In researching organic milk again the last week, I learned that one possible reason for no organic milk is that Taiwan is a small island and it’s very easy to cross contaminate your crops. So the farmer cannot guarantee the food they’re feeding the animal is organic (non GMO).
However, I also learned that Organic Valley milk is now sold in Taiwan!
Itinerary: Chinese breakfast, stationary for Thumper, haircut
Our biggest accomplishment today was getting our hair cut. Astroboy got up at 4am and Thumper 7am. I took him out to 7-11 for coffee and breakfast, and then we walked to 四海豆漿大王 which is a 5 minute walk from the Technology Building Metro station. At 5am, Taipei is dark, quiet, and calm.
There was a table of people already there when we arrived. The store is located on a street that has many porridge shops. It’s kind of like your midnight (or early morning) run restaurant, good for people who’s been out pub’ing all night or what night.
That table had two older men and two younger, totally dressed up, women, having porridge and 小籠包 (steamed dumplings) Later on, a group of French students came by also for breakfast and they kept stealing looks at the women. It’s obvious that those women and men had been out drinking cuz you can smell it.
Since this was my first Chinese breakfast here, I ordered way too much. I had my 油條 (Chinese churro), 紅豆酥 (red bean cake), soy milk, 肉包 (meat bun), and 燒餅加蛋. Everything was good. The restaurant is apparently kind of famous. There was a booklet of good eats on its counter and I think the restaurant is in it. I will have to check out the other ones in the booklet.
After breakfast, we headed back, waited for Thumper to get up, and then finally headed out. We first went to the stationary store on the way to the metro to get some stapler, glue, and what not. Astroboy wanted me to hold him and next thing I know, he’s super asleep on my shoulder. I put him down on the counter to pay and he was still sleep, rare for a child who wakes up easily. We couldn’t go anywhere other than home, and I carried him there. However, he woke up when he arrived and wouldn’t go back to sleep.
I was so mad since I’d carried him all the way home I had to rest a bit and then getting bored we headed out again. First was a little Japanese rice ball for lunch. I swear Thumper can eat this all three meals if she were given the chance. She loved this one because its made fresh and warm. And only 90 cents for each one! Way better than Berkeley Bowl or 7-11 version. They also had some papaya milk drink and watermelon milk. I’m not sure H cared for papaya milk much.
We went and got our haircut at a shop my cousin recommended. I asked for Thumper’s hair to be cut shorter, but it turned into a pixie cut. Astroboy at first did not want to cut his hair, but after an hour, the barber told him he could have some chocolate if he did and he nodded his head. He did surprising well for his first haircut, staying still for the more than hour cut and shampoo. It turned out just the way I liked too. 
Overall the haircutting experience was quite different. The price came out to about $20 for cut and shampoo. I think they shampooed me twice and it took a long time to wash my hair and condition it, including a little scalp massage. The guy who cut my hair took a long time (not necessarily reflecting care or anything. I’ve had haircuts that take 15 minutes and look super good). But they cut, and styled, and blew it dry and my hair came out smelling nice and feeling soft and silky. The same goes for the kids.
By the time we were done, it was 2 hours later! We then took the MRT to a different station so I can find my lost metro card, ask about a prepaid phone card ($6 for 1GB data! But I didn’t bring my US passport.) and got my first inkan (signature seal) as an adult.
I learned that there are two different kinds of inkan, one for daily stuff like signing mail and one for official business. That determines the price range.
We also went to the Santa Cruz organic store to buy some organic-ish milk. I asked the lady on the counter why there is no organic milk in Taiwan and she said, “But that means you have to make sure the grass and water is organic.” I said, “But grass is always organic unless you use pesticides.” She didn’t quite get the concept for some reason. But anyways, I guess that is why there is no real organic milk in Taiwan. However I figure the milk at the Santa Cruz store is more “organic” than regular milk.
The kids bought some egg pudding from 7-11 and then we went home to take a nap. I think Astroboy loves the MRT rides the most. He likes to hold up four fingers when he wants more of anything. so every time we get off the train he holds up his fingers and says, “I want this many”. He loves the pedestrian bridge on our local metro station and enjoyed watching the train arrive and waving to the passengers.
He went down fairly quick for his nap since he’d only has 6 hours the night before and he was very cranky when we tried to wake him up so we just let him be. We ate a delicious dinner cooked by my cousin and then went to bed at 9!
In general we’re still trying to get over our jetlag and since I’m superbig on sleep and am cranky and tired when I don’t get any, we’re really not doing much each day. But this is the pace I like when I travel. I’m glad we’re staying longer this trip since it takes me so long to do stuff.
