Tea, friends and lots of yummy food...

Well my second day here was decidedly nicer than my first. I had a bad migraine coming off the plane which didn't allow me to do much. Anyway feeling much better today and with only a little bit of jet lag! My accommodations in Taibei are very minimal but clean and comfortable. It took a little bit of searching to find it though as the Taipei Hostel is tucked a away back in an ally. you can see the sign for it here in this picture to the right, it's up on this dilapidated old apartment building.



My room is rather small, it's about as big as the picture makes it look, but it has a nice little open veranda outside, you can see the view from it in the pictures below












It's rained here both days in the afternoon, probably as much rain in two days as we've had in the Missoula in the last month, it nuts. I think Taipei gets something like 17 inches of rain in June alone. You can kind of see it in this picture here.




Today I mostly just explored the area surrounding my hotel some and bought a few thing I needed. There are MRT stations all over the city that connect the underground rail system, which is cheap and fast. However it seems like it is just one gigantic underground mall connected by trains. I swear there was a shopping center at most of the stations I visited today. I guess it was good for buying some extra rain gear.



Here's a shot of one of the mall
corridors as well as a case of
some rather strange looking food.








Later on in the day I went to some absolutely excellent vegetarian restaurants, I'll get some pictures of them later as I'm sure I'll be back. However the highlight of the day was the Wisteria Tea House which is hands down the nicest classiest place I've ever had tea! The old style architecture sticks out immediately from the business of the Taipei streets. And as you enter you're greeted by a lush garden complete with a pond full of koi.






You can see a view looking out onto the street here.











Inside there is an area with tatami mats and one with tables and chairs. I went with the tatamis, it seemed much more atmospheric.



And of course we can't forget the tea.



I also may have made a couple new friends here. One guy just came in and sat down and started talking with me, he was very friendly, in fact most everyone here is usually quite exceptionally friendly. A lady at the table across from me also struck up a short conversation with me and gave me here e-mail, so I might have a friend to some me around Taipei! We'll just have to see...

At any rate I'm very tired and it's getting late so I'll wrap it up now but hopefully I'll have more tomorrow. I'm thinking about going to the national palace museum tomorrow, which has one of the largest and best collections of Chinese art and history in the world.

再見！
Nate