Day 26 - December 13

Today we began the day at 3:45 am ... getting ready for the 4:30 am drive from Baguio to Manila. And, once we arrived in Manila, I happened to notice this vehicle with a homemade license plate -- that had his tag number inked in with the explanation that he had lost his real tag!! Too funny! And, how long do you think we'd get away with that in the US? Not long, I think! Anyway, I guess Debi and I were punch drunk by that time ... but we laughed and laughed about this ... since we followed him most of the way from the Manila city limits to the airport!! We arrived in Taipei midafternoon and re-entered the world of civilization --- nice hotel, nice accomodations, air conditioning, alarm clock, radio, turndown service, internet connections ... I really don't ask for all that much, do I? Tom Spence met us soon afterwards, and we went to ... guess where? ... Debi's favorite restaurant in this whole wide world -- Din Tai Fung --- the dumpling place! Our third visit so far!! But, they are really good compared with other dumplings I've had this trip! So, I decided to let you all know what a dumpling dinner looks like ... so you know! You make a concoction of soy sauce, vinegar, chili paste, and ginger --- and then you take the moist dumpling from the steamer --- let it roll all around the sauce --- and eat it whole --- letting the juice from the meat inside the dumpling be a real flavor treat! The other good thing about Din Tai Fung are the green vegetables! There is not an equivalent vegetable in the US --- but it's a cross between spinach and collard greens --- simmered in a garlic butter sauce ... very tasty! After dumplings, we hit the night markets! In Taiwan, there are several night markets --- and they are called night markets because they are open only at night --- until around 10 pm! And they are markets I have never seen. There are food markets, leather goods markets, jewelry markets, art markets, markets that are too numerous to mention! You can find foods from fresh squid to dried octopus, foods from stinky tofu to green onion pancakes (we ate green onion pancakes as we strolled the market --- kinda like corny dogs at the state fair! :)) You can buy underwear to formal wear --- you can buy pet mice, pet hedgehogs, all the way to little puppy dogs --- all in this open market! It was such an amazing experience --- nothing like I will probably ever experience again! The lights, the sights, the smells, the sounds, just amazing! And, then back home to the hotel ... riding the MRT ... the Mass Rapid Transit --- very crowded! A couple of stops that were even more crowded than the Shanghai subway! Literally no body space whatsoever! And then to close this blog tonight, a view of the Taipei streets from my hotel window! What a different world this is! But I'm learning a lot, and most of all --- learning to appreciate different cultures and the different ways that people think ... and live!