Philippines Eve, Alishan (阿里山) and duck’s intestine soup.
I said hey man, how man, hey man, how man, hey man, how man etc. etc. (Geordies who frequented the Gallowgate end in the 80’s will get this).
Tomorrow I fly to Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, hence the title of this post. This will be my second visit to the Philippines on this trip. I aim to head for Puerto Galera on Midoro Island as soon as possible as I reckon Manila is probably a shitehole and I don’t really want to linger there too long.
I have been in Taiwan for 107 days. This is my longest stint anywhere since I left home 550 days ago. I have learnt a canny chunk of Mandarin which will be useful when I return to England (not).
Yesterday I went to Alishan. A large touristed forested mountain in the centre of Taiwan. It was beautiful but I was little disenfranchised on arrival when I saw a 7-11 and a Starbucks in the carpark. This is like putting a McDonalds at the top of Ben Nevis, wrong on too many levels! There were massive ancient Cypress trees in the forests. Some trees had very funny shapes: elephant, heart, pig, 3 generations tree and one tree that looked like a womans vagina (well, it did to us anyway although this one did not have a sign like the others!). The surrounding views were great although I could not see Mt Yushan (玉山) which is East Asia’s highest peak at almost 4000m. I have some pics and more information for the next post.
On the way home, we stopped at Chiayi night market for more edible treats. Here I had a steak dinner on a sizzling black plate for about 1.50gbp - lush! I also stopped at a research centre located right on the tropic of cancer. I love stuff like this man! I read all the information even though I already it all anyway and took a pic of the invisible line.
This morning I ate duck’s intestine soup for my breakfast. I am so used to eating food like this now that I forget to mention it anymore. It is very nice if you can get past the thought of what you are chewing (duck’s intestines are very very chewy by the way).
See you again from the Philippines where I am hoping they have a more Christmassy feel.
Yeshi - night market
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