& on to Bangkok we go!

Now I don't want to come off as a negative nancy here, but... there's no easy way to say this is there? I didn't quite like Bangkok. At times I may or may not have uttered the words "I hate this place" or "urg I can't wait to leave" but I digress. A few things affected these negatory feelings from within - the weather for one. It was dreadful. Rain, clouds, more rain & even thunder. Terrific. Second was the SCAMS. If you ever head over to Thailand's capital city, just be prepared for scammy scam scams when it involved anything&everything tuk tuk related.
Putting this sadness/sourness aside, I actually loved seeing the gorgeous temples (touristy of me I know, but whateva) + eating some delicious noms + walking through some craycray markets. The Grand Palace, Wat Pho & Wat Arun are the 3 main temples that are MUST SEE in Thailand. I can go on&on about the descriptions+things to see, but photographs will take care of that. One warning (again) though - don't listen to ANYONE outside the palace or the other temples. People approached us (one in a fake police uniform for goodness sake) telling us the temples were closed for prayer/thai only/the day and to come w them to another temple then some jewlery/textile warehouse outlet. Trust you-me, THEY ARE ALL OPEN. Anywhoo, one other special tip... for the BEST thai ice tea I've ever had EVER - its right outside Wat Arun in this little park-like area where there is a small food+beverage booth. The woman made us the mouth watering concoction that I am still salivating over.

entrance to the ferry

cruising the Chao Phraya River

what have we stumbled upon here?

cooking up some fresh pad thai

Grand Palace

Wat Pho - reclining Buddha

behind the reclining (slash relaxing) Buddha, there are about 100 (I think, may be totally wrong) bowls as shown above where people drop coins of some sort in each and everyone...so while you're there you just hear constant "tings, pings" *this is coin noises*... thought you'd might like to knooooowww

one of my favorite pics of the trip

Wat Arun

Foodie Food Food in Taipei

Title should be self explanatory. I'll just say this - if you want to gain about 139875395 pounds, Taiwan is the place to go. Overindulge. Overeat. And be happy. Noms.

Din Tai Fung - warming ourselves up

Shilin Market nomms

TFC - Taiwanese Fried Chicken babyyyy

oyster omelette + taiwan beer

just some dogs on the barbie

taiwanese dessert...surprisingly delish+refreshing

sticky rice balls + sesame + peanuts & stuff

lavender tea

some dim sum in taiwan mountains

meal time at Shin Yeh - fish in yummy yum sauce

omelette pie

faveeeeeee

the nomnoms

dessert timingsss

rice burger 

Jiufen = Joy+Fun

Jiufen, Taiwan. Well to say this a little bit of a tourist trap is an understatement. Don't get me wrong, this town located on the side of a mountain does have some breathtaking views & interesting hikes all around. But be prepared to battle it out with a few bus-loads of Chinese tourists while you're there. It's made famous for a few reasons; gold was found here, therefore mad goldrush back in the day, & it was the location for the 1989 film "A City of Sadness". Also, it has copious amounts of food+knick knacks if your heart desires. All in all, interesting place that is easily accessed by bus (about 30-45 minutes away from Taipei) but beware of pushy+crowdy tourists. If you don't have much time in Taiwan, it can be skipped but do as you may. And now for the photographic memories...

nom noms

fried tofu sticks?

could even begin to guess what this is...

more noms

the most interesting things

SQUIDS

some great tea

around Jiufen

annnd the view (a wee bit cloudy)