Day two, which was actually my first full day in Taipei, had Dala Publishing's Lawren, Olivia and Yuching meet me, Tim Gibson and Ant Sang after breakfast of pork dumplings, fruit and warm soy milk at the Howard Hotel, to take us to The Attic, where we would be staying for our residency in the Artists Village.
After dropping off our bags, we were treated to an amazing cooked brunch of pork and ribbon noodle hot-pot and I got to sample sour milk (tastes like yoghurt drink) before moving on to Taipei's speciality bubble tea.
Just when I thought bubble tea was the happiest-making food-stuff in the world, I tried black sesame dumplings in red bean soup. Anyone who has spent any time with me around food will know that sugar gives me the giggles. Alas, Yuching had no idea why her favourite pudding made me cry with laughter, just as my taste buds had no idea what was happening to them. Welcome to Taipei, taste buds!
As night fell, the streets became alive with lights. Taipei is the city that never sleeps. It's also the city with subterranean comic shops such as
Manga Sick, where a young man slept on a beanbag by the doorway as ambient music filtered out from a speaker hidden somewhere in the zine-filled shelves.
But even the mainstream book shop
Eslite has 24 hour opening, and gave us a glimpse of some familiar covers before us luminaries went out for the night.
Taipei diary: day one, can be read
here.
