shit, back in america and im kinda having vacation withdrawal. or is it taiwan withdrawal? am i starting to actually love taiwan? crikeys…
the last time i visited taiwan was back in 2002/03 around the same time of the year, and that was a fun trip because it was probably the first time i hung out with my cousins all grown up and doing grown-up things (aka: getting drunk). and prior to that was the infamous “love boat” summer of 1998(?)…that was all types of craziness. anyhoo, this particular trip was to introduce my sis’ new spouse to our taiwanese clan. only my youngest aunt and my grandfather on my moms side made the trip across the pond, so the others were waiting to meet the new white dude in the family.
i headed to newark airport immediately after work on the 20th. newark > jfk, because jfk is in the middle of a sewage pile in the middle of nowhere. my god its so easy to get to newark, its not even funny. i dont think im ever going to fly out of jfk again. i get there around the same time as my sis and dave, so we check in and grab some chili’s before the flight. after the rest of the group arrives (daves aunt sharon and my parents), we head in, board, fly off, etc. im ready to get comfy with my personal entertainment system when im blind-sided by an old school setup with tvs in the aisles. argh! fuck this. i flip the “get the fuck to sleep” switch in my brain and snooze til our refuel in seattle, then sleep all the way across the pacific ocean. somewhere along the way, aunt sharon starts to get queezy and sick. shes shuttled off to the hospital the second we land with stomach flare-ups (not clear on the details). everybody heads to the hospital too except me, my mother, and my aunt, who was at the airport to meet up with us. btw, im still not all too clear what number this aunt is, since shes referred to as “small aunt” in chinese (shes the youngest on my dads side). i think my dad has four sisters, but i could be wrong.
we check into our hotel and then try and figure out what to do while we wait for everybody to get back from the hospital. we stroll a nearby street market (mom needed new shoes), grabbed beef noodle soup for lunch, and walked to the tian xing temple not too far from our hotel. there was a pretty large crowd of people at the temple making offerings, getting blessed, and divining the new year. i snuck around and took photos like a cheeky tourist.
everybody was still at the hospital, so we took a bus over to the martyr’s shrine to get a headstart on our touristy stuff. the area was relatively barren when we first got there, but a few minutes short of the hour, we turn around and see a massive group of (i think) japanese tourists accompanying the marching troupe of soldiers as the hourly changing of the guard began. where did they come from? the entire procession took a while. i felt like tripping one of them, but they probably would’ve shot me.
we headed back to the hotel afterwards and met up with the rest of the group. aunt sharon was resting in her room, and the rest of us headed upstairs to the banquet hall to have dinner with i cant remember at this point. im sure it was my dads side, i just cant remember who was there. meh…whatever.
* full set of taiwan06 pics on flickr.
