Taiwan 台灣 2008 年

without further hesitation, let’s just get thing started.

LAX

ready for sleep

bimbimbop on a plane?! freakin amazing.

might as well start the trip right

her new best friend, rachel

transfer in tokyo

hi2u!

narita airport is for smokers

mm…curry and ramen

ARRIVAL IN TAIWAN

our hotel room:

after almost 24 hours of travel, instead of sleeping…we do the next best thing

our beloved darts bar

annie got a bullseye…like the EXACT middle dot

not sober and w/ a giant christmas tree

tree love

his first convenient store experience

the next morning:

水煎包

walking to our old dorm 國青宿舍

ooo yay, the building is close to finished

on the rooftop!

at the VERY top (look at how small annie is!)

scary climb down

apparently it looks like we’re from the 70′s

forest behind 台大

the plane

james trying to get into the girls dorm (see the security?)

how about a closer look….(barbed wire and broken glass ftw)

new thing in front of the library 圖書館

it’s called a share house

and you can draw in it!

no porn please

that’s supposed to be CA…but the general consensus believes it’s a sock

ya!

ximen 西門丁

james feels at home

omg shoes

and as many of you knew…i was in BAD need of a haircut

with our hairdresser, peggy (it was costume day at the salon….don’t ask, i don’t even know)

the luxy special

our new hair!

we fit in now

oh yes

the stinky tofu! 臭豆腐

as is customary, we have to take sticker pictures after the haircut

wes’s bday party @ Luxy

start the night out right because who wants to pay for drinks inside the club, seriously?

oh how i’ve missed them

pahah

what a bum

his first experience with THE FRIED LADY

is that a deep fried ritz cracker?

lunch the next day….UGH SO TASTY

@ CKS 中正紀念堂

it’s reopened!

ooo pretty

sitting with all the old men at 西門

mmm…bbq green onions wrapped in pork

we took a side trip to the southern part of taiwan…gaoxiong 高雄 and kending 墾丁

on the HSR (high speed rail)

with our personal driver and tour guide (he was so cool)

on the way to 墾丁

while we were going more south, it just got windier

rawr

so clear outside

we wished we could have swam here :\

looks like a gorilla’s head!

cute seats

ugh so nice

: )

an AMAZING meal

best clam soup

on the way to the lighthouse

ya!

we like these : )

safest walkway in the world

so peaceful

it doesn’t look that bad…but it was like a 15~20ft drop

the cave of mystery

most southern tip of taiwan

it’s where 3 oceans meet..so it is VERY VERY VERY windy 風很大!

best go karting in the world!

so much fun

some crazy new mall in 高雄

the inside

some of the best shrimp i’ve ever had!

our hotel room

at some british building?

chiang kai shek sat there!

creepiest aquarium ever

these things were seriously over 20 feet long

a little creeped out

cool bridge

james looks like an old man

i liked the reflection

famous 高雄 pagoda’s

rawr

our return to taipei!

our new hostel room…very small i might add, hahaha

good ol’ fashion degenerate drinking

ghetto

who is this creepy homeless lady?!

it took james 2 hours to finish that beast on the right

back at fried lady

chicken hearts and string beans….UGHH

next day: our old alleyway : )

best 排骨飯 on the planet

xmas eve @ club wax! (guys – $10: all you can drink, girls $FREE: all you can drink)

i love taiwan.

floor dancing

wooo, good night!

going back to the 24H 豆漿 place

KTV for xmas

lol @ angela

am i sexual?

we thought it’d be funny if the MRT got so crowded that james didn’t notice we got out…

haha

xmas dinner at mcD’s

his transportation

next day: the 101

yay!

our minitrip to taichung 台中 to visit ivy!

she drives!

er?

mammoth museum

i think he wanted to play

some plant center

super nice area

don’t go chasing these

peace with the giant bee

night market in 台中

so tasty

thai banana pancake

back to taipei…

best duck soup on the planet

yum

coffee break

eating at the best stinky tofu stand in taipei

some MRT antics

protect them lungs

i’m a G

another night at the darts bar

he stole an ornament and we met some cool kids

annie and i took another side trip to hualien 花蓮 to visit her grandpa and relatives

took the normal train this time

at her uncles hot pot place (非常好吃!!)

new baby cousin!

qtpie

walking to her grandpa’s house

down the street where annie was raised

new years!!!

again with the drinking outside

my personal cup holder

new years love

at our ghetto new years bar

the proposal

she won

boom! hi2u 2009

let the eating begin

back at 豆漿

then more fried lady

i think they were all from south africa?

@ family mart for more drinks

she just HAD to try these (apparently they were horrible…but she still finished both of them!)

淡水 with vivian!

tasty bag of crabs

sparklers to set the mood

gotta keep the ears warm

better watch your back

hookah bar w/ sunge

ooo pretty : )

drunken shrimp time!

kung pao stinky tofu, beetle nut plant and some beef

so basically they get live shrimp, put them in sake and let them drink it up so they aren’t so…agile…then you just pop their heads off and eat them. i could only eat one, but annie and james loved them!! i was watching our videos from this and when i was peeling mine, the tail was still moving -_-

you can see them on the right

then off to hot pot for the start of angela’s 24h bday! 火鍋 <3

motorcycle gang

lol

creepy stalker

next day: queens head and keelung 基隆!

slr army

northern taiwan

that’s not the queens head

i like this pic

rock tripods ftw

woo go me!

james, wes and i wanted to climb this mountain for the view

it was pretty damn nice

bridge of destiny

THE QUEENS HEAD

isn’t as big as we thought it would be..

but we still liked it!

like hollywood?

基隆夜市

i couldn’t even imagine how one would eat one of these

mmmm

hrm?

our favorite coat

streetside sashimi that didn’t make anyone sick!

on our way back to taipei

rest time

then off to primo!! this was our table (w/ bottle service and everything!)

btw — annie, james and i had to leave taipei by 6am to catch our 9am flight back home to the states

i’m just gonna throw up a bunch of pictures from the night!

for nancy

my angelar

my kaka : )

with my loves

happy 24th!

we basically partied until around 4am…and by that time, my camera batteries were completely drained so everything that happened after that is sort of a blur (hah!) but all i know is that we ate some more 豆漿, stumbled back into our hostel around 5:30am, took a shower, got into a taxi and went to the airport by 6am.  i once swore that i would never drink heavily before flying internationaly but here i was again -_-  it wasn’t that bad, i basically remember waking up in tokyo feeling like hell but after a while felt a little better   this is the only picture we have going home:

HAH…he had to stand up on that little platform while they searched him.  oh james.

well that’s it!  there has got to be over 1000+ pictures we took from the trip so i’m sure there are some that i’ve missed. but all in all, i think this post should give you guys a better insight as to what we actually did over there (as opposed to the 324890 albums on facebook)!!  i must say that it’s nice to be back at home but in all honesty, our hearts are still in taiwan.  i couldn’t have asked for a better trip.  thanks to angela, wes and francesca…our beloved EAP lovers who will forever be the coolest people on the planet.  also, thanks to annie, wes and james because some of the pictures posted up here were theirs : )  and to taiwan — we may be gone now…BUT WE’LL BE BACK…relatively soon, i might add