TAINAN (9/14 - 9/16)

Unsurprisingly, the boat was lovely. It was dumping rain the whole time but I think that was a pretty authentic way to experience Taijang National Park. We were lucky enough to spot some fun local birds and even a mud dwelling crab or two. The whole experience made me think back to AP Environmental Science in high school and learning about mangroves (a textbook example of a key species). The trip was more interactive than I had imagined—we stopped on a floating barge and I got to help pull a net out of the water. The net didn't have any big fish but there was a funny little mudskip (I think) in there. We also made a quick stop to see some oysters that were being farmed in the area. 

After docking the boat we flocked to the gift shop and I bought a fish pencil bag (which I will cherish forever). The bus took us to the Anping tree house next—which I thought would be a house in a tree. Rather, it was a house that was sort of fused with a tree. The mirrors scattered throughout the abandoned warehouse made for a really beautiful juxtaposition with the brick and tree. I got a cheeky beer in the gift shop and was informed by our tour guide that the locals sometimes had that specific beer (Taiwan Cheng Gong Beer) before an exam because it was associated with success. I might have to try that back in the states.

Seeing as it was Saturday and the night before our free day, a handful of us made our way to the West Central District. We started the night at Present Coffee, a cafe that Jessy had found tucked in an alley. I had the most delicious hohjicha latte—a wonderful start to a wonderful night. We had some dinner at this restaurant called Nest, which I highly recommend, and eventually made our way to this bar (I think it was called Heyso?) with a live DJ and a fun crowd that spilled outside.  After ubering back at 3am, Sydney, Kayla and I grabbed some late night McDonalds to fuel what would be the start of a very early morning gameday. I had subscribed to a VPN and begged Kalin for her peacock so that Kayla and I could watch the Apple Cup. We lasted about a quarter before we both passed out. Unfortunately, we both woke up to watch us lose in the last three minutes of the game around 7am. Rough start to my free day, no doubt. When I woke up again, Ned and I grabbed some rice omelettes and met up with Kalin and Jessy. The four of us shared a single origin coffee flight at a cafe and the coffee helped to make up for our excruciating loss. We walked around the area for a while, eventually making our way to a curated vintage store that specialized in Taiwanese designed / inspired clothing. Everything was quite expensive so I only grabbed two mandarin stickers from the 90s. The employee told me that they were romantic stickers often placed on motorcycles in the early 90s that translated to "romantic touch" and "tender like the water". I thought I could maybe put them on my bike  or car but I lost them a few hours after I

 purchased them. Oh well. We left and went to Yuguang Island to catch the sunset with the others. The sunset was absolutely stunning and I think I took a hundred photos. Seeing the bats fly overhead towards the setting sun was something special. The water was the warmest I'd ever felt (at least compared to the west coast) and the sand was incredibly fine. After heading back to the hotel and showering, we went out to Bar Whisper for the second time to sketch and unwind—and also to see their adorable cat again. We caved and shared a specialty drink of theirs called Jumanji that consisted of gherkin, brandy, sticky rice, and sausage. It was interesting to say the least. Today was yet another cafe in the morning (I'm starting to think the coffee culture

here might be even bigger than in Seattle). I met up with my design group and had maybe the best mocha I've ever had. We talked about directions that we could take for promoting sustainability / how we can effectively convince the customer to compost. We also decided to use American utensils, rather than chopsticks, to better cater to the US market. We started a Figma board for form inspiration but didn't get very far before we had to leave to go on our awesome field trip. The embroidery was impressive—I can't imagine how long each one took. That being said, three years and four months didn't sound too long to master the art. I still can't really wrap my head around how they're able to accurately find where to push the needle back up through the fabric everytime. The incense store was also really cool, although I can't say I did the best job listening as I was busy trying to smell every incense in the shop. After buying some treats at the bakery, we made a quick snail alley stop before grabbing some Japanese for dinner. This might very well be my longest blog post to date but, in all fairness, these past three days have been action packed. It's starting to dawn on me how much little time we have left in the program so I'm really trying to soak up every last minute of my time here. It's been exciting to watch the other groups develop their ideas and to see all the non designers get so involved in the process. I feel these next couple of days are going to be busy but I'm excited to get back into the familiar late night grind that I've grown used to last year. I know that our groups going to make something truly special (especially if I can find some time to render). Anyways, here's a cool picture I took. Cheers!