A Taipei photoshoot
Actually, the driver was even nicer than what I previously wrote in that, before he left, he stuck around to make sure we entered into our AirBnB.
All-in-all, a great way to start our trip.
Now, I suppose there are three major things you need to know about Taiwan in general – it:
-
- is a nighttime society in many ways and the reason is the same as in Spain, which is that, prior to the advent of air conditioning, it was hot as balls around here. This is something that I didn’t truly realize as a kid.
- has the second largest concentration of convenience stores after South Korea – this video will explain why.
- is still a very cash-based society.
These three things shaped how we and tourists in general have to interact with it.
I mean, you can even buy hard liquor at the local 7-11, but that’s neither here nor there.
Didn’t realize how much I didn’t use cash in my day-to-day until I had to use cash pretty much everywhere in Taiwan.
In any case, there was one right across the street so that was the first stop, where I picked up supplies that we needed for the week and then we all crashed.
The next morning, the kid and I woke up bright and early and got food for everyone.
Because this was the second marriage for both the Firecracker and myself, we didn’t really want a big to-do, wedding-wise, but she did want nice photos.
I’m not really one for pomp-and-circumstance but it was a completely reasonable ask so I said yes.
She found an Instagram photographer and I had my reservations, but I did like the photographs she showed so I agreed.
After months of chatting online with him (and thinking he was a she for a solid month, initially) he showed up at our hotel in the morning with a driver and we spent our first day in Taiwan taking photos with the boys.
Honestly – and I say this after having dozens, if not hundreds of professional photos taken with the Scenic Fights guys – these were some of the best photos of myself (and her) that I’ve ever seen.
To say I was impressed is a colossal understatement.
The other cool thing about the photoshoot was that I got a chance to see parts of Taipei that I never really got to see before.
We also took the opportunity to take some family photos as well.
The kids were absolute troopers about it, so we promised them a dinner at – what we called – the Poop Restaurant which…well, I’ll let the following video explain.
Honestly, the food wasn’t bad…once you got over how it was served.
The kids were all about it and it was one of the things they were really looking forward to, so it had to be done.
The people there were actually super cool…
Waitress: You ordered two of the shaved ice?
Me: (puzzled) Yes, we have two kids.
Her: (leaning over) Just so you know, four adults generally can’t finish one of those. There’s literally no way either one of those kids will finish one of these.
Me: Oh man, thanks! So, just order the chocolate one?
Her: (nodding) Good idea.
She wasn’t kidding. We had a ton left over.
We ended the first day with a walk through the Ximen district, which was like Times Square, before we headed back.
I’ll post more tomorrow – this jetlag is no joke, and this is a pretty picture heavy post as it is.
All the crappy pics with my watermark on them are mine, all the good ones without watermarks are – of course – our killer photographer’s.
Location: the rainy UWS trying to deal with this jetlag
Mood: off-kilter
Music: Well, a nice day for a white wedding day (Spotify)
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.