Unless we’re turning into complete wimps, the temperatures in Taipei this week have been almost insufferable. We’ve just crept from one indoor air conditioned haunt to another, from home to work and back home again, from home to shop and back. The time spent in the outdoors means being exposed to 40 degree heat with an associated wet thick blanket of humidity. It’s enervating, annoying and soul destroying: anyway, you get the idea!During the week I haven’t even ventured outdoors to do the steps, but rather relied on a pretty good indoor substitute. The vaguely air conditioned and fanned weight room at school has a couple of good treadmills where I set the incline to maximum, set a good slow jog speed and then stay on there for 20 minutes or so. I’m saturated and huffing and puffing at the end, so I think it does the trick. A bit of speedball, heavy bag and a few weights and I feel justified in crawling back to the air-conditioning! I’ll start up my Chinese lessons again this week, as quite fortuitously, my teacher has been in the States. I really wasn’t ready to commit again this week, so this little bit of extra “ease in” time has been welcome.
Cass didn’t have any extra duties this weekend, so she’s been happy to potter around at home. We did bite the bullet and expose ourselves to the midday heat today when we went downtown, just to avoid going stir crazy. We planned on getting to the south East and checking out the action, including stopping at Pie Boy for lunch and to get a few takeaway supplies. We’d found it previously on my “find a pie in Taipei” mission a few months back. Anyway, much to our great disappointment, it has closed down! In its place was a little burger joint which was also closed, not a good sign at all. We’re just hoping that he has re-located somewhere and that we’ll re-discover him somewhere else soon. After that, we traced our steps back to the station, dropped again into the bowels of the earth and traveled another stop underground to visit Tex Mex spot, “Yuma”. We had a tasty meal, but it was huge. I wondered whether we were getting old and having small appetites or perhaps we were turning American and leaving half the food on our plates? I decided the alternative was too horrific to contemplate and settled for being old!!
Designer jeans at more than 70% off on the way back saw us get a pair each. I got some for $40, but we then realized we could get a second pair for just $20 more, so Cass got a pair as well. A pair of thongs for $4 (translation: flip-flops U.S. jandals N.Z.) completed the bargains.
We always pass by a quite amazing sight on the way back home as we change trains at Taipei Main Station. On the way to the Danshui line, there is a display advertising the exquisite items available for viewing at the Grand Palace Museum. It is just a little taster of what is available, but never ceases to amaze us: there are treasures from the Ming Dynasty and earlier, all behind a very fragile looking glass barrier in the city’s main train station! Quite amazing: I imagine if this was back home it would last a few days at best.
The heat has certainly brought out the best and the worst of Taipei fashion too. On some people, baring lots of flesh is a very good summer look indeed, but others who should cover up a little for all sorts of reasons are flaunting acres of flesh in the strangest outfits you’ll ever see. I suppose you just have to take the bad with the good.
Cass and I have been watching the Ashes cricket here each night and becoming increasingly morose as the Australians hopes of winning look more and more remote. I watched a couple of sessions with Wol and Shaun, the Craw and Lewy at the Green Bar on Friday, after they arrived back from the Board party. Both Cass and I forsook the charms of the night this year, and apparently it was a good decision as it was a bit of a fizzer. The weather map shows little relief for the coming week, so we’ll just have to grin and bear it. Photos: Cass posing in front of antique treasures at Taipei station, and a few more shots of our time back home, as we only took the one photo this week!