First stop after landing at night and checking in to my hotel was Taiwanese street food! I got a mix of Taiwanese fried chicken, gizzards, and veggies from this place.
Groups of Taiwanese students waiting for busses. Are they going on a field trip? A group would get on a bus and another group would come out of the building. I was waiting for my friend and there were a lot of groups and a lot of busses.
A selfie in Ximen district where I was staying.
Met up with my friend Yi-Hsuan and we went to visit the National Museum which contained a lot of art and historical artifacts from ancient China. Apparently, when the KMT moved to Taiwan, they took most of the ancient Chinese relics with them. Since I had 100 ISO I didn't get to get a lot of film pics indoors.
These roofs are called Xiēshān (歇山) in Chinese or hip-and-gable roofs in English.
Stone guardian lions or shíshī (石獅) in Chinese. Usually found in front of offices
A Black-crowned Night Heron (nycticorax nycticorax) in pond of fish (species unknown).
We then went up to a part of Yangmingshan (陽明山國家公園) National Park, where there are natural sulfur hot springs. Above is one such hot spring where people used to harvest sulfur for many different uses. Yes, it smells like sulfur.
Just down the road from the sulfur hots springs are community pools where the public can come and put their feet in (no full body baths) pools heated by the natural springs. We saw people of many ages but mostly elderly. You put place your shoes and belongings in small cubicles to the side, then they have a feet washing station to clean your feet/legs before you dip it into the communal water. One of the old uncles was singing nursery rhymes in different languages very passionately. I remember 'twinkle twinkle little star'.
Man selling tanghulu (糖葫芦) which are skewered fruits covered in rock candy.
Man waits on his moped for his street food order.
Another man waits for his order, or maybe his friend. One of my favorites from this night.
Is it just me or is there a stereotypical stinky tofu (臭豆腐) vendor? Big, strong, loud, but gentle? Maybe because the first time I heard about stinky tofu was in Bodyguards and Assasins (2009) starring Donnie Yen and Mengke Bateer as the Stinky Tofu Vendor! Anyways I had my first stinky tofu here and it was great!
This is a bar.
Moped riders waiting for the green light.
Street performers, they were good.
Woman praying in front of Qingshui Temple (艋舺清水巖).
This is Miao, she's a volunteer at one of the temples and saw me shooting film and started talking to me as she also shoots film. She's in university for visual arts. We had to talk through google translate but we eventually were able to communicate to take a picture of each other! Here's the pic I took of her.
Here's the pic she took of me!
Locals at lunch.
The 228 Peace Monument, memorializing victims of the 228 Massacre of 1947.
Met up with Yi-Shuan and we hiked up Elephant Mountain or Xiangshan (象山) for this view of the city skyline that features Taipei 101 which was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010. This hike was pretty fun as it has a lot of viewpoints and different attractions.
Cleome houtteana, commonly known as spider flower, at Xiangshan.
Basketball is pretty big in Taiwan. I think this guy missed this shot though.
We rented a car for a day (yes, it was manual :) ) and drove (yay driving in other countries) to the north eastern part of the island. Here we are at Wangyougu (望幽谷). Love how the colors of Yi-Hsuan's jacket turned out here!
Keelung Islet in the back, with some artifacts presumably from the film.
Good thing we both like hiking!
A view of the harbor side of Keelung City.
A hut in the park. Who lives here?
Two friends at the henge.
Storekeeper waits for customers. I almost bought ice cream but decided against it.
Saw this composition and had to take it.
From the coast we headed up towards the mountains, lots of winding roads which was super fun to drive on.
Yi-Hsuan conducting community service.
A monarch-looking (but not quite one) but not one flying through the sakura leaves. Love the contrast of the pink sakura blossoms and the black and orange of the butterfly. Took one shot, definitely got lucky!
Rhododendron (species unknown, though there are 14 native to Taiwan) in the mountains.
Jiufen is now known for its Japanese influence as it became a Japanese mining town at one point and was also occupied by Imperial Japan during the Second World War. There’s a lot of Japanese inns and shops that have survived but the most famous one is A-Mei Teahouse which a lot of people claim inspired Studio Ghibli’s ‘Spirited Away’ though creator Hayao Miyazaki has debunked it. But you can definitely see the resemblance, with the architecture and the styling of the façades!
My friend Yi-Hsuan showing me around. She is the best guide with a lot of knowledge in the arts, culture, politics and language!
A pic of me in front of A-Mei teahouse taken by Yi-Hsuan.
I can take a while to get places when the alleys are crowded.
Where's Fran?
Going home.
This scene reminds me of Baguio, Philippines. with the types of houses and the sloping streets.
Ended the night walking around after sunset and eventually to this spot to see the the town slowly light up. Waited until it was dark and then took this 20 second exposure. Last frame of the roll. We drove back to Taipei and had one last night of fun (too much some would say) and then I flew out the next morning.