We got back to the dorm in the afternoon on Thursday. Amanda did a few loads of laundry as we unpacked from the road trip. Before we went out for supper, I wrote on my postcards I had bought. Word on the street is people have received them - 11 days after I sent them…not bad. For supper we headed back out to the Tapinyaki (edit Teppanyaki) restaurant. Later that evening we headed to the Taoyaun night market. There we had some really good fresh fruit smoothies. We also bought some gifts for back home. What isn’t good about this night market is they allow scooters through the street. Now remember the street is only about the size of 1 car, so with lots of people there, there’s not much room to maneuver. Needless to say, Amanda got ran over by a scooter. The Chinese lady just looked down and took off, not even stopping to check to see if she was alright. The worst part was she ruined her $3 pair of sandles! Of course that gave her an excuse to buy a new pair at the market!

Friday we decided we would head back into Taipei and visit the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and then visit the big night market. We rode the train into Taipei and made our way through the MRT and easily found the CKS Memorial. The main Chiang Kai-shek statue kind of looks like the Abraham Lincoln statue in the U.S. The Memorial is really big and includes plenty of flowers and small ponds where you can feed the koi fish. The guards came down closer to sunset and took down the flag as they played the Taiwan National Anthem (I think..at least is sounded like it).

We made our way to the Taipei 101 as we were wanting to go to a Chili’s that was near by there. After walking around the building, we finally found the restaurant. This is where Amanda pigged out! Guess she realized that this would most likely be her last “American” meal in a while, so she ordered nachos, onion rings, and a burger! I just ordered the ribs! Lets just say ate me under the table that night!

Oh and while in the bathroom, this sign is in front of the urinal. What the hell? Do Chinese people pee 3 feet away, that they need to be told to stand closer? Nobody else was in there with me so I quickly snapped the photo. Would’ve been a little embarrassing if somebody walked in while I was taking the picture!

From there we headed to the night market where we shopped a bit more and then headed back to Taoyoun. The next day would be my last in Taiwan!