Moon Madness Time

Dear All,
We spent the past three days in Taipei for the Moon/Mid-Autumn Festival. Our glorious trip began at 9:30 am on Saturday with a bus trip. It was not particularly pleasant as I had 5 hrs of sleep the night before, yet couldn't sleep on the bus lest we miss our stop. I was also mostly breakfastless, because the nice girl at McDonalds forgot my pancakes, which combined with the windy mountain passes made me very, very sick. We got off the bus at the train station/metro station and rode to the roommate meeting point, where we were going to have lunch. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed for the holiday. And everyone but me mysteriously wasn't hungry. So we went to drop our stuff at our hotel, which Audra--a normally reasonable roommate--had picked out. It was close to the metro and a very hip, trendy section of Taipei. It was also possibly the worst hotel I have ever been in. (I would have to make a chart to decide this hotel or a certain hotel in Tyler, Texas was the worst. It might be a tie.) I really wished I could remember the name of the nice, cheap hotel Trip Advisor had recommended. Instead, we dropped off our non-valuable lugguage and went the jade market, lugging my backpack along with me since I wasn't about to risk having it stolen. As for breakfast/lunch I was left to satisfy my hunger with the fillings of a Hi-Life convenience store. Paul and I were both unimpressed with the jade/pearl market. Most of the stuff was clearly not real, but it wasn't priced that way, which was irritating to us. Fake is fine if it looks pretty, just don't try to sell it to me as if it were a rare gem. Then we went back across town to the Sun Yatsen Memorial, which is very ugly if you only see the side of it. Imprevious to hunger or fatigue, my roommates enthusastically decided to go on the Makong Gondola, which is way over on the outskirts of the city. Being exhausted, starving, and, oh yeah, my death fear of gondolas, I steadfastly refused to be involved. Paul and I instead took refuge in the Taipei Zoo McDonalds, where we could sit and eat. There was even Wi-Fi, so I was going to send a desperate plea for help--having lugged my laptop all over creation for the last six hours--but its stupid battery was dead. Eventually, our roommates returned from their nighttime gondola ride (no better way to see the scenery than to ride a gondola at night) and we went all the way back across town to see the 101. The 101 is the tallest building in the world, boasting (supposedly) the world's best food court and tons of super-luxury stores (Dior, Tiffany and Co., Armani, Cartier, etc.). It is also home to the best selection of Western foods in Taiwan. We spent $50 on Dr. Pepper (which exists no where else), Milanos (ditto), Miracle Whip (same), Caesar dressing (not in its familiar form), Alfredo sauce (doesn't exist in here, no matter what the menu says), and Rootbeer (which even this store was sold by the single can). We also went to Toyland, where I made a truly exciting discovery: Mapletown lives! Yes, under the pseudonym "Sylvanian Families," the Bear family, and the Raccoon Family, and the Rabbit family, and the newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Deer and all of their tiny furniture are still being made. There are even new toys like bathing set I bought with its adorable miniature clawfoot tub. Ah, good times. found the hotel toleratable to acceptable. Exhausted, Paul and I returned to the hotel while Bridget and Audra continued to paint the town red into the wee hours. **As a disclaimer, Paul insists I mention that everyone else found the hotel to be tolerable to acceptable. This is because they only care about having a roof over their heads, running water, and a pillow. In fairness, it did have all those things, although Audra had to sleep on a futon matress on the floor and Paul had no pillow because he gave it to Audra.

Important Life Lessons Learned: 2--Never let anyone else book a hotel room for you and food from home makes everything better.