Reaching the end :(

I am writing this post rather than work on submissions because I find submitting unpleasant. I am aware that this just means I'll be doing it later, likely tomorrow, after I return home, and am sleep deprived.
After breakfast, after it stopped pouring, I went to one of the Eslite book stores.

This one is a few floors, although the main bookstore is on the second floor and is open 24hours. The other floors contain other merchants, but also a stationery section with tons of journals, pens and... stationery. I immediately picked out two more journals, which is why I went. I waited until 11am to see what they had downstairs, but everything either did not meet my journal requirements or was expensive. So the two Eslite 30th Anniversary journals it is.
Their cafe was also very expensive so I went to the Starbucks downstairs and wrote for a while.
As planned, I went back to Herban Kitchen and Bar for lunch/brunch and was pleased when I realized it was two blocks away from the store. The restaurant is very cute. I ordered Moussaka. It was yummy.

For whatever reason, I got a stomach ache almost immediately. But I planned to return to the Ximen area (where my first hotel was) to get another pair of those earring and some kind of food item to bring to work on Monday. The stomach ache was off and one and I was determined to get the remainder of my shopping done.
After that, I came back to this neighborhood, grabbed one last souvenir and walked back here to my hotel. By this time, I was pretty uncomfortable.
So here I am. I have been in my hotel room for about three hours now, checking my Duotrope email for presses to submit to, listening to my friend Jason's podcast, knitting and periodically checking the movie channels to see if they put on anything good. (They have not.)

I am going to venture out in the rain now to get more take out from Ooh Cha Cha, and return and remain in my room doing much of the same. I have faith I'll fit everything I bought in my luggage; maybe my coworkers will be eating squashed mochi on Monday. My alarm goes off at 5:30am.
It's been a good trip. I'm glad I got a couple of day trips in and that I got to feel grounded in Taipei.
Thanks for reading. I'll see you soon, on the other hemisphere.

My last day of purpose

Usually when I travel, I would have seen everything I'd planned to by now. But I did go out of town two days. So on Wednesday I covered the last few places I'd prioritized.
The rain was supposed to come by 9am, and then it was 2pm, so I got more time dry than I had expected.
My first stop was the Confucius Temple.

This temple, like others I have seen, have a main building in the middle, but also halls and structures (gates) surrounding it. At the front gate, inside, there were men singing. One asked if I was American. I said yes. He proceeded to hum (not really humming, more like da-da-dumming) 'You Are My Sunshine.' I thanked him (what else does one say?) and went to check out what was beyond the front gate.

There was a pond with turtles, including these, hanging out. I don't want to anthropomorphize too much, but a couple of the big ones appeared to be looking at me rather judgmentally. Maybe it's because I'm an agnostic running around Taipei taking pictures of temples. Speaking of which:

These ceilings are amazing!!! I didn't go back inside because I felt weird being sung to. But in general, this temple had fewer people praying so I felt more comfortable being all touristy.
The Bao'an Temple was a couple of blocks away. It was more active here so I was less blatant about my picture-taking.

According to Lonely Planet, this temple got a Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage award for its restoration and revival of temple rites and festivities. In case you were wondering, because I was, Unesco is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. According to Wikipedia, "Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration in education, sciences, and culture in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter." It occurs to me, I could spend an hour on one temple. These structures are quite complex and there are pamphlets that describe all the elements. I did not spend a lot of time here. I don't know how much of that is because it's a place of worship and I'm not worshipping. It is likely because I was overwhelmed with all the things to see.

 But again, look at the detailing on the roof:

That should conclude my mishandling of religious sites of worship.

My last museum was the Fine Arts Museum, which I found was in the Expo Park. I didn't spend time in the park but there was a lot of food and teenagers practicing a dance routine. Wikipedia says it's "multifunctional.' The museum is next to Taipei House, which I considered visiting to learn about Taipei history. This is the museum:

Again, there was an exhibit based on sound. There were a lot of dark spaces and headphones.

I have to say, I liked a lot of the exhibits. But at this point, I was a little museum'ed out. This morning I threw away all the booklets and pamphlets about the exhibits because they will take up too much room in my scrapbook. But here is a bit of what I saw.

I was there for close to two hours. It had started to rain. And rather than run around, all hungry and cranky, looking for a special restaurant, I ate at the museum cafe, which was perfectly fine. I did not go to Taipei House.

After lunch I headed to the Taipei Main Station because there are two malls attached to it and I was sure I could find Taipei (not Taiwan) souvenirs. I was wrong. Or I decided, after one mall, Taiwan will have to do.

Lonely Planet recommended Cafe Macho, which it turns out is around the corner from the vegan restaurant I've been frequenting. 

I got lemon cake and coffee with Bailey's in it. I did some writing, which has not been going well for months now. 

After an hour or so I returned to my hotel room to blog. I stopped in the middle determined to find this Thai restaurant by the Red House I had not been able to find last week. I found it! Actually I had to get help. This restaurant is just one business among all the bars behind the Red House, so I understand how I didn't realize it was there.

The food was yummy. The rain stopped. 

I returned to my room to complete my blog post. On the way back, I encountered a snail, which is the biggest I have ever seen. I stopped a guy, who was looking at his phone, from stepping on it (in his flip-flops.)

You can't tell how big is is from the picture but the shell was probably 3-4 inches long.  

Speaking of phones, people are on their phones A LOT here. Maybe I notice it more because I am more watchful of my surroundings, but it looks like almost everyone is on their phone.

Right now it's Thursday morning. I think I have correctly checked in for my flight tomorrow. It's raining. Actually, right now it looks like it let up. During breakfast it was pouring. 

I have little planned for my day. I hope to get a couple of good meals in. The type of shoes I'm wearing get soggy in the rain, which is unpleasant. There is a chain of book store called Eslite; they are all over the place. But some are special. I plan to go to the one that's open 24hours. I hope it has a cafe. And journals. 

I'll write my final post later. I wake up early tomorrow to take the MRT to the airport. I hope it's not pouring when I do. 

To Kaohsiung, or not to?

I had planned to spend a few nights in Kaohsiung, but as I mentioned last week, decided to stay in Taipei, which was a good decision. Still, on one hand, the idea of making day trips appealed to me. On the other hand, being lazy and not moving around too much, especially in the rain, was also appealing. It turns out that even though Kaohsiung is almost all the way south, it is quicker to get to than other cities further north. I went to bed Monday night saying to myself, that I would make a decision last minute.
I woke up Tuesday morning, to a forecast of rain in Taipei. I looked at the forecast for Kaohsiung, which showed just some showers in the afternoon. Decision made! Going to Kaohsiung!
So let me show you where everything is. I took this picture of a map of Taiwan:

Taipei and Kaohsiung are 356 km, or 221 miles apart. On the High Speed Rail (HSR) train, it takes 1.5-2hours. My main interest in going to Kaohsiung was to go to the Pier-2 Art District, which is a group of 25 warehouses that have been converted into galleries, shops, etc. There is also a fair amount of art outside, on the grounds, on the buildings.
To get there, I took the MRT to the Taipei Main Station, took the HSR to the main station in Kaohsiung and then transferred to their MRT (which looks, and is organized, the same as Taipei, although with fewer lines.) Given how frustrated I get when things don't go smoothly, I told myself to expect a mishap or two. I am traveling almost the entire length of a country after all.
After all my psyching myself up, I have to say, it was flawless. I am almost offended by how easily it was for me, some random person from the states, to get ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE. I mean, you might want to make us work for it, Taiwan. Do you really want us running amuck in your fine country? (Granted, so far my 'running amuck' has consisted of me going back for thirds at the breakfast buffet, but still.)
Oh! And this is the HSR train:

They have vending machines and a person to come by with snack cart so you can buy food. The seats recline much farther than on a plane. And after spending the entire trip listening to the announcements to make sure I didn't miss the stop, I realized that there is a screen at the front of the car that shows the arrival times in each of the cities. Why did I not see the screen? Because I was to reclined!
A woman near me on the train saw I was looking around and assured me that Kaohsiung was next (actually the station name is Zuoying.) She asked me where I was from and if I was visiting a friend. One of my responses to travel is to be humbled by the kindness of others. I am from NY and now live in SF, both of which see their fair share of tourists. And I don't know how the Taiwanese people talk about us when we are not there but they have been lovely to my face. They have come up to me and asked if I needed help finding stuff; they have sung to me (stay tuned for today's post); and they have either spoken English, or tried, or apologized when their English is not that good (also not the first time I have encountered this.) And this is not because of the tourist industry. This is often the kindness of citizens who are just passing by. This leads me to consider when I have been generous and not-so-generous with my time and attention. When have I lost patience with someone who did not speak the language? When we encounter people who don't speak English, it could be a tourist, or it could be an immigrant. How might my impatience have affected someone struggling in a new place? The most I struggle with is to find a meal that doesn't have too much rice in it, or to find a museum that's been closed. The stakes for me are quite low, and still I am treated with so much kindness.
Anyway, I got to the Zuoying station and then to the KMRT station. I bought a one-day pass which I later realized was a waste of money. I only took it to the area of the pier and back. I spent a good portion of the morning beating myself about this decision, even though I knew it wasn't a big deal, even though I knew I did it to be better-safe-than-sorry. These are the little things I expend way too much energy on.
One of the must-see things in Kaohsiung is the Dome of Light in the Formosa station, which happened to be where I had to transfer trains. It was created by an Italian artist.

It was beautiful. I didn't spend time staring at it because I wanted to make sure I made it to the pier okay. I will say the KMRT stations were pretty empty, as was Kaohsiung, at least in comparison to Taipei. But then again, I was only in one section of the city.
I got to the area of the pier and went into the informational area. Immediately I was given an English map and oriented as to where I was. Here is some of the cool stuff I saw during the afternoon:

This red animal's penis, inexplicably, has a face. It reminds me of that scene in Nightmare on Elm Street when Freddie is pushing his head through the bedroom wall.

I went into a mall and bought a small bowl I did not need because I was so overcome by how beautiful everything was. It's a good thing I have only a little room in my luggage.

I went to a bunch of other stores but didn't buy anything. I went into stationery store Lonely Planet recommended. They had at least a dog and two cats there; the cats looked identical except one had part of its ear missing.
I had lunch at this brewery (I had a Coke Zero because there is no Diet Coke here) and watched Ice Dancers on the TV.

I attempted to see some Lonely Planet-suggested places, with mixed results. I was not able to find the shopping arcade, although I think I found Love River (although the signs said Love Port.)

I was on my way back to the KMRT station by 4:00pm. When I got back to Zuoying station, one of the employees on the platform suggested I take a slightly later train because it made less stops and would get me back to Taipei earlier. This time I watched the screens. We got back into Taipei Main Station at 6:29pm.
At this point, nothing seemed better than eating in my hotel room. I went to Ooh Cha Cha (for the fourth time) and got a rice bowl, a veggie patty and a piece of mocha cake. I ate it in my room while catching up on The Patriot Act. Yes, it turns out I can get Netflix in Taiwan.
Oh and here is the Guting MRT station, where I go to get the vegan food. They got art hanging from the ceiling.

Right now it's Wednesday night. Tomorrow is my last day which I intend to spend being mostly lazy.
By the way, I'm on my fourth book. The first was YA and then two short books of poetry, both of which I loved.  Now I am reading a novel Howard gave me. All of these books were either given to me or recommended by friends. My friends have great taste!

so not EVERYTHING is closed on Monday?

I did laundry on Monday. They have an actual coin operated washer and dryer here. Last time I tried to get clothes cleaned in a hotel, the place I stayed in Prague wanted $2.50 to wash on pair of underwear, so I had to go to a laundromat. But here I got to wash my clothes myself with little hassle, just so I can profusely sweat into all of them all over again.
I had planned to spend the day quite aimless because many, many museums and other cultural sites are closed on Mondays. I just happened to double check my Lonely Planet to find that the National Palace Museum was open. I had to take a bus to get there. Luckily, the transit pass I bought can be used on the bus.

There were some tour groups so it was quite crowded, especially on the first floor. They had exhibits on old books, calligraphy, jade, ceramics. Here are some cool things I saw:

I thought they were naming a type of jade when they mentioned the Jade Cabbage. They were referring specifically to this piece, which is impressive because of its detail. There is a cricket on it; I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture.

There were a few of these curio boxes with all these little things inside (that's me reflected it glass.) I especially liked these intricate pieces, like hair ornaments and vases.
I spent two hours there. When I left, I was raining. I was not sure where to get the bus back. I went across the street to stand in the rain (again, thankfully the rain here is very vertical), just to go back and stand at the bus shelter by the museum.
I got back to the area by the MRT station which happened to be where that vegetarian restaurant I didn't want to eat in the night before was. At this point, soup sounded a lot better, so I went in. I went in and got some vegetables in broth/gravy. The owner (?) came over when he saw me looking in my Lonely Planet. There was a tea house I wanted to check out. I didn't expect it to be hard to find; its near the other hotel. But he asked, so I showed him. He actually called the tea house and got the address and wrote it down in Chinese so if I got lost, I could show someone.

He sat and talked to me. He asked if I was from the UK (I have been asked this before when traveling in other countries.) He had lived in Charlotte N.C. for two years in 1980, in the restaurant business. We talked about Trump and we wondered about the US's lack of universal healthcare (he regaled me with stories of the tiny hospital bills incurred while getting care in Taiwan.)
Did I mention how nice the people are here? More on this later.
I made it to the tea house.

I wanted to take a picture inside but felt self-conscious given the setting. It's a beautiful space. They have you take your shoes off which was great because mine were wet. I sat on the floor. I could've ordered a tea ceremony but just got some black tea and a tiny piece of pineapple cake (which was included.) The tea here is really good. I get the impression that if I bought the tea, I would not be able to make it as well as they can here, and I'd just be pouting in to my mug thinking, "This isn't how it tasted in Taiwan."
Eating has been a little bit of a challenge, not because the food is not good, but because I'm trying to minimize the rice, and noodles, and meats I don't usually eat, and looking for hard-to-find restaurants when I'm hungry. There are quite a few places near my hotel and I thought I could easily find something. I could've returned to the Chinese place I went to on Saturday, but I wanted to try something else. I ended up at a Japanese place. I got Unagi because it was one of the few things that I ate (and it came with a salad.)
Right now it's Wednesday morning here and I am in the restaurant eating tomatoes and cucumbers as part of my breakfast (really trying to get the vegetables in.) I'm going to return to the buffet table to get the good stuff in a bit. Yesterday was pretty eventful so it gets its own posting. Maybe I'll get that in later.

Running around before the rain

According to the weather forecast, Saturday and Sunday were to reman dry. The forecast has not been too reliable but given it has tended towards predicting rain that did not come, I figured it was safe to assume I could get the outdoor stuff done this weekend.
But first, I checked my flight times for Friday. I discovered that I leave at 10:15am and land at 6:40am. It was a gift to get an extra day. I'd thought I was getting in late afternoon but then I realized that the flight time is less than the time difference. So I get a whole Friday, (although my body will think it's 1am.)
My first stop was the Taipei City Hakka Cultural Park. The Hakka are a people of certain Chinese ethnicity that came primarily from southern China. The park had some English signs, but mostly Chinese. They showed how the Hakka lived, where they emigrated and what they are doing now. The grounds were very pretty.

There was a connection to a path that I believe other looks Riverside park.

My goal was to see two temples and a historic building (all in the same area), eat lunch and get to a bar for music at 1:45. It's amazing how quickly I am able to get around. Here's the inside of an MRT station:

By the way, the MRT bathrooms are actually usable as bathrooms, not shooting heroin or doing sex work. I've used them. They are clean, stocked and have lady vending machines in them.
I headed to Longshan Temple, which was filled with tourists. In general, I like the temples here better than the ones I saw in Thailand (for the very deep and spiritual reason that I find them prettier.) But when I go to temples here, people are actively worshipping. So I might get a picture outside but I don't want to walk around taking pictures when people are praying. At Longshan, it didn't matter because it was teeming with picture-takers.

I really liked those pillars.
I next headed to Bopiliao, a historic building mixing both Japanese and Chinese (Qing Dynasty) architecture. Now it houses art exhibits and I found a lot of it interesting (I think it was a student show.)

I found Qingshan Temple a few blocks away. Again, it was a quieter temple with people praying and making offerings.

I took the MRT back to Ooh Cha Cha. I've eaten there three times now because 1- they are vegetarian, 2- they are good and 3- they are very close to the MRT station (and in this case, one stop away from the bar.) The restaurant is small and there were no seats. A young woman who was there with a small child offered to let me sit with them. I took a seat but she kept insisting the child sit closer to me. She was clearly not having it. She kept looking at me and standing next to the woman. I grabbed the first seat that opened up; I didn't want to ruin this kid's lunch. I had a beet hummus burger.
I could have walked to Revolver, the bar/cafe with the band, but I was going to be late. As far as I can tell, they usually have live music at night so I was surprised when I saw they had shows Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Either I did not read the website well, or much of it was in Chinese. When I got there, a rather sheepish young girl looked like I must be in the wrong place. Then she handed me a flier and I went upstairs to where the bands play.

They were kids playing covers. It was pretty cute. I was one of the few people there who had been alive when this music came out (along with, who I can only assume were, the musicians' parents.) I only stayed for three songs: Smells Like Teen Spirit, something I've never heard of and Zombie.
I returned to where my old hotel was to buy souvenirs. When I returned to my current hotel, I saw that Greese was ending on one of the movie channels. I watched and knitted. This is where I am on my t-shirt.

After last night, I am determined to not check out book-recommended restaurants for dinner. I took the MRT some distance to find a vegetarian restaurant. When I found it, not exactly where the book said it would be, it seemed to have changed. I stood outside reading the menu. Two people, who happened to be leaving, started talking to me about the food. I don't know why this happened. But it wasn't appealing to me so I walked around, and walked around some more. I finally went to a Thai restaurant, although I don't think I realized it was Thai when I got there. I ate, a walked through a market and then went back to my hotel to knit more while flipping between "Justice League" and Thor Ragnarok."
It's Monday evening. It's raining. I have to find dinner. Wish me luck.