Day 8

One of my main irritations here in Taiwan is that getting weather forecasts was iffy at best. Sometimes I just couldn't find anything beyond what was occurring that day, and others while there is a forecast its not always right. Some of this is due to the fact that, like New Zealand, Taiwan is an island nation with mountains running down its spine. I have heard back home that this makes forecasting weather very difficult as it is extremely changeable.

Why am I talking about the weather? Well my plan on Wednesday (Day 8) was to take the Red Line all the way to Elephant Mountain ((象山 or Xiangshan) and go "hiking" (in quotes because what the Taiwanese call hiking I call climbing stairs). I was looking forward to some easily accessible nature and to the great views of Taipei 101 and the city it was supposed to provide. I alight at the brand new (just opened about a month ago) Xianshan MRT station and start walking through the park that stands between me and the stairs to the mountain. The sky was overcast and gray and I was concerned that my photos wouldn't be that great. Taipei had been like this before on my trip and just stayed smoggy/foggy and gray for the entire day. Just as I finish the 10 minute walk through the park and up the back alley on the hillside and am about to start climbing stairs, the sky opens up and POURS water on me. There was no warning, no scattered drops first, it was just bam! monsoon! I take a few seconds to be shocked then panic about the camera. I throw it in my leather purse and try to get out my tiny foldable umbrella. It doesn't do much. I wrap myself around my purse and try to find shelter. The alley at this point has turned into a river so my feet and pants are now wet. I manage to get under a pagoda in the park but I'm soaking and freezing and I decide upon looking at the waterfall that used to be a staircase that I am going home and forget this!

It was a long cold journey home on the MRT, but luckily by the time I get out at Nangang Exhibition Center Station, the rain has slowed to a drizzle. I was mostly mad because I would have no photos to post for you, dear family and friends, so I decided to snap a few of the Nangang neighborhood where we eat and live.

The view when you exit our MRT station, facing the direction I will be walking.

Taken from the pedestrian overpass I usually take because the right side of the road has more
temples and greenery than the left, and is less crowded. See the forested hills in the background?

Talk about urban gardening! That's the road on the left there, and someone is growing
 all sorts of vegetables in this little area.

Narrow alleys with apartments are off the main street all along here. There is usually at least one dog, old uncle sitting on a stoop, somebody on a bicycle and a lady selling veggies from a hut on the corner.

Typical apartment building. They range from 3-9 stories tall and are covered in ceramic tile which is a big Taiwanese business. Those cages on the windows will usually be a riot of plants.

The lotus in the pond by our apartment is blooming

When Sonny posted the pics of the inside of the apartment, what he didn't show is the view out the front door. That's a cafe there, with a deck with benches in the foreground and behind that is nothing but a forested hill. Its where the hiking trail I took the second day is located.

I spent the rest of the day trying to warm up and watching videos from the online course I am taking. When Sonny came home he said that Silver Nitrate and some other colleagues wanted to take us to another night market, the Shida Night Market. I left the camera at home because I was worried about more rain, but we ate at a Japanese noodle place where you fill your bowl with a variety of meat and veggies then select the kind of noodles you want and they cook it for you in a delicious broth. It was very good and the tiny shop was packed with students as Shida Night Market is very near a university. After we went on a hunt for this special type of shaved ice that Sonny wanted me to try, but because it is winter we could not find. We ended up eating crepes in this tiny hole in the wall place that had drawings and graffiti all over the walls.Then we went to see Silver Nitrate's tiny studio apartment as Sonny is sorta scoping out the living situation here. It was small, but not too bad, with a loft for the bed and drawers in the stairs and a bathroom underneath. There was a main room and a small kitchen by the door. You would have to be judicious with your use of space but after looking at all those tiny houses, it looked positively spacious. He lives in a very new and fancy building in the main city area, so that is part of why smaller apartments have higher rent. It was nice of him to let us see, and he even showed us the sorta illegal zoning-wise karaoke room in the basement. Sonny and I found our way back to the MRT and through a few line changes and made it home.