Hello, Internet. This is Rican speaking. Today, I want to continue yesterday’s travel topic. As I mentioned, yesterday we went on a trip with friends. After visiting the castle, we decided to head to a nearby town for some lunch.

As you might know, I’m a big fan of food. I love eating, just like most people who need to eat. I'm not sure about robots though, given all the artificial intelligence out there today. Maybe some of my audience are robots. If you’re a robot or any form of being that doesn’t require food, I sincerely apologize and hope you can still enjoy whatever you absorb to maintain your existence.

We found a Korean restaurant because they had air conditioning for customers who wanted to dine in. I don’t believe the chef is Korean because the atmosphere felt like most other Taiwanese shops, not really Korean. But how would I know? I’m just speaking my mind without much consideration. We ordered some Korean fried chicken and classic Korean noodles. One of the noodles was black bean sauce noodles, which is my favorite Korean dish. I tried black bean sauce noodles in Australia, made by a real Korean chef, and he made the best black bean sauce noodles for me. That’s a favorable seasoning.

I finally understand how it feels when eating Taiwanese or Chinese food in other countries—the feeling of, "Even if I randomly picked an old, bald, and friendly grandpa walking on the street, gave him the cheapest ingredients with a pair of chopsticks as cooking tools, perhaps the grandpa, with his eyes closed, dancing while cooking, could still make a better dish than this adorable cuisine." I’m surprised by this feeling I'm experiencing right now, in my own country.

I would never bring my Korean friend to this restaurant. The taste is good, no judgment. But if you mention the quality, it's like seeing Captain America and then looking in the mirror at my reflection. I'd say, “Yeah, you’re good, but nah,” with a shrug and a smile. This meal is standard, but far from achieving authentic Korean food. I still had a good experience because I love trying different restaurants I've never been to before. Life is about experiencing and discovering new things. We can express our feelings about anything just by trying to find the answers we seek.

A restaurant is something you need to walk into and get a meal to know the quality of service. So, there are no regrets in any decision—just keep trying and discovering. I know the service isn't my type, but I’ll make a better choice next time. I feel satisfied that I walked into this Korean restaurant.

Then, we found a famous coffee shop outside the town. There was a spectacular view from the coffee shop. We could see the green, natural, and vast farmland from inside while enjoying a cup of iced coffee. Seeing the green crops made me want to eat some rice. When I saw all those crops, I imagined my next meal’s ingredients might be harvested from this clean landscape.

My female travel mates had different opinions. They said, “I’m sorry, this is a fancy cake coffee shop, and you’re talking about pork rice? Damn you, Rican.” What graceful and authentic friends. Of course, I love cakes. We ordered some colorful and fruity cakes made with mango, passion fruit, mocha, and chocolate. I mean separately. If you put everything together, it would be a chaotic monster cake. Actually, that doesn’t sound too bad.

The best one was the mango cream cake. It was our favorite, and we finished it first, even though all the cakes were served together. The cakes were big, so we could share each one. My chocolate cake was the second favorite because I picked it, and I didn’t want to lose any other cake. So, I ate most of it and told everyone my chocolate cake was number two. They said, “Well, you almost ate half the cake by yourself.” What a group of people who refuse to admit defeat. Grow up, my friends. It’s not a competition. Even though my cake was the second favorite, it's not something I’ll brag about. Maybe.

My speaking is much better than before because I started using the script. Here is the script:

Hello, Internet. This is Rican speaking. Today I want to talk about travel.

Yesterday, I went on a trip with my friend. We drove for about two hours to our destination. On the way, I bought some steamed dumplings. While I was chatting with the owner and asking for travel advice, another customer who seemed to visit the area often joined in. We didn’t really discuss travel options; instead, we talked about how wealthy this customer is. He owns a lot of land at the travel location we visited, so I jokingly asked him, "Do you need a stepson?"

I mean, I’d love to have a rich stepfather who owns a whole street of land! That would mean so much to me because I could use that land to build a ton of pet stores, parking lots, or maybe even some adult toy shops, which would be a great decision for my own purposes. I could boost the local economy. Just imagine traveling in a natural, clean, and comfortable place surrounded by animals, and then seeing an adult toy shop. How surprised would you be? You might wonder, "Yeah, so, how does this help my trip or boost the local economy?" Well, at least it surprises you, right?

Unfortunately, my potential stepfather rejected my request, saying, and I quote, "I have never heard such a stupid thing in my entire life. Also, no offense, but you’re a bit too ugly." But we still had a good laugh. He laughed so hard that he almost dropped his steamed dumplings. In fact, he did drop one, and I tried to pick it up and return it to him, but he politely refused. What a wonderful man!

By the way, the steamed dumplings were amazing—wonderfully flavorful and juicy, stuffed with minced pork and green onions. After finishing my breakfast, we visited a famous castle picture point. There was a facial care shop combined with natural travel art where you could make your own handmade items, but I wasn't interested in that. They did have a lot of free-to-try skin protection products. Since it was a hot summer day, I used some sunscreen from there. I can't say I understand the difference between their sunscreen and other normal, cheap ones, but at that moment, using their sunscreen felt definitely more wonderful and beautiful. They even said I could take it for free and only buy it if I liked it. I didn’t buy it, though, and I felt a bit guilty, but their sunscreens are amazing. I had a great trip without getting sunburned, thanks to their generosity and the good quality of their sunscreen.

After that, we took some pictures and spent time at a coffee shop, which was expensive. Before we went in, we needed to buy tickets to enter, and the tickets had some coupons. We used those coupons to get ice cream with a cup of milk. I didn't want to spend my money on a tourist restaurant. The taste was just normal and expensive. I might go to a local cheap shop next time for some noodles and snacks that would cost just a few dollars.

In the end, it was still a pretty good experience. It doesn’t matter where you are; it always matters who you are traveling with. I love spending time with my friends, most of whom are not particularly intelligent, including myself. But I just love traveling like that, where you can forget about everything and just do stupid things with friends.

Our travel isn't over yet, so next time, I’ll continue with the next part of the trip. But for today, I'll end here. I’m Rican. See you next time, Internet.