A busy day!

We had a very full day of sightseeing with the incredibly awesome Mr. Yeh and Alex. Blogettes, every good thing you said about them is true and then some. They were amazing!

They picked us up at 10am and we first went to the Pinglin Tea Museum, where I learned that (a) tea is a lot more complicated than I thought, and (b) everything I have ever done in my meager experience with tea (making it from a bag, drinking it) is pretty much wrong. After the educational part of the tour, we went to the tea room where they made us several delicious types of tea to drink.

Everyone there was very friendly and helpful. In particular, we met this nice guy named Steven who was a fellow tourist but incredibly knowledgeable about tea.

Next, they took us to Jungjeng park in Keelung, where we each rang the giant bell three times:

Jeff

Alex

It was extremely hot and humid outside, and poor Jeff was sweating up a storm. Alex, by contrast, looked perfectly fine even though he was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Amazing.

They then took us to lunch at... Din Tai Fung! There was a very long line when we got there, but we only waited about 15 minutes before getting a table. We ordered a huge amount of food - fantastic dumplings and chicken soup:

After demolishing all but three dumplings, we (Jeff and I, not Alex) waddled out to the car where Mr. Yeh was waiting and drove to the Jinguo jade and flower markets. At the jade market, I have to confess being completely overwhelmed by the amount of merchandise for sale. It was unbelievable how many tables there were.


And even though Alex and Mr. Yeh tried to help me, it became apparent very quickly that I completely stink at (a) selecting merchandise worth less than NT$12,000 and (b) 'bargaining' with the shopkeepers. Alex kept on trying to give me hints, but I still was unsuccessful. I finally managed to buy a few things on my cheapskate budget, all of them found by Alex. Mr. Yeh then bought us a few trinkets out of pity for my pathetic performance. I am just not a shopper!

We then walked over to the Flower Market. What amazes me is that they are only open on weekends. I can't believe the amount of work it takes to set this up every week!

Right about the time we left Keelung it started to rain - hard. (It also stormed yesterday afternoon as well, and I think this is normal for this time of year.) By the time we left the flower market, it had pretty much stopped. We then went to Longshan temple and took a few pictures. It was very crowded and since it was still a bit wet we didn't stay long.

Our final stop was the Snake Alley night market, where we bought a cute outfit for Christian. Unfortunately, it was too early so the 'scroll guy' wasn't there yet. Rather than wait two hours for him to show up, we decided to call it a day and try again some other time. On the way back, Mr. Yeh stopped the car and bought us some food (fried chicken, squid, and potatoes) from a market vendor, who turned out to be Alex's aunt!

Mr. Yeh and Alex were so kind to us. Even though I'm sure that they've done this a million times they were so helpful, friendly, and interested in making sure that we were comfortable and having a good time. It was a fantastic day.

So, now we're back in our room and we can't quite believe that tomorrow we will meet Christian!