Hometown

I am ashamed to say that I don't know much about my hometown.  Every time when I visit Taiwan, the primary objective was always spending time with family and friends so getting to know Taipei was never on my radar screen.  Since this has been the second time that I flew home over the weekend after I started working in Manila, I figured that I will take the initiative to learn a little more about my hometown, my culture, and where I came from.

The flight to Taipei from Manila arrived a little early to my surprise.  I had previously asked mom not to have anyone pick me up at the airport so I found my way to the bus station and bought an one-way ticket to test out the bus-taking experience.  A taxi ride from Tao-Yuan to my destination will cost me about $40 and the bus ride which dropped me off about 5 blocks away from home was $4.  Other than the unbelievable low cost, the driver was a warm and enthusiastic tour guide, and I was also the only passenger on this route and on his giant bus!

After lunch and spending time with family, I decided to take dad to a bookstore where we spent a couple of hours reading and browsing through books. I ended up with guides for Taipei and Taiwan, and dad ended up with tour books for Bangkok. Like father, like daughter?

Instead of just reading and understanding the books, I decided to experience the interesting places with my parents.  The next day, we visited Da-Dao Cheng (大稻埕) in Taipei.  Other than being absorbed in the historical buildings of Dee-hua street (迪化街) , we shopped for traditional Taiwanese lanterns and hand-weaved bamboo products, we also ate at a hole-in-the-wall Taiwanese noodle house for all kinds of small dishes!  Prior to lunch, Mom swore that she will never wait in line for 30 minutes for anything served from a noodle house like the one that I picked out from the book.  However, bites after bites of delicious small snacks, I think mom will line up again for the home smoked shark meat, barbecued and lightly fried pork, and the lightly salted chicken, noodles, and vegetables.


4pm came around quickly after another walk down Dee-hua street.  I left for Tao-Yuan airport on an air-conditioned bus for $3.  I can't wait for the next time that I explore my hometown with my parents!