Taipei Life

It’s been wet, cold and dreary here in Taipei nearly all week and the weekend was very similar except for some respite on Saturday afternoon and evening. The kids at school have been virtual prisoners in the building for the best part of the week, so that by the time the week eventually ended, kids and teachers alike were very relieved! There are just so many indoor activities that can occupy the mind of the 8 year old in the same classroom all day, every day!

We battened down the hatches on Friday night after retrieving our curtains from the dry cleaners. For a ludicrously cheap price, we had the huge curtains in the lounge room cleaned: they were emitting a very musty odour, so much so that even I was aware of it, so it must have been bad! Anyway, they’re up again now looking fresher and smelling a whole lot better as well. We watched some trashy TV and had a relatively early night.

Up at the cracker to get to the beach, I ended up going over with Carl which was quite a treat, as I’m almost always driving myself. We got to the Rocket to find very similar conditions to last week and although it was fairly small, the sun poked out every now and then, the wind was light and the water was clean and refreshing. We got a few waves, then I decided I’d had enough and clambered out onto the jetty to take some photos, sending crabs racing for cover as I hopped from artificial rock to rock to get a good vantage point. I got quite a few good ones for Pointyhat, and Josh has sent me a few more as he was taking some shots from the cliff with his big fancy equipment.

I got home to be greeted by Cassy feeling guilty for sleeping in for a good few hours: I don’t know why on earth she’d feel guilty…we work hard and get up early all week. It’s just that she has a maniacal husband who seems to feel the need to wrench every last moment of living out of his weekend! We made plans to make the most of the break in the weather and I set about studying the Taipei map to scout out a new adventure, somewhere we hadn’t been before, perhaps. Cass left me on the lounge with my map as she went to do the shopping and I promised her I’d have something sorted by the time she returned.

We went down on the MRT to the Shida area of Taiwan University. Curiously, its official name is “Taiwan Normal University”, making us wonder if there is a tertiary institution for the retarded or perhaps the vaguely abnormal folk. Anyway, after walking a good few blocks past the uni we delved into the backstreets to discover a thriving night market scene. We wandered through the labyrinth of tiny super-crowded alleys, the smells and sights and sounds of our familiar Shilin night market echoed here, half a city away. It was an interesting wander, but we kept on, this time headed for a famous “food street”, Yong Kang St. It was about a half hour walk away from Shida Rd and when we arrived, we’d started to work up quite a good appetite. It didn’t disappoint, with lots of different cuisines, Japanese, Thai, Italian etc, but all with Chinese menus and what seemed to be exclusively Chinese speaking staff. I’d come out all prepared to use my few phrases of Mandarin, but at this stage, I realized it was woefully inadequate for the task at hand. Anyway, not in the mood for the “silly foreigner pantomime act”, we decided to retreat to the nearby LinShui St, and get a wood fired pizza at Alleycats. It was rather delicious and so were the giant Hooegarden beers we each had to wash it down! My sister, Helen, would have loved the shop we spied in a back street on the way back to the station: a huge dedicated Betty Boop store (see photos).

Sunday, freezing and wet and wild, we did brave the elements to see the “300”, a movie of the legendary Spartan army of the same number. It’s very hard to describe, but it was a little like Kill Bill II in the amount of limbs hacked off and blood spilt, along with the incessant slow mos and splatter fest cartoon characteristics. Unfortunately though, unlike the former, this film had a woeful script, a lack of class all round and one of the most bizarre David Wenham performances ever: he must have needed the money! Lunch, a tasty Japanese style “Omrice” (rice with wafer thin omelet surrounding) at Takashimaya food hall, back home to laze around for the afternoon. Photos: beers at Alleycats, Betty Boop, Dave (towel) chatting with Tobes at the Rocket's track.