day 20! zhongxiaoxinsheng, ximending

Last day that mom and dad are in Taiwan!! Got off to yet another grumpy start though, cuz we had a few errands to run today before my parents left, and I'd brought that fact up to Michael but he was sort of dragging his feet about leaving to head over to my grandmother's. In retrospect there was no real time pressure, but I just figured we should be there to help them out the last day, especially since we didn't have anything else planned anyway. Oh well. I ended up heading over by myself, and Michael came later when he was ready. The errands we had to run were to 1) pick up the contact lens stuff and 2) pick up badminton rackets for Kevin/Michael. It was aggravating since that second errand wasn't my responsibility at all, but he needed help getting it since he doesn't know how to get to the store or ask about the rackets, but he still waited til the last minute to get it done, even though he knew my parents would be stressed out and busy as it was. Selfish. And then not being ready to go when the people helping you are willing to take you? That's just spoiled.


By the time he got there my mom was tired (she'd run out that morning to buy something else he'd asked for), and had to nap. So it was up to me to try to figure out where we needed to go. Fortunately it was a success! :) Took a cab to the contacts place, asked him to wait a second while we snatched up the contacts and flung money at the nice uncle, then hopped back in and asked to go to TaiDa (the sports store was somewhere near there). Managed to spot it, asked to get dropped off, and retraced our way back. Negotiated with the store manager to get 2 rackets and 2 sets of strings (not strung). Then found a bus to take us back to grandmother's house. Michael was a big pile of no help. But I'm pleased that we didn't get lost.

A pretty patch of land near TaiDa. Spotted it while waiting for the bus.

Michael wanted to pick up some bread/snacks for my parents for the plane, so we stopped by a bakery. OH. MY. GOD. Why can't cameras capture smell??? This place smelled redonk. I almost ate the door. Get ready to hate your stomach.

Garlic bread...

Green onion bread, garlic bread with hot dog...

Some sort of tuna mayo corn abomination (which I accurately predicted Michael would buy), and heels of bread stuffed with...stuff.

And delicious looking crustless sandwiches :3 These always tickle my fancy

Our final picks.

Got caught in another downpour. Decided to wait it out under the eaves.

A decision prompted in no small part by a nearby Coco's :D

and also got some liang mian (sorry Janet!) from this restaurant that's pretty well known for it. We actually came here the day before, to get the food for dinner that I didn't photograph. My mom had sorta made friends with the lady that worked there, since she went there to get food for my grandmother pretty frequently. That auntie was soooo nice and cool. :) I really liked her. Taiwanese people...they really make you feel like you're family.

Parents finished up packing. Bye milk!!! Have a safe trip home. :) He looks so happy. :3

After running around for a few hours frantically tidying up, they decide that they have time for dinner. We went to a restaurant down the street (my grandmother's apartment is in a really good location) that is pretty known for its xiaolongbao.

The way a lot of restaurants here work, you get a little menu that you can mark which items you want. Then they cook it and bring it out to you. While you're waiting though, you can go to the counter, or a fridge near the front of the restaurant, and pick out little chilled dishes that are already ready to eat?? We got some pickled cucumbers, peanuts covered in seaweed, tofu skins with bean sprouts inside to start...

Omg I'm so excited for the ginger.

But equally as excited for the xiaolongbao. :3 We got one set of donggua (wintermelon?) ones, one set of seafood, and another regular pork. They were all good. T_T Surprisingly the wintermelon ones are...maybe my favorite! I know it's shocking but, you hafta try it. ;)

Mom and grandmother...

Cousin and grandmother...

It was a really nice little dinner. :) Went back and saw my parents off. Our other cousin (the boy) drove them to the airport. It's always kinda hard to say bye to your parents. I'll never forget what it was like when they sent me off to college. Hardest I've ever tried not to cry. :)


Welp. And then there were two.


Michael and I decided to hang out a bit instead of going home, since it was only around 8 or 9. We went to ximending cuz Michael wanted to impale more plushies.

ximending at night. How many times have we come here already??

Despite having been here many times before, we always find something new. This time, we found a small arcade/display on the basement floor of a department store. Ximen is known for having the first big cinema (in Taipei?), which is why there are lots of big movie posters up around Ximending, lots of big screens playing commercials and trailers. This display is probably some sort of tribute to that...? Or just appealing to the audience that goes to Ximending.

All the display cases are filled with really detailed, expensive action figures.

Hard to see, but here's iron man. See all the extra parts and hand positions they have? :)

The arcade was pretty ghetto and meh. Here's something new, a drum station you can play at.

I tried this one. You use the joystick to move that spaceship up and down to make sure it doesn't touch that metal track it's running on. It gets increasingly complicated as you go, and is not that much fun.

We found purikura here!!! But I could not for the life of me figure out how to make them work or how much it cost. One sign said it was 200NT = ~$6-7, so I was like psht hayl no.

Did a bit of shopping, I found some pants that actually fit my ridiculously huge and un-asian butt. :D yay!! Self esteem slightly restored.

Saw quite a few of these illegal vendors. I think they tend to come out at night.  We were actually walking down the street, past a bunch of food vendors, when all of a sudden they all break and start pushing/sprinting with their carts for the alley. I don't know what sources they have, but they get notified when the cops are coming, and run. As a tourist, I think your first reaction is like whoa cool! Cuz it feels like you're in a cop show or something. But upon further reflection, it's really sad. :( It's a really hard life. Isn't it? Always being on the alert, making like a dollar here and there. If they were making tons of money off it I wouldn't feel too bad for them but, it seems like they're taking risks for not so much gain. I'm sure everyone's situation is different and it's not like they all have a family of 4 at home. Some of this stuff might be stolen. I really have no idea. But I feel like a lot of people here have it pretty hard. :(

Anyhow, not sure why I ended that on a sad note. Maybe still feeling sad that parents are gone and we're on our own now. :) Well, we'll make it count. ;)