Day 9 & 10: Elephant Mnt | Taipei Zoo | Climbing | Just Dance

Day 9: Tuesday June 5th

Hello! I will just give you a brief update on how Tuesday and Wednesday went. I probably won't post as often now that things which were once very shocking/amazing/foreign are 

beginning to feel normal :) 

Tuesday June 5th I took the MRT to the end of the Red Line to hike Elephant Mountain. 

Taiwan is not a melting pot like America so I definitely stand out as being foreign everywhere I go. All I have to do is stand in front of a sign, menu or map for slightly longer than typical and someone will come talk to me! That day was no different and as I stared at the map of the trail system an older man came and explained which way to hike for the best view of Taipei 101.

 I found him again at the top (how/when did he pass me?). He was sitting with his legs folded underneath him. He motioned for me to come sit by him, "you need to sit like this to get the lactic acid out of your legs." 

I'm thinking "okay this is a Taiwanese Yoda..."  

Apparently he is trained in reflexology. I forget all of it now but it was something like "three finger breadths above the inside of your elbow and then one finger breadth over and then press really hard"

I pressed on the point and was like "yeah, okay, got it"

and then he pushed on the same spot harder

"ahh okay, yeah that hurts"

"You have too much mercy on yourself!!!"

For all of the Moms out there reading my post...this is a WELL POPULATED (very busy) trail system right beside the city....so even if it was technically a bit creepy it's not like there weren't a ton of people around. 

My original plan was to just stay on the one trail I knew and go home, but this way I was able to spend half my day hiking and learning from Yoda. 

We went up to the workout equipment and he said, "Do you know how to use the exercise equipment?"

He sat on the top of a bar, hooked his feet underneath a bar across from him and then flipped over upside down!

What in the world...this guy was hilarious.

Walking through a section this narrow made me nervous because on the hike there was a snake as thick as my upper forearm! It was jaw-dropping. I can't believe I got to see a snake that big in the wild...And I hope I never do again!!!

Later on Facebook I come to find...this is what he does in all of his free time. 

Exact same place clearly with tourists. HILARIOUS.

(there were at least 20 photos like this)

For dinner we went to another Japanese restaurant. For appetizers we crushed up our own tiny bowl of sesame seeds and mixed it up in a sauce to eat with cabbage. So good!

Day 10

I went to the zoo!

That afternoon I found a bouldering gym that is only $1.50 per day!  (Insanely cheap compared to the US). 

I sat down on the bench with a bunch of other climbers....expecting to have another silent activity as everyone around me is speaking in a language I don't understand....

The person next to me turned and said, "Hi I'm Jack...this is our climbing club."

He then introduced me to each member there and let me know they are there every day from 12:30-1:30.

I tried to act casual but on the inside...."YESSS FRIENDSSS!!!" 

That night I ate chicken heart.

My plan of escape from these situations is to ask if they all eat this. If anyone there admits they won't eat it...neither will I. 

So I asked everyone at the table (at least 10 present) if they would eat this normally and they ALL said yes.

So I ate it.

Immediately following, I was I told that no in fact they don't all eat this!

Jason has made it his mission in life to feed us new foods. 

We finished the day with a Just Dance Party...at Garmin! Watching engineers dance = hilarious.

Stay tuned! I will try to update the blog more often.