.



Headed over to Taipei main station to meet up with the parents at this new-ish mall to walk around and have some dinner. My dad really wanted to check out this new hotel next door, Palais de Chine. It was really beautifully designed inside. Afterwards, just window shopped and had some decent Thai food for dinner!

Now, I'm home. Showered. Brushed. Watching the American Idol equivalent. There's this really cute mixed competitor, Anthony Neely, singing Jason Mraz's "Lucky". Oh my he is really good looking and tall! I shall leave you with photos of him...as I did not bring my camera out with me today. Will borrow my sister's camera tomorrow when I head out!