we set out north in the morning to the outskirts of taipei county. i actually had no clue where we were going til we arrived at danshui, the end of the subway line. my dad was apparently taking us to some place called fort san domingo near the waterside. we’re like, “san domingo? donde estamos??” its apparently an old spanish fort built in 1629 that was just recently renovated and opened to the public. next to the fort is also an old-school english colonial house, the old british consulate of taiwan. i had no idea any of this was even here…sweet. we roam the grounds for a good while, relax with afternoon tea and dessert at a coffee shop on the grounds, then head to the shillin market for some old-fashioned taiwanese lunch.
we do other random stuff i cant remember the rest of the day til we subsequently end up at taipei 101, the worlds tallest dildo….er, skyscraper. bamboo, yea…its supposed to be bamboo. whatever. it is pretty big tho, and chock full of mall goodness. we’re there with aunts number five and six from my moms side since they’d actually never been either and wanted to go shopping. we split up and roam the massive tower/mall/altar to capitalism separately. i wander aimlessly, check out the massive atrium, the sony style store, etc. i eventually head up to the observation deck on the 89th floor, hoping to get some nice photos. the elevator shoots up in less than half a minute. according to wiki, it travels at 37.5 mph…crikeys. once up there i just roam around the windows, eat some ice cream (yum), peek at the giant pendulum, and wait for sunset to take some nite photography. except it doesnt get dark enough for the city to turn on their lights before i have to head back down…damnit. we all meet up and head out. we have a quick dinner at a noodle soup shop near the hotel, then the kids plan their escape. drinky drinks! the last full day in taiwan and we finally get to go have some real fun…sigh. our cousins from the other nite (dads side) meet us at the hotel and we all head out to…whatever area the old-school sogo is in. the other night me, my sis, and dave wandered around aimlessly, we probably shouldve just cabbed it here, since that was actually one of the few neighborhoods i remember drinking in. anyhoo, we ease into a chill bar called sofa and drink to our last night in taiwan. cheers.
* full set of taiwan06 pics on flickr.
san domingo! thats crazy.
Who coordinated the vacation,your dad? Seems like you guys saw alot in 10days.
jah…my dad coordinated it with our bajillion relatives. whirlwind tour of the entire island crammed into ten (well, actually nine) days.
I’ve enjoyed your cool pics and journey through Taiwan. Very nice! My favorite pics are the last one here and the waiting for the sunset ones.
hey thanks ath. taiwans even better in person, especially when someone else is paying for the trip! jk. ok, not really.