dosn't help that all the hotels we've stayed at so far have NO gyms.
anyway taiwan is AMAZING. i'm having an awesome time-- apart from the madwomen attacking us on the streets, the horrible monster of a throat trying to rip out my larynx, and the various money rip offs. I've finally figured out something rather amusing-- my fmaily doesn't like to spend money, but they sure as heck like to WASTE it. today we hopped off on a one-day tour of taiwan and bought like 300 dollars' worth of pineapple tarts and blew 60 dollars on towels at a hot spring like wth. oh but seriously the kicker was this tea place that we went to. i have to admit, the tea was very very very good, and i'm as much a sucker for green tea as any girl, but 200 bucks for green tea powder?!?!
as i sat there listening to the man vent his spiel and sell his gimcracks i had this complete sense of deja vu. replace "green tea powder" with "ginseng powder" and "egg yolks" with "egg whites" etc and suddenly we'd be back in korea like 3 years ago where my mum happily spent 2.5k on ginseng powder and gel or whatever the hell it was. that was 2.5k usd, wham, bam, thank you ma'am. i waggled my face and eyebrows madly at my parents today and we almost got out of there unscathed, but then my sister had a pang of guilt because the "tea teacher" had been so very earnest and sincere in giving his talk on all the wonderful properties of his teas and powders and had given us like free packets of tea for answering his questions or for slurping tea the loudest or something. no one else on the tour bought anything, so they felt even worse and decided to show their support.
with 200 bucks. on a canister of green tea powder. whoo-ee.
i just shook my head in sheer resignation, but as i stepped out of the tea room i found myself not so much resigned at their willingness to purchase as at my willingness to disbelieve. some things need magic in life, not my curious brand of disinterested cynicism shielded by a front of politeness. perhaps it was true-- they gave us 5-dollar packets of tea in return for a 200-dollar purchase, but we were paying as much for charm and service and in a way out of a sort of goodness of the heart, a goodness and simplicity of wonder at the world that is absent in mine. i couldn't help but think that i would a very good stereotype of a lawyer-- heartless, gutless, spineless, blah blah blah.
BLEH.
today dawned freezing as we woke in new-old unfamiliar rooms over danshui, having watched the sunset from fisherman's wharf after a bracing boat ride (which i loved, stretching my hands out into the spray of the speedboat's wake and exulting in the chill of the water on my skin. those waves were wonderful!). shivering in our cable-knit sweaters, caps pulled low and hoodies pulled high, we breakfasted on mos burgers before rushing to catch trains back to ximen for the tour. and what a tour it was! i've always always adored long long road journeys-- which is why i prefer the bus to mrt, even in sg. but apart from the winding wending trails of the journey, there was also the marvel of the sea at yeh liu, where freakish weather had driven the waves to an abnormal high as they crashed against potholes and rocks in the driving drizzle and the sub-10degree winds. the confluence of two winds over the pacific oceans-- what a sight. i have a few pictures, and i'll happily put them on as soon as i can actually find my cable. but you had to be there, watching the lonely profile of the queen's head rock as she stared out to the wild, wild, tempestuous sea, waiting and looking for someone never coming home, waiting as the sun and winds and rains sapped her strenth and waited to snap her neck and end her vigil.
after that we sojourned to the hot springs where i nearly died-- not of mortification as one would think (we used 2-person rooms la, so i guess it was ok haha and anyway the water was murky with sulphur) but from sheer giddiness. both my sister and i nearly fainted because we happily forgot to replace the spring waters with COLD water rather than broiling ourselves throughout, and i suspect some part of it was due to our mutual anemia (bleh. side-effects of vegetarianism). haha wandering how xf fared in japan's springs.
i've just been clambering about taiwan eating and feasting and everything these days. but results are out tmr. sigh. don't want to think about it.
ok. 1.15am. time to sleeeeeeeeep :) STILL haven't found xf's rectangular mirror!
and i like airline food!!! hohohoh