Taiwan

So because of all of the traumatic events happening in Japan, as you know we instead traveled to our second to last port to Taiwan. Unfortunately, we only stayed in Taiwan for three days, so we really just wanted to have fun and enjoy our time there. We had heard a couple days before that there was a huge music festival called “Spring Scream” happening in Kenting (southern Taiwan) the first night we were there. Because Kenting is about a 4-hour trip away from our port (Keelung) everyone was pretty hesitant about going. So we first took a train to Tei Pei (the capital) and when we got there made the most impulsive decision EVER to go to the festival. With 10 minutes till the train left, Jeff, Michelle, and I met up with other kids to travel south. After a 90-minute train and a three-hour bus ride, we ended up in Kenting and (thank god) we went because it was so nice out, and on the beach! Back in Tei Pei it was pretty gross out… so we were all very happy to have made the decision to go to Kenting. We got hotel rooms at Howard Hotel, and starting getting ready for the festival. When you walked on the streets there, stand after stand of different souvenirs, street food, bars, clubs all lined the lit up street. We walked around a bit, and then headed to the festival. It was the last night and unfortunately not as crazy as we had hoped but it was still pretty nuts (probably because there was about 50 SAS kids there). There were around six stages with different bands and djs playing all different American and Chinese songs. We stayed there till around 12 untill when we headed back to the beach for the beach party. At the beach there were fireworks and bonfires all along the beach- kinda looked like Manhattan Beach at night!
The next day we woke up early because we thought we wouldn’t be able to get a train back to Tei Pei. It was a national holiday that day, so a lot of families were traveling to different parts of Taiwan. Well, we decided to stay at the beach for the first half of the day because it was super nice out and the beach just looked too appealing! I stayed with Kevin, Adam, and Breuer and they all went tubing (on the back of a jet ski) with some other Taiwanese people. The beach was so much fun and it really did feel like a beach town. We traveled back around 1 o’clock… train… bus… finally made it back to Tei Pei just in time to meet up with everyone to go out for the night. We ended up staying in a five star hotel (the W) in probably the coolest hotel I've ever seen. The toilets were automatic… and heated. Ya- enough said. We met up with everyone and went to a club called, Baby 18 (future SASers- go to Luxy Club instead- it was closed that night but supposedly its amazing).
We woke up the next morning and decided to stick around the hotel for a while. We swam, had lunch, and just walked around the hotel. The W was located in an area called Tei Pei 101, which is known for the second tallest building in the world. We drove by it that day, and man was it tall! We went to a famous night market (yes I know it was during the day) to see what they were all about. Obviously not everything was opened, but it was still cool to see the alley with different shops and restaurants. We went to an alley close to there, called snake alley where people drink the snake’s blood and eat the eyeballs. Well, being the crazy kids that we are, we all decided to take a shot of snake blood. Can’t believe I did that… it tasted like tomato and chicken juice. UGH. On our way back to the train station we did some shopping, ate some street food, and really got the feel for this city. I wouldn’t say that I loved Tei Pei or Taiwan for that matter… it was like a small China (well it kinda is), just not as cool. The buildings and people looked very similar to Beijing, and the streets weren’t as crowded with people. A plus however was that they spoke a lot better English there, so it was definitely easier to get around.
I cant believe how fast this trip is going by… we only have two weeks left and only one more port! We are now on the ship for 12 days so I'm probably going to go crazy… please e-mail me at rzsigal@semesteratsea.net if you want because all I will be doing from now on is checking my email! Hope all is well with you all and I miss everyone so much!