This past week and a half was pretty eventful. I hit up a couple night markets and shopping districts, went to a BJJ tournament, and found a few parks. Oh, and managed to get sick :/
I think it was around Thursday that I went to Rao He Night Market, one of the better known night markets in Taipei. Like many place I end up visiting here, I didn't find it on purpose. I was actually planning on going to a smaller night market, one that was closer to where I was meandering that night. After asking for directions, I ended up walking across town to Rao He, but not before wandering the underground market (no, not like the black market...it's just basically like a strip of underground area between a couple subway stations that have independent markets/shopping places). While I was making my way through the underground market, I stopped by a massage place....$100 (or, $3.30USD) for 10 minutes? Sure! I gave the lady my money, and said "press hard." Next thing I knew, some guy was digging his elbows into my rhomboids with a little more "oomph" than grace. He was making conversation about how he was going to visit California this summer, and how his eyesight wasn't great. After getting pummeled for 10 minutes, I declined his upsell for another 10 minutes, and thanked him for loosening up my neck/shoulders. He gave me his business card and encouraged me to come again. I looked at it.....and then at the sign on the wall...."Blind Massage"....great. That explained a lot.
Onto Rao He. I definitely should have gone with an empty stomach. They had a lot of my favorites there...taiwanese crepes (keh li bing), the black pepper beef bun thingies (hu jiao bing), oyster omelette pancake thingies (oh-ah jien), a new favorite bubble waffles, fruit snow/shaved ice (bao bing), and much, much more! They also had some games here and there...mostly carnival-esque; ring around the bottle neck, pop the balloons, etc. It was a good was a good way to spend a couple hours.
Friday, I dropped in on an 11am jits class that was mentioned to me the day before. Turns out, it was an advanced class. They let me stay, thankfully. 2 hours of drilling advanced techniques and movements! I'm grateful that they're letting me continue going to that class :) Loved it!
Sunday was the BJJ tournament. Taiwan BJJ (where I'm training) decided to hold an in-house tournament. All 3 TBJJ locations as well as another gym (Tough MMA) showed up with competitors. I think there were around 50-60 competitors, total. Not a lot compared to SoCal, but it was a good number. We round-robined it, so the tournament lasted a good 4 hours. Everything was done very officially, from the weigh ins, to the timing, and the refs. Thankfully, Makoto took a some time during a class (an entire hour, actually) to go over competition rules so we knew exactly what counted for points, advantages, DQ's, and the like. A very brief overview of a couple new rules were covered at the tournament before the matches started. Taiwan BJJ Taipei did really well, pulling off quite a few first places. I won't play the "shoulda/woulda/coulda game," but I wasn't one of the ppl who got first. Lesson learned: don't get caught in the hype; wasting adrenaline pre-match makes you gas out really quickly. Lost by 2 points. Gift-wrapped the other girl, though. That was cute.
Dinner was in Beitou at a hotsprings/resort. The owner of TBJJ was kind enough to put the proceeds from the tournament towards the dinner, so that made it a lot easier on our wallets (even though $300, or about $10USD is already a great deal on a tournament!). After all the food and excess beverages, we only had to chip in about $200 ($6.50USD) extra per person, making it a grand total of under $20 for round trip transportation, a tournament, dinner, and (for those who stayed) hot springs. Since it wasn't going to be the public hot springs and everyone was going to be segregated by gender (where everyone goes in their birthday suits)...and there were fewer women in our group staying for the hot springs than there knuckles I have on one finger, I decided to head out after dinner with a few of the people who had to go home because of early Monday morning responsibilities.
On my way back, the subway announced one of the stops as the Shilin Night Market, which is the largest night market in Taipei...and I hadn't gone there yet during this trip to Taiwan. So, just as the doors were going to close, I gazelle-leaped out of the subway car and made my way to the crowded streets. Navigating this night market by myself was a little different than what I remember the times I went with my mom. I actually had to remember my way back to the subway. This night market, instead of just being a one-dimentional row of booths, spanned a few square blocks (along with all the little side streets between), and a building or two. I didn't get to explore this one as much as I'd liked to (still hadn't showered, and was carrying a sweaty gi, among other things, in my very full backpack), so I'll have to go again (oh darn...hehe).
Monday, I decided to spend the afternoon at Wu Fen Pu Shopping District. It's this area where it's basically just....clothes shopping. A lot of the street vendors get their clothes from this area, so I thought I'd check it out. It was nearby Jits, so I thought I'd be able to hit up some nogi afterwards, or some KB. WFP turned out to be a lot bigger than I thought it was. I definitely didn't end up going to jits, or KB, so I hit up Rao He again on my way back to the subway. WFP had just about every style of clothing you could imagine, except for what I normally wear (which, as you all know, are just plain boot-cut jeans with a fitted t shirt). One thing to also keep in mind about Taiwan fashion.....you know how in the US, the mannequins are so small that even though the store workers take the smallest sizes and have to pin them on the mannequins to have them fit? Well, the Taiwanese just take regular sizes and put them on the mannequins...no pins required. shirts, pants, dresses, everything. It's normal to be mannequin-sized here. In fact, if you wear a medium or up (which, in the US, would be size 4 in jeans, or a small in shirts), then you are considered big, and will have a hard time finding form-fitting clothes that you can wear. Jeans/skirts/shorts, by the way, like their tops, are only sized by XS, S, M, and L. Since I actually have musculature (and an ass, thankyoutaekwondo, I have to wear at least a stretchy medium out here) Out of the entire district (probably had at least 300 stores), I only found one that had a medium. One store. and they only had one item....which was a jean skirt. Nobody carried larges. I didn't bring any bottoms for the summer weather, so I bought the skirt.
When I got home, I tried on my loot, per usual. This was my first encounter with quality control, or lack thereof. I tried to unbutton the skirt...the button wouldn't undo, and the skirt ripped a little. Hmm...so I just said screw that, and just slid the skirt on. Yay! It fit my butt! A little loose around the hips, but that's fine. Then I started to shimmy my way out....RRRRIIIIIPPPPPP!!!! ......oy.... you.have.got.to.be.kidding.me. Apparently it wasn't real denim. I've had t shirts that were harder to rip. Yea, so.....I got to take that skirt and pretend to be the incredible hulk :) Good use of the $190 ($6USD) I spent on it. Everything else was fine.
Wednesday, I decided to go to a park and check out the river. I ended up going to 6 different parks and a couple botanical gardens, hopping a couple fences, scaling a wall, walking about 30 yards barefoot on some really pointy rocks (voluntarily), and discovering a David Garrett concert, all while accumulating a couple giant blisters on the bottom of both feet. A couple of the parks were actually quite nice...one of them reminded me of a smaller version of Central Park in NYC. One thing I noticed, though, was the number of elderly people exercising. I don't mean running or climbing walls or anything. Just....moving. If anyone is wondering how asians (in general) look younger, live longer, are thinner, and healthier than most of the rest of the world....it's because they tend to stay active, no matter the age, and watch what they eat. I even saw someone who may have been in his 70's doing flips on a bar like my girlfriends and I did when we were in elementary school.
Ironically....I caught the latest cold that's been going around...hopefully it will only be another several hours before I'm healthy again. UFC is Sunday morning!! Going to the Brass Monkey to watch!
Stay active, my friends. Stay healthy :)
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Lessons learned
I learned a very important lesson the other day: when searching for a location of a business in Taipei, an address is absolutely necessary, especially when the business is of the non-mainstream type. Researching jits and kettlebell places online, the places claim they're a lot easier to find than they actually are. Apparently if a business wants to have any type of signage outside (including a painting on the window), they have to pay a pretty hefty tax, and for the non-mainstream stuff (read: a lot of the stuff i like), it's "not worth it." Long story short, I ended up walking around 20 miles on Friday, was late for the KB class (so I didn't get to partake), didn't find the other jits place, and didn't really accomplish much other than walking down a couple unfamiliar streets.
On the plus side, I found the MMA place by asking a mall info lady (may have made a contact through them), found a hidden gem of an alley market (sounds worse than it actually is...alley markets have a lot of small farmers with their fresh produce/livestock---a lot of the livestock are killed on spot, or for the seafoods, sold alive).
I stopped by homebase for a couple hours to grab a quick shower and put my feet up real quick before I headed out for a 4 hour jits session (ended up being only 2 because my back was acting up from the day before).
Saturday, I went to the Lantern Festival. It was completely not what I expected. I thought there were going to be tons of people with these giant paper lanterns that you write on and set free into the sky, like in the movies and what I saw on tv. Apparently that was at a different location, and they only did that once. The festival I went to was a plaza that was lined with big, shaped, hand-made lanterns of various shapes, sizes, and colors, made by kids from the schools, grades K-12 and a couple colleges/universities as well. Most of them were dragon-themed, being the year of the dragon. These lanterns were all entered in a contest, so if you picture something like the Grand Rapids Art Prize, or an outdoor art gallery that displayed only lanterns, that's kind of what it was like.
The closing ceremony was actually pretty weak. I was hoping there would be some cool show with acrobats and lights and people and just...something crazy. What I was presented with was a less than subpar (yea, I know) fountain show with a few fire balls, lasers and fireworks. The fountain at the MGM Grand is more entertaining.
Monday I checked out one of the local World Gyms. The World Gyms here are like the LA Fit/24 Hr Fit/Lifetime Fit in the US. So...a little pricey....$75USD/month. Plus registration fee. And no KB's. So I had to decline. The KB class is about $7USD per class, offered 3x/wk, so that seems more of a fit for me. We'll see after tomorrow's free KB class. I may have to resort to at-home workouts doing bodyweight stuff.
I joined a couple facebook groups for hiking and the like, so hopefully I'll get to see some nature pretty soon. I checked out some of the nightlife, and it seems as if there are many options for clubs. I might work up the courage to go to a couple of them, just to see what it's like. Just thinking about it, though, is already wearing me out! hahaa :)
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! In my case, it was "buy yourself a buncha delicious treats after rolling with a buncha sweaty dudes from all over the world" day.... :)
On the plus side, I found the MMA place by asking a mall info lady (may have made a contact through them), found a hidden gem of an alley market (sounds worse than it actually is...alley markets have a lot of small farmers with their fresh produce/livestock---a lot of the livestock are killed on spot, or for the seafoods, sold alive).
Saturday, I went to the Lantern Festival. It was completely not what I expected. I thought there were going to be tons of people with these giant paper lanterns that you write on and set free into the sky, like in the movies and what I saw on tv. Apparently that was at a different location, and they only did that once. The festival I went to was a plaza that was lined with big, shaped, hand-made lanterns of various shapes, sizes, and colors, made by kids from the schools, grades K-12 and a couple colleges/universities as well. Most of them were dragon-themed, being the year of the dragon. These lanterns were all entered in a contest, so if you picture something like the Grand Rapids Art Prize, or an outdoor art gallery that displayed only lanterns, that's kind of what it was like.
The closing ceremony was actually pretty weak. I was hoping there would be some cool show with acrobats and lights and people and just...something crazy. What I was presented with was a less than subpar (yea, I know) fountain show with a few fire balls, lasers and fireworks. The fountain at the MGM Grand is more entertaining.
Monday I checked out one of the local World Gyms. The World Gyms here are like the LA Fit/24 Hr Fit/Lifetime Fit in the US. So...a little pricey....$75USD/month. Plus registration fee. And no KB's. So I had to decline. The KB class is about $7USD per class, offered 3x/wk, so that seems more of a fit for me. We'll see after tomorrow's free KB class. I may have to resort to at-home workouts doing bodyweight stuff.
I joined a couple facebook groups for hiking and the like, so hopefully I'll get to see some nature pretty soon. I checked out some of the nightlife, and it seems as if there are many options for clubs. I might work up the courage to go to a couple of them, just to see what it's like. Just thinking about it, though, is already wearing me out! hahaa :)
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Greetings! Ketchup, Catsup, and a little intro...
I decided to create this blog for all of my friends who keep asking me to take pictures and tell them how Taiwan is....since I'll be here for 3.5 months...and Taiwan is freaking awesome, to say the least :) After a week here, I realized that merely posting pictures simply does not do this place justice, so I wanted a place to narrate my trip a little bit. This first blog has a lot of stuff I have to intro, so it will be longer than my other ones, so bear with me. Now, my lingual mandarin is fluent....but my literal chinese is probably comparable to that of a 2nd grader, at best. This blog, by the way, is also created on a Chinese format, so....navigating is a little tough for me. I hope it's in english for all of you!
This first blog is being written as I wait for my laundry to finish washing, so I can hang it dry before I head out for some night marketing :)
My first week here has mainly been just learning how the city is formatted, and getting settled. First things first, figuring out the subway/metro system. Pretty simplistic and very convenient. One thing I love about Taipei is that it's extremely easy to get around. Like any good major city, you don't need a car to live here, as public transportation beats any other major city I've visited before (including, but not limited to NYC, San Fran, Chicago, and DC). I bring a map with me wherever I go, so I can figure out where I am, and if I'm going the right direction, but I hope to one day not need it. The Chinese are very efficient - in both time and space, so there are lots of little nooks and crannies to be explored. Expect pictures of things like an entire store that is the size of an apartment bathroom.....literally 3'x5', or those hilarious "800 things, 3 families, 2 pets, and bag of groceries all on one moped." That last one isn't too literal, but you've seen what I'm talking about.
Second item of business...finding a jits gym and someplace to train kettle bells. A girl needs her "buh-jay-jay" (as pronounced by one Chris Catania) and some bell tossing while she gets her grub on, if ya know what I mean ;) I noticed very quickly (and this was even before I got here, since I did my research while I was still in the States) that BJJ, strength training, KB's, and anything beyond a regular gym is not very popular here...yet. MMA is more popular, and there're only maybe 4 or 5 places to train on this island. BJJ....apparently there's only a small handful of studios, mostly combined with the MMA, and all came from one studio: Taiwan BJJ. So naturally, that's where I decided to go. Plus, I can train there every day of the week if I want :) By the way, you'd think that having so little competition, prices would be super expensive (like I experienced while in DC...~$200-$250/month!!), but I was pleased to find out that Taiwan BJJ is only $2500NT a month, which is about $75USD. Since I'm a girl, they gave me a discount of $500, so it ended up being $60USD/mo. And, since I was only going to be here for about 3 months, he waived the registration fee of $1,500NT. Score :) The main instructor is Makoto Ogasawara...look him up. He has history. So far, I've only been to 2 classes (1 hour of instruction, 1 hour of rolling), and it's a lot of fun. There is every belt level there, and everyone's pretty cool. I am the only female, I think, but I haven't checked out the night classes (up to 4 hours!!), so there might be some there, although I highly doubt it, as I haven't seen any evidence of female jits-ers there. Plus, Taiwanese girls are too "delicate" to be rolling around on the ground with a bunch of sweaty guys, especially if they have to grow calluses on their fingers and get bruises all over their bodies. Contributes to Reason #42 why I will not end up with a Chinese/Taiwanese husband: I am too much of a tomboy.
Side note from the jits....because there are so many English-speaking foreigners there, my Chinese may not improve as much as I had hoped it would. We'll see, though.
Kettlebells....also hard to find. I found one place I have yet to check out because I actually overslept today. Formosa Fitness. They have private and group classes, but I don't think they'll let me throw bells around on my own. I might have to cave and do some group classes. We'll see tomorrow morning when I stop by. I got my cell phone up 'n working yesterday, so I can actually set an alarm to wake up. If that place doesn't work out, I may consider getting a regular gym membership (horrifying, yes, I know), or just get creative in my lovely condo with some bodyweight exercises.
Speaking of my condo...my aunt has graciously offered to house me for my stay (I also have a couple other options, but this might be my home base). I have to say, I'm spoiled just by being able to stay here. I'm on the 7th floor (I try to take the stairs up as much as I can, but once in a while, I have to take the elevator because they lock the doors to the upward stairs for safety) of a 12 story building called the "Metropolitan Mansion." I have concierge downstairs that greet me by name every time I enter and exit the building. If I enter through the back, the guy at the car gate opens up the gate (even though there's plenty of room for pedestrians to walk through), he gets out of his little booth, greets me by name, bows, and then radios the concierge inside that I'm coming in. I have an everything-proof front door (yes, even bomb-proof) with a zillion locks on it, and a newly remodeled everything. Cable TV is still up and running from the last renters, as is the phone, and I just got the internet set up a couple days ago. The bathrooms are awesome and also have this control panel with different "air" settings, where I can turn on a dehumidifier (it's humid here), various degrees of heat (so I don't get out of the shower into cold air), a setting for drying my clothes (it's typical in Taiwan to dry your clothes on a clothing line), and some other stuff I can't read. There's no dishwasher (normal in Taiwan), but there's a dish dryer that also kills bacteria. And a walk in closet that would allow me enough closet space for my actual wardrobe. 3 bedrooms, by the way, and lots of storage space (not that I need any of that, since I packed minimal items). So yes, I consider myself spoiled right now. And I'm quite enjoying it. The view is quite nice, too :)
Bomb-proof door
Food....soooo delicious :) It's hard to find food this delicious in the US. Everything is good. Yes, there are Mc Donalds, Subway, Burger King, and even Pizza Hut here, and they have some different items on the menu than the US versions, but seriously, why the heck would I want to eat that kind of food while I'm here (other than the fact that I don't even eat that crap in the US) when there are SOO many other delicious things to eat!! My first night here, my aunt and uncle took me out for hot pot. All-you-can-devour of fresh veggies, seafood, meats (mostly beef and lamb), fruits, and even desserts. I wanted to try one of everything, but since there was so much stuff, I obviously failed. That was about $14/person for dinner. Eat that, Hometown Buffet!! My second day here, my aunts took me out for sushi. We ordered 2 "samplers" (1 of which they shared, and the other they made me eat by myself), which included 7 or 8 giant pieces of SUPER fresh varied sashimi, roe salad, half a crab, soup, 4 other plates of stuff I can't even remember, a plate of super sweet seedless tangerine oranges and a small bowl of mung bean/barley soup for dessert. I didn't even eat everything because I was so full. Each sampler was $1200NT, or $36USD. If I were to get something comparable to that in Cali, I'd probably have to pay $50 or $60, at least, and not even get dessert. Oh, and the quality of sashimi......yea. Sushi in the US is ruined for me. Later in the week, I also ate a few of my favorite things, which included something I've actually dreamt about: Hujiao Bing, or "black pepper bun." It's basically super juicy beef with lots of black pepper and green onions rolled in a bun of flaky, non-oily, soft yet crunchy goodness, and coated with a heavy sprinkle of sesame seeds. They bake it by slapping each freshly made bun on the side of a kiln. Each bun is about the size of my fist. And only $45NT....$1.50USD. I have made it a point to only cook breakfast at home, and eat my other meals out. Also, for those of you who know about my turning Paleo/Primal.....yea...about that...hahaha! It's easy to eat Paleo here, but since there are so many good things that I haven't had in YEARS, I'm definitely enjoying myself (but not overdoing it). If you've ever had Taiwan breads, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, well, let me know, and I'll recommend some places near where you live so you have have a little taste of it! One can easily eat a different type of bread every single day for a year and not have a repeat. My joints hurt a little, and my energy isn't as high as it is when I'm strict Paleo, but I think it's worth a temporary indulgence. Breakfast remains strict Paleo, but that's about it. Later on, I might be able to have the self control to make more of my meals Paleo, but probably not for another few weeks.
This, by itself, would be enough of a reason to go to Taiwan!!
Not sure what this is called in English, but it's something traditionally eaten that goes with the Lantern Festival (one of the several holidays that celebrates the full moon). It's made of a mochi-like outside (without sugar), some type of filling (mine was peanut powder; other common ones are black sesame or red bean paste), and some type of soup (mine was a peanut soup, but normally it's just the water it's cooked in). Very delicious, but a little too sweet for my taste buds right now. My first time having it made fresh.
TV....well, let's just say it's a lot of repeats and infomercials. The only thing I really watch on TV is a little bit of the news in the morning, some movies (they have American movies, too), and MTV. MTV, by the way, SMOKES American MTV. No annoying shows like "Jersey Shore" or "Everybody Loves New York" (I mean, really, who watches that mind garbage anyway?). Remember back when MTV was actually GOOD and had nothing but music videos, music news, and a few commercials spattered here and there? That's how MTV is here. Except instead of the American ethnocentric mentality, Taiwan MTV includes music from Taiwan, USA, Korea, Japan, and occasionally some other countries. I get my Kpop, Cpop, and Jpop :)
I've also noticed that I forgot to pack "enough" clothes. I thought that I could just buy more clothes when I got here (seeing how things are so cheap here), but I forgot that I am considered an oversized asian. The typical asian female here is 5'2", 90 lbs, and has no muscle (read: pencil-thin limbs and no ass). I forgot that the last time I tried to find jeans here, everything was too short for me, and if I could fit my legs and ass into it, the waist was too big. Thankfully, I brought 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of courdoroys. I'll probably end up buying some skirts or shorts or something. Maybe summer dresses (shocking, isn't it?!?). Shoes will also probably be hard for me to find. I should have planned this out a little better. Maybe I can dress up my Cobians. I doubt they'd let me in some of the places with my Vibrams or Vivobarefoot. Tops may also pose a challenge to find. Though the trend is loose/flowy/bigger tops, it's not really my style. Not to mention, everything with words on it is in English, and spelled wrong (clearly labeling me a fob when I get back to the States). The trend for bottoms is either tights, pantyhose with designs on it, skinny jeans, or leggings. And boots. Obviously nothing I'm very interested in. Skirts/dresses for the summer it is!! :)
Since the air quality is pretty horrible here, I have also made it a point to wear makeup before I wander the streets, so as to protect my face. Many people here wear face masks (the result is that everyone kinda looks like they're a surgeon or has some type of communicable disease, but in reality, they're just trying to prevent spreading disease and lung cancer from air pollution), but my experience with wearing face masks left me super uncomfortable and hot, so I just breathe through my nose and let my natural filters (read: nose hairs) do the filtering for me.
Ok, that's it for now. 8:30pm, which is 4:30am PST, and my gi is done washing. Time to hang that thing up and go night marketing!!
This first blog is being written as I wait for my laundry to finish washing, so I can hang it dry before I head out for some night marketing :)
My first week here has mainly been just learning how the city is formatted, and getting settled. First things first, figuring out the subway/metro system. Pretty simplistic and very convenient. One thing I love about Taipei is that it's extremely easy to get around. Like any good major city, you don't need a car to live here, as public transportation beats any other major city I've visited before (including, but not limited to NYC, San Fran, Chicago, and DC). I bring a map with me wherever I go, so I can figure out where I am, and if I'm going the right direction, but I hope to one day not need it. The Chinese are very efficient - in both time and space, so there are lots of little nooks and crannies to be explored. Expect pictures of things like an entire store that is the size of an apartment bathroom.....literally 3'x5', or those hilarious "800 things, 3 families, 2 pets, and bag of groceries all on one moped." That last one isn't too literal, but you've seen what I'm talking about.
Second item of business...finding a jits gym and someplace to train kettle bells. A girl needs her "buh-jay-jay" (as pronounced by one Chris Catania) and some bell tossing while she gets her grub on, if ya know what I mean ;) I noticed very quickly (and this was even before I got here, since I did my research while I was still in the States) that BJJ, strength training, KB's, and anything beyond a regular gym is not very popular here...yet. MMA is more popular, and there're only maybe 4 or 5 places to train on this island. BJJ....apparently there's only a small handful of studios, mostly combined with the MMA, and all came from one studio: Taiwan BJJ. So naturally, that's where I decided to go. Plus, I can train there every day of the week if I want :) By the way, you'd think that having so little competition, prices would be super expensive (like I experienced while in DC...~$200-$250/month!!), but I was pleased to find out that Taiwan BJJ is only $2500NT a month, which is about $75USD. Since I'm a girl, they gave me a discount of $500, so it ended up being $60USD/mo. And, since I was only going to be here for about 3 months, he waived the registration fee of $1,500NT. Score :) The main instructor is Makoto Ogasawara...look him up. He has history. So far, I've only been to 2 classes (1 hour of instruction, 1 hour of rolling), and it's a lot of fun. There is every belt level there, and everyone's pretty cool. I am the only female, I think, but I haven't checked out the night classes (up to 4 hours!!), so there might be some there, although I highly doubt it, as I haven't seen any evidence of female jits-ers there. Plus, Taiwanese girls are too "delicate" to be rolling around on the ground with a bunch of sweaty guys, especially if they have to grow calluses on their fingers and get bruises all over their bodies. Contributes to Reason #42 why I will not end up with a Chinese/Taiwanese husband: I am too much of a tomboy.
Side note from the jits....because there are so many English-speaking foreigners there, my Chinese may not improve as much as I had hoped it would. We'll see, though.
Kettlebells....also hard to find. I found one place I have yet to check out because I actually overslept today. Formosa Fitness. They have private and group classes, but I don't think they'll let me throw bells around on my own. I might have to cave and do some group classes. We'll see tomorrow morning when I stop by. I got my cell phone up 'n working yesterday, so I can actually set an alarm to wake up. If that place doesn't work out, I may consider getting a regular gym membership (horrifying, yes, I know), or just get creative in my lovely condo with some bodyweight exercises.
Speaking of my condo...my aunt has graciously offered to house me for my stay (I also have a couple other options, but this might be my home base). I have to say, I'm spoiled just by being able to stay here. I'm on the 7th floor (I try to take the stairs up as much as I can, but once in a while, I have to take the elevator because they lock the doors to the upward stairs for safety) of a 12 story building called the "Metropolitan Mansion." I have concierge downstairs that greet me by name every time I enter and exit the building. If I enter through the back, the guy at the car gate opens up the gate (even though there's plenty of room for pedestrians to walk through), he gets out of his little booth, greets me by name, bows, and then radios the concierge inside that I'm coming in. I have an everything-proof front door (yes, even bomb-proof) with a zillion locks on it, and a newly remodeled everything. Cable TV is still up and running from the last renters, as is the phone, and I just got the internet set up a couple days ago. The bathrooms are awesome and also have this control panel with different "air" settings, where I can turn on a dehumidifier (it's humid here), various degrees of heat (so I don't get out of the shower into cold air), a setting for drying my clothes (it's typical in Taiwan to dry your clothes on a clothing line), and some other stuff I can't read. There's no dishwasher (normal in Taiwan), but there's a dish dryer that also kills bacteria. And a walk in closet that would allow me enough closet space for my actual wardrobe. 3 bedrooms, by the way, and lots of storage space (not that I need any of that, since I packed minimal items). So yes, I consider myself spoiled right now. And I'm quite enjoying it. The view is quite nice, too :)
Bomb-proof door
Food....soooo delicious :) It's hard to find food this delicious in the US. Everything is good. Yes, there are Mc Donalds, Subway, Burger King, and even Pizza Hut here, and they have some different items on the menu than the US versions, but seriously, why the heck would I want to eat that kind of food while I'm here (other than the fact that I don't even eat that crap in the US) when there are SOO many other delicious things to eat!! My first night here, my aunt and uncle took me out for hot pot. All-you-can-devour of fresh veggies, seafood, meats (mostly beef and lamb), fruits, and even desserts. I wanted to try one of everything, but since there was so much stuff, I obviously failed. That was about $14/person for dinner. Eat that, Hometown Buffet!! My second day here, my aunts took me out for sushi. We ordered 2 "samplers" (1 of which they shared, and the other they made me eat by myself), which included 7 or 8 giant pieces of SUPER fresh varied sashimi, roe salad, half a crab, soup, 4 other plates of stuff I can't even remember, a plate of super sweet seedless tangerine oranges and a small bowl of mung bean/barley soup for dessert. I didn't even eat everything because I was so full. Each sampler was $1200NT, or $36USD. If I were to get something comparable to that in Cali, I'd probably have to pay $50 or $60, at least, and not even get dessert. Oh, and the quality of sashimi......yea. Sushi in the US is ruined for me. Later in the week, I also ate a few of my favorite things, which included something I've actually dreamt about: Hujiao Bing, or "black pepper bun." It's basically super juicy beef with lots of black pepper and green onions rolled in a bun of flaky, non-oily, soft yet crunchy goodness, and coated with a heavy sprinkle of sesame seeds. They bake it by slapping each freshly made bun on the side of a kiln. Each bun is about the size of my fist. And only $45NT....$1.50USD. I have made it a point to only cook breakfast at home, and eat my other meals out. Also, for those of you who know about my turning Paleo/Primal.....yea...about that...hahaha! It's easy to eat Paleo here, but since there are so many good things that I haven't had in YEARS, I'm definitely enjoying myself (but not overdoing it). If you've ever had Taiwan breads, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, well, let me know, and I'll recommend some places near where you live so you have have a little taste of it! One can easily eat a different type of bread every single day for a year and not have a repeat. My joints hurt a little, and my energy isn't as high as it is when I'm strict Paleo, but I think it's worth a temporary indulgence. Breakfast remains strict Paleo, but that's about it. Later on, I might be able to have the self control to make more of my meals Paleo, but probably not for another few weeks. 
This, by itself, would be enough of a reason to go to Taiwan!!
Not sure what this is called in English, but it's something traditionally eaten that goes with the Lantern Festival (one of the several holidays that celebrates the full moon). It's made of a mochi-like outside (without sugar), some type of filling (mine was peanut powder; other common ones are black sesame or red bean paste), and some type of soup (mine was a peanut soup, but normally it's just the water it's cooked in). Very delicious, but a little too sweet for my taste buds right now. My first time having it made fresh.I've also noticed that I forgot to pack "enough" clothes. I thought that I could just buy more clothes when I got here (seeing how things are so cheap here), but I forgot that I am considered an oversized asian. The typical asian female here is 5'2", 90 lbs, and has no muscle (read: pencil-thin limbs and no ass). I forgot that the last time I tried to find jeans here, everything was too short for me, and if I could fit my legs and ass into it, the waist was too big. Thankfully, I brought 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of courdoroys. I'll probably end up buying some skirts or shorts or something. Maybe summer dresses (shocking, isn't it?!?). Shoes will also probably be hard for me to find. I should have planned this out a little better. Maybe I can dress up my Cobians. I doubt they'd let me in some of the places with my Vibrams or Vivobarefoot. Tops may also pose a challenge to find. Though the trend is loose/flowy/bigger tops, it's not really my style. Not to mention, everything with words on it is in English, and spelled wrong (clearly labeling me a fob when I get back to the States). The trend for bottoms is either tights, pantyhose with designs on it, skinny jeans, or leggings. And boots. Obviously nothing I'm very interested in. Skirts/dresses for the summer it is!! :)
Since the air quality is pretty horrible here, I have also made it a point to wear makeup before I wander the streets, so as to protect my face. Many people here wear face masks (the result is that everyone kinda looks like they're a surgeon or has some type of communicable disease, but in reality, they're just trying to prevent spreading disease and lung cancer from air pollution), but my experience with wearing face masks left me super uncomfortable and hot, so I just breathe through my nose and let my natural filters (read: nose hairs) do the filtering for me.
Ok, that's it for now. 8:30pm, which is 4:30am PST, and my gi is done washing. Time to hang that thing up and go night marketing!!
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