Days 14 and 15

Tuesday was very cold and rainy so I stayed home and blogged and planned our hotels etc for the trip beyond Taipei (that was when the first batch of posts went up). Wednesday I decided to go and check out Xinyi which is the new and modern shopping area around 101 and City Hall station. The first thing I saw when I got out of the station was the huge line! I was trying to figure out what the heck they were all waiting for. There is a sign in the second picture that announces at that point it is a 1 hour forty minute wait, and thats about halfway!

Imagine my surprise when I get to the front of the line and see that its Krispy Kreme donuts that the Taiwanese are waiting over three hours for! I wandered around this area for a bit then left and headed toward Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall

The hall and surrounding gardens were very pretty. I enjoyed them for awhile, then stopped by Wufenpu - the garment district on my way home so I could purchase a hat that I had been thinking about since I saw it there a week ago. When Sonny arrived home after work he was in a very good mood, because his data was back and it looked good!!

Yay! Good job Sonny

We decided to celebrate by heading to Dihua Street and check out the New Year Market. This street is one of the oldest in Taipei (very old!) and normally is a kind of traditional medicine and grocery street, but is transformed in the days leading up to the Lunar New Year into a crazy happy market. It was bright, it was loud, and everyone is in a great mood. The vendors were literally begging you to try their wares, and dancing and wearing costumes. I, as a non-asian was the source of some fun, and at one point a huge group of people were all yelling HIIII!!! to me. Very strange, but a lot of fun. The whole place was just so happy! We bought some gifts to bring to Sonny's family for New Years and also to his godfather, whose place we would be staying at starting on Saturday.