ANCIENT ARTEFACT - THANKS LAPTOP

I AM IN TAIWAN!!! My Marmots and I (wearing an equally ugly yet comfy mix of sportswear) arrived safely (and uncharacteristically early) at Taoyuan International Airport. It has been no-stop ever since.

I have been really keen to capture my experience with photos so far – mostly because I’m worried that the jetlag will interfere with my memory, leaving me with nothing to write about. So with visual accompaniment, here are a few highlights from the last few days…

On Saturday night my cousin, his wife and I visited Jhongli City to attend my cousin’s friend’s first art exhibition at a Japanese restaurant (I will try to post pics shortly). We enjoyed traditional Aboriginal (Taiwanese) music as we ate our dinner of sashimi and pork with rice and curry sauce. The journey back to the car was broken by a foot massage. Nice…

On Sunday morning we hit the road on the bike! We rode for 10 minutes to a piece of land that my cousin is preparing for use as an aquaponics greenhouse to grow his own vegetables. This involves sawing down large clusters of bamboo in a forested area on a foothill. The scenery is mountainous and beautiful! I enjoyed my first sighting of the sun since I had arrived, as well as my first 7-11 dark roast double espresso coffee, which helped me to power through my bamboo chopping despite my jetlag. After spending the remainder of the afternoon relaxing we ate dinner at a local teppan yaki restaurant in Daxi, following by an early night.

This morning we took a trip to Taoyuan City to experience the breadth of shopping choices offered by a massive Carrefour supermarket. I was staggered by the sheer number of choices in toothpaste, among many other things. This was followed by a trip to a hair salon in Daxi for a haircut. In fact, it was more than just a haircut – I had a head massage, shampoo and conditioner treatment whilst sat in a massage chair, and a haircut and blow dry all for under £15 (sorry Lauren if you are reading this – if it’s any consolation: they cut too much off!).

With a lighter head (due to shorter hair) I have spent this evening here at the computer. But it is with a heavier heart that I type the second attempt at this blog post; my lack of enthusiasm is entirely attributable to the loss of a much wittier and entertaining first attempt which was lost in a battle with my ageing and unpredictable laptop. I would like to assure you the I intend to regain my form with more sleep, which will hopefully come soon…

#formosa #photo #teppanyaki #daxi #dasi #jhongli #taoyuan #sashimi #art #travel #taiwan #ilha #bamboo #bike