Magnificent Museum & Splendid Shopping!

Tuesday May 14^th, 2013

No school at all. Not a single minute of either University or Tatung high school…yet my internal system insisted on waking up early as usual with resistance to falling back asleep. Gosh darn it. :P There’s really no problem in doing so but I just wonder, exactly how much jet lag will invade my system come two weeks time? It’ll be interesting for sure. XD

Together, host father and I travelled to the National Taiwan Museum next to NTU MRT station located in 228 Peace Memorial Park. The front looks exactly like a museum would, doesn't it? It reminds me of the movie “Night at the Museum” or even Klein Collins High School. XD

Two bull statues relaxed at the gate. Even though pretty much exact in appearance, they apparently are made out of different material. I’m not sure what history these statues have but I thought to include a picture anyway. ;)

If you haven’t noticed already, my host father likes to go view museums. We’ve been to so many that I was beginning to think we’ve seen it all. I was wrong. Oh so wonderfully wrong because it had a special something-something.

QI PAO!!! (In English) CHINESE DRESSES!!! :D THIS WAS AWESOME! We caught the new exhibit on its opening day before the tourist rush hour so we could pleasantly meander through the displays. Different dress designs were proudly standing throughout the location as they formed a general dress evolution pattern. At first, Chinese dresses were very loose fitting, long sleeved and fairly plain in design. Gradually they took in more embroidery, colors and slimmed down with cut off sleeves. The types of Chinese dresses I have fall somewhere in the 1900’s time of evolution. This exhibition was fantastic because it included English so I could understand and easily follow the history timeline. AND I LOVED IT ALL! What luck it is to have seen it fairly close to getting Chinese dresses and before I leave. A beautiful, fabric-filled blessing!

Think that was the end of my excitement? Well, nope-nopedy-nope! Climbing one floor of the dazzling interior decorated building, another exhibit stood waiting to be admired. And admired it I did! How could I not? IT WAS TAIWANESE ABORIGINALS! WHOO-HOO! :D Even though it lacked English translations of displayed Chinese paragraphs, I still enjoyed gazing at all the artifacts of each tribe. Here, I show ya some!

Pretty hefty objects huh? What do you think they are? Clubs? They are, in fact, cups! Yeah, large cups for sure but interestingly designed!

A snapshot of some tattoo patterns.

The oh so famous Taiwanese aboriginal boat. On the right is the boat in-progress with the left being the finished product. Every boat I’ve seen is always white, red and black with similar patterns. When at the aboriginal museum seen last Saturday, I learned that the process to make a boat like this extends to nearly two years. The reason is that it’s one big ceremony. You must have the correct materials, season, rituals and all kinds of other jazz to make it. Therefore they really are special pieces of culture.

The B1 floor had an amber exhibit from jewelry to pipes to blobs with ancient bugs trapped inside. Upon sight, the though ‘JURASSIC PARK!’ immediately popped into my head. Not ten seconds later did I turn the corner and find a little toy figurine of the white-clothed founder of Jurassic Park from the movie. I love how the museum embraced the possible events the Jurassic Park book/movie suggested. Hilarious! Hilarious but deadly! XD

For the afternoon meal, the two of us went to a cafeteria underneath the Caesar Hotel. Here we selected “Magic Curry” in favor of getting our curry on! Not only do both of us like curry but I had a personal mission I wanted to try, seeing whether or not I could handle spicier curry. Would Andrea tear? Would she cry? Would she beg for milk? I was curious to find out!

My selection fell upon chicken curry, not only because I love chicken curry but also because the menu showed it rated as number one. A definite must! There were four levels of spiciness. I didn’t know the level of each option at this restaurant, or any curry restaurant really, and neither did host father. Wanting to challenge but not punish myself, I gambled with the second to highest spicy level. Seemed like a good choice. Host father ordered a fried pork roll with asparagus and cheese inside. He also made one of our meals a lunch combo set to share between the two of us. For the combo, host father picked out salad, chicken & mushroom soup, vanilla ice cream scoop and coffee.

A new style of curry to me, it came with a plate of flatten rice with the other goodness all in a metal pot. Goodness included chicken (of course), one broccoli and some carrots. I could see some dabs of red within the liquid that predicted a flare of hotness. ‘This is gonna be fantastic’ I anticipated.

And it was! SO…DELICIOUS! Loved the chicken and loved the sauce! The sauce wasn’t bland nor fiery hot, but possessed a little kick. It induced very slight runniness of the nose and a tingle in the lips but really not spicy. I probably could’ve non-painfully eaten the highest level of spice but it didn’t matter because the creation in front of me was AMAZING! Ultra love! I will have to try a truly red-hot curry sometime though. That battle WILL happen at some time or another. ;)

Following the main meal was dessert and beverage. The coffee was for me and ice cream for host father. With cream but no sugar, the steamy cup of coffee was very refreshing and relaxing. Btw, my host family doesn’t like coffee but know I do, which is why host father chose it. Twas a kind, thoughtful gesture. ^_^

With our bellies satisfied with num-num-nummy food, we walked to the Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center. Remember this place? It’s the one with four floors of purly Taiwanese souvenirs from just about everything. Host father dropped me off here and had to head off to work. Therefore I slowly took my time looking over the store’s products a second time. Even though I’ve seen it all already, it still was very enjoyable to see it all again. I would like to purchase a few merchandise but will have to come back another time because host father said host mother gets a discount at this store. We shall meet again oh fantastic store. ;)

Off on a walk I go! There was a little bit of a walk between the store and Shandao Temple MRT station but it happened to be very pleasant. Many green trees and shrubbery were planted along the roads with old-style buildings popping up here and there. It created a very nice atmosphere to stroll through. The hot weather was a bit unwelcome but nothing too steamy. Before host father left for work, he handed me an umbrella saying it might rain today. Seemingly unlikely with the bright, warm weather plus Google predicting 0% chance of rain all today, I took it anyway because it’s best to listen to Taiwanese host father, am I right? But it looked very improbable that I would even remotely have need of it. 

Time available aplenty, shopping extended while electing to walk the distance from the subway station to the house rather than riding the usual bus. First was my beloved bakery shop for a square pineapple cake cutter and possible means of baking brownies. I still have two bags of brownie mix that I’ll have to bake but doing so in the Chinese metal lunchboxes (“bian dan”) didn’t strike me as the best idea. Not only would the brownies come out difficult to cut and share, but last time it took an abnormally long time to reach semi-baked status. Whether that was a problem with the convention oven/toaster oven or using the bian dan boxes, I wanted to try another method.

So I happily exited this delightful shop with individual tin cups and three cookie cutters. All together, it was a very cheap and reasonable purchase. The shop owner helped me answer a few questions concerning baking. Originally I was going to use mini-cupcake wrappers but she pointed out I would need tools to hold it in while baking. 100% my host family didn’t have a cupcake-baking tray nor did I want to buy one in Taiwan, I swapped over to these tin cups instead. Seems perfect for both baking and easy distribution reasons. Yay! I’m excited to try it out!

Not expecting to, I ducked inside a small stationary store. As a reminder, these types of stores have a whole slew of variety from paper to pens to books to mugs to jewelry and beyond. It seemed unlikely I would find anything desirable, I was proved wrong.

Look at this brilliant, marvelous, wonderfulness! Sengoku Basara 3 manga in Chinese! OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS THIS IS AWESOME!!! In case y’all don’t remember, I adore Sengoku Basara as it is my all-time favorite anime series. Now I don’t profess to be able to read Chinese cuz I can’t (YET!) but this is where it starts. It truly is the most optimal way for me to begin when my Chinese gets to a certain level. I already know and love the characters and plotline of this book so there’s a solid foundation to launch off of. When the needed time and skill rolls around, I’m readily anticipating when I can dive into reading and translating the books!

The other purchase was three packets of origami paper. These came about because I was in need of smaller sized paper with a bit of flare for a secret project of mine. That’s what the far left one is for. But once I saw another packet with five types of stunning Asian styled paper (the other two are the same just viewing the front and back) my eyes target locked. I’ve never been able to try my hand seriously in origami but these oozed out inspiration. Not only that but I’m fairly certain their prices would knock the socks off of origami loving friends in America who go to stores like Michael’s for their origami paper. For most of the paper I saw, each sheet comes out to be half a penny or sometimes one cent. How incredibly cheap! Of course I can’t turn down some gorgeous sheets of paper for such a bargain! I’ll attempt my hand at origami when back in the States where I won’t have to worry about my creations getting crushed in luggage transportation. ;) Another thing to be uber excited about! :D

Third time I’ve been corrected today. Host father was right. Google was wrong. It was indeed raining and substantially too. I was mentally projecting ‘thank you’ thoughts to host father because I would’ve gotten soaked without the umbrella he handed me! And that is why you listen to your host parents, the natives of the country. :P Streets were silk with water and umbrellas of many different personalities protecting the people underneath became the new mood of Taipei. What you see here is the street reaching back towards the house.

There’s not much else to report on but I’ll point out something special in dinner. A platter of baked and fried shrimp with a sweet, thick sauce squirted on top. I’m not sure if this is a Taiwanese dish per say but I have seen it once or twice before in Taiwan with no recollection of America offering it. Thus, why not show it to y’all? Tis tasty!

Oki doki, I now bid y’all a good night! Sweet dreams to all! ^_^

Shop Till Ya Drop!

Monday May 13^th, 2013

Let the day begin! With no high school today, that means no school uniform. I could wear whatever I wanted to! Whoo-hoo! Simple but comfortable, I went for gray pants, black shirt and a yellow vest combo. It felt good to be wearing normal clothing to University, which by the way included the first part of our(Class C) Chinese final. The test consisted solely of grammar. It threw me off because I thought there would be more vocabulary elements. Nevertheless, the diligent vocabulary studying may not matter for the test but it’ll help out for my Chinese in general. Win-Win situation I reckon! ;)

Able to take lunchtime as slow as my heart desired, I meet up with some exchange student friends to join them for lunch. Each bought a take-out meal and brought it to an outdoor coffee shop. Here they obviously purchased a beverage to go along with their food.

Nothing at nearby shops really appealed to me at the moment so I settled for two tea eggs from FamilyMart convenient store. These were only ok tasting but still nice for filling me up. Eating them, I wondered whether or not I was eating too many eggs, for the day anyway. The fried egg in host grandmother’s egg cheese toast sandwich, a morning tea egg and then two tea eggs for lunch. EGG OVERLOAD! There’s nothing wrong with four eggs but I started to worry that it would cause diet imbalance with a lack of other nutrients, such as from meat, fish or veggies. Well, at least I could redeem that at dinner when back at the house but in the mean time, twas an egg morning and afternoon.

I only visited “36 Coffeehouse” once a looooong time before and couldn’t remember what I ordered or what the verdict was. Taking Akiko’s suggestion, a hot Vienna coffee was selected. Though it takes quite some time to make (a big reason why I don’t go more since the previous time almost made me late to high school), the beverage was served in a sturdy coffee mug, obviously not for take-out. An attractive mound of cream and drizzled chocolate topped the steaming coffee. Tasting the prettiness, the cream deserves mad props! Not skimpy light stuff, not thick molasses consistency, it achieved a delightful middle perfection with delicious flavor! Uber kudos! I almost wanted to eat the cream alone instead of mixing it in the liquid. XD But I did stir it all in and attained a pleasant cup of coffee. Really emjoyable!

Yours truly. A tad extra holding help underneath the cup was needed because it was a heavy mug! See that yellow vest? It’s just an adornment to spice up the simple T-shirt and jean combo, plus I hadn’t yet worn it in Taiwan. I thought, why not wear it today? I’m pointing this out because I want you to remember the vest for later. ;P

A good number of exchange students gathered at the coffee shop, some staying for only a little bit while others remained there for quite some time. 10-15 people might be a good estimate. Our time together reached nearly two hours, extending past 1:10PM. Oh me oh my it was truly wonderful! I adored such a lovely time! It’s clear to see how some exchange students are so much closer together because they can be with each other for so long. Me on the other hand, I don’t normally stay that long just because of high school. Yeah, their schools are a lot less strict and they don’t want naptime. Even if I didn’t attend naptime, I still would have to leave a lot earlier than them. No matter, I enjoyed today’s company immensely though I do wish I could’ve partaken in it more often. Still, I have no regrets. ;)

As people began departing to their schools (yes they had school today though I’m off because of major tests), I took my leave as well. The little plan I had for the remainder of today basically was searching for things on my buy-before-leaving-Taiwan-list. So off it was onto the shopping expedition!

First was checking the nearby General Merchandise around the corner for some Taiwan flag styled products. Last time I searched here, none of the items were available much to my disappointment. But happy day, today they were! With great satisfaction, I happily bought a Taiwanese flag, Taiwanese flag stickers and a mini Chinese-styled bag with a Taiwanese flag design. All cheap and fantastic things I had desired for quite a while! Already the majority of my to-do list was cut down. Yay!

The other stop was at Taipei Main Station to two underground mall sections. Browsed here and there from clothing to anime stuff with all the ease in the world. Purchases followed occasionally and I will recall a few but first a random encounter story!

While looking through a cheap clothing store, a girl younger than me can up and asked me a question concerning where to find a certain type of clothing. This confused me and I suggested her to ask the shop owner because I didn’t know. I was only a visiting customer after all and not a knowledge employee. Why would she ask me? Later I realized…she though I was an employee. The blame is on the yellow vest I was wearing. It struck me that it could be accidently mistaken as the type of vest people wear if volunteers for events or employees at certain shops. Though it was certainly not that kind of shop, I see why the mishap came about. Then I got thinking…do all Taiwanese think of me like that with this vest? Yes or no, I didn’t care, not when having a jolly good time. :P

Onto some new treasures! The final thing on my must-to-buy-list was some kind of jade jewelry. Jade is a very important stone to Taiwan, probably more so than diamonds or gold, and you can see people often wearing some sort of jade jewelry for luck and other such positive symbols. Usually they wear a solid circle of jade as a bracelet, like my host grandmother will do. The solid bracelet isn’t much to my personal liking so instead I tried for a ring or necklace. And success! I found not one, but two beautiful jade pendants.

Both pretty and agreeably cheap (about $3US per pendant), one is a dragon circle bordered with a Chinese-style pattern and the other just an overall attractive design. I really love both of them and am so glad to have jade jewelry off my list. Yay!

Even though I thoroughly browsed through the long hallway of numerous anime shops, I didn't expect to find much. Really, I wanted to give it one final good-bye check before returning to America. The selections were pretty much the same as what I remembered but with a few differences. Still, it was fun to look around. Fun save for one painful reminder of coming upon the figurine I so terribly want but can’t get with its ridiculous price of 5800NT($194US). I quickly passed it to minimize the fact that I’m poor. :P Pfft, no I’m not poor, it’s just ludicrously expensive. XD

When at the last few anime shops, the feeling of not finding anything was present and went into auto half-hearted search mode. What? I was getting tired and dehydrated. Don’t judge. :P Anyway I was simply scanning when BAM! Heartbeat temporarily was non-existent and all I could do was merely stare in loving disbelief. Right there, right in front of my face…was Motochika. An uber special voice enabled Motochika that I’ve seen online for beyond unreasonable prices (like $150-300US) that I never ever expected to see in person. Something I’ve hankered for thinking it only a unattainable dream. Yet there he was, only his model and not any other characters of the corresponding series. What a stroke of luck! Immediately I thought ‘I WANT TO BUY, NOW!’ Therefore my eyes darted to the price and…

STAB! Right in the heart. A depressing 3000NT labeled his box, meaning a whopping $100US. Though cheaper than online, it still is preposterous. Dear, why must you be so expensive? I admit, I was very tempted for a second but came to senses quickly. Even though he would be absolutely wonderful to have, I’m not so selfish to waste hard earned money in such a greedy manner. Therefore, I shuffled out of the store fast.

Back in realistic price world, here’s a little something quite cheap and entirely delightful! A wee little stamp of the Chosokabe clan symbol! I won’t go into the story of why this sign is special to me, but know it makes me certainly cheery! Paired with a proper shade of purple ink pad and I got myself a charming stamp combo that I will have utmost fun with! LOVE!

Tuckered out and managing to consciously travel back to the house, I settled down for the night with easy-going work. More importantly, my must-to-buy-list is complete! I can return to America content. The completion satisfaction is not only in shopping but also physical places. I’ve seen, bought and eaten all that I absolutely had to in Taiwan (with the exception of this planned Wednesday) so I have no untied ends or regrets. All that remains are nice things to do before leaving this country but not personal requirements. It’s a good feeling! ^_^ Btw, only two weeks left in Taiwan. Holy sha-moley time is flying fast!

Hope my shopping trip was entertaining even if just a little bit. Sorry if it was a bore. I’m a little too tired for a proper writer mindset. Perhaps tomorrow might be better if today wasn’t your cup of tea. Anyway, good night and good luck! ;D

Love the Mothers! Love Them All!

Sunday May 12^th, 2013

Yet another rainy day. It’s just raining all up in the weekend, ain’t it? XD That’s fine because rain is good and it’s not like it ruined any plans of mine. As long as there’s my trusty umbrella in possession, I’m good to go!

A normal yet beloved church morning with a fine sermon was attended. The chit-chat time afterwards was short but enjoyable with a nice cup of coffee. Mmm, black coffee with just a little bit of cream is spot on refreshing! The boost of energy from it would play a helpful part later on too.

There were a few friends who couldn’t make church today and who did had to quickly leave for previous engagements. Therefore lunch was quick and simple with two tea eggs from Hi-Life convenient store. Filling, delicious and cheap to boot! ;D

Originally my host family was planning a little trip to visit two museums in a place called Yilan but I regretfully had to decline. Though I would love to spend time with my host family whenever and wherever, too much work was piling up that required immediate attention. Not only do I have the first part of my Chinese final tomorrow but also I want to tackle a bunch of end-of-exchange tasks now so they don’t horribly pile up in the last few days. I’d rather my last week be painless, thank you. :P So that’s what I did for the rest of the day. Eliminate a whole slew of errands, mostly written things such as Chinese speeches or Chinese cards and then studying. Productivity rocks! :D

*inhales deeply, inflating chest as if about to charge into battle and exhales* Right! Let’s get this over with! *cracks open the can of clear chicken broth* Oh man…oh geez. No! I shouldn’t think like that otherwise it’ll make the experience worse. I CAN DO THIS SHIZ-NICK-ITS! *some hours later* GASP! There! I’m done! It’s finished and out of my life! And actually, it thankfully wasn’t  as bad as I remembered it. Yay I got much needed sodium and that’s one less thing to handle before leaving Taiwan! Tis a very good thing indeed! Whoo-hoo!

Fun Fact: Mother’s Day in America is the same day in Taiwan. Therefore, it’s Mother’s Day today! Break out the flowers, chocolate and cards! ;D This appreciation holiday in Taiwan is celebrated in pretty much the same way as America. The differences I saw were exclusively between my own personal American family and Taiwanese family. Back in the States, we traditionally cook up a nummy bed-in-breakfast for Mom as well as give her good old flowers and thankful cards with special treatment of course. In Taiwan, Mother’s Day felt more toned done and more like a passing thought. Either way, I wanted to be the host daughter that I am and do something to show my appreciation.

Originally I planned on baking brownies this morning but time and means weren’t available. That’s why I had a back-up plan! I didn’t know where to buy flowers so I had to settle on two red plastic carnations but I think the cards that went along with them made up for anything lacking. Carefully selecting the cards, I picked out one for host mother and host grandmother (host grandmother is like a mother to me so I thought it only right to do something for her too). In each I wrote of my thankfulness, all in Chinese of course. When I gave them the flower-card combo with a cheerful Chinese “Happy Mother’s Day,” a successful surprise was achieved. Later host mother told me that my Chinese characters were pretty and confirmed them being correct. I was afraid of messing up a good card. :P

I hope that both host mother and grandmother felt my sincerity and liked their gifts. Really, I do appreciate them and all they’ve done for me, treating me like a daughter. So to both host mother and grandmother, 母親節快了！

With that being said, Mom in America…

I may not be able to do much of anything for you while in Taiwan but know that I still am grateful for all you’ve done even when across the world. Thank you for always being there and caring for me so. I couldn’t ask for a better Mom! Thank you and I love you! ^_^

In conclusion, Happy Mother’s Day to all, and to all a good night! :D

Leaping from Aboriginals to Temples to Japanese Foodstuffs!

Saturday May 11^th, 2013

Raining and raining and raining and raining and raining, etc. Starting from the wee hours in the morning till throughout the day, it down poured big time. Good thing we didn’t have any outdoor activities today, only just battling the rain getting from car to building.

First stop was a short art museum featuring an artist who enjoys using lacquer for his paintings, trying to blend Chinese and Western art. They were pretty good. I have no pictures because I don’t think photography was allowed. Sorry.

Close by (also close to the National Palace Museum) was the real gem of the day, the Shung Ye Museum Of Formosan Aborigines! In other words, Taiwanese aboriginals! Yay! Surprisingly there were close to no people but that gave us an easier time seeing everything. ;) Consisting of four levels total, I LOVED every inch of this place! It’s a Taiwanese aboriginal lover paradise! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!! Inside were things from rituals to clothing to living quarters to utensils. No pictures were allowed by I did bring back some fun facts for y’all! ;)

-Lilies are used as a symbol of female chastity

-Tattoos for males are common on their back, arms and chest. For women it is usually the back of their hands. Both can have them on their face.

-Making cloth is super complicated and really difficult. They use ramie thread from peeling off outer surface of ramie stalk, then twisting the silks within to form threads. With the use of a horizontal back-strap loom, they can create cloth. A video played that showed this process and boy did it depict how strenuous it was! You really have to admire all that hard work!

-Traditionally, alcohol was only drunk on special occasions, hence drinking problems were rare. With the modern culture thriving along with new conditions, addiction to alcohol is currently at a higher rate.

-There are such a thing as MAN CUPS! XD When a boy becomes of age, he is given a special cup that stays with him even to the point of being buried with it. Apparently the cups were viewed as being masculine. Does that mean you can attract girls with your personal cup? XD

At the end of it all, we stopped by a petite gift shop containing aboriginal-like items with a modern spin on them. My host parents were so very kind and purchased four souvenirs for me, an aboriginal headband, poncho, glass bead keychain and bobble-head phone charm. Not only did they all relate to the Taiwanese aboriginal culture, but were also light and easy to pack. Host father and mother knew this and wanted to give me something special of something I love about Taiwan with no problems concerning packing…that’s so uber thoughtful! Really, they are very, very sweet people. I love them and am so thankful to have them as my host family! :D

We grabbed lunch at a close local place because there weren’t any other restaurants. It may not have been a high quality establishment but it still served its purpose with nummy food. My favorite of our ordered dishes…

STINKY TOFU!!! WHOOP WHOOP! It’s such a beautiful sight! ^_^ The first whiff caught of this plate did have a punch of smelliness to it. Not even a minute later it was non existent. Perhaps you get desensitized to the smell really quickly, that and it wasn’t strong in the first place. The tofu itself was pretty good, though not my favorite type but the pickled veggies were spot on! LOVED THEM! I really will have to learn how to make stinky tofu myself because I’ll sorely miss it in America if I don’t. ;P

We actually ordered two stinky tofu plates along with three bowls of other soupy stuff. I mostly focused on the stinky tofu cuz I just love it that much. It’s a little humorous because host mother didn’t eat much stinky tofu at all, host father ate some but I obviously ate the most by consuming what they didn’t.  Does the American like stinky tofu more than the Taiwanese? :P

Back to the car, we drove a bit to briefly view a small temple. I refer to it as the ‘love temple.’ Primarily singles come here praying for love. I’ve actually already seen this little temple before on a Rotary trip, the day we saw the lit up Lantern Festival display. It’s very tiny with only two rooms but accomplishes its purpose.

Another car ride away at we walked through a different temple, Guandu Temple. It is a whole bunch bigger with more diverse features. Now here is where I could have a photography field trip! ;D

Looking upwards at a dimensioned ceiling. Though it holds a traditional design, very non-traditional colorful Christmas lights were blinking away. Strange but had a sense of beauty to it.

A tunnel of a hallway including many temple arts along the walls.

‘Mazhu,’ the beloved goddess of Taiwan accompanied by two guardians, one with super eyesight and the other with super hearing. All very prominent icons in Taiwan.

One of my favorite sights in this temple. Who doesn’t like a beautiful phoenix? ;P

Chinese temple roofs! Y’all know how much I love them. Here’s more reasons of why I do! :D

Fishy looking dragon that spits colorful stuff. Fire? Water? Feathers? Whatever it is, I adore the colors and design! But maybe more so when it’s alone and not to be accidentally confused with spewing another substance. XD

Chinese phoenix!

Once finished we went back to the house and rested awhile until 6:15 rolled around to head out again. This trip was for dinner with host father’s sister’s family. I don’t know the name of the restaurant but it was a little odd. It struck me as trying to mimic a club with dim lights, alcohol consumption and English party music playing. The most bizarre thing was the place didn’t offer a drop of water. We had to go outside to buy a large bottle to share between us. The food though was quite spectacular.

Plate of barbecued meat. I only tasted two of the different variations, but the best was a type of mushroom wrapped in bacon. Mmm-hmm good!

Meat of some sort.

Fishie time!

I really didn’t understand what the heck this was but my best guess is a fishy outside with fishy eggs on the inside…maybe. Really not sure but it tasted good.

Quite an eye-catching presentation! A wooden boat with a selection of raw fish and two dollops of wasabi on the back. Of the couple of fish types I tried, I enjoyed each immensely!

Adorable sushi wooden block! There are four types with a scoop of ginger cleansing palate stuff in the middle. I only had one small sushi roll at the top left and absolutely loved it! Sushi is so fantastic! I might being seeing it more frequently in America compared to before just cuz I predict cravings will be had. ;)

And miso soup to wrap up the meal. Nummy as always.

With that the night came to an end quickly, a rainy end mind you. It seems to be that kind of wet weekend. ;P Good night all!