Shoshanablank’s Weblog

It’s been a while since my last post, sorry. I was just so busy traveling in Taiwan and Malaysia!

Taiwan was great. Despite not having anyone in our group of 6 that could speak Chinese, we managed. We stayed in a really sweet hostel, the 6 of us in one room. Everyone else staying there was young like us and there was even clean drinking water and air conditioning. And air condition was a must. I could have been sitting outside in Taiwan, doing absolutely nothing and be sweating profusely. One great thing about Taipei was my friend Tesia, who was living there for the summer studying Chinese. When she was with us, we could actually ask Taiwanese people for directions and prices, and find good places to eat and shop.

One of the first things we did in Taipei was got to he top of Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. The elevator ride went like 90 floors in like 30 seconds… amazing. My ears popped the entire time. And when you’re at the top you can see the whole city. I’m pretty afraid of heights, so looking straight down out of the window made me feel like I was falling and I couldn’t stay in one place up there for too long. On our second day we traveled to Xinbeitou, a part on the outskirts of Taipei, right next to the national park. We spent quite a while walking uphill just looking for an entrance into the park or to the famous hot springs they have there. This guy named Lin helped us out, pointing us in the direction of the hot springs, the exact same direction that we had just come from. We went on a small hike that day and have some beautiful pictures from the top. We met another Taiwanese older man who was really eager to help us that day. He wanted us to meet him the next day at 9am so he could give us a tour of the city. He then proceeded to tell us that the woman with him was his girlfriend while his wife was working in LA. We politely declined his offer… We then went to the boardwalk farther north at Danshui to watch the Sunset, but it ended up being a tourist trap with mainly Western food.

The next day I really enjoyed going to the Longshan Temple. The interesting thing about temples in Taiwan (and perhaps the rest of Southeast Asia?) is that no one really knows what the main religion of the temple is. I asked Tesia at this particular temple “Is this a Buddhist temple?” And she replied, “It’s probably more Buddhist than anything else.” So I guess it’s kind of ambiguous. But the temple was beautiful nonetheless with all of the offerings of flowers and food that people make. And the chanting was hypnotic, in a good way. Another great night was spent in the Shilin Night Market (a street market with many vendors), where you can buy anything from a skirt, quail eggs, papaya milk, or counterfeit movies. It’s the biggest night market in Taipei, and the Taiwanese LOVE their night markets.

On the last day in Taipei, we took the gondola ride by the zoo. I had a really bad cold by then and was feeling pretty sick, and Rebecca Deyr wasn’t feeling so great either. So the two of us waited for a few hours at a tea house while Rebecca Rand, Tony, Kate, and Ian all went on a hike. Well, we planned to meet again at 3:15pm and no one came to get Rebecca and I until 6:15pm. Wow. It really pays to have a cell phone, and none of us have one. They had gotten lost and had trouble without being able to speak the language, so it was legit and understandable. But the interesting thing is that is I had to wait 3 hours for someone in the US I would have been really pissed, but in Taiwan I have nothing to get to. No meetings, no homework, no important emails or calls to check. It is SO freeing not to have any of these responsibilities.

Anyways, After four days in Taipei, it was time to go to Malaysia. We met our other 4 friends at the airport (Chelsea, Deanna, Matt, and Kayli) and took the four hour flight. We stayed in the Hotel Citrus and it was just wonderful: free internet, bottled water, breakfast, air conditioning. The first day in Kuala Lumpur I stayed in the hotel room because I was really sick by then. Really bad cold left me without any energy, I slept four hours that day! I had also gotten a stomach sickness from the first dinner we ate in Malaysia, so that didn’t help things. However, after one day of rest, I was completely recovered! Amazing what rest and water and Vitamin C can do for a body! And I met some really cool British people that day that were traveling around the world for a year. they had already been to India and gave me some tips for visiting the Taj Mahal.

Second day in Malaysia Rebecca Rand (Rand for short), Chelsea, Ian, Tony, and I went to the beach. It took two buses and a taxi ride to get there, about 2 hours total of travel time. But so worth it. The Indian Ocean is beautiful and warm and has the perfect small waves. The girls and I risked it by wearing two piece swimsuits because barely anyone was on the beach, we thought no one would see. But, it attracted attention immediately and this guy started to inadvertently take pictures of us while pretending to read his book just 20 feet away. So creepy, but what could we do? That day I also ripped my skirt and scraped my arm up really bad while jumping off a cement wall. We also almost missed all of the available transport to get back to KL that night, very stressful. But we got back after sprinting onto a train right before it left the station. Here’s what I learned that day:

1. The body heals when yourest it.

2. I have a 50% chance of injuring myself whern I take risks

3. Cheeseburgers in Malaysia just aren’t the same

4. People will take pictures of you if you wear a teo piece swimsuit in malaysia

5. The Indian Ocean is quite nice

6.  I was so lucky to be born in AMerica

7.If I got upset everytime I ruined an item of clothing or injured myself, I’d always be depressed (I ripped my skirt and got blood on Rand’s shirt)

8. Patience is a virtue

9. I will never again be 20 years old swimming off the coast of Malaysia

10. Trust your friends over taxi drivers

11. Fresh green coconuts aren’t very good

12. If you miss a bus, and then miss another bus, DO NOt miss the train

13. A bandana can serve as a headband, a kleenex, and a bandage all in one day!

OK. I must stop tyyping now as I have to go to dinner at ICSA (I’m in India now). Btu I will post the rest of MAlaysia and the beginning of India tomorrow hopefully. And post pictures very soon.

Stay tuned