Making travel decisions at 4am.

It's still Friday morning and I'm still writing blog posts while waiting for check-out time. Last night I think I got nine hours of sleep, which was my first full night of sleep since I got here. I had predicted I might sleep better because I was checking out/in and so didn't have to make plans and figure things out.
What happened Thursday morning is that I woke up, I think about 2am and then again at 4am. . . . or maybe I was awake the whole time. And my mind was just going. I got up to make sure the pages in the new journal were good to write on (some paper is too slippery for me and my not-so-great handwriting), and started making plans for the day. I decided to go to Jiufen, an old mining town in the mountains, which is known for its tea houses.
I have been trying to check in with myself about differentiating between anxiety and excitement. I think I was excited about my trip, and all the things I'll get to do. Unfortunately, because of how I am (at least right now) that manifests in having thoughts that go a million miles an hour, rather than a bodily experience. I don't know how to locate this type of excitement in my body because it all goes to my head. But when I received a text from a friend at about 6:45am, I wasn't tired, even though I hadn't slept well in 4-5 days. So I decided to start my day.
Although I had researched how to get to Jiufen a few times (a two-hour bus ride vs a train and a bus in about one hour) when I looked again (obsessing) I found that starting September, there was a new bus route leaving from Taipei that was faster. Yay! All I had to do was take the MRT a few stops to get it.
I went to Starbucks to get coffee and a walnut raisin roll (and didn't go there FOR that roll but I needed to eat and that's what I got.) I wasn't sure if it was ok to take the coffee on the train, but I did and saw the sign and felt stupid. I got to the right MRT stop and asked again to make sure I was going the right away. When I got to street level, I couldn't find the right place to get the bus. A woman came up to me to help, which was very sweet. I mean, I've been walking around looking clueless for the last five days, so I don't know what possessed this woman to be so kind to me. She looked up the bus on her phone and even offered to go back down into the MRT station with me to ask again. I said that wouldn't be necessary. She pointed to the other area where buses stop and when I walked there, I found that it was the right place. And the bus came a minute later. I got on with just one other guy. Turns out this bus makes a few stops throughout Taipei. It was slower than expected. Given that I got on at 9am, it was contending with traffic. We got the Jiufen about 10:30. I wanted to see Old Street and go to the famous A MeiTeahouse, which was not on the map when I got there. There are other sites- temples and museums. I didn't bother with any of that. It was hot and the roads were windy mountain roads with no sidewalk. Here's a view from a lookout:

I walked up the Old Street which is a windy covered street with merchants on both sides, selling food, tea, clothes, souvenirs, etc.

I found the A Mei teahouse quite by accident. I went down a side alley and there it was. It's huge and I don't know where I would have needed to be to get a picture of the outside. This is what it looks like:

I got a tea and snack thing for $10. The portions of food were tiny and the tea was served with a whole ritual that I didn't follow. I think the staff person was speaking English but she went super fast.

They give you a little bag to put the left over tea, and a postcard as a souvenir. I'm pretty sure I failed at tea-making. Here's the view from where I was sitting:

I was having a better time in the street so I went back. In the end I didn't buy much, just a couple of souvenirs. They have little purses in beautiful fabrics but I have been too practical to buy one.

I got a sample of fried squid and bought some for no reason. And I knew I shouldn't. I mean, it was tasty and all, but I knew it would likely upset my stomach. It was like I was responding to peer pressure when they weren't even making a hard sell.

I ate about 3/4 of it and got an upset stomach. And then was negotiating a street that now looked like this:

to find a bathroom. It all ended ok but because I knew I was about to get on a bus, I didn't eat anything else, which was a bummer, because I want to try the ice cream burrito.
I had a bit of a spazz-out trying to find a bus back, in part because you have to walk down a mountain road with no sidewalk. My bus passed me as I was getting to the bus shelter. The other bus, the one that takes longer came, but I got confused and didn't get on. That was good, because the right bus came a few minutes later. The ride back was faster. I realized they have a stop near by hotel and when I got off, I realized the stop was in front of my hotel! I'd say it was silly to have gone to another MRT station to get a bus that stopped in front of my hotel, but I don't know if I would have been able to figure out exactly where to have picked it up.
I bought some fruit to eat but was still really hungry by 4pm. At 5:30 I headed to a vegetarian restaurant, Herban Kitchen and Bar, mentioned in my book (I use Lonely Planet, by the way.) Again, I was having trouble finding a lane. At $18 this was the most expensive meal I've had since I got here.

That's a tempeh burger. It was yummy. They didn't have 1/2 the things on the dessert menu, so I headed back to my area and got that custard bun. And I ate it while blogging, which I mentioned two entries ago.
Here I am, all caught up. I'm hungry again. Figuring out what to eat when has been a challenge. It's 11:07 and I have to finish packing up my stuff to get out of here.
Thanks for reading!