The Grand Hotel

We've been waiting and waiting for a nice day so we could go take pictures around the Grand Hotel in Taipei, and on Sunday the sky finally took pity on us. Actually, we had planned to spend our anniversary at the hotel but that shiz was all booked up for that day. So we settled on having a photo shoot instead. We got off the MRT and took a complimentary shuttle bus from the MRT to the hotel. We were going to walk, but were glad we didn't since the hotel seems to be surrounded by freeways.

The Grand Hotel is a pretty detailed piece of work. It was built in the '50s by Chiang Kai-shek so he could have a proper place to entertain international visitors and it was actually the tallest building in Taiwan until 1981. So all the skyscrapers in Taipei are younger than me, which was a bit surprising. The Grand Hotel was so tall, in fact, that when a fire broke out in 1991 there were no ladders tall enough for the firemen to reach the fire.

We were also able to go inside and poke around the grand lobby. This was a really nice place. The details and craftsmanship that went into the construction are really impressive. There were a lot of people browsing around the hotel corridors and snapping photos, so it was clear that we weren't the only people loitering about that weren't paying customers. After our visit we took the complimentary shuttle back to the MRT station and went to Shilin Night Market. Thanks for the free entertainment, Grand Hotel.

We did some quick shopping (Mel wanted to buy a Gloomy Bear-related item) and then we had teppanyaki at one of the food stalls. Teppanyaki is usually a bit expensive, but business is competitive at the night market and we had steak, chicken and veggies served with rice, soup and beer for $6 a piece. The chef cooks the food on a giant grill (which doubles as your dining table) right in front of you. So what if we had to flick away a cockroach during our meal, it was tasty. And so what if I flicked it into Mel's purse- she'll never know. Uh..

As soon as we stood up from our meal we took three steps and found ourselves at a shaved ice stall. We'd had our eyes on it for our entire meal. This shaved ice was very special, though: it was Charmy! Well, kind of. When we went to Kaohsiung we had shaved ice MILK at a store called Charmy and it was amazing... so now all shaved ice milk places are "Charmys" to us. We've been dreaming of it ever since Kaohsiung. The texture is amazing it's like eating creamy, flaky snow. We ordered ours with peaches, kiwis and strawberries (which are, oddly, now in season in Taiwan) and some kind of wonderful yogurty sauce was poured on top as well.

I heard that there's been a nasty blizzard that's hit the east coast this past weekend. Look at all the free flaky snow you guys have been given, while suckers like me are stuck here paying for it to be shaved (with milk!)