Taiwanese Wedding Banquet

I had a night of chilling with my good friends, Gaz, Perry, Renee and Zach, with a couple of drams of whisky on Saturday evening. Sunday, was an early rise to take Perry to the Bus station. Then Zach and I had a wander around, purchased some breakfast and fruit. A nice quiet Sunday morning.

Then I started to get ready, as I had my friend Naomi's wedding banquet to attend. It was amazing! I have included lots of photo's of the food. It only lasted two hours, very quick. I liked that very much.

You witness the exchange of rings. What is interesting is that for the woman the ring is on the right hand, for the man, on the left. The woman puts the ring half way down the mans finger. To do so is to show him disrespect, because you are saying you are the dominant character in the relationship...and that is not the way it is supposed to be.

Me, Minerva, Naomi, Vickie, Bella (friends and co-workers)


Family pictures being taken. Everyone looked so serious. But it is a serious occassion :)


The happy couple go to each table and say thank you (with a toast) for attending. What is interesting is that the table can make any kind of request to the couple and they have to oblige the guests. Apparently, at some weddings, when the elder generations are not there, things can get a bit rowdy. It was all very nice at Naomi's wedding though. There were a couple of times the couple had to kiss...but it made everyone cheer. So that was great!


The first dish was two sushi dishes. I hadn't taken photo's at that point...but when I realised it was a never ending line of tasty food...I had to take pictures.


Fish. In the background is Chicken and Sharkfin soup. The sharkfin is regarded as a delicacy in Chinese food. So at special occassions it calls for something to have some kind of special ingredient.




The long things are prawns in thin noodles. They were delicious!

Christmas Cheer!

I had friends to stay on Saturday. We went to the local store Carrefore to get some ingredients for dessert...which I was not making :D Whilst walking past the Christmas aisle, I had the overwhelming urge to purchase a Christmas tree.

I got so excited. Christmas is my favourite time of year!
Upon our return to my apartment my friend Zach and I started to unpack all the stuff. After we assembled the tree we decided that we needed more lights...so one more quick trip to Carrefour was in order. We had a quick scoot through the doors as it was closing time. Then when we got back...decorating fun! We opted for a silver/blue theme, which I must say is rather nice (if I do say so myself).


Once it was finished I put my Christmas cards nearby and my Christmas package under the tree :D

Tasty Pearl Milk Tea

There is the most lovely Taiwanese vendor man that sells various snacks just down the street from my apartment. Tonight I bought a pearl milk tea and a hot dog like thingy. I have included pictures.

Pearl Milk Tea (or Bubble tea) originated in Taiwan. I have had a couple of bad ones here but the little man I get mine from makes an amazing Pearl Milk Tea. It is basically milk tea (either green or red) with bobo balls (made from a mixture of tapioca and carrageenan powder).



A co-worker of mine gave me flat cake today. I've had one before. I'm not quite sure what's in it, but it rather tasty. It has pepper and spices on it. I need to find out more about the foods I keep getting.



Inside the flat cake


Hotdog thingy from the vendor.

Nightmarket discovery

A co-worker took me to check out the local night market tonight. It was great. I'm always swamped with work and tired afterwards, so I never went along until now. It's not the biggest night market but by Nantou standards it's pretty large. It is only on Wednesdays. I'll totally be checking it out next week. There is an awesome sushi stall. Every piece is NT$10, you pick and choose what you want. I'm looking forward to that :D

I also found out that there is a KTV here. If you don't know what that is. Taiwan LOVES karaoke. KTV is the place you go to, hire a room, and sing till your heart is content...or until your throat gives out :D

My friend Molly also bought me some 'squid balls' to try. I have included a picture below. They were delicious! They were a dough type ball with squid and veg inside. The topping was Taiwanese mayonnaise (this is much sweeter than mayo back home), with powdered seaweed and dried onion (I think) on top.

Here is a picture of the squid balls.




Here is a close up of the inside of one of the squid balls.



One day, on the way to work, I saw a vendor selling these flat cake thingys. I thought they looked so cool because they are purple! I'm told it is sweet potato with some kind of colouring from a vegetable (I can't remember what gives it the colour). It was sweet on the outside because it had been fried with sugar, but once you bit into it, it wasn't sweet. It was quite a strange taste sensation, but still a pleasant one.

Weekend laughs

This past weekend was a great one!

I really needed to feel like I had time off work, and fortunately it did feel like that by Monday morning. I worked late on Saturday, until around 6pm. I then went home to change and headed out to Taichung for a comedy improv by the 'Taichung Improv Group' night hosted at 'The Londoner'. It was great fun. It was sort of like viewing an episode of 'Who's line is it anyway', but it was still great fun! I most definitely needed the laugh. It was also really cheap as well. Which is always awesome!

I spent the night at my friend Renee's, as she live in Taichung. Sunday was spent first by replenishing energy by late breakfast at the 'Early Bird Cafe'. It is a trully great place to get food. Some of it is rather curious to a Brit as it's all in an American style. One example...the meaning of 'French Toast' is completely different. Theirs has lots of sugar and cream. My idea of it involves ketchup! Yum :D

Later on, Renee and I drove through to ChangHua to meet with those who went ahead on the train. We then grabbed a bus to Lugang to do some shopping. It was great, I picked up lots of bits and bobs for my family for Christmas.

Then back to ChangHua to do a bit more shopping then grab food.

Now I just need to make sure I post the package in time to get there for it :D But I still have a couple more things I want to get.

I drive back to Nantou, and this time I managed the direct route! :D So I have successfully located the route home! I always managed the same route to ChangHua but I never did for returning to Nantou. All the signs can be a tad confusing!

Now, back to a busy week. I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm having friends visit me and I have my good friend Naomi's wedding banquet on Sunday. I'm so looking forward to that!

Excitement and Expectation!

I received a package from my family today. It was such a great surprise! I did not expect it so soon. It has birthday and Christmas presents in it. I have opened a separate envelope that came with it so I could open my Christmas cards.

I figured that it is the 1st December today so it is classed as advent :) I am keeping the package for Christmas. It is going to be tough. I really want to open it. Watch this space, we'll see if I hold out :)

Wish me luck!

Kaohsiung Fun

My weekend break to break to Kaohsiung was wonderful. I ran to catch a bus from the Ubus stand Sat evening, then waited around the High Speed Rail in Taichung for an hour. I bumped into an old Language Exchange partner there and we chatted for a bit. It was great! The train journey was short, which was awesome! Then I hopped on the MRT and met up with my friends. Sunday was spent being shown the highlights of Kaohsiung. It was a fantastic day. Here are a few shots of the sights.

A picture of the bridge right next to where you can get the ferry for NT$15 to Chi-Chin (or Cijin) Island, very cheap! You get the MRT to Yanchengpu (the second last stop on the orange line) in the direction of Sizihwan. The MRT system in Kaohsiung is fantastic. So convenient. It's all numbered. So even if you pick up a Chinese guide, which I did, all you need is to know which number you need and off you go. It even has handy pictures on it so you can navigate. It is also handy having a Chinese guide to point at when you inevitably hop in a cab.




Fishermen on the dock.




The sea in the harbor, what a lovely shade. Tis a shame about the yucky oil from the ferry getting into it.




The beach on Chi-Chin Island.




A beautiful shore view.




A view of the lighthouse on the top of Chi-Chin Island.








A view of the width of Chi-Chin Island at Kaohsiung Harbor.





The lighthouse at Kaohsiung Harbor on the top of Chi-Chin Island.



The next few pictures are of Temples around Lotus Lake. You can get the MRT to Zoying (No. 16) on the red line. Going in the direction to Gangshan South. Also, Zoying is the stop you get off at for the high speed rail (said as Goutiay Kaohsiung jang). It is literally above the MRT. I can't remember if it was this stop, but 'Ecological district' rings a bell. That is stop 15. On the map 16 is closer to the lake, but 15 may be easier to navigate from.


The famous Pagoda at Lotus Lake. It is a slightly different style to the others. The roof sweeps up more. I am going to try and find out more info on it.




View of Lotus Lake.




Dragon Tiger Towers.



View of the path to the Dragon Tiger Towers. It zig zags so that ghosts can't follow your path. You walk in through the dragon side then out of the tiger. Those who do are said to gain good luck. I did it :)



Inside the dragon, the path to the pagoda.



When you emerge from the dragon you are led to the long walkway to the pagoda. It is very pretty at night when the lights in the lanterns are on.




View of the Dragon Tiger Towers at dusk.




The Warrior Emperor at the Temple of the Emperor of Dark Heaven Temple.




The Emperor of Dark Heaven Temple.



This place was cool. There were two machines which had fortunes. I tried the first one to the right, which took my NT$10 but the little lady in the machine did not give me my fortune. So I tried the second one, which did. I'm going to get ask a friend what is says, because naturally, it's all in Chinese :D


The famous Pagoda lit up at night. Very beautiful. Alas, my camera does not do it justice.