Thursday, June 16, 2011

Zongzi, Hiking and Sunsets

 

It sure was an eventful time in Taiwan during the last two weeks. They were also overshadowed by some personal problems at home but I decided to seize the chance of being in Taiwan and dealing with them at an appropriate time. I caught a cold at the same time marking a down-point in the culture-shock cycle.

But I was willing to fight any slight touch of depression by going out with my roomy on Monday, June 4, to eat the traditional food ‘Zong zi’ (leaf-wrapped rice), which the locals eat only during dragon boat festival. It was a lot of sticky rice and surprisingly unspectacular although I found it quite tasty.

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Later that day I did not want to go back to my room so I asked Lisan whether she’d like to go hiking. After some initial hesitation she was all for it and even recommended a mountain to which she would always go as a child, Guanying Shan. We simply took her scooter and wound up the streets almost to the top. From there we went on a sweaty hike all the way to the top. We were rewarded by great scenery and a million-dollar view of the sunset over Danshui.

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Taipei at night

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Taipei

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After the hike I went to see her family before we headed out to play pool.

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