We'd threaded our way through back streets in Mingde to our local station, found a seat on the first carriage (always a tactic of ours), then watched as the line descended into the bowels of the city a few stops from home. Trains shriek and scream underground all over Asia and Europe, but these trains seem to be engineered to mimic the general populace's introversion: there's a mild shake and a mew of protest on odd occasions, but basically they just hurtle between assignments with a minimum of fuss. Changing at Taipei Main is always a circus of bodies in motion, but the chaos is so organized it works somehow. Just when you steel yourself for a collision, someone just glides past with a passing whisper touch or sidesteps the inevitable crash. Onwards on the Nangang line to Taipei City Hall station (you can check on the map above!), disgorged and into the pedestrian flow up escalators and stairs to magically emerge from the catacombs in a completely different part of town!
"Longtable" was our destination, a new bar/cafe restaurant with a relaxed ambiance and a fresh outlook over a wide tree-lined walkway and bike path. It was a pleasant stroll from the station and we were delighted to find the restaurant just as advertised. It had such a chilled out vibe and it was even more relaxing to wallow in some perfect English by all the wait staff: sometimes, on the weekend, the extra burden of Chinese speaking just seems all too hard! The chef/owner was some kind of foreigner and he had a basic, but very western menu on offer. Cassy's gnocchi was mouthwatering as was my chicken schnitzel, but we'll be going for the Veal Milanese next time....first time we've seen that on a Taipei menu in many years! After some 3 courses of food and a glass of wine, we were strangely emboldened to do a little window shopping...
The Eslite Building does house a gigantic book shop by the same name, but also has many boutique shopping establishments, most of which are at the upper end of the market. We made our way into one such furniture boutique and looked at all the beautiful things as well as sat in the impossibly comfortable chairs and lounges. It was French and all the items were hand-made to customer requirements. We saw a beautiful dressing/makeup table setup which opened up from what appeared to be a large, leather-sheathed chest. Stools and mirrors and hidden compartments all opened with a whisper and a sigh on a feather touch: it really was a craftsman's work of art and at $23,000 it would want to be! Their giddy outlook down pulsing Songren Road towards the dancing glitter of 101 was quite the view.
We got a hard copy of our oft-mentioned new favourite, "Quiet", by Susan Cain, mainly because despite our recent proclivity to read books electronically, it is still very awkward to flip back quickly to read and reference items. Armed with our one purchase after a restrained session of shopping, we braved the burgeoning Saturday night MRT crowd to travel back home.
Photos: one of my students has kitted-out and customized his desk....I like it! Goats from a temple park in an adjoining suburb have been moved to our ShiDong Park so we can see them grazing each day as we walk to and from school, scooter family, shots of Longtable and the view from the lofty luxury of the Eslite building.