Shopping & Hair?!

This is a dual blog.  Cat and I spent our first night a Ban-qiao with our Uncle, Aunt, and Winnie (younger cousin, she's adorable and has a boyfriend!!!).  We had spent the whole day at San-he Market, shopping with Jou-ma (auntie) and her friends.  It was very hot and VERY crowded... we picked the busiest day (Saturday) to go to a night market.  We had their very special papaya milk, which tasted fabulous contrary to popular belief.  We also had these egg shaped custard filled pancakes (at least, that's what it tasted like) that were amazing... I think I ate a whole bag for myself.  Along with some chicken kebobs and fried chicken (Chinese style, of course), we were filled to the brim as we roamed the streets looking for fun nick-nacks.  Our haul was small, but that's because we decided to be a little more mindful of what we spent- seeing that we're spending quite a bit on other things (getting hair done, purchasing glasses, trip to Kenting...).  Guess how many hours we were at the night market?  A whopping 8 hours.  Yep, it was crazy!

Papaya Milk

Pancake Egg Cream goodness

That night we slept in the living room with the a/c on (it was unbearably hot the night before...).  It was amazing & comfortable.  I haven't slept so snug since we got here to Taiwan.  Cat and I headed out early to meet Iris a-yi at Zhong-san train station for lunch at Tao-ban Restaurant.  Fancy, elegant, it was an amazing meal.  :)  I forget how many courses we had.... but it included a duck salad, mushroom antipasta, green papaya soup, raspberry slushee (made with vinegar but was really sweet!  It's suppose to cool you down after the soup and help you digest better), lamb chops with fruit as a side, dark chocolate mint mousse and a tiramisu iced coffee.  Assuming I didn't miss anything, that makes it a... 7 course meal counting drinks (excluding the tea they served throughout the entire meal). 

Iris ayi & fruit salad

Antipasto = mushrooms

Lamb chops!

Orange creme ice souffle

Cheers!  Tiramisu iced coffee!

Iris a-yi took us to shop at Shing-guang San Yue & Jie-yuin mall.... we mostly did some window shopping but found this fun accessory shop (there's a theme.... we're definitely bringing a lot of accessories back.  They're sooo cute here!) and a discount tees shop.  Love buying fashionable clothes for ~$5 USD ea.  We came back to find that our fam had already eaten dinner, and that we had to eat really quick before going to the hair salon (the plan was to do it on Tues, but they were closed Mon & Tues).  Cat and I sat for 5 hours at the salon getting our hair done.  Yes, we nodded off.  Yes, they served coffee.  Yes, we got our hair washed at least 5 times.

Before

after!

before....

after!

You should see us now.  ;)