#2012.08.12

The dorms are slowly thinning out of people, and so Micki, Yuehning (next-door neighbor of Micki and me), and I went to the Taipei Underground Mall. We visited the anime-esque part of the mall, yet again. Seeing as we were all running low on luggage space, we didn't get much.

We did stop by a Hi-Mart to pick up some snacks, though! We also messed with the freezer a bit. Credit to Yuehning.

We went to another underground mall, where we got some fruit and coffee bread. This is where the "did I eat poison today?" thing comes in... but more on that in the next post. 

We still had so much time that on our way back, we went to Shilin night market. Again. I love this place.

This time, though, we went to the food court, which is underground now. I was surprised that it was relatively airy; I was expecting it to be stuffy and overwhelming. Though the air conditioners were on full blast, because of all of the people in close proximity, it was still pretty hot. The skillets were blazing, as well. I could barely move, but I got a few pictures in. We ordered some oyster pancake and stinky tofu (I had the oyster omelette, Micki and Yuehning ate the stinky tofu. I hate stinky tofu).

We headed back upstairs (it was completely packed underground and there was actually a queue for the tables) and ate our food on a bench. The oyster omelette was good, though incredibly oily (the oil seeped through a wax-coated paper box and got all over my shopping bags. It was unpleasant, to say the least) and starchy. Once we were full, we went to wander the smaller streets in Shilin night market. I didn't get much, considering I'm still going to be here for another two weeks, but it was fun (though bittersweet) spending limited time with my remaining friends. They got some ice cream at a place called 老地方 (Old Place; I thought this name was incredibly cheesy, but I felt foolish afterwards when I noticed a lot of them everywhere throughout Taipei).

We also saw a parrot. We wanted to try to touch it, but were scared that it would bite us. I don't know, are parrots aggressive? Their beaks look like they can do some serious harm.

At this point, we were just trying to kill time. There weren't many more places we could go, so we took our time to make our ways back to the dorm. 

When we finally made it back, I realized that the huge drawings/posters of superheros were taken down. A counselor, Kiling, drew them and I never got a chance to take pictures while they were still up on the wall. So here they are on the ground.

Since rooms were relatively empty, the counselors moved students to one hallway (so all the rooms that had students in them were full). I can't say I like my new dorm room, but I don't have to deal with it for much longer. Micki and I are miraculously in the same room. We stuggled to finish her fruit (mangoes in passionfruit juice) before heading off to bed.