THE END OF OUR STAY IN TAIPEI

The typhoon was suppose to hit Taipei pretty hard, but instead the southern part of the island got hit the worst. Severe flooding and mudslides caused extensive damage to the southern most counties. We've been told it was the worst typhoon here in 200 years...many lives were lost. Up in Taipei, though, there was no noticable damage.


With that said, despite the typhoon, we were lucky enough to be able to do a few fun things before we left Taipei. One thing we had the opportunity to experience was KTV. KTV is what they call karaoke here and it's a HUGE part of the Taiwanese culture! There are a few differences between KTV and karaoke in the States, though. For example, although there were quite a few English songs to choose from, a lot of them were slow love songs...not the upbeat ones we were expecting. We also thought we were going to be singing karaoke with a bunch of strangers (the way it's typically done in America), but instead, every party rents out their own room. Despite the unexpected differences, we had a great time! Phil rocked out to "Kung Fu Fighting" and I got roped into singing some misc. slow songs with a few other girls! :)


We also got the opportunity to try a Taiwanese dessert...shaved ice. It was delicious! We really liked the mango milk one. The other one in the picture is a common favorite among the people here. The topping consists of a bunch of different beans in a sweet syrup.

(The entrance and lobby area of the movie theater)

In the afternoon and evening on Sunday, August 9th, we celebrated Phil's birthday and our anniversary by hanging out in the downtown area of Taipei. We ended up catching a movie at a really cool theater in a shopping mall called New York, New York near Taipei 101. We also really enjoyed seeing the lights of the city.