In some ways, a four day weekend is a bit of a momentum killer and although we loved the time off, it was difficult to get back into our daily work routine today. As the days become shorter and the temperatures fall away, our daily pattern becomes just that little harder. Due to our very early start at school (we start teaching the kiddies at 7.45) we're up at 5.30 each day. It's dark for quite some considerable time in the morning these days and if we stay on for a meeting we're often walking home in the dark as well. As I mentioned last week, our daily walking commute is mostly enjoyable, but occasionally as the wind whips around us on a grey morning or dusky evening, it's less so!
Taipei continues to astound and delight us! We can now catch a Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) train from our local stop all the way through to Taipei 101 without changing! The city has been working steadily and furiously for some years underground to burrow through some of the most densely populated areas of the city to re-configure the MRT system. Through some logistical ballet of the most intricate kind, they have managed to seamlessly integrate this new line opening without the slightest hiccup, glitch or delay to normal transport in the city. It really is an engineering and planning miracle. Now, Taipei's largest city park, Daan, the Anhe road restaurant district as well as the 101 shopping precinct are all just 30 minutes away. The new line has also cleverly linked a number of others meaning some of our other popular destinations now involve just one change instead of two.
Suffice to say, we visited 101 and wandered the glittering hallways en route to Page One bookshop. Cass didn't get her book club book she was after, but we got some Tim Winton volumes for both Gurecki and friend from school, Jaami, who kindly lent us his carpark when Cass was wheelchair-bound. We then decided to get some Youbikes and have a little ride round the area. They were as easy to hire as I've previously described and we rode around for a bit before parking the bikes in the park outside and lunching at Longtable in the Xinyi district. We Youbiked back to the 101 station before heading home.
We spent the rest of the weekend doing all sorts of other interesting things, including excursions out to the movies, lots of eating out, either lunches or dinners and taking advantage of the beautiful late autumn/early winter days strolling round the neighbourhood and beyond. Mercifully, no monkeys were spotted on the 1000 steps and Taipei 101 was appreciated from a different perspective, almost like an inkwash Chinese watercolour style.
Photos: Cass at the local French deli/coffee shop buying some quiche ( the French guy who runs it is an excellent cook!), Astro Boy retains his popularity as Virgil suns herself in a spot by the door. Taipei 101 is now the second tallest building in the world but claims it is, "Mankind's Greatest Engineering Achievment". Cass poses beside a sculpture made from the replaced elevator cables: apparently long enough to reach around the island! The building still inspires awe from ground level, Youbike station and shots from the 1000 steps and Tienmu Gudao trail up top.