#2012.08.20

I have been spending the past 8 weeks without any family and so you can probably imagine that I miss them pretty dearly... so I was really happy when Steven, my brother, finally arrived in Taiwan!

He's staying with my cousin in Taoyuan (about an hour and a half away) and he came down to Nanshijiao today so Joanna and I could hang out with him.

Because he was hungry, we went right away to a tonkatsu place in 忠孝復興/Zhongxiao Fuxing.

It was good, but pretty expensive (about 300 NT?). Of course, it's more expensive because this place has unlimited miso soup and rice! Too bad I don't like miso soup that much and I was so full that I ate barely half. Whoops.

Afterwards, we just walked around SOGO and then went to Ximending.

Nothing really exciting, but I did see a cat. Yay, cats!

We also got Starbucks. While looking at the menu, I saw the weirdest thing...

It was some... frappuccino. It was called Hojicha Earl Grey Tea Cream Jelly (or something of the sort). I was so intrigued that I got it just to try it. Starbucks describes it as...

A unique combination and an unexpected blend of east meets west. The toasty and creaminess of Hojicha (a gently roasted Japanese green tea) is well balanced with the addition of refreshing, floral and aromatic Earl Grey tea jelly.

I wish I could say the same, because I found it to be terrible. It was just not a good mix. Well, at least I tried it!

(It even looks unappealing.)

We decided to go to Shilin next, even though Joanna and Steven were quite tired... C'mon, guys! Back in camp, we had went out for 12 hours straight on 3 hours of sleep! Well, then again, that's not very healthy.

On the way out I saw that Taiwan has a Chili's! I've never been to Chili's, but cool!

Of course, we went for the handrolls. Again.

They're only 60 NT each and so good! Quite filling with the protein as well. The owner really is generous with the salmon!

Since we're basically done with shopping, we really didn't do that much at Shilin and just walked around. Overall, it was a fun day though!

We headed home early where I planned to rest... until Joanna's uncles convinced me to go up to a nearby mountain to look at the nighttime scenery. Well, I guess I can ride a moped one more time before I leave...

WELL, I forgot I haven't ridden one for years. Not going to lie, I was pretty scared on that moped and was grabbing on for dear life. Last time I was on one, I was probably some fearless 7-year-old, but now, I'm pretty scared. I got used to it after about 5 minutes but wow, I'm not sure how people ride those around every day. I kind of forgot that you just sit on it, and that's literally it. (No buckles, no backrest, nothing.)

Once we got to the mountain too, I was totally duped. We had to practically hike up the mountain to get to the temple near the top where a lot of other people were sightseeing. It was really airy and nice up there, but because of the walk, sweat was coming down my face and my back... it was not comfortable, especially considering my calves hurt easily when walking uphill and I was already tired to begin with.

Worth it, though.

The artwork in temples is just astounding. These are little statues carved out of the stone on the stairs:

The thing is, there's a LOT of these... maybe a hundred or two. There's so much detail to take in at every corner it's impossible to take in all at once. For this reason, I like visiting temples. While other may find it boring, I find it really beautiful. Just let me wander for a while and let me soak in the architecture and sheer talent in the place, and I'll be good.