Eating Snake Alley

Maybe we were inspired by our recent trip to the zoo, but we ate some weird-ass stuff tonight and a lot of it was yummy. This was all at the hands of our landlords/neighbors, who lived in the U.S. so they speak English really well. It's been really great getting to know them and I think they're getting a kick out of introducing us to lots of Taiwanesey things.


When we first moved in, Christine brought over a bunch of "dragon eyes" (sound good?) for us to try. She told us that Taiwan has a new fruit in season every month and that she'd bring us some to try each month. So, we've joined a fruit-of-the-month club... cool! The dragon eyes tasted a lot like lychee to me, with a hard black walnut-type pit in the center. Very tasty- the bunch didn't last long.


On Saturday night we had supper at Samuel and Christine's and they ordered in a feast of local foods... there were a lot of fishy options (we are on an island after all), but the soup, chicken and rice were very good. So tonight, they decided they were taking us to the Snake Alley Night Market. On the way to the market they drove me to the school that I start working at on Wednesday, which was awesome of them because I don't know how I'd ever have found the place without them! When we got to the market we thought we were just going to try the snake- and don't ask me why we decided that would be a good idea- but they were running from stall to stall picking out things for us to taste. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take out my camera at the first place we went to, where we had a thick bowl of rice cake that I really enjoyed. It was kind of like bread pudding with some pork and gravy in it. There was a fish ball soup that was a bit too fishy for my tastes, but Mel thought it was good.


Next we tried "stinky tofu"(picture above), which I'd read about before coming here. It didn't smell as bad as I thought it might... it was kind of a funky cheese smell that we had actually smelled before- we just didn't realize what we were smelling. The tofu was fried and cut into bite-sized triangles with garlic, chili, soy sauce and Taiwanese kimchi. It was alright, but it really just took on the flavor of the dipping sauce and after a few servings I started to taste the smell :P


Next we tried some hot rice cakes topped with peanut and poppy seed. I tried the peanut one and it was really good- not as dense as some rice cakes I'd had before. I forgot to take a picture of some fried sweet potato balls that we also had... they were really good. I thought it was just like eating a timbit. Mel described them as donut meets french fry.


Of course, we didn't have time to eat everything we wanted to, but I know that we'll be back to try the "castrated chicken", as seen above. Samuel said it's called "castrated chicken" because it is served with everything but the you-know-what.


Aaaaand if you're still hungry for some you-know-what, here they are! Chicken testicles for sale. Yummy.


Frogs on ice!


This seems pretty tame in comparison to everything else, but those are pigs feet and tails in the above picture. I've had pigs feet before and they aren't too bad, you just have to watch out for the toes.


So, yeah we did try the snake soup! To enter the restaurant we passed by some cages with huge snakes inside, and a bunch of bunny and rat cages as well. I wonder what they were for? From the menu, we opted for the "deluxe set", which consisted of a bowl of snake soup, snake oil pills, and shots of liquor with snake bile, snake blood, snake sperm, snake venom, and snake urine. Mel and I split a serving while Nareesa braved all of the shots herself. We did the bigger red shot of snake blood first, then the other ones followed in some order that was supposed to be "good for health" or "good for skin" but in my opinion was just for "a good story".


The shots went down relatively easily... I definitely prefer shooting snake venom over shooting tequila, for example. The soup was not quite as great. The broth didn't have a lot of flavor and the snake meat, while flakey like chicken, was also tasteless and absolutely full of small little bones. I can't really believe that I ate it!! I totally put my mind somewhere else while I was eating. When we'd tried it all, I was glad that I'd sampled this strange local favorite. It was definitely an experience!


Photo op with the snakes :P


This guy was advertising his restaurant with a cobra show (that's a cobra on the surface in front of him).


Mel trying some spicy squid jerkey. She reported that it just tasted like the spice, I report that it stunk like the sea.


Before going home, we went to a shaved ice place where you got to pick out any 4 toppings on your dessert. As you can see, the three foreigners selected jellies and fruit while our hosts went with corn and beans which would probably be the more traditional option. It was so good.


As we were leaving, we happened to catch the last fountain show of the day outside Longshan Temple Station and it was really nice. To take the above picture I got really close to the fountain and a guy had to come down to ask me to move. A few minutes later I realized why- the area where I was sitting erupted with water.

So, we've only been here a few weeks and we've already eaten out of toilets and done shots of snake blood. I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is going to be an interesting year.

Taipei Zoo

On Saturday we traveled with some of Mel's co-workers by MRT to the Taipei Zoo. It's the largest zoo in Asia and is a great way to spend the day for only 60 NT ($1.75). After buying our tickets we were greeted in a way that's starting to feel familiar: by a local wearing a surgical mask and sporting a thermometer. Luckily, we still don't have H1N1 so we were allowed in.


Upon entry we were given time-sensitive tickets to the giant panda exhibit. Our appointment to see the pandas was ticketed at just 10 minutes after we walked through the gate, so we hiked through the park to see the pandas in question. The zoos' two pandas were a gift from China, and were meant to be a gesture of unity. I'd never seen a panda before, but these two seemed quite happy with their surroundings. They were messing about with some tubes and a ball which made it hard to get a decent picture of them, while (to keep them active?) cheetos fell from the ceiling every so often for them to munch on.


Panda reproduction is a BIG DEAL.


After enjoying the panda exhibit, why not buy some panda stuff? There was so much panda stuff. Mel bought a mug.

There was a lot of ground to cover, and the park closes ridiculously early- at 5pm, so we worked it hardcore to see as much as we could. Please enjoy the following pictures of animals:


Camel reproduction is a BIG DEAL. Yes, there's also a video of this.


Cereal pitchman.


There was an aviary cage with over 12,000 different birds flying around... with you inside the cage! It was cool, but it totally stunk. There were a lot of good photo ops, but as you can see in the above image, not everybody liked to be photographed.



Elephants!


Mel finally got to see her favorite animal up close.


It's got to be hot in that sweater.


A rendering of everyone's favorite bird of flight, the rooster, soaring into the heavens.


Because your visit wouldn't be complete without some sort of ridiculous sign, please remember to keep off the birds. That's right- you'll have to go to some other zoo if you're expecting to ride the peacocks.



A major theme being pushed by the zoo was that of educating the visitor about the animals' poop. Every single washroom had some sort of awesome display of cartoon animals pooping or of poop super heroes. Asia loves poop.


FYI: You're drying your hair with poo air.


Poo art: a poo flower, spongebob squarepoo, poo ice cream, poo + horns, and so on. There was also a giant poo you could play in but it had rained a bit so it was all wet inside :(


The Taipei Zoo really has everything you'd want to see- there was elephants, lions, tigers, monkeys, giraffes, penguins... you name it. The grounds were beautifully landscaped, there was lots of shade to escape the heat, and the price was definitely right! It was a really fun day and I'm sure we'll be back. But of course as you might be able to tell from the above photo, the animals weren't the only ones on display as the zoo on Saturday. It's pretty flattering when you're more interesting to look at than an elephant!

Hello Ketty

Has anyone ever actually seen a Hello Kitty cartoon? Where did she come from anyway? I have to ask because Hello Kitty runs the show in Taiwan. There can't be a more powerful brand in this country. No matter where you go you can see Hello Kitty merchandise or imagery- there are Hello Kitty planes, a Hello Kitty ferris wheel (in Japan she has a whole amusement park), Hello Kitty stores, Hello Kitty diamond jewelery, Hello Kitty cell phones, Hello Kitty happy meals, there's a restaurant and even a Hello Kitty maternity hospital!

Without further ado, here are some of the random Hello Kitty products I've spotted so far (and keep in mind I've only been here two weeks- who knows what else is out there):


If you'd like to have the world's most offensive feet, Hello Kitty Crocs are now available.


The aforementioned Hello Kitty maternity hospital. Chick in the bed looks pretty happy about it all.


We were at a Hello Kitty store last weekend and there were big signs announcing the new Hello Kitty TARTAN, but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures. Instead, please reference the above creepy image of this amazing new tartan.


Hello Kitty lotto!!


It's a Hello Kitty toaster oven! I bet Mariah Carey has one in every room.


More is revealed about this character: according to this coffee mug she is "as heavy as three apples". Time for a diet, dude.


*the shame*


Hello Kitty offers a surprising variety of foods at the grocery store, one of my favorites is her brand of curry. It's just such an odd bit of branding...


And last but not least, if you're pinching pennies I'm sure your loved one won't even notice that you've bought her a "Hello KETTY" brand t-shirt instead of the real deal. We are in a recession after all, you can't be buying brand names all of the time.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

On Sunday we went to see the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which is one of Taiwan's major landmarks. Mr. Chiang is one of those love-him-or-hate-him characters in history- he was the guy who brought the Chinese government to Taiwan after the Japanese were voted off the island in 1945. The grounds of the Memorial Hall are really impressive. In the above photo you can see the west gate in the center, the National Theater on the left and the National Concert Hall on the right. Can you imagine going to see an AC/DC concert in that building? New Brunswick needs to re-evaluate what they consider a "concert venue".


Here's Mel and I striking a touristy pose in front of the Memorial Hall. See those stairs? There's one step for each year of Chiang's life: 89, Well, there's a changing of the guard ceremony every hour at the top of those steps, and we could hear them starting as we approached the building. As it was over 40 degrees and we were running up all those steps to see the ceremony, sweating to bits, you couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't have just lived to the ripe old age of 3 or 4 instead. Kidding! I kid!

You should have seen how sweaty the soldiers' suit jackets were! They must have been so hot wearing all those clothes and performing what I'm assuming was their interpretation of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" dance. Look at those moves. If you liked it then you should've put a ring on it, boys.


Inside the Memorial Hall is a Lincoln Memorial-type bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek. When you see statues, paintings or photographs of leaders from his era they usually have very serious, noble faces but look at the big grin on his face! I like this fellow.


We thought the soldiers had finished their ceremony since they'd left the Hall, so we went down to the basement where there's a good-sized free museum. As we entered the museum we saw the soldiers again, still working their Sasha Fierce-ness all the way into their office where I hope there was a tall glass of ice water waiting for them (though there probably wasn't)!


The museum was pretty nice, and full of even more grinning images or Mr. Chiang. His wife, Madame Chiang, was an artist and we enjoyed some of her fine paintings but mostly just enjoyed repeating the name "Madame Chiang" over and over in a breathy voice. Since we didn't know a thing about Chiang Kai-shek, the museum was very informative as we tried to piece together the bits of history (wikipedia later that night helped as well). Among the many treasures inside the museum were Chiang's two awesome Cadillacs, as seen above.


So, we had a pleasant day at the Memorial Hall. If you're thinking about paying a visit, you'll be glad you read this blog first because as you can see in the above photo you'll want to choose your dress very carefully on the day you visit. NO hot pants!! And no exposed thongs either. I'm looking at you, Jason Keddy....

AHHHHHH..... H1N1

After our local news networks shifted from 24/7 H1N1 coverage to 24/7 Michael Jackson coverage we stopped hearing so much about the disease in New Brunswick, at least. But H1N1 is a big deal in Taiwan, and with new cases popping up everyday the country is trying to prevent a massive outbreak.


When we arrived at the Taipei airport we had to go through a quarantine station which just sort of checked our temperature as we walked through a gate and all around the city you can tell that the government is trying to educate people about H1N1. The subway stations all have posters telling people to wash their hands, to stay home if you’re feeling sick… all that kind of stuff. There are hand sanitizing stations everywhere, though I’m glad I brought my own hand sanitizer from home because the stuff they provide here smells like strong bug spray and makes my hands itch. As well, everywhere you go people are wearing surgical masks. No, they aren’t all doctors, they’re just being responsible because they might have a cold themselves or someone in their family might.


We all know one of the best ways to catch a cold or flu is from our co-workers or classmates. Well, last week all of the summer students were sent home from Mel’s school because 10 of them had tested positive for H1N1! Supposedly it was fine for us to stay on campus, though… As a preventative measure, effective yesterday (Taiwan’s first day of school for the new year) all students are having their temperatures taken before they are allowed on school grounds. Any students with a temperature over 37 degrees must wear a face mask and if their temperature is over 37.5 degrees they will be quarantined. If more than 2 students from the same class show symptoms within 3 days of each other then classes will be cancelled. These policies will probably pretty effective in preventing cluster outbreaks, though nothing’s stopping the infected people from hitting the town, coughing on your KFC and passing it on.

So far none of us sacrificial foreigners have shown any signs of sickness, but we did kind of wonder what was going on when we headed back to the dorms on Sunday night only to find the foreign teachers’ offices roped off like this:


Hmmmm…

Update: On campus this afternoon we saw a teacher teaching at the front of the class with both a surgical mask and a headset microphone on! Wonder how the sound quality was there. And also, we went to a department store tonight and before we were allowed to enter we had to let a worker spray our dirty hands with antibacterial spray. At least I assume it was antibacterial spray....