{"id":24,"date":"2011-03-13T00:47:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T00:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.josephweekly.com\/?p=24"},"modified":"2011-03-13T00:47:07","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T00:47:07","slug":"taipei-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.josephweekly.com\/?p=24","title":{"rendered":"Taipei Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me start by saying that we were unaffected by the tsunami.\u00a0 There was a warning here but nothing came of it besides some large waves.\u00a0 I\u2019m saddened by the events in Japan, but I\u2019m thankful it\u2019s not as bad as it could have been.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m having a good time in Taipei, and it feels like I\u2019ve been here much longer than a week.\u00a0 I know I will be more than happy to be back home eating some Huey\u2019s and Chick-Fil-A by the end of this trip.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m extraordinarily fortunate to be writing this post from my hotel room with Taipei 101 literally towering over me.\u00a0 It\u2019s across the street and I can see it from my 18th floor room.\u00a0 It\u2019s quite a site.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve consumed a lot of Chinese cuisine this week including dumplings, hot pot, and beef noodle.\u00a0 The dumplings were by far my favorite with hot pot a close second.\u00a0 My coworkers and I have used the weekend to eat some American chains like Macaroni Grill and Outback.\u00a0 Both were delicious.<\/p>\n

Saturday a coworker took us out to the Yehliu Geopark<\/a>.\u00a0 It was one of the most amazing\u00a0 things I\u2019ve ever seen.\u00a0 The rock formations make you think you\u2019re in another world.\u00a0 When we returned to Taipei we explored the Jade Market.\u00a0 They had some beautiful stuff but I was unable to determine what was real so I only bought some little wooden zodiac figures.\u00a0 I busted out my negotiation skills and knocked 5 bucks off the total price.\u00a0 In other words, I was taken to town by an elderly Taiwanese lady.\u00a0 I paid twice as much as I wanted for them.<\/p>\n

Today I went to the National Palace Museum and had an exceptional guided tour (in English of course).\u00a0 If you ever have a chance to go make sure you sign-up for the free tour.\u00a0 It adds a lot to the experience.\u00a0 Sunday morning was crowed with Chinese tourists.\u00a0 There were literally hundreds of them clustered in tour groups.\u00a0 They moved through the museum in mass armed with headsets and following whichever flag belonged to their tour guide.<\/p>\n

For lunch we came back to the Xinyi district.\u00a0 Afterward I went off to explore a bookstore I had read about.\u00a0 It\u2019s the Eslite flagship store and it pretty much blew me away.\u00a0 I was unaware that the first couple of floors would be a shopping mall filled with some of the coolest stuff ever.\u00a0 The bookstore itself took up several floors and was a combination of Davis-Kidd and the MoMa Design Store in NYC.\u00a0 I anticipate bankrupting myself there over the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

During my explorations I stumbled across a large department store that had a MUJI in the basement.\u00a0 I picked up several items including some slippers.\u00a0 As I was checking out the clerk asked if I had checked the size.\u00a0 Slightly offended I said \u201cyes\u201d, but that really meant \u201cNo, I just bought the largest size you have.\u201d\u00a0 Thankfully I\u2019m Asian sized so I can buy clothes here.<\/p>\n

In the weeks ahead I plan on adventuring out more to see some memorials and perhaps a temple or two.\u00a0 Work should be great this week and I look forward to acquainting myself with more of the city.<\/p>\n

Posted in Uncategorized<\/a> | Comments Off<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me start by saying that we were unaffected by the tsunami.\u00a0 There was a warning here but nothing came of it besides some large waves.\u00a0 I\u2019m saddened by the events in Japan, but I\u2019m thankful it\u2019s not as bad as it could have been. I\u2019m having a good time in Taipei, and it feels… <\/p>\n

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