Strangely, I didn't take one photo this week, so I'm at a loss as to the general theme of this week's post. I'm going to let thoughts percolate for a while before I get back to you....
After a little thought and tidying up the blog links, I realized to my surprise that this blog has just passed its 15 year anniversary! I'm reticent to look back too much, but I did quickly scan the first few entries that decade and a half ago and it struck home to me how much things have changed in this awesome city.
Back then, we seemed fixated on sourcing "western" style reminders of our previous lives: we were hunting in night markets for DVDs to watch in our spare time, seeking out good restaurants with a semblance of non-traditional food and hanging out in the very rare, early iterations of Taipei's super malls. Along with this, we were starting to take advantage of the beauty exisiting in the natural landscape, taking drives to the beach in our battered shared car and wondering at the awe-inspriirng beauty of Yangminshan National park and beyond.
What's changed, then? Quite a lot! The world itself has moved on and Taipei has been at the forefront of a lot of smart city initiatives. Its share bike system and network of bikeways were groundbreaking years ago and continue to grow and develop. Lightning fast internet optic fibred to every home seems ubiquitous now, but we were just transitioning from clunky dial-up setups back then! I suppose one of the main things that has changed has been our attitude: we're firmly entrenched as residents and fans of all things Taipei now and we find ourselves embracing local quirks rather than railing against them and trying to seek solace in past practices. That said, we certainly do still take advantage of a burgeoning restaurant scene; perhaps it's even outgrown us, as we can't possibly sample all that is on offer in this vibrant, ever-changing and developing space.
Another noticeable lifestyle change is that we're comfortable just "living" in our community these days. Even though we still take advantage of experiences that a huge and exciting Asian city throws up, we don't feel we have to see everything: we're more picky! It's not a matter of being jaded either: we still feel the palpable excitement of a temple festival, get equally revolted and interested in local street food stall ingredients and get swept away by festivals, exhibitions and events. We take more notice these days of the small beauties around us like the Japanese school girls running and chattering alongside their bike riding mum on the way to school in the morning, the Tai-Chi practitioners finishing a session in the local park or the countless expressions of small kindnesses that we witness in the community every day.
We were certainly "comfortable" this weekend and didn't feel the need to venture too far from home! Cass had been up to Rhonda's for her Book Club on Thursday night and a late "school night" meant she wasn't super energetic on the following weekend. I'd had my regular catch-up with Wal and dropped in on a local expat band gig later on Friday, so I was similarly ready for a rest. We took advantage of a lot of our modern "tricks": Fast, reliable internet allows HD uninterrupted streaming, a good VPN hides us from geo-blocking and we enjoyed another weekend of quality cricket from the Aussies in the second test of the Ashes. We also watched a few episodes of a new Netflix TV series, Ozark, which proved to be confronting and shocking and very entertaining!
It's pretty weird reading a few entries from so long ago: we were a little naive and also a little silly! Maybe I'll look back at this post in 15 years time and have similar thoughts...who knows?! Anyway, apologies for the lack of photos, although I did include a video I haven't previously posted: we hiked up to the top of Elephant Mountain in Chinese New Year to take in the spectacular views of Taipei 101 and the Xin Yi eastern district. We're both coming to the final stages of "The Road to Jonestown": it's a massive tome that details every last snippet of information about this nutter and has been very disturbing!
