WOW! 2012 is here! It's been a momentous and eventful 2011 for us, and we're looking ahead to what 2012 will bring. But first...here's the last bit from 2011: our New Year's Eve day.
Since this is Taiwan, of course, it all starts with food! However, we're pretty sure this is the ONLY place in the world where you'll get good food at a place called "Modern Toilet." Yes, that's what the sign says on the wall, and that's the name of the restaurant. When you walk up the stairs, you hear a doorbell ring and someone yells "Welcome Toilet!" from the top of the stairs.
Your eyes do not deceive you...
...indeed, every seat is a commode. Really. No kidding. The tables are sinks or bathtubs covered with glass. Ours was a double sink.
No two seats appear to be alike.
Oh, yeah: the lids are sealed shut. Good idea.
Need something to wipe with? There's a familiar roll mounted to the wall right behind your head. Just tear off a strip long enough to do the job. We all know how this works.
The food is also served in miniature bathroom fixtures. The Japanese curry (in the commode) even has a heater inside so it stays hot.
The little black bathtub has baked penne pasta with tomato sauce and cheese. Both these dishes were actually tasty! We were willing to lower the bar on the food just for the fun of eating at "Modern Toilet," but we would go back just for the food! Good for them; they don't bank on the novelty alone!
We even got thematically shaped ice cream for dessert! If you don't recognize this particular bathroom fixture, it's because you don't have squat toilets in your country.
We kept making comments like: "Wow, the texture is really good!" and "I'll never think of the term 'soft serve' the same way again."
Having eaten our fill from the toilet (never thought we'd ever say
that, now, did we!), we decided to check out Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall 國父紀念堂. Here's a view of Taipei 101 with the hall in the front. The weather was cool and cloudy but it rained only a little--and only while we were inside looking at the art galleries. Lucky us!
Here's Ryan making the Obligatory Taiwanese Pose When Pictures Are Being Taken.
The guy sitting next to him is apparently not with the program.
We saw three or four galleries at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, including an international exhibit of traditional Chinese Ink Painting and another beautiful exhibition by a new master of the medium. We then headed a few blocks away for the car show.
It's so typical of this place: ancient art forms and modern design juxtaposed all the time.
Taipei's car show includes Peugeot, Skoda, Nissan, Toyota, Aston-Martin, Porsche (here's the Boxter!), Land Rover, Honda, Austin, Bentley, Subaru and Volkswagen all in the same place--and unlike some other shows, they'll display the
practical cars right alongside the hot sports cars and concept cars. We got to sit in the Mazda 2, the Honda Fit (awesome!) and the Nissan March, all very small, useful vehicles.
This is Mazda's new concept car. Looks good already!
We've been thinking about how much we love to drive to places, but how small we want our footprint to be, so it was nice to get a peek at the Nissan Leaf.
This is Cooper's new Mini Coupe. What fun!
It was already dark by the time we were done with the car show, but it was still about 5 hours till midnight. The big fireworks display is on Taipei 101. Here we are in front of the Hyatt, looking up at what was once the tallest building on Earth. For the moment, you can actually walk around. Within a few hours, it would be a total zoo!
So, what to do next? We headed toward ...FOOD! (How did you guess??)
This is the street scene on the way. The traffic is all going the opposite direction we're headed. They're going to join the party at the base of 101.
Samsung handed out these inflated tubes that would light up and flash from the inside when shaken. Ping and Ryan found out that they light up and flash even better when bopped on your neighbor's head. This shot was taken during a lull in the ensuing bopping war.
Facing the other direction from Taipei 101. The lights on the buildings change color and move. It's beautiful!
Okay, THIS is where we're headed: the Ningxia Night Market 寧夏夜市! It's not very big, but the locals grudgingly admit that it's the
very best food. We had to try it.
Oh yeah. No kidding. The food is GOOD! We found that it's much more fun when there are three people because you can sample Thai Chicken, a noodle and chicken wrap, a tapioca drink, two different kinds of sausage, authentic turkey rice, chicken roll with water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and a famous deep fried taro ball with egg yolk and dried, shredded pork all in one night without being stuffed. Well, without being
overstuffed. At least, not too much.
This is after most of the food has been consumed and we're just happy to have spent the day the way we did! By this time, we were tired enough to just go home and watch the festivities live on YouTube.
Happy New Year from Taiwan!
May 2012 bring you joys unexpected, as much growth as you can handle, and opportunities that you never knew were possible!
Have FUN! It's good for everyone!
Much love, --Mark and Ping and Ryan
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