Taiwan - February 2

Today I went to the hair salon to get my hair straightened! What an ordeal that was!

First they rub a chemical to relax your hair, then wrap your head in saran wrap and put it under a hair steamer. When the hair is sufficiently relaxed, it's then washed and dried. Then small sections are smoothed with a special ceramic flat iron. When all the hair has been smoothed, it's then combed through with a heavy conditioner (that also acts as neutralizer) and left to sit for 30 minutes.

After the hair is conditioned, it's again shampooed, rinsed and dried. After it's been finally styled, the client is allowed to go home, with one caveat: the hair can't be washed for three days and it can't be pulled back or put up for a week.
Tonight was my grandmother's birthday. My uncle hosted a party at a restaurant. There was a lot of great food served! One of my favorite dishes was shrimp in a dollop of butternut squash topped with melted cheese in a seashell. The photo above is of "long life noodles", which is a traditional birthday dish. The photo below is a fancy version of stinky tofu.I'm really fond of the traffic in Taiwan. It's almost like the line on the roads are suggestions only, and when making left turns it's okay to hold up traffic. Scooters can pretty much go anywhere, and parking wherever you can find space seems to be the norm, even if you end up parking on the wrong side of the street!

I'm noticing I'm getting quite a few mosquito bites. That's no fun. I should have brought bug spray.