Arriving in Taiwan I made sure I hade Ryan's address written down in mandarin so the taxi driver could take me straight over there. The cab driver spoke no english so I was hopeless in asking him random questions about Taiwan that sparked my interest...especially after spending a night in mainland China. He dropped me off in what I thought Zhongli, especially since the address that I jotted down was what it said on the door of the building. The door to this building lead to hair salon where I showed the people the address and they told me the taxi driver dropped me off at the wrong town...
i went out to walk and see about a hotel Ryan mentioned but saw none. After two more interactions with the locals I was able to get to Ryan's apartment 5 minutes before his 10 minute break...just in time for me to get the keys from him before he went back to work. The locals were all really helpful and it was really comforting. Ryan went back to work so I had a good bit of time to walk around and explore before he got back. I walked outnand felt the change immediately. I was no longer in Taiwan, but more specifically I wasn't in Chanthaburi anymore. The lights on the streets from all the signs were almost overwhelming...especially since I couldn't read them. The hustle and bustle of the pedestrian traffic and the scooters set the pace for what was to come.
I just spent my time walking around and than had dinner with Ryan and some of his friends close by. We had traditional Hakka cuisine and boy was it GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!! So far the best food I've had since being here in Asia. we ordered a good bit of small bowl dieshes to share and went at it. Some of it was the regular kung pao chicken while some of the other dishes had their own spin on it. Mynfavorite was the unseasoned boiled pork/beef cuts that you dipped in a garlic/vinegar/salt juice. Totally failed and didn't bring my camera though.
After that we proceeded to thenlocal watering hole where we were greeted by the friendly local bartenders. One bartender had carrot top orange hair and was very eccentric with the few english words that she knew. After some drinks and some darts we migrated to a friends rooftop to continue the festivities with other ex pats that are teaching english in Zhongli. The company was great and it was a pleasant first night in Taiwan that ended with a bit too much fried street food.
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