Steve and Nicole's visit
Wow, a lot has happened this past week. We enjoyed being hosts and did a lot of touristy things. Warren managed to get Saturday off to hang out with his best friend and his new fiancee. Steve had asked Warren if he could arrange something at Ring (appropriate name), his restaurant, like a romantic dinner so he could pop the question. Friday night at 6:00 Steve and Nicole arrived to have a 4 course dinner. For dessert they were asked to move to another area. They had a private table set up outside with a small rectangular pool, surrounded by oil lamps and miniature candles. It was a lovely setting. The ring appeared on the dessert plate and as Steve proposed, all the waiting staff lined up and waited for the answer. They all started to clap and brought out a bouquet of flowers and some champagne. They were happy and surprised at the gesture from Warren's restaurant. Nicole wasn't surprised that she was being proposed to but that's a whole other story. Besides the engagement, we actually managed to fit a lot into 4 days. The first day i left Steve and Nicole to do some exploring on their own so I could go to a job interview. We met up later and hung out at Taipei 101 where we ate great teppanyaki at the food court. We decided to go up to see the night view. It was so beautiful to see the city from above, but pictures are hard to take at night and with a thick glass reflecting, even harder. The next day we went by bus and subway to the National Palace Museum. We had chinese food for lunch at the museum restaurant. We loved the seafood rolls with sesame seeds, the most. That night was the proposal dinner and then we went to the biggest night market in Shilin. Warren had a mussel omelet that looked quite slimy but he ate it happily. The next day we left for the beach. We purchased tickets at Taipei Main Train station. We found the right platform. We found empty seats, we had no numbers on our tickets. 15 minutes later, a couple with reservations took our seats. We learned later that tickets sell out days in advance and if you book at the last minute you get standing room only. But we saw some Taiwanese youth sitting on the floor near the doors so we followed suit. The ride took one hour and ten minutes so not too painful. The beach was absolutely gorgeous and not too crowded. The water was warm but still cool enough to be nice. We enjoyed just chilling. That night we got back to Taipei at 8pm and wandered around looking for a decent restaurant. We were in an old part of town and not much English to be found on menus. So we ate Taiwanese beef noodle soup. Not bad. Sunday we went to Longshan Temple and really enjoyed the peaceful interior of prayer and soft music being played. The smell of incense was really relaxing and inviting. I went to this same temple a week ago while people chanted in unison. I was mesmorized by the whole experience and just watched for half an hour. This city has so many things to offer and I'm glad I've been jobless to enjoy it to the fullest. When Steve and Nicole left I was feeling sad. I phoned Warren and he told me he felt the same way. I went to an ice cream place, this made me feel better.....
