Japan - Baseball in the Tokyo Dome

On Sunday I went to watch a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome. It wasn't the Japanese professional teams playing, but part of a playoff of Japanese company teams. The game I saw was between NTT Docomo and Hitachi. What made things more interesting then a normal baseball game was how each of the companies was trying to show company spirit and having the crowd cheer for their team. The stadium was divided in half with NTT on one side and Hitachi on the other, with a little section of normal fans inbetween. Everyone in the Hatachi side was wearing orange t-shirts and baseball caps and the NTT side was dressed in blue. Each side had cheerleaders, bands, and people going through the crowds encouraging their side to cheer for their team. Overall it was a pretty fun experience.

Inside Tokyo Dome.

The Hitachi side of the stadium, everyone wearing orange.

Japan - Rainbow

Rainbow out my Tokyo apartment's window.

Japan - Snova - Indoor Skiing

One thing that Japan has that's pretty cool is indoor skiing. There's several of these indoor ski places scattered around Japan. They're not very big, so they would probably not be a lot of fun for just skiing, but they're perfect for a little terrain park with jumps and rails to slide. It's a little strange going from the hot and humid summer weather into a big refrigerator.

Snova indoor terrain park.

Me hitting one of the jumps.

Matt tries a 360.

Jeff going for a tail grab.

Me hitting one of the boxes.

Taiwan - Food

Taiwan has lots of really delicious food to eat. Here's a few photos of some of the strange, interesting and sometimes kind of scary foods that I tried while in Taiwan.

And if anyone is interested, no, I did not eat the stinky tofu. I don't care what what people say, anything that smells that bad can not be good for you.

Beef Noodle Soup.

The white stuff is Tofu. The green black thing is a hundred year old egg, which is an egg that has been soaked in evil. Actually, it's egg that has been soaked for weeks or months in a mud like mixture, which sounds almost as bad as being soaked in evil.

Dumplings

Fried Mushrooms.

Shrimp, Bamboo, Noodle Soup, Noodles, and the really unpleasant looking one in front is Pork, which was pretty good.

Frog

Meat Filled Bun.

I have no idea, but I was told that it was a really famous dish.

Taiwan - Street Markets

I thought that the street markets in Taipei were pretty incredible. You could buy pretty much anything you needed; fresh meat, fish, and vegetables, plus clothing and anything else you could think of. There would be a stand selling raw meat and then right next to it would be a stand selling underwear.

Some kind of preserved duck, I really hate it when my food looks at me.

Chicken. Notice the basket is full of chicken heads.

Fish.

Shirtless butcher standing behind the meat.

Does he know that he's what's for dinner?

Sex Sells

Taiwan - Around Taipei

Taiwan - Night Markets

Raohe Street Night Market








Shilin Night Market

When I travel, I have an amazing ability to blend in with the locals no matter where I'm at. You probably couldn't even tell that I'm standing right in the middle of this photo.

Taiwan - Temple

Taiwan - Modern Toilet Restaurant

One strange place I had heard about before going to Taiwan was the Modern Toilet Restaurants. Basically, it's a chain of bathroom themed restaurants. So if course I had to check it out. The restaurant was interesting, but actually not as crazy as I had imagined it could be.

All of the seats in the restaurant are toilets

French fries and a drink

The food is served in little squatter toilets

The drinks come in little urinals

Does this taste funny?

Taiwan - No Birds

I saw these no birds sign on several buses.

Taiwan - Night

Taipei 101

The city lights of Taipei. Taipei 101 can be seen on the left.

The view from my hotel balcony.