Taipei 5

Tarako tunnels. hehe.

Cabins that we stayed at. It's a native Taiwanese tribe, located in the heart of the national park. Cool!!
Closer view of the cabins. It was nice to sit on the porch and relax as the sun set.
I would highly recommend not only visiting Tarako, but staying here is uber cool too. they have a typical hotel in the town 20 minutes away. Who wants to stay at a regular hotel. This place is on it's own plateau and no other people around so super quiet and peaceful.
They had a nice buffet dinner with locally grown vegetables and wild pig. They also put on a nice native Taiwanese dance. They let some guest participate in the dance at the end.

Taipei 4

This is entry to Torako national park. Took couple of hours and lots of winding roads to get here.

It is winter but summer apparently the canyon rivers is much deeper and larger rapids.


It's very beautiful and a cool landscape. Nice change of pace from the cities we've visited.

Taipei 3

Some famous noodle place in Taipei. Apparently bus loads of tourist eat here. It is a friends favorite place to eat. Normally I don't trust people's palettes but I've tried her picks and they're good to go.

this is the start of pics from our overnight roadtrip to Taroko. A national park in Taiwan. It's along the coast as you can see.

Taipei 2

Hot pot. They put the charcoal in the middle of the funnel and you cook around it. Seems precarious but it is good.

All the different sauce ingredients. You serve yourself and make your own sauce flavor.
This is Jules favorite desert shop. It has different jellys and toppings. One serving is pretty huge, mostly after a meal. Jules manages to finish, while I get close. haha.
The side streets of Taipei has some really cool shops. I will post more later. Sadly the sizing is screwy. Alot of the sizing is smaller than usual. Most of the people I met weren't small but the "normal" sizes aren't always available, so you can't buy much that fits.

Taipei 101, well Taipei 1 more soon.

So after visiting Tokyo, went to Taipei to see what all the fuss is about. the local mountain was a good start. Went hiking with Jules' folks and some of their friends.

ahh sweet potato freshly baked and in a nice to go container. waste of a spoon tho.
Yeah...no upholstered seating outdoors please. Gross.
Got up to the falls and it was nice to see people chillin and doin exercises. We left at 8am. when the heck did these people get up to come here.
This is more my speed of hiking. there are alot of dogs around Taiwan. Lots on the street too. All very nice.

Tokyo II

This guy had a good Christmas apparently. Maybe toooo good.

Cool bear display in department store.
Amazing detail and craftsmanship in the armour.

Harajuku. yo.

Tokyo II, best meal for reals! Christmas dinner

For reals? The best meal. Well...it was really good. Probably a combination of ordering everything and anything. it was also Christmas. A cool looking place and great friends to enjoy it with. Yes, tourist go here. but there were 90% locals and business men when we went.

The cooks kneel and you point to what you want. They then repeat the order and begin grilling. There are no prices but I am sure if you asked for a menu they would give you one. It might help with the sticker shock which we received after the meal. Good thing cuz probably wouldn't enjoy it as much when you know how much your spending.

This is how everything you eat is cooked. On an open grill. The fish on top was mine! yay!

Giant prawn, it was delicious!!!! We each had one.

We shared this fish with 6 people. We were pretty much too full anyways. We had crab, beef skewers, veggies, you name it. We cleaned up. People around us looked at us like we were crazy. haha.
Large clam, each had one of these two.
Grilled mochi to end the meal. Complementary as is the napkin they give you at the end of the meal.

Tokyo II

Late night eats under the subway bridges!

this is my first bowl of Ramen. Ate it after our first night in Tokyo. Everybody was jet lagged so they went to sleep. Me and Jules walked around and found this ramen shop under the subway. It felt quintessentially Japanese with the rumbling of the trains overhead as you eat.
Look garlic press and all the garlic you want. hehe.

This store is in the Tokyo subway.

A quaint country inspired craft store in the subway. seriously? sweet!

Notice how the teapots are used for house lighting!

Cool store in Naka Meguro. The stuff outside was samples that were being sold by the guy that actually hand made em. Real nice quality and decent prices.

Melon bread. Had to wait 15 minutes as they just opened and had to freshly bake the bread out of the van. OH, soooo good!

Takoyaki. Everywhere you go, you have to wait a bit for the food. It's always made to order. Nothing better than knowing its fresh.