oh taiwan, i still love you, dirty and messy as you are


behind my grandma's house is an open market. i was obviously intrigued by the meat section and how they hang the parts on display for shoppers to purchase. i also saw a cow head for sale. seriously.

my progression to fobiness. look at my nasty hair. look how unruly and unhealthy it looks. my second day in taiwan i rushed to get my hair straight permed, cut, and i was convinced to get purple streaks. those streaks...are now red.

if you look closely, you can see the purple. look how sleek my hair looks!

my cousin and i at taroko national park at hualien...it was pretty!

i think i do fob pretty well...well, not as good as christine.

so this sugar factory at hualien is supposed to have really good ice cream. i thought baskin robbins was better.

at some new resort place, still in hualien

my grandfather's memorial behind us

my mom made me take a picture in front of the president's office...i was so embarrassed. i thought i was going to be shot.

in taipei 101

my cousin, her husband and her adorable kid took us to lion's mountain? some sightseeing place...anyway it was ridiculously hot.

i think my mom's entire family consists of women...we outnumber men like 5:1

now this resort place was pretty too!

i miss taiwan, especially the cheap, good food. now chinese food here is starting to taste gross to me. anyway, i'm off to NYC and SF for 11 days and then back home for good. gotta play it up before i lose my sanity come august!

due to popular demand (or rather, chris' demand): highlights from japan


day 1: the streets of kamakura


the big buddha


the tour bus. notice the people sleeping in the back? yes, i went on a chinese tour with my mom and grandma. it wasn't all THAT bad.


they made us dress in yukatas to eat a "traditional" japanese dinner. this was at the hot springs hotel where i bathed naked with grandmas. apparently the hot springs is a hit among the japanese elderly. i also had to sleep on a tatami on the floor. my back was killing me the next day.


day 2: atami. still at the hot springs hotel in their japanese garden


eating fresh black chicken eggs at...i forgot the name of the place.


day 3: meiji shrine in tokyo


asakusa...i look constipated. there were hoards of people walking by and i was trying to hurry my mom to take the picture


outside the imperial palace


day 6: at the train station with my uber cool cousin about to depart for taiwan

next up...highlights from taiwan!

tales from taiwan

one reason i hate going to 99 ranch market with my mom (besides the fact that she takes a painstakingly long time to buy a head of broccoli) is that chinese people are rude. flat out rude. they don't say please, thank you, excuse me. they just push and shove and don't care who or what is in front of them.

now in taiwan, it's like 100 times worse. imagine chinese/taiwanese people who have grown up on this tiny little island their entire life, subject to the same traditions of pushing, shoving, and knocking everything out of their way. i consider myself a pretty polite person. i say please and thank you. i'll get up if an eldery person enters the subway and i'm sitting. i usually let people walk into a door before me.

but in taiwan, i lose all my patience. these people are just disgustingly rude! we were on the bus in taipei today and we were getting off. this greasy, 50-something dirty looking taiwan man is ready to climb on the bus with no regards to anyone. i'm trying desperately to get off before he climbs on...now, i don't think i look too much like a man, aren't men taught these days to let ladies first? nope. not in taiwan. he pushes his way up while i'm trying to fight my way down without touching his sweat-stained shirt. mind you, i'm trying to make room for my 80 year old grandma to exit. by this time i'm just disgusted. i mutter under my breath (i guess it wasn't really a mutter) "thank you very much" very sarcastically and jump off. my mom and aunt and grandma follow behind me (with much effort as well) and my mom tells me the greasy man said in response to my "thank you very much" in chinese, "she must have come from america". that's damn right. we're taught manners you piece of shit rude disrespectful taiwanese man. if i had heard him...who knows what i would have said. probably something along the lines of "taiwanese men are fucking rude". it sounds worse in chinese i think.

story of the day. i think i'm ready to go home. though...i do still love taiwan. just not so much the humidity, the occasional rude men, and the dirtiness. other than that, it's all good.

oh my god i'm going to be obese by the time i come back from taiwan. i know, as if i'm not already fat enough. but i can't help it! the food in taiwan is super cheap, and it's everywhere! all i have to go is walk three steps outside my grandma's house and i'm in the open air market! what is a fat girl supposed to do?!

and i thought i was pretty good at maintaining a healthy, plump weight in japan since i walked as much as i ate...but in taiwan, i don't think it will be possible.

if i'm 200 lbs by the time you see me, please still love me. fat people need love too.

the food in japan is AMAZING. leaving for taiwan friday, back home june 19.

pictures to come!