Day of the Pig

As my in-laws live near Din Tai Fung, you’ll often seen Japanese tourists in the area. It’s no joke that most of them are carrying tour guides to places to eat in Taipei. They come to Taiwan for the eating and the hot springs. I’ve helped Japanese tourists, in my own bad Japanese, try to … Read more

The Emperor’s Happy Pork Chop

Lunch today, not bad. The pork chop was very good until I started to get shards of bone in it. The noodles were passable, but the broth they were served in was about as flavorful as muddy water. Stick with the rice. Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Restaurant, Taiwan, Travel

Ghosts After The Fact

We took Michelle out to the Taipei Municipal Children’s Recreation Center, which is Govspeak for a city-run amusement park which is apparently on the grounds of the old Taipei Zoo. It’s just a short walk from the Yuanshan station, which is one of the first on the Danshui line to be outdoors. (The subway runs … Read more

Halloween is for Monsters

I was awoken this morning just after 5:00AM by a text message and since I couldn’t get back to sleep, I went for an early morning walk. Since it was Halloween, I decided to go to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial and see the early-morning activity. On the last trip to Taiwan, I visited the memorial … Read more

The Frying Scotsman

Tonight we visited the Frying Scotsman, an “authentic” Fish & Chips shop here in Taipei. They’ve got a number of items, fish and non-fish on the menu, but I was here strictly for some good old-fashioned cod. There are two kinds of cod on the menu, Canadian and the more authentic (and expensive) European variety. … Read more

The 2 Gigabyte Dash

My Flickr account allows me to upload a maximum of 2 GB per calendar month. Sometime back on this trip, I began to think I might accidentally exceed that limit before the trip was over and be stuck towards the end of this month without being able to upload pictures as things happen. So, at … Read more

Costco 3 – Almost

I mentioned previously that there are three Costco’s in Taipei, and that the third one is so far out that it was off our maps and no one had any idea where it was. My frivolous goal is to photograph every Costco in the world, which may seem impossible, but it gives me a goal. … Read more

Keelung… finally!

For at least the last three trips, I’ve wanted to go to Keelung. It’s the last “major” metropolitan area in Taiwan that I haven’t been to and that, predominantly, is why I wanted to go there. Combine that with the fact that it really isn’t very far from Taipei and it is just been a … Read more

Keelung… or maybe not yet.

It’s 20-30 km from Jinshan to Keelung and then a freeway drive back to Taipei, a surprisingly short drive back to Taipei at that. Between Jinshan and Keelung is Yeliou, a place that I visited in 1999. It’s the northern tip of the island and home to many bizarre erosion formations in the coast. As … Read more