I have bruises on my hips from where my camera strap slams my camera into them

^ It's true.
Ergh, I'm super tired.
I was up late last night, compressing video files for my uncle. Thanks, Michael and Nathan, for helping me find the crack for the program. :P Anyone care to see me as an eight-year-old? Guess which one I am. (Highlight the following line to see the answer: I'm the one in the bandana and glasses, hahahaha)
I woke up around noon today (:D) and headed out to Danshui. I called Cindy Wu along the way to see if she wanted to come hang out, and she came by with a friend around 4 p.m. In the meantime, I took a bunch of pictures on the way out, and had some fun alone time walking around. Danshui is kind of a tourist trap for nationals, and the place kind of looks like a year-round carnival. And I kind of say "kind of" kind of too much, kind of? Hmm, I've been staring at the phrase for too long now and it just keeps chanting "kih-nnnnd" in my head. So much for "kaiiiiiind."
ANYWAY. It was nice, I guess. The place itself is way too crowded on weekends, but the weather was amazing (a lot like Austin autumn ^_^), so that was wonderful. The MRT line ends in Danshui, so everyone taking the Red Line past a certain point is most definitely wandering out "to the country" to spend their precious weekend time. Along one side of the sidewalk is the harbor, and lining the other are all manner of food stalls, game booths and souvenir shops. I've not been to San Francisco yet, so I can't compare it to their more touristy wharves - I'll update you in December on that comparison. But it reminds me of the pier in one of the Chuck episodes. (Damns, I'm a nerd, comparing real life to something on a nerdy TV show ^_^)
I wandered around for a bit, taking pictures and shopping for some gifts for friends. (It's the most money I've spent yet while here) I was a little disappointed at not feeling more emotion or anything over being there, but eh. I wasn't missing anyone, wasn't hoping to find someone, wasn't upset that I wasn't there with someone... so there was relatively little to be emotional about. And after an initial feeling of surprise, it was very nice. Mostly, I just felt tired and thought my bag was getting really heavy. :\ So I sat down at a spot along the harbor - downwind of a seafood eatery, lol - to journal/listen to my iPod/take silly pictures of myself/plan out the rest of my time in Taiwan. There's surprisingly little of that last commodity. :\ Hah, you wouldn't think.
While I was thus occupied, a dude drinking beer walked by me. And then stared down at my journal. And then commented that I must be a college graduate to be so familiar with [writing] English. ...And then proceeded to ask me if he could sit down next to me and chat for a bit. And do so without much of an answer from me. At first, I figured he just wanted to be friendly and talk to me about my background, because a lot of Taiwanese people do that with no real ulterior motives at all. Then he proceeded to talk to me, in no particular order, about Madonna, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Thriller, how American girls are very free with their sexuality, about how smart I must be, where in Taiwan I was from, where in Taiwan he was from, that Americans are much more friendly (and that I shared this quality), what religion I believed in, how he also shared my religion, whether or not I smoked, how good it was that I did not smoke and that it was devilish hard to quit (while blowing smoke into my face), and then how important it is for girls to marry right and that one of those kinds of right men was sitting right in front of me (implying that HEY, you AMERICAN GIRL, GO FOR IT). HAHAHA. I think he would have talked more, but his tour bus was apparently leaving (he's from central Taiwan) so he very politely said goodbye to me.
It's the first time I [remember] being hit on in Taiwan, so I will consider it a compliment. ^_^ He wasn't incredibly cute, but was actually not bad-looking under all his pockmarks. ...While he talked, I very absentmindedly found myself wanting to fill in his little face craters with Smashbox Photo Finish primer. :\
Soon after this, Cindy [and her friend Ivan] met up with me and we began a food-sampling trek farther along the harbor. Let me list all the things we ate:
Roasted squid. I'm not a huge fan of seafood, but calamari is okay by me.
Fried mushrooms. ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG OKAY, I am officially addicted. Unfortunately, they're not really available elsewhere, Ivan told me. : I ate two portions. ^_^ They're chunks of different kinds of mushrooms, dipped in a very light batter and flash-fried.
Cindy and Ivan shared a "bvah-wan"... err, or "ball of meat," lol. It's a blob of pork cooked in a big wad of corn starch/tapioca-type thing. Yeah, it does kind of look how it sounds. I'm not scared of it, but I have better ways to spend my calories. Like on...
...Candy-dipped fruit! And...
Stinky tofu... although I've had better.
And yogurt culture-flavored lemonade.
...And now I'm hungry again. :\
We spent some time sitting around the harbor area, looking out across the water. It reminded me of some of our Hangzhou times... Michelle, I miss you. :) Then we walked back to the MRT and came home together. It was a rather long ride. It turns out that Cindy and I live near the same MRT stop. Hah. All in all, it was a good day! Except I was in pain from the camera weight and bruises. :P And then... on the way home I bought a cardigan. I know this is completely unrelated, but it's part of the chronological retelling of my day's doings. Haha. Pictures later.
...I am too tired to write any more. I'll update this with pictures after I edit them. Huzzah! Early to bed tonight... that's a first in a while.