sunset over tienmu
Our secret spot, the Pillbox delivered some decidedly powerful little waves on Friday afternoon and although the current seemed intent on sweeping us down to the Damshui river mouth, if we stayed on the peak, we could pick up quite a few perfectly shaped, fast left-handers. Saturday proved to be a little more problematic, with the high tide delivering a dead flat pool of surface shimmery yet murky water, not even disturbed by the matrix of jagged rocks that we knew lurked just below the surface. That Pillbox is a bizarre place. Other surfers never disturb us; yet the odd local fisherman will occasionally wander down to throw a line in. The people who we do see very often lately are fully dressed brides and grooms with an entourage of photographers to take their “pre-wedding” snaps: this is great fun for us and a funny story that I’ll keep for another time. Undeterred, we kept going round the coast to Baishawan, where we decided we would stay. Restaurants, just round the bend had an interesting right, but the seven people crowded on the one workable break were a little off-putting. Ross, Carl and I enjoyed an hour or so of good waves before conditions deteriorated to the point that Cassy’s curried egg sangas and Carl’s thermos of tea seemed much more inviting. Picture below sees Carl and Ross relaxing in the car park after the surf.
Even though we fly by most of the scenery, it is often quite beautiful, ugly, amusing or strange, I suppose depending on the mood one is in. Once our traditional lane changing skip and hop through the bottleneck out of Damshui is finished, if we look beyond the chaos on the road to the hills beyond, a quite calming vista can be seen, especially on clear sunny days, which we’ve had all week long. Light and shade on verdant hills are quite pretty and the mountains rise away from the flat coastal strip so sharply that it doesn’t surprise to hear of landslips and slides in typhoon weather. Every now and then when cresting the brow of a hill, you can see glimpses of the same greenery, stretching away to a glistening sea and can often imagine you are somewhere else: the Caribbean, Bali, Queensland perhaps? I might exaggerate a little, but it’s always fun to look beyond the immediate chaos of buzzing scooters, beetle nut influenced blue truck drivers and the car pilots who all follow that most simple of Taiwanese road rules: if it’s not in front of you it doesn’t exist. On the way back on Saturday, I was heartened to see that the latest apartment block development overlooking the Damshui river is going to bring the Opera House over for the residents to view in the near distance. It’s incredible what they can do these days isn’t it?!(See photo below)
The third photo (above) is of a side of Taipei that’s not that famous. I snapped this shot of a beautiful sunset from our verandah at dusk. The buildings in the foreground just don’t look so bad when they have such a backdrop and when they’re shrouded in a dusty half-light. OK, they’re still pretty horrendous, I’ll admit!
Sunday was a very pleasant day for us. As usual we enjoyed a decadently late and delicious breakfast accompanied by our Herald clippings (thanks, as always Mum!) before lazing around and avoiding our “world lifeline” the internet, as we were in a self imposed media blackout to escape the Aus/Great Britain football score, as it would be repeated later. We wandered down to the new premises of Wendel’s bakery and restaurant and had a tasty lunch in plush and comfortable surrounds. The sun was beating in from the south (we’re in the northern hemisphere!) so we sat inside avoiding the heat and enjoying the ambiance of light and freshness it seemed to bring, seemingly cutting a swathe through the usual pall of smog that seems to descend and not lift for days on end at other times. Our lunch was scrumptious and takeaway cakes were just the finish to our afternoon. Shame those Pommies spoiled the party though!! That will do for now; I think I will write about the seaside brides next week, hopefully you’ll find it as amusing as I do!