Ahi Sai Sushi Night/ Shilin Night Market

HURRRAYYYY! Finally I'm reconnected with the world. My computer is back and healthy and that's not the only thing - my body is feeling a lot better too. I woke up this morning feeling just fine - no more throat pains, soreness or cough and I was feeling up for the usual antics.

Truth be told there hasn't been much going on lately as it's been really rainy and cold. Within a matter of days the temperature dropped from around 26 to 10 - not pleasant. It sounds like our nice weather has moved to Canada. I hear it's been beautiful there. I actually showed some of the exchange students a live feed (via Skype with Davin) from Milton, Ontario - we are all a bit jealous.

So here's whats been going on.

Actually, a few funny sleep stories. I hope Claudia doesn't kill me, (I'm sorry if you're reading this). Last night I found out that she is a sleep talker. At about 3am Claudia startled me out of bed when she jerked up into an upright position, turned her head my direction and started talking very aggressively as if I had just stolen her purse. The language she was speaking sounded sort of like a mix of English, German and Swahili but I can ' t be sure. I was actually afraid of what she might do next so I tried, very softly (you know you're not supposed to wake sleep talkers / walkers), to "shhhhh" her back to sleep. I tried this a few times and then demanded very sternly for her to go back to bed, which she did - she fell back with just as much jerk as she used to get up. I turned over and chuckled and went back to bed. We had a good laugh about that today.

A few nights ago was the worst sleep here by far - worse than the mattress and the dog combined. I know I know, it seems all I do is complain about my sleep but I really cherish my zzzz's here. This will be the last time I promise ... I hope. So a few mornings ago - quite early in the morning actually - we all awoke to a very loud ringing noise that sounded through the entire building over the loud speakers. Tatjana stumbled into our room, eyes still half shut, wondering what the heck was going on. I was still in bed with my head between the pillow. I'm sure I starred at her with a look that screamed "make it stop!" Minutes after she went to go scope out the situation, a woman's voice came over the loudspeaker and in very broken English said, "Do not have worry. This a fire test. No problem. Return to bed." So I tried that. I lay there listening to it go off every 30 seconds praying it would stop ... and then it would - for about 4 minutes or so, just enough time (when your that tired) to start drifting off again ... and then "BEEP BEEP BEEP" - it would start all over again louder than ever, this time going off in even shorter intervals. Some girls couldn't take it anymore and left for the pool. Others I think may have even gone to the library. I on the other hand stayed in bed trying to stick it out. Two and a half hours later - yes, two and a half hours later when I finally decided to get up because I just couldn't take it anymore, the sweet Taiwanese lady at the front desk tapped on my door and asked if it was OK for her to enter my room so that she could turn it off. I really had to bite my lip to manage the, "mmmmmhmmm."

I can really laugh about it now but you better believe that I memorized that fire code she used to turn off that alarm box on my wall.

Later on that day - I think it was last Wednesday but I can't be sure ( "and this is the importance of staying of top of your blog"). Let's call it Wednesday. We were all craving sushi, and had heard from Felix's buddy about this great place downtown-so we went.

It took a little longer than expected to find the place. You know how they say that it is impossible to ask Asian people for directions? I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I am starting to believe it's true. We must have asked five different people how to get to the place but each person pointed us in a completely different direction.


This is us downtown trying to find our way around the city. The background almost looks fake, doesn't it?

About an hour later we finally found it - a place called "Ahi Sai (sp?)" - Nestled in the corner on the fifth floor of a department store. Once we had sat down and started to load our plates at the all you can eat buffet, we found out it was 850NTD - not much by Canadian standards, but when you are used to eating for 90NTD, it's a lot. None of us really minded though - the food looked incredible and to be honest, I think we were all so happy to found have the damn place that we couldn't be bothered to move again.


So we loaded up ...



And loaded up some more ...


Then we found out that wine was also included in the buffet price - bonus!



Marie was brave and decided to eat a massive clam - couldn't you have picked a smaller one?

The food was delicious. They had everything: sushi, sashimi, grilled meats, stir fried rice, tempura veggies, seaweed salads, a variety of soups and a great selection of desserts. And to top it off, the service was superb. Unfortunately we only arrived at 8:30 and they close at 9:30 so we had to be out of there in an hour. Next time we will plan better and arrive earlier so we have at least three solid hours to stuff ourselves.


Overall, it was a great experience and we will definitely be coming back.

Thursday evening a big group left for Shilin Night market, about an hour train ride north of NCCU. Felix, Michael and I met up with the group a bit later.


Felix snapped this shot as we were making our way through the crowds in the station. He calls it "The Alien." Look how well I fit in with everyone here in Taiwan.


When we arrived it took us a few minutes to find the market which was buried in side streets just across from the train station. This is a view of the main street just outside the market.


Within a few minutes we were able to find the rest of gang - they were doing some shopping in one of the boutiques in the market. Shilin is well known for their cheap clothes. You can get designer looking shirts for around $ 5 CDN and tall leather boots (good quality) for about $ 30 - Heather you would love it here!



Some of the streets were very crowded and it was hard to move around. I found I had to keep moving out into open area every so often to stop myself from getting flustered from everyone bumping into me and shouting out in different languages.

Along with clothes, Shilin is also well known for their food. There are hundreds of food stands lined up along the streets.


Assorted meat stand.


Lime jelly dessert.


Noodle soup.



There was also a big indoor food market where we sat down to eat.

They also had the most delicious fresh fruits and yummy deep fried sweet potato balls. Some other popular things that we didn't dare try were jumbo sausages (I'm talking 30cm long) and potato covered in bright orange cheese sauce - the Asians were gaga over this stuff. I was a bit tired Thursday night to do any serious shopping, but I'm going to have to go back later in the semester. If anyone has any orders, please let me know!


This is us just about to head back to campus. We were a bit tired but we could have stayed well past midnight shopping, tasting the foods and taking in all the bright lights and bustling people. There are two other Night Markets close to campus that I've yet to see, but plan on it in the near future.

Well, this gets me about up to speed. We plan on going to the hot springs in the National Park tomorrow so stay tuned and enjoy the sunny weather in Canada!

PS Thank you to all the exchange students who lent me their pictures after my computer had been wiped out:)