Living the Good Life

Yesterday Anjoli, my friend here in Taipei, Alice and I treated ourselves to a haircut in an upscale salon near us called Mods Hair. (I wondered if anyone of them have heard of the Who?). Most of the stylists were there were men. I have to say - men here in general (young ones) are quite into style and have very cool hair. (Much more so than the women!).
I had a new experience while getting my hair washed in a vibrating chair - I was tingling from head to toe! The shampoo guy gave me a hard core accupressure message - he was jamming his thumb on the top of my head and I felt this tingling in my right lower leg. Anyway, it woke me up! Then they served me jasmine tea while getting my haircut. I'm getting a taste for it - I never really cared for it at home...I'm glad Alice came (she's from Taiwan) - she translated perfectly for us and we ended up with really nice cuts. Anjoli's stylist asked her if she wanted her hair curly or straight (it's more curly here in Taipei). She opted for straight and wow - I wish I had taken a picture. I won't say anymore because moms shouldn't brag...but he spent nearly an hour on her, and it showed. The total price for both haircuts: a meager $50 (USD)!
We did a little shopping afterwards - there's an incredible store nearby - it's like a mini ultra modern Harrod's. I need to take pictures of their bakery. Beautiful pastries - too pretty to eat! I'm going to get Anjoli's birthday cake there (her bday is March 8th).
For dinner all of us (Sujoy, Anjoli, Alice and her husband Thomas and I) went up Yangmingshan or "Yummy" as the locals refer to it Mountain. We had dinner at an outdoor restaurant - it was breathtakingly beautiful. We arrived to a brief display of fireworks - real ones - not bottlerockets - right over our head - set to Enya's "Sail Away." It's weird, but after my harrowing ordeal a few days back, I was thinking how I could have used an IV dose of Enya...yeah I admit I do enjoy her music. There's a time and place for New Age!
Well, it was a rare treat. Dinner was fab - I sound like a broken record, but the food here is the best on the planet...but you need to have Taiwanese friends who do the ordering for you!
Anjoli starts school tomorrow! Let the panic attacks commence! No - she'll be fine. It will be a little rough on all of us the first day...
Sujoy and I joined a gym today! We're gonna have kickin' bods come August...just you see.
(Do I dare post before and after shots?? Never!)
Hope all of you are well.
Did anyone see my pics of Danshui or are they terribly boring? You need to click on them to enlarge them...but you probably know that already.